Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Driveby

Genre

Alternative Rock

Lyrics

Summer time and the wind is blowing outside in lower Chelsea,
And I don't know what I'm doing in this city.
The sun is always in my eyes,
It crashes through the windows,
And I'm sleeping on the couch,
When I came to visit you,
That's when I knew,
That I could never have you,
I knew that before you did.
Still I'm the one who's stupid,
And there's this burning, Like there's always been,
I've never been so alone, And I've never been so alive.

Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by,
The cigarette ash flies in your eyes, And you don't mind, you smile,
And say the world doesn't fit with you.
I don't believe you, You're so serene.
Careening through the universe, your axis on a tilt,
You're guiltless and free, I hope you take a piece of me with you,
And there's things I would like to do that you don't believe in,
I would like to build something, But you'll never see it happen,
And there's this burning, Like there's always been,
I've never been so alone,
And I've, I've never been so alive.

And there's this burning, ahhh, There is this burning, yeah yeah yeah
Where's the soul? I want to know, New York City is evil.
The surface is everything, but I could never do that,
Someone would see through that.
And this is the last time, We'll be friends again.
I'll get over you, you'll wonder, who I am.
And there's this burning, Just like there's always been,
I've never been so alone, alone, alive, alive, I've never been so alive, so alive

I go home to the coast. It starts to rain, I paddle out on the water alone,
Taste the salt and taste the pain. I'm not thinking of you again,
Summer dies and swells rise,
The sun goes down in my eyes,
See this rolling wave,
Darkly coming to take me home,

And I never been so alone,
And I've never been so alive.

Aimless Babble

A gentle single-line guitar riff starts us off and is established as the pulse of the song. Over this repeating pattern of notes, a one-note bass pattern seamlessly slides in with the guitar riff and then the vocals join in. This is yet another Guy Reminisces About Girl song, but with better lyrics. For me, the lyrics are vividly visceral with lines like "The sun is always in my eyes, it crashes through the window" and "The cigarette ash flies in your eyes." Granted, just thinking about those lines makes my eyes hurt...but they're still sensations that are very relatable and sincere. My favourite line in this song is "careening through the universe, your axis on a tilt." Just awesome.

At the end of the first verse, the guitar leaps up with a few plucked chords after the line "And I've never been so alive," bringing the riff to a brief halt and evoking a lively, disjunct segue into the new verse. The second verse also ends with the same line, however, there's a lot more movement in the bass this time around, starting at "and there's this burning," the bass plays a downward scale and culminates in a repetition of the lowest note that gradually get louder and more intense, and ends with the singer yelling "I've never been so alive." Here, the vibrant electric guitar and drums are unleashed and after a short interlude, the singer screams the lines "there is this burning" and the instruments erupt and come alive in an almost manic, desperate manner.

After a pretty intense bridge which ends with the singer insisting that he's "so alive, so alive," the guitar riff from the verses return and the song returns to its staid beginnings. The drifting, meandering feeling you get from the last four lines of the last verse fit perfectly well with the floating, ethereal instrumentals. The song then ends first with a brief silence, which aptly precede the line "And I've never been so alone," and concludes with a final declaration of being "so alive."

Death Cab For A Cutie - The New Year

Death Cab for A Cutie - The New Year

Genre - Alternative

Lyrics

So this is the new year.
And I don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance (in the distance).

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialouges bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then i could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back.

There'd be no distance that could hold us back [x2]

So this is the new year [x4]

Interpretation

Well the reason why I choose this song is sort of evident due to the dying end of 2007. I think this is a song that can change meaning depending on your mood. Hey if I was thinking positive, this song would be energizing, allowing for stimulating growth for the New Year. However it is just self perpetuating thoughts on my stagnant life.

An elegant introduction of guitars, drums, and bass fade with the soft vocals of the lead singer. It’s Death’s vocal singer that always grabs my attention. His light and ethereal voice is always perfectly harmonizes with the songs.

The first two stanzas frame the story of this song. I would like to think of it as the shitty present, where you are stuck in your dead end job, without a plan, and without hope. It’s that moment on Jan 1 where you look at the mirror and realize you’re still in the exact same place you were last year. Then you drink.

The song changes with a loud best described zoooooorm sound, which emphases the shift in the song. The tempo speeds up slightly maybe that’s the sound of hope and dreams? Oh no, it’s just an escape to the happy past. Did you know that people remember their past as more pleasant than when they were in that time period? Yah, it’s a scientific study that I can’t cite, but its true!

These two stanza’s are more day dream scenarios, “lighting up firecrackers on the front lawn”? That’s dangerous!

Death Cab makes a not so subtle commentary on the idea of social distance and hierarchy. Is our society really screwed up? Much more than the past? When I think of the lovely Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and other “stars” that got famous for leading a trashy lifestyle… Yes we are pretty screwed up.

However even if the distance was taken away would our society still benefit to its full extent?

I don’t think so. And the ending to this wonderful song is not firm but a waning of sounds to the faded end. Just like every New Year.

Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever

Genre

Indie Rock
Alternative Rock
Acoustic Rock
Powerpop

Lyrics

Please don't let this turn into something it's not
I can only give you everything I've got
I can't be as sorry as you think I should
But I still love you more than anyone else could

All that I keep thinking throughout this whole flight
Is it could take my whole damn life to make this right
This splintered mast I'm holding on won't save me long
Because I know fine well that what I did was wrong

The last girl and the last reason to make this last for as long as I could
The first kiss and the first time that I felt connected to anything
The weight of water, the way you taught me to look past everything I had ever learned
The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love

We have got through so much worse than this before
What's so different this time that you can't ignore
You say it is much more than just my last mistake
And we should spend some time apart for both our sakes

The last girl and the last reason to make this last for as long as I could
The first kiss and the first time that I felt connected to anything
The weight of water, the way you taught me to look past everything I had ever learned
The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love

The last girl and the last reason to make this last for as long as I could
The first kiss and the first time that I felt connected to anything
The weight of water, the way you taught me to look past everything I had ever learned
The final word in the final sentence you ever uttered to me was love

And I don't know where to look
My words just break and melt
Please just save me from this darkness [x2]

And I don't know where to look
My words just break and melt
Please just save me from this darkness [x2]


Analysis

Anyone who's been through troubled times in a relationship can relate to this emotional song, even though its lyrics are obviously more for guys.

The song starts off with the piano + vocals for the first verse, which incidentally is what I feel is the strongest verse for its insight and sincerity - "please don't let this turn into something it's not". Indirect interpretation: women will blow things up to epic proportions, and will overreact to situations a man would deem as trivial. I concur, females really are damn emo bitches heh.

A higher pitched chime joins in on the second verse, as well as the singer humming the melody in the background.

So then we reach the chorus, where the bass guitar/drums are introduced for the first time. They are most prominent in the chorus, and then fade away into the background during the verses. You can also hear the harmonization in the chorus, although the harmonizing singer sounds female. In the third and last iteration of the chorus, a violin is added to the background as well.

The final, but certainly not least to note, is the ending where it kicks into an entirely different melody:

And I don't know where to look
My words just break and melt
Please just save me from this darkness [x2]

The instrumental composition consists of just the piano and the vocals, much like the first verse. It's a subdued stirring melody, and a great way to end off a great song.


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Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor

Wow, fail blog galore. Ok, so a slight adjustment! Instead of reviewing entire albums, I shall now begin reviewing individual songs. Clearly, my low attention span doesn't cover the time it takes to type up a bunch of bs for albums. Btw, I'm taking out the rating system because obviously, if I'm going to spend time blogging on a certain song, I feel it owns face.

Anyways, time to reuse one of my drafts as an example :D


Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor


Genre

Indie Rock

Lyrics

Stop making the eyes at me, I'll stop making the eyes at you
And what it is that surprises me is that I don't really want you to
And your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night)
Oh, but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)
Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand
And lighting the fuse might result in a bang, b-b-bang, go!

I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said*, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
From 1984!

I wish you'd stop ignoring me, because it's sending me to despair
Without a sound, yeah, you're calling me, and I don't think it's very fair
That your shoulders are frozen (cold as the night)
Oh, but you're an explosion (you're dynamite)
Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand
Lighting the fuse might result in a bang, b-b-bang, go!

I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said*, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
From 1984!

Oh, there ain't no love, no Montagues or Capulets
Are just banging tunes and DJ sets and...
Dirty dancefloors, and dreams of naughtiness!

Well, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
I don't know if you're looking for romance or
I don't know what you're looking for
I said, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor
Dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984
From 1984!


Analysis

Well, this song was the winner that got me hooked on this band. If I could give it higher than 5, I would, just because it's that damn good. After months of listening to this song, I'm STILL listening to it on a regular basis and I'm not getting sick of it. That's the sign of a seriously awesome song. During the chorus, which is definitely the strongest point of the song, the bass guitar's role is to maintain a single note, whereas the electric guitar (notably played by Alex Turner, the main singer) alternates between two or three. There is also an awesome sounding mini scale that's played in between the two parts of the chorus:

"I bet that you good on the dancefloor, I don't know if you're looking for romance or, I don't know what you're looking for."

AND

"I said that I bet that you look good on the dancefloor, dancing to electro-pop like a robot from 1984, from 1984!"

First instance noticed at 54 seconds in. My favorite part is in the last chorus where the bass changes key, providing a catchy variation to end the song.

Lyric-wise, it's pretty straight forward methinks - girl teases guy. guy likes girl. girl continues to tease guy. guy gets horny. guy is inspired to write a song about it. end of story =)


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