So change your blue star to gold

Sullivan by Caroline's Spine was released in 1997, and boy do I remember it. This was my favorite song until I turned eight-ish. A few years ago when I learned about the Sullivan brother’s in class, I realized what the song truly meant.

There were five Sullivan brothers: Albert, Madison, George, Joseph, and Francis. There were no daughters in the family. They lived in Waterloo, Iowa during World War Two. All five of them were drafted and served in the Navy- on the same ship (USS Juneau) in the South Pacific. The ship was sunk and all of them were killed (technically they were missing in action). Since then, military forces of the United States will not put siblings together in the same bases, ships, etc., to keep one family from losing so much. If you’ve seen Saving Private Ryan, you understand this.

The entire song feels like a dream or a memory, recalling their lives and memories. The guitar riff is very repetitive, and although it is at a more rapid tempo the constant repeat makes you feel like you’re in a big bowl of Jell-O and everything is wavy around you (or maybe that’s just me. I’m also pretty hungry right now, and Jell-O sounds great). All of the instruments become quieter when the lyrics are sang, which puts emphasis not only on the phrasing but on the story itself. The lyrics make me think that this song is a tribute to them and their mother.

            “It’s not hard to reach back to the days after the attack on Pearl. Overnight my buddies turned into men, running out of time for games and girls. And the Sullivan boys were not overlooked, Uncle Sam had called each by name. The very next day they left on a mystery train.” The singer tells the story as if he were there, saying that his friends changed and were drafted.

            “It’s not hard to reach back to the day when the war finally came home. Uncle Sam will send you a telegram so he doesn’t have to tell you over the phone. I heard she cracked up when she found out what the war had cost- when all five of her boys were lost…...So say goodbye, bye, bye, Mrs. Sullivan. Go ahead and cry, cry, cry, cry, cry. We regret to inform you that all your sons have passed away. All five, five, five, five. So change your blue star to gold.” This woman gave all five of her sons to America and they send her a telegram telling her their gone and to change her blue star (to signify that the family has one fighting) to a gold star (to show that someone in the family died in the war). Families proudly displayed these stars in their front windows, but I don’t think the pride of having a loved one serve is enough to console a person.

An image of a star blue star:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Blue_Star_Service_Banner.svg
An image of a gold star:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Gold_Star_Service_Banner.svg


Sullivan by Caroline's Spine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAxQRX_A2Dc

Talk to Jesus Christ, as if he knows the reasons why!

So here’s my first post with some inappropriate or vulgar language. Judith is a great song though, so calm yourselves.

 

 

 

A Perfect Circle is a band my mom has listened to ever since I can remember. Maynard James Keenan is the band’s lead singer and also did a lot of work for Tool when A Perfect Circle went dormant in 2004. Keenan was a huge momma’s boy and was devastated when she died. When Maynard was 11, his mother suffered a paralyzing cerebral aneurysm and later died of the complications. She was a very devote Catholic, and her son clearly displays his feelings for his mother’s faith in Judith, the song I’m reviewing today.

            “You’re such an inspiration for the ways that I will never ever chose to be. Oh so many ways for me to show you how your savior has abandoned you. F*ck your god! Your lord and your Christ! He did this, took all you had and left you this way. Still you pray, still you never stray, never taste the fruit, you never thought to question why.” It amazes me how so much rage can be formulated into words that ebb and flow with the music like mixing sugar into water. They meld together expressing Maynard’s rage at a god who his mother worshiped and loved so contently. Maynard expresses that she never strayed from her faith, “never taste of the fruit” (a relation to Adam and Eve no doubt), and yet this god still allowed her to be paralyzed for much of her life and allowed her to die.

            “It’s not like you killed someone! It’s not like you drove a hateful spear through his side! Praise the one who left you broken down and paralyzed. He did it all for you!” After doing some research on his mother I find that she was a caring person and was liked by many. So why would an almighty who loves us do such a thing to someone like this? Maynard makes an excellent and powerful point, which leads many to a vital question about life: why do bad things happen to good people?

            This is why I personally do not believe in a god. People spend so much time worshiping and praying just to get squashed like bugs. If you ask me, god is a kid with a magnifying glass who’s frying us with the sunlight. Judith’s god abandoned and betrayed her. Why?

 

I could not find a clean link...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRl7NEh2HBk

 

Then it saddens me to say what we both knew was true

Death Cab for Cutie is a more modern indie/alternative band formed in Washington in 1997. Lead singer and writer Ben Gibbard is a recovering alcoholic from Washington State. Chris Walla is the lead guitarist, Nick Hammer on bass, and Nathan Good on drums. The band has seven albums, and have left their underground status when they signed to major label Atlantic in 2004. Since then they have gained plenty of fans- short and tall.

The Ice is Getting Thinner by Death Cab for Cutie is a really grim song. I love it, but whenever I hear it I can't help but think of dramatic love stories that fall through. My favorite thing about the music over all is that the bass line is the most prominent. It’s a simple, slow line repeated over and over. But it has a ring. When I hear it I think of when I have bad days and everything seems to lose its color. I don’t hear people speaking to me, I don’t comprehend what’s taking place around me. Everything is just a blur and the world is moving normally without me. Or falling through a black void that never ends. When this song is played I go numb and want to go back to bed and let the world go on without me. What I find brilliant is that the song is just the same few notes over and over for every instrument. The bass being the lowest instrument presented is the loudest to highlight the death of their love. The tune repeats itself over and over- like a romance that has fizzled out of its passion.

            “Were not the same dear, as we use to be. The seasons have changed and so have we. There was little we could say, and even less that could do to stop the ice from getting thinner between me and you.” Already I need a hug.

            “We buried our love in a wintery grave. A lump in the snow was all that remained. Though we stayed by its side as the days turned to weeks, the ice kept getting thinner with every word wed speak.” So this is going to get happy, right? Things rarely end sadly..

            “When spring arrived we were taken by surprise when the flows under our feet bled into the sea and was nothing left of you and me.” So their relationship isn’t going to work out. Youch. I feel a ping of pain every time I hear that. To think that a relationship between two people could just leave nothing left.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgRVeNMoU2c

And so today, my world smiles.

I'll kick off this blog with one of my favorites- Thank You, by Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin consists of four men: Robert Plant, the vocalist, Jimmy Page, the guitarist, John Paul Jones, the bassist, and John Bottom, the drummer (RIP). Led Zeppelin is a rock band formed in London, England around 1968. Thank You came from their second self-titled album, which was released on October 22^nd, 1969. The song was written by Page and Plant, who wrote all of Zeppelin’s songs.

 

Thank You is the most beautiful love song ever written. Not only well written lyrics, but excellent music. The soft acoustic line mixed with the still fairly hyper drumming is insane. How John Bottom and Jimmy Page were able to meld two very differing instruments is intoxicating to me. Though out the song, if the drums are not laying down a driving rhythm, the guitar is picking up the slack by gently pushing a simple melody on the ears. Using this, the song fades in at the beginning and fades out at the end, which is an excellent touch with the light organ tune in the background. The organ is an odd instrument which is incredibly hard to play (who played it for the recording, I don’t know), like a piano on steroids. The music paints a picture of being on a hill on a spring day; it’s a little chilly and the wind is to your back while you look down the hill peacefully. Maybe I’m just a little too into it though.

 

When I first heard the lyrics, a chill ran down my spine. “If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.” Nothing like ‘oh yeah you’re pretty and you make awesome mac and cheese’ NO. Plant went straight for the real meaning; that nothing would stop his love or even hinder it. He went deep and came back successfully, his words not sounding cliché or jumbled. “Little drops of rain, whispers of the pain, tears of love lost in the days gone by. My love is strong, for you is no wrong. Together we shall go until we die. Inspiration is what you are to me, inspiration, look see.” I mean dang! If that didn’t seriously move you, read it again. This song is so honest that the inspiration didn’t just come out of nowhere. Someone made Plant feel so happy that he feel into an insane love with them and wrote these lyrics.

 

Link to the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDo9AE5r8w