"Janine"

Soul Coughing emerged from NYC's avant garde music scene in the early '90s. Featuring singer/guitarist M. Doughty, upright bassist Sebastian Steinberg, drummer Yuval Gabay and keyboardist/sampler Mark de Gli Antoni, the band combined rock, jazz, beatnik poetry and cartoon sound effects, and over the course of three albums created some of the most unique music ever presented for mass consumption.

Soul Coughing's first album, Ruby Vroom, released in the fall of '94, features many stand out songs. "Sugar Free Jazz" "Blueeyed Devil," and "Bus to Beelzebub" are all adventurous musical tracks that feature thoughtful, and at times, nonsensical lyrics. The albums' last track, "Janine," is the most memorable.

Written a the request of a homeless man who wanted Doughty to write a love song for a girl that he wanted to impress, "Janine" is a simple love song that paints a vivid picture of what it's like to be in love in New York. With no more than an answering machine track - a female voice singing and talking to herself - an acoustic guitar and upright bass, "Janine" creates a hypnotic, rythmically pleasing musical bed.

The lyrics are simple, yet incredibly descriptive, and are sung by Doughty in his distinctive, laidback delivery. The ability with which he combines simple words and phrases - in this track and others - that are both descriptive and thought provoking is remarkable.

"Janine" may have started out as a lark, but the end result is far from a joke.

Soul Coughing called it quits in late '99, with each of its members moving on to other projects. Doughty published a book of poetry and remains an active solo artist, Gli Antoni has gotten involved in film scoring and Steinberg and Yuvay formed the band UV Ray.