Image from a catalog for the Evans Vanishing Door, 1927
I use the word "borderline" on this blog a lot (or so I noticed when I did a Google search for the word's appearance), and I find that I usually use it in questionable ways. In an attempt to educate myself on the word's finer points, I listened to two songs that put the word in the headline. Camper Van Beethoven's "Borderline" comes from Key Lime Pie, the band's last album before their 1990 breakup. As someone who wasn't always a fan of CVB's ska influence, I started to miss it toward the end of the band's run, and I like the way that the ska rhythm is used here in a way that emphasizes the rambling, rolling feel of the song's lyrics. It also has a great distorted harmonica riff by David Lowery and some lovely violin accents (not played by the band's longtime violinist Jonathan Segel, though - he'd quit the band before Key Lime Pie was recorded.)
A decade and a half earlier, Thin Lizzy recorded a song called "Borderline", co-written by Phil Lynott and guitarist Brian Robertson about a girl Robertson was in love with. I guess you could call it a power ballad - it has a nicely swaying singalong chorus and some great interwoven guitar parts by Robertson and Scott Gorham. My issue with this song is that it uses the word "borderline", employing the way I use the word "borderline". As a result, it doesn't quite convey the angst of unrequited love that Thin Lizzy was going for, I think. It's a pretty cool song, but I think that Camper Van Beethoven wrote a song that better conveys the title word's "borderline"-ness.
Winner: CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN
"Borderline" by Camper Van Beethoven
"Borderline" by Thin Lizzy
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