• DOWNLOAD | TEXAS IS THE REASON “A Jack With One Eye” Do You Know Who You Are?, 1996

Just so you know, I’m totally not one of those guys who says stuff in interviews like, “It’s like choosing your favorite child!” That’s cop-out. Some of my kids are uglier than others.

That said, I do have a bunch of different categories for this kind of thing — the impulse of which would become obvious if you saw how I organize all of my material possessions as if I were styling a catalog for The Container Store. Like, the best song that never got recorded: “What I Know” by New End Original. Or the best song in which I inexplicably borrow an idea from Tool: “I Refuse” by Ressurection. Or the best song that I wrote but didn’t record: “Are You Sure?” which looks like it will be included on the forthcoming album from Far.

But the best song I’ve ever been a part of — that’s “A Jack With One Eye.” I remember writing the original chord progression in a makeshift bedroom in Chelsea and then bringing it into practice like it was some kind of revelation. I also remember that the entire band basically finished playing the song all the way through without even discussing the arrangement or the accents or even the chord changes — and how everyone looked at each other afterwards and said, “That’s totally the last song of the album.” Also, J. Robbins plays piano on it and he means the world to me.

When Texas is the Reason got back together in 2006 for a couple of shows at Irving Plaza, we knew it would be the last song of the weekend. We chose to make it the last song ever.

Thanks for asking.