Lyricize This...
Lyrically speaking. There are love songs. There are hate songs. There are retarded songs. And then there are those songs that shake you up, make you shiver and curl up in bed, thinking.
I've come across very few songs like this in life, that have a mystic messaging. Makes you wonder as to what the thought process must have been like to create something like this, and also, the influencing substance, but that's secondary.
Take 'Hotel California', which tries to create this scary image of a highway hotel where you hear sounds at night, with deceased guests walking around, probably from a time that was (1969?), the fact that the singer has entered the hotel, but can never leave, and of course, the horrifying scene where they're sitting around a dinner table trying to "stab the beast with their steely knives". Chilling.
'Stan' by Eminem has a similar impact, but is a very well contemplated song, with clear cut messaging about a deranged and obsessive fan, going over the edge, quite literally.
But, one of the most fierce-on-your-psyche songs I've heard in decades, is Jeremy by Pearl Jam. What comes across as traditional rock, blows you away lyrically, especially with the major-to-minor shift in the lead chorus. I've reproduced the lyrics below - and do listen to this song if you ever get a chance.
"Jeremy"
at home
drawing pictures
of mountain tops
with him on top
lemon yellow sun
arms raised in a V
dead lay in pools of maroon below
daddy didn't give attention
to the fact that mommy didn't care
king jeremy the wicked
ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
clearly I remember
pickin' on the boy
seemed a harmless little fuck
but we unleashed a lion
gnashed his teeth
and bit the recess lady's breast
how could I forget
he hit me with a surprise left
my jaw left hurtin
dropped wide open
just like the day
like the day I heard
daddy didn't give affection
and the boy was something mommy wouldn't wear
king Jeremy the wicked
ruled his world
Jeremy spoke in class today
Jeremy spoke in class today
try to forget this...
try to erase this...
from the blackboard.
- The inimitable and eternal Pearl Jam
--
In other news, I met with old friends from Penn last week, and revisited the music of what I consider to be, one of the most prolific collegiate American A Capella groups, UPenn's Off The Beat. They've been around since '86, and they're absolutely phenomenal, and really come out with that much-necessiated 'wow-is-that-just-vocals?' factor in their music.
Check out these samples from their tracks over the years, covers of Evanescence, Seether and Alicia Keys.
Lethal stuff.
3 comments:
Jeremy - Acoustic. You can really how twisted Eddie Vedder is in that one :)
I agree 100%, parish. Even the acoustic version of Release, from their 2000 world tour.
You do realize that Hotel California was written by The Eagles when they were all high and it actually doesn't mean anything, and therefore is entirely open to personal interpretation... which makes it fun of course... but if you think it means something you're mistaken ;)
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