April 13th, 2010

Transcribing The Stills

Oh my god, everything sucks. Not really; it’s pretty much limited to first-world problems around here, but morale is low. And what boosts morale faster than transcribing the lyrics of popular music? Transcribing the lyrics of angry popular music (note to anyone baffled by the above: I occasionally enjoy writing down the lyrics of a song I like while I listen to it. It forces me to really examine each word; a song that I still love after I’ve done this is lyrically unimpeachable).

I started with Destoyer, but in the end I didn’t want to post the whole song because when you *do* think a lot about the lyrics, some of them sound pretty psychotic. So I’ll just post the best verse, and suggest that you watch the video above and not overthink the lyrics, because it’s pretty catchy, and also I used to live next door to where the video was filmed.

And arrows are pointed
And the archers delighted
Oh the thrill oh the smell
The shit I’ve been put through
Let angels to no one [I think I have that line wrong, but the principles of the game preclude looking it up]
Well I hate you and your blood
So don’t make a goddamn sound
Well I’m comin’ well I’m comin’
To your town

I ended up doing The Stills’ “In the Beginning” which is vaguer but still wrathful. Also, I can’t find a good video for this, but you can hear it off their CBC3 page.

This story ends in bloodshed
The face I love
The city I’m from
Well the persons I’ve met
The persons I’ve let down
But our hero never turns around

It’s nice to see you’re moving on
I know hard to carry on
And it’s just never what it was
Oh in the beginning
In! the beginning!

And how did this start
And when did we begin
In a ball of fire and stars and soot [I think I have that line wrong]
And that brings me here now
Well my heart’s caving in
A tornado whips it round the poles
And it’s –rainin’

Oh!

It’s nice to see you’re movin’ on
I know it’s hard to carry on
And it’s never what it was
Was in the beginning
Well in! the beginning!

[bridge]

In a ball of fire
In a ball of fire
[do do do do do]
In a ball of…
[do do do do do]

Anyway, in case you didn’t pick it up, I totally love The Stills, and I feel their stoic deadpan guitar-fuelled rage is exactly in keeping with my own. Hope this has been a good pitch for them–you don’t even have to listen to their music exclusively when you’re angry!

RR