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New Music

Kevin Morby – “1234”

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 18: Kevin Morby of The Babies performs during the 2011 Northside Music Festival at McCarren Park on June 18, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Cory Schwartz/Getty Images)

Kevin Morby is mostly known as a folkie dude, but he’s revving things up ever so slightly on his new song “1234” (not a Feist cover). With three chords, a little yelp before a brief and polite guitar break, and lyrics about walking a mile just to die, it’s something like Morby’s mellow version of classic leather-jacket punk rock. At the end of the song, he makes the connection to the godfathers explicit by quoting Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died”: “Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, Tommy / They were all my friends, and they died.” Listen below.

City Music, Morby’s latest, is out 6/16 via Dead Oceans.