Use Your Words

Back again. No need to explain absence, seeing as it was as a result of laziness more then anything. So recently I made a twitter (follow me if you like @calebuseswords), and I noticed that I could include a blog/website in my biographical info. Thus, I'm back here and hoping to be around for awhile. My first post in my great return will be the first in a series of excursions into the land of lyrics. I'm gonna call it Use Your Words.

First, I'll talk about man I've been whoring out for the past couple of weeks who mixes brutal honesty with subtle imagery in a way I really didn't think was possible. Hailing from Australia (another great Australian!), Paul Dempsey is the lead singer of a band called Something about Kate, and has also released a rather successful solo effort. Each song on his debut LP is tremendously well-written, but there are just some moments that stick out far above the rest. One of my favorites is from the debut single from the album, that blatantly spells out emotions we've all felt at one time or another.

"Cause I know no quicker way, dear

To the shiny gates of hell

Than a room full of handsome devils

Comparing everything to everything else

They just keep coming on

Like a driverless train

I can think of nothing adorable to say

It's half past the hour, looks like rain

Do you like me? Can I go now?"

Of course, it's not always about emotion. Sometimes bands like to tell a story. With lyrics typically resembling poetry, La Dispute has some of the greatest single song stories of the last several years. With the release of their most recent LP Wildlife, La Dispute has added several of these such songs to their repetoire, and none is more abrasive and jarring then the epic King Park. It tells the story of a drive by shooting gone horribly tragic when the gunman misses his mark and hits an innocent bystander. The climax of the song sends chills down my spine every damn time I hear it.

"Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?

Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?

Can I ever be forgiven cuz I killed that kid?

It was an accident I swear it wasn't meant for him!

And if I turn it on me, if I even it out, can I still get in or will they

Send me to hell?

Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?"

Last but not least is Thrice. Thrice has always been terrific with their songwriting, and Major/Minor was no exception. The standout track, Words in the Water, speaks in a metaphor of being drowned under the weight of something bigger then yourself. Upon the resolution of the narrator's perdicament, he details the feelings of the removal of his strife.

"I felt white and black reverse

And the lifting of a curse from my heart

Then like one receiving sight

I beheld a brilliant light in the dark"