"Roscoe" is the lead single from

Midlake Midlake is an American folk rock band from Denton, Texas, formed in 1999. The band consists of Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Scott Lee, Eric Nichelson, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan. In 2012, vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Tim ...

's sophomore album '' The Trials of Van Occupanther''.

Background and recording

Songwriter Tim Smith incorporated elements of the M*A*S*H* theme into the tune. The Trials of Van Occupanther, for which Roscoe is the lead single, was recorded at the band's

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

studio.

Critical reception

The Trials of Van Occupanther holds a 79 aggregate score on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

described "Roscoe" as "the kind of song worth stopping everything for" in their positive review of the album. Paste labelled it as "forceful" and "assured" in their similarly favorable take on Van Occupanther.

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

praised its "delicate vocals," and

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

complained that "nothing else here comes close o Roscoe on the album. It was featured in

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

's "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" list and

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

's "Track of the Day" segment.

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

, in contrast, described the album as "a sterile, ineffectual effort that trades in confidence for reticence." Their review, which is the most negative recorded by

, knocked the loss of synthesizers and aggressive vocals in Roscoe.

In popular culture

The song is included in the soundtrack for 2009 film The Cry of the Owl.

Ellie Goulding version

British singer-songwriter

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

released a cover of Roscoe in 2009. It served as bonus material for ''

An Introduction to Ellie Goulding ''An Introduction to Ellie Goulding'' is the debut extended play (EP) by English singer Ellie Goulding, released on 20 December 2009 by Polydor Records. The EP was released shortly after Goulding was nominated for the Sound of..., BBC Sound of 2 ...

'', her first EP.

References

{{Midlake 2006 singles