First vivid impression of the song was in Dinosaur Jr's show last May. The version they play now is a lot different from the album, Green Mind, released in 1991. Gotta say love the new and heavier version. If recalled correctly J Masics actually started the song with the mad guitar effect then. When that electric delay hit then paused, you felt the note echoed from the amplifiers and then dead silence. Held the breath. Then here came the heavy electric strumming again. It really surprised me the first time heard it.
Then heard Thumb again last week at Troubadour. The mad guitar effect was definitely a genius work of J Masics. It not only served the song well but dramatically intensified the emotion of the song. Almost made me cry. Felt like the echo must have bounced a couple of heartbeats off of me. :D Words couldn't express the beauty of the music. You probably have to be right there in Dinosaur Jr's live performance to feel it. Wish they re-release the song with this new version.
This is the original album version. The lyrics is depressing but tend to ignore it anyway. The video is... utterly disturbing and also amazing at the same time! Don't you miss the days when music videos were still cool.
