Category: modern rock

The Decemeberists – The Hazards of Love, 2009

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My next project is going to be an ambitious one, to be sure. But I think it’ll pay off. The Decemberists have known for writing amazingly good songs, all of which usually tell a story of some sort. With the realease of The Craine Wife, we saw them move closer to a concept album. And finally, with the release of The Hazards of Love, they’ve done it. So what is my task, you might ask? I’m going to go through each song, track by track, and try and figure out: 1) How many story lines there actually are, and 2) How they are arranged cronologically, acording to the stories. Ambitious and Daunting, but ultimatly, will pay off. I’m going to try and fit it all into one giant post, but it might need to be broken up. We’ll see. Also, I’ll be focusing mostly on lyrical content, and very little on the actual musical side of things.

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I’ve started off by rolling the prelude and second track (hazards of love 1) all into one, through the magic of FL Studio. Since it’s goning to save us a lot of space, I’m just going to link you to the lyrics, and we’ll talk about them in dept.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-1-lyrics-decemberists.html

So the album starts off with the singer’s true love riding out, and coming upon a a wounded fawn. She, being full of charity, tries to set the fawn’s legs. But then, the taiga starts to change, and so does the fawn. This next verse is the one that is kinda vague and confusing. We find out that the subject of the song is Margeret (a major player in this story), and that she makes love to the fawn (hopefully in a human shape, although, once again, it’s not really clear on this point)

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-bower-scene-lyrics-decemberists.html

So later, I’m going to guess a good 7 or 8 months, Margeret is being chastized by her sister. And  she’s actually starting to show that she’s preggers. So she returns to the taiga, to find her lover.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/wont-want-for-love-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is pretty simple. Margeret is setting out to find her love, in the taiga.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-2-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is a bit vauge too. But I’m going to go ahead and guess that this is Margeret’s lover (who is still unnamed, and, as mentioned in the first song, used to be a fawn) who’s waiting for her, in the taiga (I’m really milking that word for all it’s worth)

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/isnt-it-a-lovely-night-lyrics-decemberists.html

The next song, The Queen’s Approach, is an instruamental, so I’ll roll it into the next one, Isn’t it a Lovely night.

Once again, I think this is about Margeret and her lover. Pretty simple song.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-wanting-comes-in-waves-lyrics-decemberists.html

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This one is one of my more favorite ones. Once again, there is very little naming, in this story, but I think that it’s a conversation between Margeret’s lover, and his mother (who’s called The Queen). So basically he’s trying to convince her to let him go and see Margeret. And then she’s trying to guilt trip him into not going. Finally she agrees to let him go, if he promises to come back at dawn, and then give his life to her.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-rakes-song-lyrics-decemberists.html

The next part is a little musical interlude, and then The Rake’s Song. The Rake’s song is a fairly innocolated song (as far as I can tell) because it has no bearing on the rest of the story line. It’s only mentioned again, in a later song, in a reprise. But We’ll get to that later. It’s about this guy that get’s married to a rich woman. Then when she starts having babies, he becomes dissilutioned with the idea. She dies in child birth, and not wanting to deal with the kids, he kills them off in various fashions.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-abduction-of-margaret-lyrics-decemberists.html

For some reason or annother, Margeret gets captured, and her captor has to now cross the river.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-queens-rebuke-lyrics-decemberists.html

Now we find that it’s by the Queen’s command that Margeret has been captured. This song is adressed to Margeret’s captor, sung by the Queen. We learn that it was through the Queen’s power that Margeret’s lover is changed into a fawn, durning the day time.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/annan-water-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is also a bit tricky. It could be about a few things. It, once again, could be totally isolated from the main story line. Or, it could be sung by Margeret’s captor, who, is crossing the sea, with Margeret in tow, on the Queen’s request.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/margaret-in-captivity-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is a bit more stright forward. It’s sung by Margeret’s captor. Margeret calls out to her love, but it seems to be in vain.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-3-lyrics-decemberists.html

This is a reprise of The Rake’s Song, sung from the point of veiw of his children.

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The Next one, is simply a reprise of The Wanting Comes in Waves

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.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-4-lyrics-decemberists.html

Once again, this one throws me for a loop. Obviously it’s about Margeret, who’s on the ocean, if you remember. But last time that I checked, she was with her captor. Maybe, he’s really in love with her. And that’s why he complied with the Queen’s request? And so, as the ship is going down, he finally confesses is love for her.

PHEW. And there you have it folks. A comprihensive interpertation of the story. Any comments or suggestions are very much welcome.

-James Out

Passion Pit – Better Things (2008, Chunk of Change)

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Sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to this other post. So this is my favorite song off of the Passion Pit EP, Chunk of Change, that was mentioned in the previous post.

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I think you’ll notice right off, that this song is a little bit more… low-fi, shall we say. Not as polished as Little Secrets. It starts out with a strange little voice clip and we are taken right into the song. Syth guitar and pads back up the song, as we get the chorus

you’re gonna drive me crazy
you’re gonna drive me mad
you got an angel on your shoulder
makin hairpins outta glass

The backing track drops back a little, there’s a cool little breakdown, then we get the verse.

i believe in believing
the things that we don’t see
and the skin violin is where the neighbors wont read meals
and the family heirloom jewelery
with sets and heaps of thieves
will cast down things
that you’ve never even seen

Suddenly the song starts building in intensity, adding a little bit of harpsichord in the background. Keep an ear out for the doubled ‘oh no’ in this part too.

ike the gods
like the glory like the stories
that your fathers set before you
ride the tiger round the kingdom
oh no (oh no)
oh no there’s a meeting in the canyons
oh no! (oh no) this is rising to the clouds

Very nicely exicuted Passion Pit. I can just imagine them members punching the air at every “oh no!” I know that I do. The chorus comes back with a little bit of electric guitar to accent it, and move directly into the next verse.

i’m shooting off the cannons
of the clouds begin to flow
and the baskets weave with your mother’s teeth but the ones we’ll never keep
just pretend that things are mobile and will never stay put
and the way we were the day we climbed to the top of the
steeple with its people spewing angels out their mouths and letting tables turn to charcoal in the lipstick and the lipstick in the evening(oh no)
oh no we were waving like the trees
oh no then they moved us to the sky

I really only take time to show you all of the lyrics, because I think they are really genious, and again, kinda easy to miss, if you don’t actually look at them. Anyway, on to the bridge. We get a little zilaphone part, and the drums back off a bit.

two or three times the bell will ring but when when we look for the better things we search for this we have not build i feel it crash upon your skin

The the drums start to come back in, and we get building hand claps,

i find it hard to believe there more
of these things behind the door
do you miss me like i miss you
do i miss you like you miss me

Then we’re thrown back into the chorus and secondary chorus for a few more times. Then it kinda fades away with a little organ part and wailing guitar.

All in all I think this is a fantastic song. It’s upbeat happy feeling, plus good us of synth, and shouting chorus parts, combined with really cool lyrics, makes it a definite winner. Anyone who enjoyed this one, I encourage you to check out the EP, and their album too (Manners)

-James out

Passion Pit – Little Secrets (Manners, 2009)

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I still have mixed feelings about  Passion Pit’s album, versus their EP (Chunk of Change). So in an attempt to better explain my conundrum, I thought that I’d post my favorite song off of each, and let you, the readers, decide.

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The first thing you’ll notice as we start off is a upbeat little 80′s intro synth line. Then, as the lyrics start, we get powerful drums, and a little higher synth part. Some pretty cool lyrics, if not a bit cryptic.

When I came down the sun poured into me
I shook em up, the walls came crumbling
my fists kept trembling with these salty wounds
my stolen gold inside the emperors tomb
now baby wait looks like a lovely face
I built this cardboard neighborhoods disgrace
who let it said that you’re my favorite sphere
within the confines of such chemistry

So…. yeah. I’m not really really sure what that all means. But like I said, cool and cryptic. I especially like “I built this cardboard neighborhood in disgrace” and “My fists keep trembling with these salty wounds” But just hold on, my favorite part is coming up. The chorus! Complete with Matt’s favorite musical device. Little children singing!

Let this be our little secret
no one needs to know were feeling
higher and higher and higher
But I feel alive and I feel it in me
up and up I keep on climbing
higher and higher and higher

God. This song really gets better and better as we go. Okay, so now there’s this really nicely exicuted drum break. Syncopated rhythm, if I’m not mistaken, and we get right back into the next verse. Which happens to contain my favorite lyric in this whole song.

My face blew up at such a casual sight
this miracle is of ecstatic fright
they’ll rush above me to oblivion
outlining white sidewalks with halogen

Oh have you ever felt so goddamn strong
how come it takes some people so damn long
he tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain
the citrus drawing out the seasons stains

“My face blew up at such a causal sight” Holy Fucking Shit. I don’t know if I have the words to tell you how amazing that is. Also, “He tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain, the citrus drawing out the season’s stains” Is really really good. Then the bridge, gives us some more amazing lyrics.

Watch the basin drain
as your life lines wane
and you cant explain
as your friends complain

You’ve caused all this pain
and you proudly shame
your whole families name

Wait, did they actually say “as your life lines wane?” The answer is yes. Yes they did. And let me tell you, anyone who can use the word ‘wane’ in a song this cool, get’s like… a hundred golden stars from me. We return to the chorus, and that’s about the gist of it.

So lets reveiw what makes this an awesome song:

  1. Really good 80′s style synthesizer parts
  2. Interesting and cryptic lyrics
  3. Intense drum break that leads into the second verse
  4. Well placed use of the word ‘wane’
  5. Children’s choir backing vocals on the chorus.
I think that’s about it. I encourage you to investigate the rest of this album, Manners, as it is very good. Also, stay tuned for the next post about the song off of their EP, Better Things.
-James Out

Of Montreal – Gallery Piece (Skeletal Lamping, 2009)

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I’m getting in the habit of dedicating these posts to people. So, in that spirit, this one goes out to my friend Oz, who listens to this every time that I’ve been in the car with him. I’ve known about Of Montreal for a while now, and enjoyed their albums immensely. They are a interesting mix of up beat pop, with wacky, almost manic lyrics.

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This one is is one of those basic, there’s a person, and they like this other person, and here’s all the things that they want to do with that person. But what I really love about it, is some of the lyrics are really weird, and kinda wacky. I’ll give an example of some of my favorites.

I want to hurt your pride
I want to slap your face
I want to paint your nails

I want to write you books
I want to turn you on
I want to make you come
200 times a day

That one never fails to crack me up. I mean, just the idea of cumming 200 times a day? Totally outrageous. Even if that was physically possible (Which I highly doubt it is) It would be so incredibley draining, that you might actually fuck someone to death.

There’s not really much else, that I wanted to say about this one. Mostly how much I like the lyrics. And how they are kinda nonstandard for this kind of song.

-James Out

Animal Collective – My Girls (Marriweather Post Pavillion, 2009)

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I’ve been agonizing over weather to do this song or not. I mean, as it is, I’m not sure I really have a lot to say about it. Not because it’s a bad song. But more that it’s all built around layering, repeating sections over and over, and building on them. Similar to what we heard in David Gray’s Please Forgive Me. Only, instead of being fairly simple stuff being added, this is awash with arpeggios, synthesizers, and fun little drum parts.

But actually what I really wanted to point out is the lyrics. After hearing it once (or maybe you’re listening to it right now?) I think you’ll see that it’s really easy to just get caught up in the music and energy of the song, without really paying attention to the lyrics. When I first started listening, all I could really pick out of it, is the bridge/break which goes:

I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like a social stats

Let me just pause to say, on it’s own, that’s a pretty great line. There’s another part after that, but I could never really make it out. Luckily for us, the internets provide us with the answer. However, we’ll address that later. Anyway,what does it all mean? How does it fit into the rest of the song? Well dear readers, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. So, let’s look at the first verse, which gets repeated bunch.

There isn’t much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

Oh. Okay. So he’s talking about wanting a house for his wife and kid. That makes sense! Wouldn’t really catch that from the song. After that it moves on to what can be considered the chorus part.

I don’t care for fancy things
Or to take part in a precious race
And children cry for the one who has
A real big heart and a father’s grace

So he’s telling us that really all he wants to be, is a good father! Man, what a sweet guy. Okay, now remember the bridge/break part?

I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status
I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls

Ahhhh. He’s reassuring us that it’s not actually the possession of the house that he’s worried about. More the fact that he wants a place for his wife and kids to live. Who saw that coming?

Anyway, the fact that this song is so… emersive, that you can totally lose track of what the lyrics are, is a real credit to the amazing songwriting ability of Animal Collective. I strongly encourage you all to check out the rest of the songs on this album, as they are equally as good.

-James out

TV on the Radio – Lover’s Day (Dear, Science, 2008)

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I’ve been a big fan of TV on the Radio, for a really long time. Well, maybe about 2 years now. Ever since their album Return to Cookie Mountain was released, I’ve really enjoyed their music.

As a general rule, I tend to find songs that are about sex to be a bit obnoxious. Usually they are just terribly graphic and almost awkward to listen to. I mean, Prince is great, but come on, there music be other things to write songs about.

That being said, Lover’s Day (which is most certainly about sex) is an amazing song. It might even be my favorite off the album (Dear, Science) And the reason is this: the format of the song is relevant to the subject matter.

It starts out slow, simple, like foreplay. Just a little bit of tambourine, drums, and singing. The the percussion picks up, and we get some strings. Then backing vocals, and flutes. Then it gets bigger, reverbed crash cymbols, and some horns are added. Then it backs off, not wanting to blow it’s load too soon (Sorry if that was a bit of a graphic metaphor. But again, relevant) Then it picks up again. Building more and more and more, getting to the climax finally! And then it falls, backs down, finishing with a nice saxaphone solo, some symphonic style snare drum and flute that continues on and fades out.

Not only that, but the lyrics also get more and more intense as the song goes on. Starting out, once again, simply. Talking about, obvious, A guy that really wants to get with his girl. Or, maybe excluding gender distinctions, someone that wants to have sex with someone else.

Oh but the longing is terrible,
A wanton heart under attack.
I wanna love you,
All the way off,
I wanna break your back.

Then the drums and music starts to pick up, and builds a bit more. So we move on lyrically.

We could build and engine,
Out of all your rising stars.
Tear apart the apart,
We seem to think we are.
Call of work let’s lay!
Call it lovers Day!
Call it lovers Day!

Then it backs off a little.  Talking more about wanting, and longing. Reassuring the other person, that there is pure inventions. Well, pure, sexually that is.

I’m not gonna tear it apart.
I’m gonna keep you week in the knees,
Try to unlock your heart.
You’re gonna turn me animal,
You’re gonna turn me dumb.
Your kiss in the night,
Bringing the light,
You’re like the rising sun

Then it builds a little more, getting more intense. Building and building, till we gert to this verse, which is really intense. The climax if you will. Notice again, as the music gets more intense, so too the lyrics.

Ball so hard,
We’ll smash the walls,
Break the bed,
And crash the floors, don’t!
Stop! Laugh and scream!
And have the neighbors call the cops!
’till all the eyes that they’ve seen our fire play!!
Can’t forget,
Mark it down,
Call it lovers Day!!

Now if that’s not some serious sex he’s talking about, then I don’t know what is. The song climaxes, and then receeds back to,

Yes here of course there are miracles.
Under your sighs and moans.
I’m gonna take you,
I’m gonna take you home.

And we move into the nice instrumental section, complete with the aforementioned saxophone solo, flutes, choral part, and almost march-styled snare drum part.

All in all, an amazing song, and possibly the best ending track, EVER.

-James out

 

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Rammstein – Zwitter (Mutter, 2001)

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I like Rammstein a lot, and there’ll probably me more tracks by them here eventually, but Zwitter is one of my favorites right off the top of my head.

Things start off nicely – guitar riff phased back, nice blippy little techno beat, serious rock drums, and then the same riff, this time front-and-center. “Zwitter, zwitter!” You get the idea.

Next, the first verse, over a momentarily placid version of the guitar, moved back to the back burner as a bassline. The guitar comes back during the second half of the verse, building back up the chorus, which we’ve already become familiar with.

The second verse features another higher synth line, which helps keep things fresh, while the lyrics grind onwards – but we’re coming to the best part of the song. It’s the transition that first happens at 1:47 – bam, we jump up to the bridge, higher vocals, a neat phased effect, and an overall epic ‘peak’.

Things drop back down, of course, for another verse, and then another chorus. There isn’t much more to the song musically.

However, there’s some interesting lyrics to be examined, in particular, the bridge. The song’s title and chorus line, ‘zwitter’ means ‘hermaphrodie’ in German, and here’s the bridge and (supposed) translation:

 

Eins für mich (One for me)
Eins für dich (One for you)
Gibt es nicht (Is there not one or ‘is not how it is‘)
Für mich (For me)

Eins für mich (One for me)
Eins für dich (One for you)
Eins und eins (One and one)
Das bin ich (That’s me)

I love how the words fit together in german – ‘me’ and ‘you’ rhyme, and a few other phonetic similarities (‘für’ and ‘for’, ‘mich’ and ‘me’, ‘es’ and ‘is’, ‘ich’ and ‘I’) make it almost possible to understand the words if you know the context.

And of course there’s the (roughly translated) line:

I am not even downhearted then
When one tells me “fuck yourself”

 

The Killers – Spaceman (Day And Age, 2008)

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I’m not a huge fan of The Killers – but this latest album has had more good tracks then bad, and this one is arguably is one of my favorites (a couple others are probably as enjoyeable, if not as quantifiably good).

So we get a nice electronic intro, which jumps into a sort of updated Killers groove at 0:15. Vocalizing is a good way to make a track fun. The drop down to simpler instrumentation works great for the first verse, keeping the percussion and a guitar or two.

It started with a low light
Next thing I knew, they ripped me from my bed
And then they took my blood type
It left a strange impression in my head

You know that I was hoping
That I could leave this star-crossed world behind
But when they cut me open
I guess I changed my mind

And you know I might have just flown too far
from the floor this time, ’cause they’re calling me by my name
And they’re zipping white light beams
Disregarding bombs and satellites

And that was the turning point
That was one lonely night

Can you hear the accoustic guitar panned left on the second part of the verse, at ‘and you know I might have just flown too far’? Could this be a Bowie reference? Maybe it’s just the title, but I’m going to guess that there’s a ‘Space Oddity‘ connection her, because it seems intentionally distinctive. Anyway, here comes the chorus, which is once again very ‘Killers’, but with sort of a new poppy twist:

The star maker says it ain’t so bad
The dream maker’s gonna make you mad
The spaceman says everybody look down
it’s all in your mind

It makes me think a little of Flaming Lips too, maybe because I went and saw Christmas on Mars recently, and I’ve seen their UFO Show, in a state where I’m prone to make strong sensory associations.

There isn’t much new going on past the first verse and chorus – the return to the verse at 1:31 is a nice comfortable fall into the previously established theme, and the lyrics continue to be ingruigin:

But now I’m back at home and
I’m looking forward to this life I live
You know it’s gonna haunt me
So hesitation to this life I give

You think you might cross over
You’re caught between the devil and the deep blue sea
You better look it over
Before you make that leap

And you know I’m fine
But I hear those voices at night sometimes
And they justify my claim
And the public don’t dwell on my transmission
‘Cause it wasn’t televised

But it was a turning point, oh what a lonely night

There’s a nice quiet break at 2:45, though, which adds a bit of mystery to the song, and the line “They say the nile used to run from east to west” evokes time-travel imagery – was he a space traveler who set off to find the earth, but arrived much later then he expected, and (like The Man Who Fell To Earth) just decided to stay, and become human?

Anyway, the vocalizing comes back at the end, which fades out to some appropriately spacey synth pads – the ride is over.

Chumbawamba – Scapegoat (Tubthumper, 1997)

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The nineties were probably when I first really became aware of ‘music’ as an entity – before that it was always in the background (my mom is never not listening to music, a trait which I’ve thankfully inherited) but sometime between ages 4 and my early teens I started to become able to distinguish tracks, albums, artists, and genres. A friend of mine had the Chumbawamba audio cassette tape, and we’d listen and dance to it all the time – and while everyone might consider Tubthumber’s eponymous track overplayed, the rest of the album has some really fun stuff on it. The last track, ‘Scapegoat,’ is my favorite.

The album contains a lot of sampling used in ‘intermissions’ between tracks, and this one starts off with a little orchestral ‘presenting…’ sequence, which quickly drops off into an electronic into for the real song – warped synth and classic drum machine claps transition to an easily understandable electro-rock groove. Electric guitar, a dancey percussion / bassline combo, and a trancey snare fill lead into the first verse, courtesy very ‘folky’ (as opposed to ‘electronic’ or ‘rocky’) female vocals:

Aftershave and smoke 
And the same unfunny jokes 
They say they’ll take you 
‘Anywhere 
But there’ 
Believe every half-whispered 
Half-remembered lie 
Where truth is a luxury 
They can’t afford to buy 

The accompaniment takes a break during the chorus, cutting back to a nice punchy kick, sparse guitar (which synchronizes with the bassline), and the tasty brass lines that are generally featured on most of the tracks of this album. Things are kind of orchestrally electronic for a few moments, until the break at 1:36, with just the distorted synth line and the dancey percussion, and then we get back to the verse again:

Backed into a corner 
He barricades his life 
Fastens up the shutters every night 
This island is big enough 
For every castaway 
But most of us are looking round 
For someone else to blame 

And once again, the chorus:

Scapegoat 
Looking for a scapegoat 

There’s always someone else for 
you to blame 

By now we know exactly what to expect from this song – all the elements are pretty firmly established. But just for fun, another quick breaks gives us an almost mournful brass line which sounds a lot like an earlier track called ‘The Big Issue’, especially the last little melody bit, before the trancey snare fill and cymbal crashes pulls us back into the meat of the song again. One more break at 3:52, and we’re done – all the layers play at once, and the track fades out.

Once again, keeping with the album’s practice of sampled intermissions, we get a man admitting tearfully that “Boy – you can know out a bloody good tune, but what the fuck does that matter? Now I’m going to take my boys onto the town. Thank you.”

What does the song mean? I’ve got to admit that the parts I find most appealing are the solid electro-rock areas, especially how the intro resolves into the section at 0:26. The rhythm and sounds are perfectly spot-on, clean and poppy. I like the phrasing in the chorus too, although I change the words a little in my head: “Scapegoats, looking for our scapegoats, there’s always someone else for us to blame.” Culture wars, moral panic, scapegoating, and the resulting witch-hunts are human social phenomenon that I find fascinating (plus I feel a little smug that I have the detachment required to recognize them rather then just getting swept up, or at least I think I do), and my version of the chorus makes it sound like Chumbawamba is observing the same thing.