Aughts Songs: #3 The Dismemberment Plan - "Superpowers" from Change ('01)

When I think of this song, I think about a specific time I listened to it on my headphones while walking around the Spring Arbor campus. I realized that the tempo was about the same as the steps I was taking and so I began to walk in step with the beat. But the drum part is so funky that I couldn't help getting lost in the song and adding a little swagger, which eventually became a full-on strut. Then I realized I probably looked like a total knob-job and stopped. But that's how powerful and convincing the Plan is: They turned a nervous introverted kid into a unconscious strutter. And I'm betting I'm not the first.

The thing that elevated this to "All-Time Great" status for me was when I learned to appreciate the extended outro jam that comes in at 3:20. I could listen to that part repeated forever. It sounds exotic and affluent and sexy and European (in fact, I've always kinda thought it sounds like this looks).