I had such magnificent plans for this election. I was going to follow it religiously right here, slagging off all the candidates, maybe live-blogging the debates. Unfortunately, my college work really stacked up (though I did make some slight attempt at the latter on the WAKE UP Twitter account. I think it amounted to three or four tweets altogether). I was at least going to live-blog the election results, but busy social and academic lives have conspired to prevent that. Well, at least I can try to provide some kind of summation.
I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the posters this year. Labour's Henry Upton reminded me of a younger Frasier Crane, which pleased me. Sinn Féin candidate Ruadhán Mac Aodháin (whose blog, incidentally, seems to consist largely of articles about himself in the third person, which is rather disconcerting) had a poster which seemed to have a charcoal drawing of him, which reminded me irresistibly of a drawing from a witness report (perfect for a Sinn Féin candidate, I thought, even leaving aside the "Black and Tan" reference). Then there's Conor Lenihan's poster, which really speaks for itself (I couldn't find the actual poster, but believe it or not that is the picture he inexplicably used). Sadly, I didn't get to see many outside Dublin (contributions are welcome on that front), but Tom Fortune down in Wicklow struck me with his... wonderful hair. Then there's old favourite John Foley, who looks like Richard Dreyfuss as a werewolf; a terrifying thought indeed.
So what did we learn about the main parties in this election? Erm... not much, really. The debates degenerated into shouting matches between the three main leaders, while John Gormley grasped at some shreds of credibility and Gerry Adams seemed to use the word "citizen" as punctuation. Otherwise, we learned that Fianna Fáil aren't quite as doomed as might have been expected, and Éamonn Gilmore hasn't been quite as successful as might have been expected. Sadly, we haven't had anything as entertaining as Gordon Brown's wonderful "bigoted woman" moment from a little less than a year ago.
We're in for some fun times ahead, of course. It's possible that the only way to make the coming budgets more terrifying would be to have Joan Burton read them out (actually, I shouldn't even joke about that...). As ever with politics, we shall have to laugh so as not to cry. At any rate, soon enough, we'll find out the presenters of our coming misery. Let's just hope it isn't anyone as creepy as this frightening character.
...Wait, what? Seriously? Oh God....
25 February 2011
13 February 2011
Lists. For Playing.
This year, I'm going to attempt something I've always meant to do for Valentine's Day. No, not go out with a girl or anything like that (what a crazy notion!), but rather stay indoors sorting through music, which is in fact my idea of fun. More specifically, I'm going to make out a few playlists; one for people who are happily in a relationship this 14th of February, and one for people who aren't. The latter has a noticeable tendency towards bitterness, which is at least partly because there aren't a great deal of songs out there which have as their subject matter contentment with the single life (plus Valentine's Day does have a tendency to inspire bitterness in the single, especially those who are engaged in or have just emerged from a tricky or otherwise unsatisfactory romantic situation). At any rate, I hope that whichever category you fit into, these songs make your Valentine's Day a little more romantic/bearable (delete as applicable).
[Note: after writing this, I decided to throw in a few songs for the happy singletons out there. Wherever they are.]
For the Romantically Satisfied:
Something – The Beatles
It's almost a cliché at this point, but clichés don't come much more beautiful than this. Often considered George Harrison's finest hour, this has been called "the greatest love song ever written". The lyrics are an incredibly simple sentiment, almost (I stress "almost") to the point of banality, but rarely has such a simple, expressive melody been written. For the 'Love' album, George and Giles Martin pushed up the strings, but somehow George's lone guitar (gently weeping – ho ho!) is infinitely more majestic.
Someone – The Divine Comedy
This is roughly the point where Neil Hannon went from clever lyricist and talented arranger to full-blown composer. Again, the lyrics are uncharacteristically simple, but such thoughts just don't occur as one gets swept up in those strings (and let's not forget that brass backing plugging away), plus Hannon's steady, infinitely expressive baritone. If you're looking for a song to slow dance to with your significant other, look no further.
Kathy's Song – Simon and Garfunkel
In contrast to the previous examples, this one's all about the lyrics, with only a simple acoustic guitar backing. In fact, it's almost incorrect to call this a Simon and Garfunkel song, since Art Garfunkel barely even gets a look in. As so often, Paul Simon's lyrics owe more to conventional poetry than popular music lyrics, as in those final lines which never fail to move me: "As I watch the drops of rain/Weave their weary paths and die,/I know that I am like the rain/There but for the grace of you go I".
(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This probably isn't the list on which you expected my old friend Nick Cave to show up, but the man can write some beautiful love songs (even if they do occasionally end in murder). This particular one is taken from the melancholy album The Boatman's Call, which is about divorce and new love in equal parts (yes, he's an odd man). In hindsight, this song seems to mark a transition for Cave from the apocalyptic imagery of his older work ("The stars will explode in the sky" is almost immediately countered with "But they don't, do they?"); the final verse has an air of serene patience, invoking the Gospels. This is really more a song about the period immediately preceding a relationship than the relationship itself, but the sentiment is beautifully expressed. Try also 'Into My Arms', from the same album.
Everybody Loves Somebody – Dean Martin
This song famously beat the Beatles to the number 1 spot at the height of their popularity; a sure sign of its greatness. It remains one of the most simply perfect love songs ever written, interpreted perfectly by Dean's smooth voice.
Crown of Love – Arcade Fire
Well, did you really think a WAKE UP list would be complete without these fine ladies and gentlemen? This is an interesting love song, because it doesn't try to sugar-coat the concept of a relationship ("the pains of love"). Rather, the singer has made some mistake, but is appealing to the power of love in begging for forgiveness ("If you still want me, please forgive me"). The emotion swells throughout the song, finally bursting through in the catharsis of "You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say". This gives way to what I believe to be the only "violin rave" in history.
[Random note: this is apparently the most played song on my MP3 player; 175 times in about two and a half years. Good going, I daresay.]
Slow Show – The National
I was going to mention this in conjunction with the previous entry, but really it's too fine a song not to merit a place of its own. The singer stands around nervously, trying to get his thoughts together (and "not [think] of my dick" – an admirable sentiment), before he goes home to make a romantic gesture to his lover. The lyrics, backed up by the relatively simple accompaniment, capture perfectly his neuroticism, but also the simplicity of his love (and if there's one theme that's emerging here, it's simplicity): "You know I dreamed about you, for twenty-nine years before I saw you".
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Guess what? More simple sentiment, beautifully expressed! In this case, though, the melody is what makes it; the complex texture made up of twenty-three (!) musicians jammed together in a studio, the result of Brian Wilson's admiration for Phil Spector's "wall of sound" technique. This combines with those sublime Beach Boys harmonies to produce what I've often thought to be one of the most perfect songs ever written.
Northern Sky – Nick Drake
Again, probably not the list on which you might expect to find the (in)famously depressive Drake, but this is a pure expression of a love that compares to nothing before ("I never felt magic crazy as this"). The song feels ethereal; the timbre is sweet and light (and features John Cale on celeste, fact fans), which suits Drake's voice perfectly. The result is probably the most simple and perfect expression of Drake's brief, shining genius.
Absolute Beginners – David Bowie
First love is a topic which has been documented by many songwriters. Even if Bowie was relatively late in life when writing about it (39 – not ancient, admittedly), he still captures that heady feeling beautifully – "As long as we're together, the rest can go to hell". Man's a freaky genius.
For the Twisted and Bitter:
It's All Right with Me – Sammy Davis Jr.
[This one's bloody impossible to find; clearly, I own some kind of crazy unique version of it. There are quite a few versions of the song around, including a brilliantly bizarre one by Tom Waits, but Sammy's is my favourite, and I recommend it.]
The genius of this one lies in its sheer unromantic nature. It's ostensibly a love song... except that the subject of the song is not the subject of the singer's affections, but rather some pretty girl he's met in a bar. Her good looks are emphasised, but not quite as much as the singer's nagging feeling that this just isn't right ("Though your lips are tempting, they're the wrong lips"). Sammy was a master of the bitter love song; an honourable mention must go to his sublime version of 'The Party's Over', which I consider (once again) to be the ultimate version of a fantastic song.
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Don't say you didn't see this one coming. Admittedly, this one is lent an awful lot of poignancy by the biographical details of Ian Curtis's life at the time, and particularly his imminent suicide, but even without that, it's still a piece of beautiful, tragic despair.
Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan
[Don't bother YouTubing it; you'll just get a bunch of covers.]
This song perfectly encompasses the emotions that come in the aftermath of a messy break-up. Extreme bitterness ("one day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes") gives way to a regretful melancholy ("You'll never know the hurt I've suffered...And I'll never know the same about you"), and finally a bitter, self-deprecating honesty ("We're idiots, babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves"). On an album (Blood on the Tracks) which is all about relationships and break-ups, this is the clear standout.
Take This Longing – Leonard Cohen
Not every amorous encounter involves love – an obvious fact, you might think, but rather overlooked. Cohen is the poetic master of lust and sex, and here he captures perfectly two people taking comfort in each other ("let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you loved"). The sadness is tinged with Cohen's trademark black humour –"You're faithful to the better man – I'm afraid that he left". The singer is aware that he's no more than a substitute ("I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head"), but he's willing to play that role.
We're Going Wrong – Cream
You want bitterness and sadness? Look no further than a blues-rock band. Cream were masters of their genre, and this is a beautifully sparse song, full of gaps stretched over by Ginger Baker's relentless drumming, while Jack Bruce's plaintive wailing echoes out futilely.
I Fall Apart – Rory Gallagher
Speaking of blues-rock, how about an entry for the Cork man for whom the guitar was like an extra limb? This is ostensibly a love song, but it's not the result of a happy relationship, but of impatient longing – "I'm only living for the hour when I hear your voice... And the day is long/So won't you come where you should be".
Melancholia – The Who
Not one of the better-known Who songs, but one which perfectly encapsulates a certain kind of depressive mood. It's made quite clear that this is the result of the end of a relationship, too – "What I despised/In other guys/Is here in me./They lose their girl/They lose their world/Then they cry for all to see". I often find Pete Townshend is underrated as a lyricist, something which deserves to be rectified.
If You Could Read My Mind – Johnny Cash
All right, I'm going to put a health warning on this one: it's seriously depressing. Not only is the song itself immensely sad, but Cash's delivery of it, recorded in the last weeks of his life as he was dying from diabetes, is so cracked and heartfelt that it brings a lump to the throat. It's hauntingly beautiful, and deserves to be listened to, but do be prepared to be depressed.
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Unlike the two Nicks, Jeff comes more or less where you might expect. As with the previous example, while the lyrics are fine, it's Jeff's delivery that really sells it, particularly on the line "Kiss me out of desire, baby, not consolation". It's a tale of decline, denial and loneliness. Which, admittedly, you should be pretty used to if you've gotten this far.
Black – Pearl Jam
It was pointed out to me recently that throughout the excellent lyrics to 'Jeremy', there isn't a single instance of end-rhyme. It's almost the same here (apart from "outside"-"by" in the second verse, and "see"-"be" later on). While I'm normally a stickler for form, this is quite remarkable in that I never noticed until it was pointed out to me, which is a tribute to Eddie Vedder's lyric-writing. These lyrics, with their imagery of darkness and broken things, are among his best, but once more it's all in the delivery, with his anguished howl at the end of the line "Why can't it be mine".
For Satisfied Singles (I hear they do exist):
I'm in Love with My Car – Queen
Because love doesn't always have to be romantic.
I'm Not Down – The Clash
A brilliant expression of defiance against the odds – "I've lived that kind of day, where none of your sorrows will go away...But I know there'll be some way when I can swing everything back my way". The singer's romantic status isn't really mentioned, but we may gather that, like everything else, it's not ideal.
Days – The Kinks
Who says the end of a relationship needs to be entirely sad? There's always regret, but sometimes that just seems insignificant in the light of the good times you had together – hence this song. There is sadness, but also a recognition that "tomorrow" will be better.
A Lot of Livin' to Do – Sammy Davis Jr.
For anyone who feels like celebrating the more optimistic side of singledom. The singer recognises his desire for "girls" and "kissin'", but rejects it almost immediately, and concentrates on what life generally has to offer him. Seems a rather healthy attitude to me. If anyone has any tips on how to achieve it, please do let me know.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day; wherever and with whoever you choose to spend it.
[Note: after writing this, I decided to throw in a few songs for the happy singletons out there. Wherever they are.]
For the Romantically Satisfied:
Something – The Beatles
It's almost a cliché at this point, but clichés don't come much more beautiful than this. Often considered George Harrison's finest hour, this has been called "the greatest love song ever written". The lyrics are an incredibly simple sentiment, almost (I stress "almost") to the point of banality, but rarely has such a simple, expressive melody been written. For the 'Love' album, George and Giles Martin pushed up the strings, but somehow George's lone guitar (gently weeping – ho ho!) is infinitely more majestic.
Someone – The Divine Comedy
This is roughly the point where Neil Hannon went from clever lyricist and talented arranger to full-blown composer. Again, the lyrics are uncharacteristically simple, but such thoughts just don't occur as one gets swept up in those strings (and let's not forget that brass backing plugging away), plus Hannon's steady, infinitely expressive baritone. If you're looking for a song to slow dance to with your significant other, look no further.
Kathy's Song – Simon and Garfunkel
In contrast to the previous examples, this one's all about the lyrics, with only a simple acoustic guitar backing. In fact, it's almost incorrect to call this a Simon and Garfunkel song, since Art Garfunkel barely even gets a look in. As so often, Paul Simon's lyrics owe more to conventional poetry than popular music lyrics, as in those final lines which never fail to move me: "As I watch the drops of rain/Weave their weary paths and die,/I know that I am like the rain/There but for the grace of you go I".
(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This probably isn't the list on which you expected my old friend Nick Cave to show up, but the man can write some beautiful love songs (even if they do occasionally end in murder). This particular one is taken from the melancholy album The Boatman's Call, which is about divorce and new love in equal parts (yes, he's an odd man). In hindsight, this song seems to mark a transition for Cave from the apocalyptic imagery of his older work ("The stars will explode in the sky" is almost immediately countered with "But they don't, do they?"); the final verse has an air of serene patience, invoking the Gospels. This is really more a song about the period immediately preceding a relationship than the relationship itself, but the sentiment is beautifully expressed. Try also 'Into My Arms', from the same album.
Everybody Loves Somebody – Dean Martin
This song famously beat the Beatles to the number 1 spot at the height of their popularity; a sure sign of its greatness. It remains one of the most simply perfect love songs ever written, interpreted perfectly by Dean's smooth voice.
Crown of Love – Arcade Fire
Well, did you really think a WAKE UP list would be complete without these fine ladies and gentlemen? This is an interesting love song, because it doesn't try to sugar-coat the concept of a relationship ("the pains of love"). Rather, the singer has made some mistake, but is appealing to the power of love in begging for forgiveness ("If you still want me, please forgive me"). The emotion swells throughout the song, finally bursting through in the catharsis of "You gotta be the one, you gotta be the way, your name is the only word that I can say". This gives way to what I believe to be the only "violin rave" in history.
[Random note: this is apparently the most played song on my MP3 player; 175 times in about two and a half years. Good going, I daresay.]
Slow Show – The National
I was going to mention this in conjunction with the previous entry, but really it's too fine a song not to merit a place of its own. The singer stands around nervously, trying to get his thoughts together (and "not [think] of my dick" – an admirable sentiment), before he goes home to make a romantic gesture to his lover. The lyrics, backed up by the relatively simple accompaniment, capture perfectly his neuroticism, but also the simplicity of his love (and if there's one theme that's emerging here, it's simplicity): "You know I dreamed about you, for twenty-nine years before I saw you".
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Guess what? More simple sentiment, beautifully expressed! In this case, though, the melody is what makes it; the complex texture made up of twenty-three (!) musicians jammed together in a studio, the result of Brian Wilson's admiration for Phil Spector's "wall of sound" technique. This combines with those sublime Beach Boys harmonies to produce what I've often thought to be one of the most perfect songs ever written.
Northern Sky – Nick Drake
Again, probably not the list on which you might expect to find the (in)famously depressive Drake, but this is a pure expression of a love that compares to nothing before ("I never felt magic crazy as this"). The song feels ethereal; the timbre is sweet and light (and features John Cale on celeste, fact fans), which suits Drake's voice perfectly. The result is probably the most simple and perfect expression of Drake's brief, shining genius.
Absolute Beginners – David Bowie
First love is a topic which has been documented by many songwriters. Even if Bowie was relatively late in life when writing about it (39 – not ancient, admittedly), he still captures that heady feeling beautifully – "As long as we're together, the rest can go to hell". Man's a freaky genius.
For the Twisted and Bitter:
It's All Right with Me – Sammy Davis Jr.
[This one's bloody impossible to find; clearly, I own some kind of crazy unique version of it. There are quite a few versions of the song around, including a brilliantly bizarre one by Tom Waits, but Sammy's is my favourite, and I recommend it.]
The genius of this one lies in its sheer unromantic nature. It's ostensibly a love song... except that the subject of the song is not the subject of the singer's affections, but rather some pretty girl he's met in a bar. Her good looks are emphasised, but not quite as much as the singer's nagging feeling that this just isn't right ("Though your lips are tempting, they're the wrong lips"). Sammy was a master of the bitter love song; an honourable mention must go to his sublime version of 'The Party's Over', which I consider (once again) to be the ultimate version of a fantastic song.
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Don't say you didn't see this one coming. Admittedly, this one is lent an awful lot of poignancy by the biographical details of Ian Curtis's life at the time, and particularly his imminent suicide, but even without that, it's still a piece of beautiful, tragic despair.
Idiot Wind – Bob Dylan
[Don't bother YouTubing it; you'll just get a bunch of covers.]
This song perfectly encompasses the emotions that come in the aftermath of a messy break-up. Extreme bitterness ("one day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes") gives way to a regretful melancholy ("You'll never know the hurt I've suffered...And I'll never know the same about you"), and finally a bitter, self-deprecating honesty ("We're idiots, babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves"). On an album (Blood on the Tracks) which is all about relationships and break-ups, this is the clear standout.
Take This Longing – Leonard Cohen
Not every amorous encounter involves love – an obvious fact, you might think, but rather overlooked. Cohen is the poetic master of lust and sex, and here he captures perfectly two people taking comfort in each other ("let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you loved"). The sadness is tinged with Cohen's trademark black humour –"You're faithful to the better man – I'm afraid that he left". The singer is aware that he's no more than a substitute ("I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head"), but he's willing to play that role.
We're Going Wrong – Cream
You want bitterness and sadness? Look no further than a blues-rock band. Cream were masters of their genre, and this is a beautifully sparse song, full of gaps stretched over by Ginger Baker's relentless drumming, while Jack Bruce's plaintive wailing echoes out futilely.
I Fall Apart – Rory Gallagher
Speaking of blues-rock, how about an entry for the Cork man for whom the guitar was like an extra limb? This is ostensibly a love song, but it's not the result of a happy relationship, but of impatient longing – "I'm only living for the hour when I hear your voice... And the day is long/So won't you come where you should be".
Melancholia – The Who
Not one of the better-known Who songs, but one which perfectly encapsulates a certain kind of depressive mood. It's made quite clear that this is the result of the end of a relationship, too – "What I despised/In other guys/Is here in me./They lose their girl/They lose their world/Then they cry for all to see". I often find Pete Townshend is underrated as a lyricist, something which deserves to be rectified.
If You Could Read My Mind – Johnny Cash
All right, I'm going to put a health warning on this one: it's seriously depressing. Not only is the song itself immensely sad, but Cash's delivery of it, recorded in the last weeks of his life as he was dying from diabetes, is so cracked and heartfelt that it brings a lump to the throat. It's hauntingly beautiful, and deserves to be listened to, but do be prepared to be depressed.
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Unlike the two Nicks, Jeff comes more or less where you might expect. As with the previous example, while the lyrics are fine, it's Jeff's delivery that really sells it, particularly on the line "Kiss me out of desire, baby, not consolation". It's a tale of decline, denial and loneliness. Which, admittedly, you should be pretty used to if you've gotten this far.
Black – Pearl Jam
It was pointed out to me recently that throughout the excellent lyrics to 'Jeremy', there isn't a single instance of end-rhyme. It's almost the same here (apart from "outside"-"by" in the second verse, and "see"-"be" later on). While I'm normally a stickler for form, this is quite remarkable in that I never noticed until it was pointed out to me, which is a tribute to Eddie Vedder's lyric-writing. These lyrics, with their imagery of darkness and broken things, are among his best, but once more it's all in the delivery, with his anguished howl at the end of the line "Why can't it be mine".
For Satisfied Singles (I hear they do exist):
I'm in Love with My Car – Queen
Because love doesn't always have to be romantic.
I'm Not Down – The Clash
A brilliant expression of defiance against the odds – "I've lived that kind of day, where none of your sorrows will go away...But I know there'll be some way when I can swing everything back my way". The singer's romantic status isn't really mentioned, but we may gather that, like everything else, it's not ideal.
Days – The Kinks
Who says the end of a relationship needs to be entirely sad? There's always regret, but sometimes that just seems insignificant in the light of the good times you had together – hence this song. There is sadness, but also a recognition that "tomorrow" will be better.
A Lot of Livin' to Do – Sammy Davis Jr.
For anyone who feels like celebrating the more optimistic side of singledom. The singer recognises his desire for "girls" and "kissin'", but rejects it almost immediately, and concentrates on what life generally has to offer him. Seems a rather healthy attitude to me. If anyone has any tips on how to achieve it, please do let me know.
Enjoy your Valentine's Day; wherever and with whoever you choose to spend it.
06 February 2011
Close Reading
Apologies for my recent absence. I've been extremely busy; a state of affairs which, unfortunately, looks set to continue. Nonetheless, there are certain things which simply compel one to blog, and one of them is this. It's the video for a song called 'Knives and Pens'*, by a band called Black Veil Brides. I've just discovered that it's gotten over 20 million views on YouTube, which disturbs me beyond the telling. To say that I dislike the song, along with the video, is a profound understatement. In the immortal words of Dr. Perry Cox, I megaloathe it.
Now, first I feel I need to address the band themselves. Wikipedia informs me that their genres are "post-hardcore, metalcore, gothic rock and glam metal". Note that the first term could refer to absolutely anything – "post-hardcore" could well refer to a band consisting of three teenaged Coventry girls playing ukuleles. Wiki also informs me that an offshoot of "metalcore" is "mathcore", which genuinely sounds like the most wonderful genre ever. I'm very tempted to form a mathcore band this very moment. Visually, the band remind of the weird, mutant offspring of KISS, Manic Street Preachers and Iggy and the Stooges, which is a rather eclectic mix (they sound like none of them, of course), though far from damning in itself. Wikipedia also reliably informs me that they've been through a number of line-up changes in their short lifetime, with the only constant member being the lead singer; my diagnosis is a severe case of Axl Rose Syndrome.
All right, time for a blow-by-blow account of song and video, which should hopefully go some way towards expressing my profound irritation towards both.
0.00 – The song begins with a recorded quote, which actually reminds me rather a lot of the aforementioned Manics (one of my favourite bands), who tend to begin songs with a relevant, thought-provoking quote. For instance, the song 'Yes', about the manipulation of the music industry, begins with a quote from a documentary about prostitutes. This, however, is what seems to be a description of the "emo" subculture. It adds nothing particularly to either song or video, since the subject matter is patently obvious anyway. Its only apparent function lies in the speaker's apparent disparaging attitude towards the subculture. As far as I can tell, the message is either a) "Look how marginalised we are! The world doesn't understand us! How terrible!" or b) "This guy hates us; we must be doing something right!" Either way, it's utterly nauseating.
0.35 – For no apparent reason, the band appear to be playing the song in various surroundings, wearing different clothing. What this contributes, beyond the assurance that the band have played the song more than once, I don't entirely understand.
0.50 – Ah, the inconsistencies of teenagers. Their notices simultaneously attack the young emo for his depressive nature (and make-up, which is, apparently, "for fags"), while also urging him to commit suicide. It probably doesn't bother him much, though; I doubt he can see much through his fringe. He rips the notices down and slams the door of his locker. That'll show them!
1.05 – I found the singer's voice profoundly irritating for the first couple of lines. Then he started into this bizarre heavy metal scream, and my ears wept blood.
1.18 – Why is this comfortably middle-class teenager wandering around these ridiculously dodgy areas? He's hardly trying to earn some street cred. If there were some implication that he's considering jumping in front of one of the trains, that might be genuinely moving. But no; he's just sitting around and scrawling on an A4 pad.
1.20 – "Poetry: always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil." – Xander Harris.
1.32 – The lead singer reminds me a lot of Matt Smith here, for some reason. I think it's the floppy hair.
1.41 – I assume the fact that this troubled young fellow is walking away from a church is meant to symbolise him turning away from religion. The fact is, though, that it rather implies he's just been inside, and it looks more as though he's just walking home from a Sunday service. Also notice the suspiciously static clouds.
1.55 – I haven't mentioned how much I dislike the lyrics, but really that's just because they're so banal they're not even worthy of comment.
1.58 – These next few seconds are terribly directed; it's almost impossible to make out what's actually happening. Another five seconds of footage would have done no harm, and God knows there are enough shots of the band in the video as it is.
2.01 – "NO! Don't throw my poetry over your completely stationary car! Then I'll have to pick it up!"
2.08 – A number of years ago there were all kinds of silly conspiracies about records manipulating adolescents into worshipping Satan or killing themselves or their peers. I'm becoming convinced, however, that this fellow's stupid scream-thing is actually a device to encourage suicide. I can see how it might work.
2.38 – These brief extreme close-ups are ridiculous. They serve a certain stylistic function, but the way they're edited together means they obscure the action (or disguise the lack of it).
2.58 – This is what made me write this post in the first place. Up to now, the video has been fairly ordinary, but suddenly comes a shock revelation - he's got a skull on his desk. What the bloody hell?! It doesn't look like some kind of mock-up, either; I'm fairly certain those are actual human remains. Here, the video takes a new twist; its subject is either a grave-robber, or a serial killer. The latter seems unlikely (although his parents are conspicuous by their absence...), given his meekness when faced with the bully; so clearly we're being asked to identify with an adolescent who desecrates final resting places just so that he can appear deep. Unless, of course, it's all some kind of clever, ironic, Brechtian device to satirise emo culture, but that seems sadly unlikely.
Also, he's watching the band on his laptop. Subtle.
3.02 – Have I mentioned how much I hate the drummer's stupid sunglasses? Apparently not. Well, I really do hate them.
3.20 – Presumably the bully is the protagonist's brother, then? Otherwise, he's committing some pretty serious crimes here, in somehow gaining access to keys to the house. Oh, and when did he pick up the A4 pad he threw away earlier? The hack director strikes again! Also, doesn't the fact that he gives the A4 pad back completely undermine the whole point of his character, if you can call it that? Is he a bully who has a change of heart? Why am I still watching this? Perhaps the bully is forcing our emotional friend to do his homework, but that doesn't exactly save the video, since it should really be a lot clearer.
3.22 – A brief glimpse of some more skulls, but these ones are clearly plastic, which just serves to make the real-looking one that much more disturbing.
3.25- Some of the worst guitar miming I have ever seen in my life. Why exactly is the guitarist strumming chords during his solo?
3.50 – He's writing the lyrics to the song. Genius. There are a few possibilities here: a) all that poetry that he seemed to be writing earlier was actually just the lyrics to this song, which robs him of any semblance of depth; b) he is in fact a younger version of the lead singer (as in the film version of The Wall, except in a much more knowing and self-deprecating fashion), but then why is he watching the band on his laptop? Or c) he WAS writing poetry earlier, but now the pure artistic genius of Black Veil Brides has convinced him that his own crap is meaningless, and he must dedicate his life to transcribing their transcendent words of glory.
4.10 – So now the lead singer is covered in blood. Delightful. Also utterly devoid of any meaning, apart from that he and the director are self-indulgent knobs who think that a symbol carries its own meaning regardless of context. Really, I could have guessed that at this point. As a counter-example, the video for Pearl Jam's Jeremy gives poignancy and horror to a similar image.
Actually, Jeremy is a very good counter-example of why this video is so poor generally. If you're not aware of the story behind the song and video, you can find it here. Both song and video tell a horrific story with subtlety, but without pulling punches. The quick cuts in the video are disorientating, but in a way that adds to rather than taking away from the point of the video; the story is still reasonably clear. As for the song itself, the lyrics fulfil a similar role to the video, in telling the story without ever being blatant (words like "gun" or "shot" never occur, for example). Plus, on a personal note, I infinitely prefer Eddie Vedder's wounded baritone (particularly his haunting howls in the final minutes of the song) to the whiny voice and screams of the gentleman from Black Veil Brides (whose name escapes me).
So there you have it. The song is banal and irritating, while the video is incoherent and more than a little pointless. You may notice that, apart from the signs on the locker, the subject of the video doesn't particularly suffer; if the bullying were kept up throughout, it might be a different story. I must finish this now, if only because I've expended far too much time and effort on this nonsense.
* - Nothing whatsoever to do with the song 'Guitar and Pen', by The Who, I hasten to add.
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