I wanted to hear the Papas Fritas song “Smash This World” for a long, long time before I actual got the chance to do so. Well, maybe the double use of “long” is stretching it, but any span that stretches past weeks in our instant-gratification-takes-too-long world seems an eternity. I had “Smash This World” on an unofficial list of songs I needed to seek out when I make my yearly trek up to Stevens Point to pitch in at my alma mater radio station on Christmas Day, excursions I made in the late nineteen-nineties. The was culled from the reviews I read in various online sources, including the website for the college radio trade journal CMJ, which back then included an invaluable album of the day feature, pulling write-ups from the weekly publication. That’s where I read the review of the Papas Fritas album, which, as I recall, was complimentary but primarily raved about the single. I looked for the song routinely at 90FM, hoping to find it, but I never found it in the stacks.

For whatever reason, the band and track names stuck in my head. When I arrived for my second tour of college radio duty, in central Florida, my perusing of the station music library yielded the result I’d long been after. There in the Ps was a whole batch of Papas Fritas albums, including the early self-titled effort that held the song I wanted. When I played it, the song did not disappointed. It was a brisk, buoyant, attention-getting single, just as I’d been promised, the sort of song that doesn’t necessarily inspire excitement about exploring more of the artist’s catalog. Instead, it creates that satisfied certainty that this is all that’s needed. This song will do. I put that out there in sheepish acknowledgement that I undoubtedly wouldn’t recognize another Papas Fritas song if I heard it. I’m not sure I even played anything else, so maybe I’m missing out on a tremendous discography. Stubbornly, I’m actually okay with that. There are time when all that’s needed is a single song to love.

Listen or download –> Papas Fritas, “Smash This World”

(Disclaimer: It appears to me that Papas Fritas is out of print. There are cheapo new and used copies available on Amazon and presumably at other online retailers, but I don’t believe you can walk into your favorite local, independently-owned record store and ask the proprietor of said business to acquire the release for you in such a way that properly compensates both the shop and the artist. It is with that belief and understanding that the song is shared here. I mean to harm no one’s bottom line. That noted, I will gladly remove the track if I’m asked to do so by any person or entity with due authority to make such a request.)