Wednesday Wilco Song Spotlight: “You Never Know”

This week’s Song Spotlight shines on the first single from the band’s seventh studio release, Wilco (The Album):

“You Never Know” (Jeff Tweedy)

In the fourth episode of the popular 60s-set AMC TV series Mad Men, first broadcast on August 9, 2007, Roger Sterling - a senior partner at the fictitious ad firm Sterling Cooper, perfectly played by John Slattery - ponders, ‘Maybe every generation thinks the next one is the end of it all.’ *

In Wilco’s bright, poppy “You Never Know,” Jeff Tweedy offers a similar sentiment. “Come on children / You’re acting like children / Every generation thinks it’s the end of the world.”

This song was considered by many to be a tribute to the post-Beatles solo work of George Harrison, with Justin Gerber of Consequence Of Sound likening the “I don’t care anymore” refrain to the hallelujahs of “My Sweet Lord.”

It briefly reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Adult Album Alternative chart in the summer of 2009, and was released as a seven-inch single, backed with the non-album B-side “Unlikely Japan.”

A nearly identical version of the song appears on the charity album The Sun Came Out by the Neil Finn project 7 Worlds Collide. The two-CD set, which also features contributions by Johnny Marr, Ed O’Brien, Sebastian Steinberg, Phil Selway, Lisa Germano, Don McGlashan, Bic Runga, Glenn Richards, KT Tunstall, and fellow Finn brothers Tim and Liam, was a benefit for Oxfam, a charitable organization focused on ending global poverty.

With Neil Finn, best known as the front man of the Australian pop rock band Crowded House, providing additional fuzz guitar, Wilco recorded the 7 Worlds Collide version of ‘You Never Know’ in December 2008 at Roundhead Studios in Auckland, New Zealand. It was released on August 31, 2009, two months after Wilco (The Album).

* This bit overlaps with a Wilcopedia (The Blog) post from last year entitled Mad Men & Wilco: That's Right, There Are Connections (10/10/19).

This is an edited excerpt from Wilcopedia by Daniel Cook Johnson, published by Jawbone Press (www.jawbonepress.com). Order your copy here.

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This Week in Wilco: Jeff Tweedy’s new album, book & video plus an Uncle Tupelo live RSD release

If Wilco fans’ wallets aren’t going to be depleted enough by the upcoming release of the major multi-disc Summerteeth: Deluxe Edition, they surely will be with all the other Wilco-related items on the near horizon. 

First up, Wilco founder/front man Jeff Tweedy’s second book, How to Write One Song, comes out next week on Tuseday, October 13. The follow-up to his 2018 memoir, Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc., the book’s release will be accompanied by a virtual book mini-tour with Norah Jones & Nick Offerman on Oct. 13, and 14. Info and ticket information is available on Wilco’s official website. 

Tweedy’s third solo album, Love is the King, drops digitally via dBpm on October 23. The vinyl and CD versions won’t be available until January 15, so digital will just have to do for a bit for the ones who desire a physical copy (I’m talking about me). 

Earlier this week, Tweedy shared a video for “Gwendolyn,” one of the tracks from Love is the King. Described accurately on their website as “a little wacky and a whole lot of fun,” involves a close-up of a Tweedy wearing a blue surgical mask looking directly into the camera with a white background.

Once he removes his mask, the bottom halves of a series of somewhat familiar faces lips synchs the song whole Tweedy stares straight ahead. The guest celebrity half faces include Jon Hamm, Elvis Costello, Jeff Garlin, Nick Offerman, Seth Meyers, Robyn Hitchcock, John Hodgman, Norah Jones, Scott McCaughey, and Tweedy’s sons, Sammy and Spencer. Watch it below: 

On November 13, The Autumn Defense, the band that’s so much more than a side project by Wilco members John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, celebrates the 10th Anniversary of their fourth album, Once Around.

The digital re-release includes the original album, along with a bonus track, and a bunch of live tracks from gigs at Amoeba Music Hollywood, and Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia around in 2010. Having seen a few excellent Autumn Defense shows on that tour, I am highly looking forward to hearing this previously unreleased live material. 

Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline, who has appeared on more albums than there are days of the year, is releasing Share the Wealth on Blue Note Records on November 13. The record, credited to Cline’s long running outfit, The Nels Cline Singers, will be available on streaming, CD, and vinyl (yay!). 

Last but certainly not least, Tweedy’s former band, Uncle Tupelo, is going to get the vinyl live double album treatment on Record Store Day, Black Friday, November 27. The recording, entitled Live at Lounge Ax - March 24, 1994, is taken from Uncle Tupelo’s performance which was broadcast live on WXRT. As a bootleg, the show has been circulated for years among fans, but I doubt that’ll stop them from obtaining this upgrade.

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