Alex Cameron's New Song Is So Great

"Who told my brother that his kids are gonna die from this vaccine?"

I think it’s ironic and hilarious that when I popped over to YouTube to listen to Alex Cameron’s new song ‘Sara Jo’ there were 69 comments on the video. Anyone familiar with Cameron’s lewd, hilarious music will understand why. This is a man who has belted out lyrics such as:

“The worst part about being homeless
Is waking up from a dirty wet dream
With a lap full of cum and a head full of steam”

(from ‘Country Figs’)

Or:

“Well it's hard being a liar
I don't know who's supposed to be on my mind
'Cause I love my little darling
But I also love these women online”

(from ‘True Lies’)

Or:

“I got friends in Kansas City with a motherfucking futon couch
If that's how you want to play it
I'm drinking in the dark because my battery's all ran out
All you got to do is say it
Divorce”

(from ‘Divorce’)

I could go on. Alex Cameron is not super famous but he’s one of my very favorite songwriters and musicians. His album Forced Witness is one of my favorite modern albums (and was co-written by Cameron and Brandon Flowers).

He often sings from the point of view of a character—some sexist dirtbag or other, obsessed with a girl or with themselves. He makes toxic masculinity—and the critique of it—funny and absurd. He isn’t politically correct in his parodies of these toxic men. He’s playing parts and embracing them wholeheartedly. Even the beautiful, powerful duet ‘Stranger’s Kiss’ with its heartwarmingly adorable music video includes this as a chorus:

“All I ever wanted, all I ever needed was right here in a stranger’s kiss.”

Not quite a love song. Not quite not a love song, though.

His most recent album, Miami Memory, is not quite as good as Forced Witness but it’s still fantastic.

And this new song is less vulgar than many, and not “in character” the way you find on Forced Witness. Sonically it falls somewhere between that album and Miami Memory but its lyrics hew closer to the latter. Cameron is very good here, but he’s not really ‘in character.’

Okay, so onto the new song, Sara Jo, presumably the person who tells all his loved ones these terrible things. A song I assume will show up on Cameron’s upcoming album, whatever that ends up being. Roy Malloy is better than ever on the sax and good grief, shake what your momma gave you, Alex!

Thanks for reading. I don’t do music stuff all that often but I had to share this one. We saw Cameron in Phoenix just before the pandemic struck and he was every bit as weird and fun as this video suggests he’d be. He even yelled rather loudly at some douchebags who were shoving people around in the crowd which was shocking but much appreciated.