My Favorite Song of Summer 2010: The Injustice League's I'll Never Be LOST Again

It’s once again the time of year when I start reading a lot of lists of Best Songs of the Summer, which causes me to feel incredibly out-of-touch, since without fail I’ve heard few, if any, of them. That hasn’t changed this year as I gaze upon song titles by artists ranging from Katy Perry and Lady Gaga to Eminem and even Erie’s own hometown band Train. Clearly I don’t listen to the radio very much, and when I do, it’s never tuned into the Top 40. I’d be at a loss to come up with any kind of list, but if you asked me for one song that defined the summer of 2010 for me, I’d be able to give you an answer immediately.

I first caught wind of The Injustice League’s I’ll Never Be LOST Again when Jo Garfein, one of my favorite LOST bloggers, mentioned it on her blog (jopinionated.blogspot.com) the week of the finale. Just a couple days later, it turned up in Doc Jensen’s official LOST column on Entertainment Weekly’s website, and I decided I really ought to check it out.

Though I had my doubts as to how well I would like it when I read the words “epic hip-hop / R&B anthem,” as those aren’t two musical styles I tend to connect with very much, I can honestly say that the music video hooked me even before the first verse started. I’ve never heard this song on the radio, and I never expect to. But it was just what this LOST addict needed, and I listened to it many times over the course of the summer, memorizing the lyrics and admiring the artistry and unapologetic geekdom of the men introduced in the video’s credits as Mc Don and The Reverend Oldbed.

I’m no stranger to the notion of using songs to delve more deeply into a beloved show. By the time I watched I’ll Never Be LOST Again, I had written the lyrics to more than 200 filksongs about LOST (lostwithoutcharlie.blogspot.com), trying to get into the heads of just about every major character on the show, and a whole lot of minor ones as well. I wrote my own rambling farewell to the show to the tune of American Pie, incorporating as many specific references as possible. But I heard this song, and it stopped me dead in my tracks, summing up in six succinct minutes my precise feelings for the series with the professional polish of seasoned recording artists.

Some of the song’s appeal is visual, as the video is expertly edited to seamlessly incorporate dozens of clips from LOST, each of which is synched up perfectly with the lyrics, sometimes enhancing the emotion, sometimes eliciting a chuckle. This is especially true of the chorus, which twice includes a clip of a haggard Jack shouting, “We have to go back!” While the lyrics remain the same, the accompanying scenes change, adding depth to the experience.

But as powerful as it is for the longtime LOST fan to take that trip through memory lane via this epic clip show, the song stands on its own perfectly well without the visual element. It begins and ends with some somber commentary, and a bridge of sorts before the third verse reflects upon the deeper meaning of the show in a manner that feels spontaneous but also vaguely rhythmic.

These spoken portions add to the impression that this was a true labor of love for its creators, a pair of LOST fans who are also a part of the folk group Wasted Wine. There’s an aura of sincerity about the song that some might call overblown, but I think most folks who invested 120 hours of initial viewing time and countless hours rewatching and hashing each episode out with fellow LOSTies understand what they mean when they say, “It’s just a show, but it feels like losin’ a friend.”

There’s very little actual singing in this song; it’s almost all rapping, with the exception of some repetition of the title phrase and a bit of back-up singing of the names of certain characters during extensions of the chorus. Nonetheless, the whole thing feels extremely melodic thanks to the stirring backing track, which turns the song largely into a love letter to Michael Giacchino, the brilliant composer whose music has accompanied so many of the most moving moments in the series. With a heavily percussive version of Giacchino’s Of Mice and Ben from the season four finale rippling underneath the rap, it really feels like the song is diving straight into the heart of LOST.

The two rappers switch off on verses and take much of the chorus together, occasionally overlapping their voices, which adds to the communal sense of the song. As one comes to the end of a string of reflections, the other starts in on his, which makes it seem like both of them are just bursting with things to say about the series that is about to come to an end. They posted it on YouTube just five days before the finale; by the time The End aired, tens of thousands of people had popped by to see what the buzz was about, many of them leaving posts echoing the song’s lyrics as they discussed the impact the series had made upon them.

Each of the song’s three lengthy verses is filled with clever references to show. Not counting folks who appear solely in the video clips, the song specifically mentions more than 30 different characters, from original castaways like Claire and Sawyer to later additions like Keamy and Ilana. Lines like “I wanna Faraday back to September 22” and “They got me trapped like I stole Rousseau’s baby” manage to cover a lot of ground in a very short time, combining key tidbits in a witty way that expounds upon the character in question and creates a possible new LOST catchphrase in the process.

Along with the characters, there are references to many of the Island’s peculiarities, from the hieroglyphs in the Swan hatch to the slave ship in the middle of the jungle. They work in important concepts like a Constant, that person or thing which tethers someone to reality and saves him or her from the deadly side effects of temporal displacement, and key off-Island elements like Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack, the fried chicken franchise that is so much a part of Hurley’s backstory, and MacCutcheon whiskey, so critical to Desmond‘s.

Then, of course, there are references to phrases that turn up again and again in LOST: “The Island isn’t done with me.” “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Anybody who loves analyzing the show would delight in going through the song and pinpointing the inspiration for each line.

“So just as God loved Jacob and Hurley loved Libby, / Like Kate only loved herself, yeah, and Desmond loved Penny, / Just like Sawyer loved Juliet but had to let her go, / See, that's sorta how I feel when I think about this show...” Yes indeed. It’s a little melodramatic - and a bit unfair to Kate, who I think managed to prove that she wasn’t quite as self-absorbed as she often seemed - but guys, that’s sorta how I feel too, even though it’s been three months now. I hope that the finale of LOST brought these two some degree of satisfaction, because they clearly invested a lot of themselves into the series, and they managed to give back to the fan community in a big way.

The video remains available on YouTube and the band’s very basic site for the song, www.injusticeleaguemusic.com, which includes links to download both the full song and the instrumental version for free. There are also a couple of blurbs from press the song has gotten, along with a link to the Wasted Wine webpage and a donation box. While this may be the only LOST song these two will create, they’ve convinced me of their musical prowess, and I intend to thoroughly peruse the music of their other band. In the meantime, if anybody asks me what my favorite song of the summer was, I’ll have my answer ready.