"Positively Fourth Street" -Bob Dylan

Well, we drive down the street in our car.
I suppose to you, it would look antique, but to me it's new because
I am living now (in the past).
Maybe I lost my faith a little bit, but did I have any faith to begin with.
I'm sitting in the backseat, as always, on the way to visit our family
our so-called family.
for our so-called holiday celebration.
I'm just not happy here, because none of them are like me.
But that's ok, I'll be out of here soon enough.
Is it sad? Perhaps.
I'm myself. At least I'm myself.
I don't think anyone can take that away.
No, no one can.

"Let's Go Surfing" -The Drums

highkneeshighkneeshighknees
I'm running like a soldier marches.
I look silly.
But that's ok.

Wanna go surfing?

It's not summer, and we don't live by the beach
you say
Stop being silly.
We don't need summer and we don't need a beach
we just need you and we just need me.
You still laugh at me.

Well fine, then.
I roller skate away and and you come sprinting after me.
Of course suburbia can be our playground
our waves, if you wish.

So we surf down the streets
and through piles of leaves,
fasterandfasterand
I love to rollerskate with you.
It's silly how much I do.




Listen Here.

"Royal Blue" -Cold War Kids

Shoulders shrugging, do you like jazz music?
I'm going to strut down the street, and you can't say anything. Everyone thinks you're crazy when you dance. But if I can hear the music, why deny the dance? And they can just forget about it.
"From now on, with the sky as my roof."
I'm a tireless vagabond and I'll go where I please.
Clap, stomp, move, in time.
I'll show my true colors out here, and if you happen to see, I'll paint them even brighter.
For who am I to hide myself? Who am I to disguise my being? Who am I to conceal my existence from the world,
when it gave me my existence?



Listen Here.

"Mine Is Yours" -Cold War Kids

Water is dripping from a dripping drainpipe and I'm walking in the cellar of this run-down factory.
Didn't there used to be something here?
And so I'm tired of this place because it'swet and it'scold and darkandemptyandbroken
and gone.
There's the door.
Why is the door, something I never thought of before?
My hot sweaty hand grips the cold clammy doorknob. My heart is beating faster than ever before.
I turn the knob, and throw the door open wide.
I'm in a tunnel, and there's light at the end. Some goddamn cliche? All this for something I've heard before?
But I still can't deny the light at the end.
So I run.
(we'll make it.)



Listen Here.

"Helena Beat" -Foster the People

I wake up, and I don't know wherewhowhy I am.
I'm lying on the dirt, on the drydry dirt, and I'm bound. By my ankles and my wrists, I'm tied. To the ground.
How can I be tied to the ground?
I think this thought, and the ropes disappear.
The next second, I'm standing.
Desert. I'm in a desert, and there's only grass here and there.
A moment later, something appears in the distance, and it's racing towards me, faster than I can imagine.
It's a ship: a great vessel of pirates. Racingracing.
How is there a ship in the desert?
I think this thought, and I'm sinking into the ocean.
That's not what I had in mind.

Listen Here.

"Dirty/My Third Dream" -Ben Lee

I'm standing in the river, facing the current.
The water weaves around my knees. My hands are dirty with caked on mud, and so I bend down and let them be washed by the rippling rapids.
I look up to the sky, and the sunlight glints in my eyes. I shield my face from the gleam with my hand, and I can clearly see all the clouds in the sky.
They're dancing, they're playing. Alive; animals. People, magic. I've seen clouds rolling through the blue before, but never animated like what was above me.
A boy and a girl leap from cumulus to cumulus, swaying to the rhythm as they land.

"Hammer to Fall" -Queen

It's 1967 and I'm feeling alright.
We're flooding the streets now. Colors, flowing hair, and little cares for anything but the things we care about.
Peace! We want peace! They're saying, and I join in. A man is playing the guitar and singing one of Bob Dylan's anthems.
"For you who grew up tall and proud, in the shadow of the mushroom cloud,
convinced our voices can't be heard, we just wanna scream it louder and louder and LOUDER
WHAT THE HELL ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?!"
I'll protest with you darlin', because this isn't the world that I wanna see. This isn't the person I wanna be.

Listen Here.

"Floorplan" -Tegan and Sara

Walking along the Milkyway, shuffling across the stars. I step to the jazzy beat. Who would walk like this on Earth? No one. Because perhaps we're a bit too judgmental on Earth.
"All eyes are on me now."
It's just a skip-hop away to the next galaxy, and so I dance on over. Here I am; who am I? I play with the comets and kick the meteors like soccer balls. I see the lifeforms of other planets, planets teeming with lifeforms. I remember Earth. I think that's where I came from. And they were always so fascinated with these far away places that maybe had people like us, and spent their lives wondering about something that's dancing around my ankles.
It's cold.

Listen Here.

Also, I should clarify: with each of these posts, I listen to the song once and only once. However long the song is, is how long I have to write my post. I do not pick the songs myself, I put iTunes on shuffle and whatever comes up is what I take.

"Crooked Legs" -The Acorn

She dashes down the jungle path, hardly a path at all. Her flowing dress magically swishes around her knees as she runs, and her blonde hair waves down her back.
She looks back at me, and smiles.
We're running faster, sprinting.
Our legs are crooked because of the ways our knees bend and our feet flex.
I jump over fallen trunks and around standing ones.
We come to the river, and she doesn't hesitate. The moonlight is scattered on the water as we wade across. We make it to the other side and I jump out on the bank first, extending my hand to her. I pull her up close to me.
And we're running again.
We'll forever be running in the sun, when the sun cannot slow us down.
"I'm running as far as these crooked legs take me."
Who knows when we'll slow or show a sign of stopping?
I do not know,
and I do not care.

Listen Here.

A Shift

I've decided to slightly change the format in which I make these blog posts. In creative writing class, we did an activity where we listened to music and then wrote about whatever came to our minds. It was incredibly easy to find inspiration with this activity, at least for me. As soon as a song would start, my mind would be filled with an image, or an emotion, and it would flow forth from my fingertips. I felt like I could do that all day.
And that's exactly what I've been trying to do with this blog: show the meanings and feelings that can be found within a song. Show my interpretations. I've been focusing nearly solely on lyrics, and while lyrics are important, they are only one element of what music truly is. I'll use songs I know, and try to use ones I don't know as well.
So here's to the Backlit Canopy Renaissance.

"So I'm hiring a DJ for the eve of our destruction."

"My Racing Thoughts" -Jack's Mannequin

She's a black cat
hanging 'round my doorstep
I'll need all day tomorrow
to recover from today
I was boxing with my shadow
At a stoplight when the clocks changed
It was midnight I was mixed up
When she called to drag the lake

Can you see why Jack's Mannequin is one of my favorite artists? I'm finally seeing him in concert tonight for the first time. It's poetry set to music, really. Inventive lyrics are hard to come by today, even among alternative artists. Andrew McMahon is one talented soul.

I think I'm running short on inspiration
She's running long on borrowed time
We break with speed
That girl can read my racing thoughts
She asks the questions
I take the floor
She takes her shots
Taught her a lesson
About a forced confession
We break with speed
That girls can read my racing thoughts
My racing thoughts
My racing thoughts

An unlucky person that's been hanging on too long. Too many thoughts, too much at once.

So I'll try to keep her steady now
But steady's not her strong suit
I was raised going to church
But couldn't practice what they preached

This song isn't extremely straightforward, like most poetry coincidentally. But perhaps that's the beauty of it: racing thoughts, train of thought, stream of consciousness. Whatever went through his mind, he put upon the page, he played upon the piano.

You can always hear him singing his heart out.

"Can't we give ourselves one more chance?"

"Under Pressure" -Queen & David Bowie

Such a classic song. Undeniably awesome. I mean, it was written by some of the greatest musicians of the time. I'd say that I'm much more of a Queen than Bowie fan: Freddie Mercury is my current obsession. (This often happens. I fall in love with a certain artist for a while, and then add them to my collection.)

The snaps and claps are infectious.

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming 'Let me out'
Pray tomorrow - gets me higher
Pressure on people - people on streets

Pressure. Inescapable. No matter what is happening in the world, there is always someone hurting or lost or desperate because of the innumerable pressures that exist.

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance
Why can't we give love give love give love give love
give love give love give love give love give love
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves

Perhaps the solution, and our refuge, from all of the pressure of today, is love. And not just receiving it, but giving. Give love. Care about others. For as hard as your own life may seem, someone else is under more pressure. Someone else is living closer to the brink of breaking than you are.

This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure.

 

"Talk to me, let me shed some light on your dark ."

"The City" -Patrick Wolf

After a couple posts about somewhat melancholy songs, I believe it's time for a tune that makes for some foot-tapping.

Patrick Wolf is a relatively recent find of mine, and I adore him. Every single song on his newest album, "Lupercalia", relates to my life in some way, which is incredible. I'm using this music as the soundtrack to my senior year, and "The City", is one of my anthems.

I was lost
Until that night we kissed
Give it up
A life oh darling not this
You want more
Than the hell this city lets you down
When I see you top, top, top, top of the morning

It's all about wanting more. We all want more. I know I do: this little bubble of suburbia isn't enough for me. This song is about not letting "the city", or perhaps society and reality, get in your way.

No no no no
Not about the debts you made
The car we never had
The house we never owned
Darling don't look so sad
It's about that day we kissed
Down by Niagara Falls
It's about the keys the keys the keys to my heart you hold And money doesn't matter. It's happiness. This is something I live by.

This song is powerful: powerful lyrics, a powerful voice, and a powerful melody. It brightens my mood. I love the drum beats and the piano hits: percussion epitomized.

Won't let the city destroy our love
Won't let the city destroy my love
Won't let no mistake take the roof from off our heads
No I
Won't let this city destroy us
Won't let the city destroy our love

"Pain on pain on play, repeating..."

"Wait It Out" -Imogen Heap

...with the backup makeshift life in waiting.

We learn about the Renaissance, and how Humanism was such a strong element in everything that was created during that period. How everything was about living life to its full potential, and exploring all the great capabilities of humankind.
...where did that go? Nowadays it seems as though our goal in life is being safe and secure, not exploring.

And sit here cold?
Look, you'll be long gone by then.
And lackluster in dust we lay
'round old magazines.
Fluorescent lighting sets the scene
For all we could and should be being
In the one life that we've got.

Why? Why don't we strive to be all that we can be?

And when we do try, why do people hold us back?

I'm stuck.

Everybody says that time heals everything.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?

We are alive. Here and now. What are we waiting for? 

"The story of my life, I can't quite comprehend."

"Walls" -The Rocket Summer

And that's exactly how I feel right now.

The Rocket Summer, a one-man-band of the outstandingly talented Bryce Avary, has been my heart's musical true love all throughout high school. And in my senior year, I love him just as much as I did freshman year.

Songs like this, are the reason why.

And you got nowhere else to go

And you’re lost within your own home
And you’re trying so hard to win
You keep trying its embarrassing

We try. We always try to win. I know I am, and lately I'm losing. All of the heart that Bryce put into this song, I can feel.

I’ll help you break the walls down.
I’ll help you break the walls down.
And bust you out, and take you home.
Believe in me you are not alone.
I’ll help you break the walls down.

Sometimes, we're trapped inside of ourselves: inside our worries, our hate, our sorrow. Sometimes, we need someone to break the walls down.

And all the weight will carry
Will disappear and I will willingly
Embrace your soul
Lay your head
So come on home
Come on home
Come on home

I can't say it any better than that.

"The waves are crashing, scary but inviting."

"Parrots In The Tropical Trees" -Breathe Owl Breathe

As I reviewed Incubus after I saw them in concert, I'm reviewing a song by this little indie folk band by the name of Breathe Owl Breathe.

There's parrots in the tropical trees,
And the ocean, the ocean breeze.

This song is incredible in the fact that with nothing more than a banjo, a synth keyboard, and simple percussion, they can create music that makes you feel like you're in a hammock that's swaying in the jungle breeze in the tropical trees on a rocky ocean cliff with the waves crashy beneath you. The lyrics are perfect imagery as well:

The giraffe stretches out its long neck
To the leaves it has not reached yet.
And I am no giraffe,
that's why I swing in a hammock.

It's quirky, and it's catchy. But there's an underlying meaning in some of the lyrics:

I was ok when I first moved away,
but now I'm in too deep.
I wear my pain like a lion wears its mane,
I wish you were here with me.

And:

I've lost somebody, I've lost somebody too.
There's always a storm ready to wash away everything you knew.
This is how long my love lives on.

It's ironic. With a plucky banjo and a lively melody, the sadness in the lyrics doesn't seem to fit and can be overlooked by the way the song sounds.

There's nothing like being alone in a beautiful place, being without someone to share it with.

Tidal wave, what give you the entitlement to wash me away?
That's my love in the flood, this is how long I can hold on.

"I lean against the wind, pretend that I am weightless."

In honor of seeing Incubus in the flesh this past Wednesday, I'm creating my first post about one of their songs. I also named my blog from this song, and chose a picture of Brandon Boyd for the background. I'm in love, at the moment.

"Wish You Were Here" -Incubus
From a band that has been playing music for over twenty years, this song remains a classic. It's simple: two verses and a chorus. The verses are full of graceful imagery...

I dig my toes into the sand
The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds
strewn across a blue blanket
I lean against the wind
pretending I am weightless
and in this moment I am happy, happy...

And Brandon lets you see and feel exactly what he's experiencing. And then the chorus is a simple repetition of  the line: "I wish you were here." He is not lonely, but he is alone. And he wants someone there, to share this moment with.

I lay my head unto the sand
the sky resembles a backlit canopy
with holes punched in it...

I admire Brandon's ability to write songs that look at the things we all look at, but through such a different lens. And so my friends, here is my blog. A place to view music as something more than just a melody and some lyrics. This is the birth of Backlit Canopy.