Jose Gonzalez - Crosses

Today I was listening to the song Crosses of Jose Gonzalez and I want to take a closer look at the lyrics. I have always liked Jose Gonzalez, but I’ve never really felt emotionally connected to the music. It just feels good to listen to it. I love the sound of the guitar, the way he plays it and I love his voice because he always carries a tone of despair in it.  

The reason why I’ve never really felt emotionally connected to the music is because I never paid attention to the meaning of the lyrics.

I think this song can be interpreted a lot of ways. I interpret it based on a feeling I get when I listen to the words, guitar and his voice.

This is the song with the lyrics:

Don't you know that I'll be around to guide you.
Through your weakest moments to leave them behind you.
Returning nightmares, only shadows.

We'll cast some light and you'll be alright.
We'll cast some light and you'll be alright for now.

Crosses all over, heavy on your shoulders.
The sirens inside me waiting to step forward.
Disturbing silence darkens your sight.

We'll cast some light and you'll be alright.
We'll cast some light and you'll be alright for now.

Crosses all over the boulevard.
Crosses all over the boulevard.
Crosses all over the boulevard.
Crosses all over the boulevard.

The streets outside your window over flooded.
People staring, they know you've been broken.
Repeatedly reminded by the looks on their faces.
Ignore them tonight and you'll be alright.

We'll cast some light and you'll be alright.

I think the main topic of this song is: pain/ frustration/ disappointment in life. In order to cope with this frustration you look to love/ interpersonal relationships/ positive aspects of life as a source of light.

To me the frustrations would be things like the meaninglessness of life, unanswerable questions, the imperfection of life, the fact that you’ll never know what the truth is only what’s most likely and so on. In the song the sentence ‘crosses all over the boulevard’ is one of the sentences that illustrates this frustration.

I cope with the frustration by trying to stay positive. This positivity I can find in love, music and accomplishing goals. In the song lines as ‘we’ll cast some light and you’ll be alright’ indicate that you should cope with your frustration by ‘casting some light’. If you are aware of the imperfection in life and it bothers you, you have to find a way to deal with it.

There also are some details in the lyrics that caught my attention. One thing is that Jose Gonzalez added ‘for now’ to the second ‘we’ll cast some light and you’ll be alright’ and that he says ‘ignore them tonight and you’ll be alright’. It’s as if he knows it only works temporarily.

Furthermore when he says ‘The streets outside your window over flooded/ people staring, they know you’ve been broken/ repeatedly reminded by the looks on their faces’ I feel like he’s saying other people don’t always understand your frustration. The way they react on you, reminds you of your frustration but you can just ignore them tonight and you’ll be alright.

Despite the fact that life sometimes can be pretty fucked up, we can deal with it by casting some light. And you’ll be alright, for now..

GAYNGS

GAYNGS album art, Michael Gaughan, 2010

A few days ago a friend of mine send me an email with two YouTube links of songs of the band GAYNGS. I had never heard of the band before and I really liked the songs, so I started to check out more songs and I started to like it even more..

GAYNGS is an interesting music collective/ supergroup founded by producer Ryan Olson. The group is made up of more than 25 musicians from various bands like Megafaun (Joe Westerlund, Brad Cook, Phil Cook), Bon Iver (Justin Vernon and Mike Noyce) and The Rosebuds (Ivan Howard). Olson also brought in Rhymesayers rapper P.O.S, Doomtree artist Dessa, Solid Golds’ member Shön Troth, jazz-saxophonist Michael Lewis and many more.

Their debute album, entitled Relayted, was released on the 5th of October this year and it’s definitely worth a listen. What Ryan Olson wanted to create, was ‘‘a collection of drugged-up keyboards and slick productions almost exclusively inspired by 10cc’s I’m Not In Love’’.

I’m not going to give a review of the album (since you can read one here), but I would say, listen to it yourself and make a judgement of your own! I hope you like it.

Here is the first song on the album, The Gaudy Side of Town, live performed at The Last Prom on Earth.

Besides, one of the tracks is a cover of the 1985 Godley & Creme hit ‘‘Cry’’. The video for the song is a remake of the original video and you can watch it here, right now, if you would like to. Enjoy!

Elliott Smith - Alameda

Today I sat in the train and I was listening to Elliott Smith. I realized I never really listen to what he sings and since I’ve heard that his lyrics are meaningful and philosophical, I decided to pay more attention to the lyrics (which I honestly should try more with songs of other artists too).

The first song I’m going to take a closer look at is Alameda.

Here is the song:

 
And here are the lyrics:

You walk down Alameda
Shuffling your deck of trick cards over everyone
Like some precious only son
Face down, bow to the champion
You walk down Alameda
Looking at the cracks in the sidewalk
Thinking about your friends
How you maintain all them in a constant state of suspense
For your own protection over their affection
Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can't finish what you start
Walk down Alameda
Brushing off the nightmare you wish
Could plague me when I'm awake
And now you see your first mistake
Was thinking that you could relate
For one or two minutes she liked you
But the fix is in
You're all pretension
I never pay attention
Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can't finish what you start
Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can't finish what you start
Nobody broke your heart
You broke your own because you can't finish what you start
Nobody broke your heart
If you're alone it must be you that wants to be apart

I think this song is about a person who manipulates/ deceives his friends and who is feeling superior over them: ‘shuffling your deck of trick cards over everyone (manipulating)/ Like some precious only son (important)/ Face down, bow to the champion’ (being superior).

But then he sees the imperfections of his relationship with his friends and he starts to think about how he maintains all them in a constant state of suspense for his own protection over their affection. So nobody broke his heart, but eventually he breaks his own because he can’t finish what he started. He sees the mistake he made but he doesn’t learn from it. For one or two minutes a girl liked him because she thought he could relate to him, but the fix was in and he was all pretension again. Of course he pushes people away and he’ll end up alone. Lesson learned: ‘If you’re alone it must be you that wants to be apart’.

Maybe

On hope I relied

I imagined I lived life

Drops of time trickle

in this sink I denied

There’s only one way I took

and all I seemed to know was nothing

Vague predictions, I didn’t have the faintest idea

what my next step would be

Blurred visions as I look ahead

The desert stretches out

as far as the skyline with a setting sun

I chased to set direction

Through time reveal the hidden

and when you undo the barriers of time

you can watch rainbows without chasing

and be like a raindrop, falling

but living life.