I still live with my high school friends / Some people never change at all / We're still the same compulsive drunks / We were when we were small
My thoughts on this song:
The "story" of Everything in Transit, as it were, is really more of a vague collection of snapshots into a Southern California lifestyle defined by lazy days, partying on the beach, drinking with friends and slowly realizing that something doesn't feel right. The lyrics, set against a magical, sunny musical background, always seemed pretty mysterious and interesting to me. This song, which is basically two songs, seems to be about wanting to escape that lifestyle. And both sides have infectious beats and choruses that make it a lot of fun to jam out to.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
In post 171, schadd_ wrote:fav kendrick song. incredibly shifty yes. i take the title to refer to himself but maybe moreso his father (i.e. "ducky")
Yeah, that's likely true. There's a thread of destiny (coincidence?) in there that draws them together, but it is more about his dad and Top Dawg.
In post 173, Aloratom wrote:Funny. Rhapsody will always be aces to me. It triggered something. I gobbled up everything from Gershwin. That led to other Tin Pan Alley artists, which led to ragtime, which led to this, which led to that. Rhapsody is tremendous.
I never did the same thing, so for me Rhapsody is more or less the extent of my knowledge of the genre, but I'm sure there are some great ones. Ragtime is pretty fun.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
I want you / I want you so bad / It's driving me mad / It's driving me mad
My thoughts on this song:
The Beatles' most epic song? Probably, yeah. The later years of the band were notoriously more experimental than the early years, and this song is a hallmark of that experimentation. The song is equal parts relaxing, intense, soulful and silly. And it's all built around a few motifs that evolve as the music goes along. In some ways it's a look backward to the hey days of jazz and blues, in some ways it was a preview of the future's hard rock and metal genres. It's the kind of song that you can engage with in whatever mood you're in at the moment. It can be a release for anger or a bed of comfort; a stimulant for your brain or an emotional blanket. In the annals of rock and roll, this is one to revisit many times.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
But Sean, don't get careless / I'm sure it'll be fine / I love you, I love you / Oh brother of mine
My thoughts on this song:
Fleet Foxes has a knack for making music that sounds timeless. Like, there's the genre of folk and then there are folk songs, that have vague origins and that stick in your head and carry down ideas from generation to generation — Fleet Foxes makes both kinds of folk. This song has a soft, woodsy sound to it that blends happy piano with melancholy vocals and tentative organ. This one'll stick in your head.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
So put your faith in more than steel / Don't store your treasures up with moth and rust / Where thieves break in and steal
My thoughts on this song:
I've long considered Thrice my favorite band, and years ago (before the release of To Be Everywhere) I ran a bracket of all their songs and asked fans to vote between pairs until we had a winner. This song was that winner, and I was surprised but content. Thrice has a lot of songs that go well together but don't necessarily stand out on their own; this one's an exception. The slick guitars, epic drumming and philosophical lyrics truly make this song sound like it exists somewhere out of time and space, reminding us that the things we think of as permanent are as ephemeral to the universe as a breeze is to us.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
I'm thinking of what Sarah said / That love is watching someone die / So who's going to watch you die?
My thoughts on this song:
In high school, I remember a friend talking about "really" watching somebody die — not of sickness or old age, not in a hospital bed, but on a street corner, of blood loss. I guess that was the first time I realized that not all death is equal, and coping with the deaths of people you love might be different depending on how they died. The kind of death I know, and knew then, is hospital death. I watched my father die, when I was young, in a hospital room, with all of my siblings and my mother gathered around. I remember the steady beeping from the machine, which I knew from TV represented his heart rate. I was used to seeing that beeping turn into one unbroken sound, so I figured that was how I would know he was dead — because how else would I know? He was already still. I couldn't tell whether he was breathing. He had long since passed the point of responsiveness. His face was a dull purple, brighter in the little squiggly lines where his veins were. Then the nurse turned off the beeping machine, and I realized that without it I wouldn't know when he was actually dead. So there was no "moment." At some point we all just left the room and decided he was gone. I remember the waiting room, where there were magazines and toys for children to play with, and I remember the vending machine down the hall. I remember the door to the room my father was in, which felt kind of imposing and dark. I remember the strangeness of waiting around for news. When you see a hospital death, these are the things you remember. You focus in on details, you become hyper-aware of your surroundings and get wrapped up in the mundanity of things. You think about practical details of how your life will change, and try to focus on whatever it was you were in the middle of when you got the call. Perhaps it's because you're trying to reconcile the inconceivable event you're witnessing with the presence of familiar, ordinary life. Perhaps it's because you naturally seek an escape from the discomfort of the moment. These are the things that Death Cab for Cutie captured in this song. It's a very realistic portrait of hospital death, and the lines that form the refrain — "love is watching someone die / so who's gonna watch you die?" — are haunting. They powerfully meld together the unthinkable permanence of death with the urgent need to use the present moment in a meaningful way. It's sad, but in an earthy sense it's also beautiful.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
from the album Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
Selected lyrics:
The fiction will see the real / The answer will question still
My thoughts on this song:
What! An! Epic! Song! This is about as proggy as Coheed gets, and I love every second of it. It's jam-packed with memorable bits, including a twitchy, stutter-stepping opening and a grand, pounding ending. The guitar work (played with a very classic tone) somehow feels understated despite following mostly in the style of the harder 70s-80s rock bands, throwing in random off-kilter licks in the middle of verses and contributing some very natural-sounding soloes when they get the chance. The drumming starting just after the 5 minute mark is also awesome -- just listen to the way the drummer keeps time with the hi-hat while flitting around between the beat on every other part of the kit, giving the song a frantic sort of feeling. This song is just so cool on so many levels.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
this is the willing well track that seems to get the least appreciation and i dunno why because it's great (although i still like the final cut more because i'm a sucker for those guitars)
from the album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Selected lyrics:
Do you believe you're missing out? / That everything good is happening somewhere else?
My thoughts on this song:
What if you knew that heaven was real, and also knew that you couldn't get in? In this simple, moving, beautifully dark song, Jesse Lacey brilliantly uses the extremes posed by Christian doctrine to illustrate what depression feels like. He compares the second coming of Christ to a night-time burglar, an adversary. He says his own fear will lead him to crucify Jesus a second time — in short, he feels no hope. Musically, it's not complex, but the simple drumming helps carry a memorable bluesy guitar line.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
And you run and you run / To catch up with the sun / But it's sinking / Racing around / To come up behind you again / The sun is the same / In a relative way / But you're older / Shorter of breath / And one day closer to death
My thoughts on this song:
Amazing classic rock guitar work in this song. Truly an all-time solo. Incredible lyrics and great vocal delivery. Interesting structure. These are the things I love about this song, but there are intangibles too. The mood the band conveys fits well with the existential dread in the lyrics. During the solo, the guitar sounds to me like a blazing red sun sinking toward night. And the lyrics above, specifically, really hit home for me when I first heard them.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
In post 185, Cyril wrote:this is the willing well track that seems to get the least appreciation and i dunno why because it's great (although i still like the final cut more because i'm a sucker for those guitars)
Yeah, you know, it does kinda feel that way. But it's always been my favorite of the four, and was my early favorite on that album as well. I think it was the "feed little maggots" section that blew me away first.
In post 187, Cyril wrote:this song is really really good but it's hard for me to want to listen to any brand new song nowadays, considering its frontman
I find it much easier to do this with artists I never had a strong attachment to in the first place, like Woody Allen. But for the stuff I grew up with and love, it's hard for me to change that long-standing emotional attachment. So in those cases I try to take the art at face value without tying in my appreciation for it with the person behind it.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
Because right now we've got our feet stuck in cement / We're too caught up in the material status quo punishment / One thing is for sure and that's the sun will always set / Darlin', you can bet our moon is quite the opposite
My thoughts on this song:
Over the childhood years of my generation, there was a shadow. It was not just the senseless, tragic murder of some 3,000 people one September day, but the heartless wrath it inspired in so many of us — the same bloodthirst that led to the wars in the Middle East. We are still struggling as a nation to reconnect to our humanity. In 2003, RX Bandits explored these ideas with The Resignation by following the politics down to their emotional roots. No song on the album does so with more passion and eloquence than Overcome. This somber song seeks to tie a string around all that is unjust in our world, and as the Bandits draw that string tighter and tighter the musical energy crescendoes to an ultimate message of defiance in the face of hatred: "I'm not giving in."
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
That's why, darling / It's incredible / That someone so unforgettable / Thinks that I am / Unforgettable too
My thoughts on this song:
The song that my wife and I had our first dance to at our wedding. The lyrics are simple, but very sweet. With Nat King Cole's silky crooning, the lazily swirling and dipping strings and the soft piano, this version of Unforgettable feels like a black and white photograph, like a memory of summer romance long ago. It really captures that for me, and it will always make me think of her.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
Slide into the water / Become one with the sea / Life seems so much smaller / Swim to the moon
My thoughts on this song:
My favorite BTBAM song is also their longest. A lot of long metal songs I feel were simply extended so that they would be long, but this one — wow does this one really make itself work. So many parts of this song are sheer brilliance. The opening (on its own, about as long as many radio-edit singles) rises gradually from the core rhythm motif of the song into atmospheric guitars that ascends into deft instrumental tension-building up until it gets into the first lyrics. The lyrics, by the way, are largely inconsequential for me in this song. I know there are stories to all the songs on this album, but it's the music and the vocal delivery that I really care about. In this song, it's the rhythm that I really love. It took me a while to actually find it, because when listening to new music I think my brain automatically tries to delineate measures. But BTBAM often doesn't play that way; their rhythms are better understood as phrases than through measures. There's a ton more to talk about in this song too..let's see. There are some fantastic, carefree guitar soloes (the whole section running from 11:00-12:25 is fantastic). There's excellent rhythm guitar and bass work. There are fun sections where everyone plays these crisp, staccato beats together. There are some supremely heavy breakdowns (see 14:34, for example). There's chill acoustic bits and grand sing-along parts. And somehow, someway, they made it not only sound like it all belongs together, but they made it sound like it was the only logical choice for how the song could have been written. Excellent stuff.
Last edited by toolenduso on Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
funny story, this is my favorite BTBAM album but this might be my least favorite song on it. not that it's bad or weak or anything i just like all the others more
In post 195, Cyril wrote:funny story, this is my favorite BTBAM album but this might be my least favorite song on it. not that it's bad or weak or anything i just like all the others more
even fossil genera?
i mean probably a big part of why i fell in love with the song to begin with was the length, but hey, that love has endured through the ages
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
fossil genera is great, i love the intro and i love the last third and the metal in between is mostly pretty good too, it's a bit of a mess i guess but EHH
Crosses crossed / Hung out like a wet rag / Forgive you, why? / You hung me out to dry
My thoughts on this song:
It's hard for me to describe why I like this song so much. Is it Carter Beauford's drumming, which is more subtle than usual but also very appropriate for the song and still manages to dig into my brain with the way it fills in selected blanks in all that empty space (especially the section starting at 3:50)? Is it Dave's frail, vulnerable singing? The brilliantly arranged instrumentation, where each instrument holds back and then shines all the brighter when they get their moment? I think it's the way all of these things add up. It's the intangible quality of mood; the song simply feels powerful and timeless to me.
"Half of the game is figuring out who the scum is. The other half is convincing everyone else that you're right." -- PlaysWithSquirrels, in Newbie 437
