It took me an entire season to warm up to the new Fountains of Wayne album. I didn’t give up trying, and finally I dig it.

I also didn’t notice until just today that there’s actually a New Haven reference in the thing. I interviewed Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne years ago and he told me that he’d lived in New Haven for a time himself, and had lived the same Daggett Street loft space once inhabited by members of The Gravel Pit.
The lyric, from the song “Acela,” is simply:

And it’s entertaining by New Haven
Once you’ve had yourself a drink or two, ooh ooh
All alone on the Acela
Tell me baby, where the hell are you?
(Acela) Ooh ooh (Acela)

I’ve never ridden the Acela, but I’ve certainly had those train rides when a young guy plomps down next to me, twists open several tiny bottles of liquor in a row, lines them up and downs one every few minutes for the rest of the trip to Boston. It’s kind of a holiday memory, crowded drunken trains. As usual, Fountains of Wayne feels it too.