Today's song is...
When Will You Die
I kid you not, this is actually the song that came up randomly. I'm sure it was given preference in the randomizer on the wiki due to most recent views or something but still. It's pretty frickin' cool that the song I just last night declared was now one of my Top 10, turned up as Song of the Day, immediately after.
I was going to wait to do any of the new songs if they came up in the next 16 days, but I am so incredibly in love with this song, I don't want to wait. Besides, between the Amazon preview and the iTunes preview there are only 32 seconds of the song I haven't heard and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to change my opinion of it. They will probably only strengthen it.
This song takes the cheerful melody with downer lyrics to a whole new level. The lyrics gleefully, joyfully wish some anonymous soul dead, over and over and over. And oh, the lyrics. They are the greatest lyrics. "And the only way to mitigate would be to know the date you're scheduled to vacate." And that's not even the best one. The one that made me laugh out loud and killed me dead right on the breakroom floor at work.
"This is Dan. And that's Dan. And there's Marty on the drums to complete the band. And I'm John and he is also John, and all of us are wondering when you're gonna die."
And the horns. My god, the horns! There is that fantastic little flourish on the trumpet right before the bridge. Ugh. And the guitar solo. And EVERYTHING. It kills me and makes me dance and just blows me away every time I listen to the preview. I NEED this song in my life and I need it right now. Someone make time speed up, PLEASE!
I feel like I can't do my love for this song justice with actual words. I want to play it from rooftops and skywrite it's lyrics in the air. And just scream. I am looking forward to years of seeing this played live. And screaming every single time. Bouncing up and down. Hi-fiving my friends. And celebrating this triumphant anthem.
P.S. No longer at all worried, I wont like Join Us. Because I'm already in love with it.
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Yep. My faith in the fact that TMBG will continue to produce awesome albums has been restored. This song is actually hilarious, but in a good way. The band intro part (which I trust they will actually use as a band intro) is actually quite clever. The high-fiving lyric is also a great lyric.
ReplyDeleteSo: well done, John Sidney Linnell, for writing one of the most Linnellian lyrical dissonance songs of which we only know 1:30. And we already love it.
Instant favorite.
Agreed, instant favorite. I actually screamed with glee when I heard "this is Dan and that's Dan." Perfect song. I can't decide whether I like that part or "you're insane, you are bad, you wreck everything you touch and you're a sociopath" better. It's like Linnell spent the entire song vehemently proclaiming how much he hates this person, so when he gets to the part where he's supposed to describe the person's annoying traits, all he can spit out is "YOU ARE BAD." God, this song! If they don't play it at the Stone Pony I will absolutely cry.
ReplyDeleteMegan, as someone who wrote "...we should at LEAST be able to agree on abstaining from blatantly violent political rhetoric in an era when a guy can buy a Glock 19 with an extended clip and open fire in public, murdering six people and wounding several others.", is the truth that you're actually okay with public personae wishing for and celebrating someone's death provided it's done in a funny enough way? Or provided it's someone you like who's doing the wishing?
ReplyDeleteI do really like the rhyme "And I'm _John_ and he is also _John_ and all of us are _won_dering..". Plus guitar solo!!
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ReplyDeleteWell, I think there's a difference between a song that has zero political context and political rhetoric coming from actual politicians, but that's a different conversation for a different venue, I think!
ReplyDeleteThe part of the above that's an argument with you can certainly be continued at another venue (anytime, anyplace :-) ) or dropped altogether, but I aired it here as an illustration of my actual problem with the song.
ReplyDeleteFor the first few seconds of listening to the Amazon preview, I thought this was a narrator humorously fantasizing about the death of someone he hates. But when I got to the "banks will close" part, I got a little uneasy, just from the perspective that anyone who can convince themselves that someone's death will be a public holiday (which implies the target must have a certain amount of fame/notoriety) will probably also believe that they will be considered a hero for bringing that death about. Still, questionable narrators are a staple of art, and are usually condemned by the author through some device in the artwork.
But then I heard the iTunes preview, and the line everyone loves so much. Now the last time the whole band got involved in the storytelling, they were, I believe, "g[e]t[ting] lost, driving around." This time, they're participating in a group death fantasy. And by extension, inviting their fans to participate with them. As Gary said in a comment to his FB post of those very lyrics, "I foresee many Facebook links to this song whenever some dumbass politician does something stupid.". I do too, but I'm not too happy about it.
I agree with you, Megan, that the song has no political context, nor do I care about the political context that people might bring to it, per se. What makes the lyrics turn to lead in my mind is just the raw tribalism of it all. There's no context or even content for that matter that would indicate why they're wishing for the death of their target, just WE think THEY suck and WE are not going to discuss why, just know that WE will be jumping up and down on their grave when THEY die! Hey, it looks like TMBG found a way to get into the stereotypical high school jock mentality that many of their fans were victimized by in earlier days. I guess those jocks weren't wrong. The only problem was that WE used to be THEY. But we're WE now, and now it's we who are high-fiving. WE Might Be Giants. Join Us.
(If I can enjoy Brahms motets that sing of Jesus as my only salvation, I can find a way to enjoy this as well. But in both cases, the enjoyment is necessarily attenuated by my disagreement with the explicit message of the lyrics. This song will never be a favorite of mine.)
First, you are of course entitled to your opinion and I shouldn't be surprised that it differs from mine because we never seem to agree on anything when it comes to music.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think you are taking it far too seriously. It's a fantasy. I don't think there is any implication that the anonymous person being wished dead is a celebrity. The bank holiday thing is just another way of illustrating the joy that the narrator will experience when the person dies. And I think the very nature of the title "When Will You DIe" exhibits that the narrator has no intention of actually killing the person, only waiting around until said person finally croaks on their own.
And rather than jock mentality, I see the anthem of the downtrodden, picked-on, victimized nerds and geeks who are just desperately wishing their tormenters would drop dead and stop plaguing them. They are helpless to anything except fantasize about that eventuality in a song.
And lastly, I would like to end this debate right here. Because your argument comes dangerously close to the sort of song interpretation that I usually avoid because it ruins songs for me by clouding my own believes with someone else's. Whether intended or not (and I'm pretty sure you didn't intend it), I'm already starting to feel like I should feel guilty for enjoying the song and like I have to justify loving it. And god help me, if the first thing you do, before this album is even out, is manage to ruin my most favorite song on it for me in any way, I will not forgive you.
So lets just agree that we have different opinions and leave it at that.
You beat me to my follow-up. Rebecca thinks I'm taking it too seriously too. I disagree, but what I didn't want to do is suggest that I think everyone has to have the same reaction as I do to this song. People I respect, people I like, and even people I love obviously don't feel the same way. And I don't respect, like, or love them any less. (Neither do I retreat one step from my own perspective.) I don't even have a problem with them not wanting to discuss it. So I appreciate the forum to air my thoughts (as well as hear others'), and am happy to let it rest.
ReplyDelete(And on the principle that any apology should be as public as the offense to which it refers, I apologize publicly to Megan (as I have in private). I was responding to my own emotional heat, and illegitimately externalized an internal conflict by projecting it onto her. Uncool.)
ReplyDeleteI haven't even heard this song, nor did I know it existed until I read this post. However, I can understand all perspectives presented, and I find that this strand of comments only strengthens my aspiration to get to know all of you better. An interesting, well-read, respectful group of people you seem. :)
ReplyDeleteMay God bless you all. I look forward to future chats, provided AIM lets me in. :P
(Sorry to butt in on your conversation, by the way..)
(Well, I hope you can see that I'm easy to get to know, as apparently I have no filter at all :-/ . And with particular relevance to you, Jamie, I endeavor to be (and am pretty successful at being) as respectful an atheist as I am an uncompromising one :-) .)
ReplyDeleteEh, filters have their place, sure, but I think that if a person doesn't let something through every once in a while, spontaneous combustion is a very real possibility. (Perhaps figuratively speaking rather than physically, but real, nonetheless.) :P
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to voice the fact that I think all of you seem like decent, interesting human beings whom I am glad to have "met". (Even if it is only online.)
And to sort of plagiarize your last statement for my own use -- I, likewise, endeavor to be as respectful a Christian as I am an uncompromising one. :)