Song Analysis: Aly & AJ - "Speak for Myself"

Intrepid readers: It's been a while, but my schedule has recently cleared up so hopefully that will give me more postin' time. I have a few ideas for posts in the works, that I didn't have a chance to do because of business. In the meantime, sure been a while since I've done a song analysis, so here's the newest entry in this occassional series:

Previous song analyses:
Hilary Duff - "So Yesterday"
Lee Ann Womack - "I'll Think of a Reason Later"
Natasha Bedingfield - "Stumble"
Charlotte Church - "Moodswings (to Come at Me Like That"

Youtube: "Speak for Myself" (ugh, accompanied to Zack and Cody content. I recommend you listen with your eyes closed.)




Lyrics:
Do you see me, do you care?
You talk about me like I'm not there.
Don't get a word in when you're around.
I bet you don't know what I'm about.

(chorus)
'Cause I will, I will speak for myself
What you see isn't all I am
I need a place to stand
I will, I will speak for myself
There's so much you're missing
If you cared you'd listen

You suffocate me, you drown me out.
I'm tired of waiting without a doubt.
I feel I'm fading, I flicker out.
My heart is screaming without a sound
(chorus)

I'm not sorry for who I am
Take it or leave it
It's my time to take a stand
Throw it or keep it
Know that I don't mean to understand
Won't say it again
(chorus)

Song Analysis/Comments: This song contains the pained, pleading lyrics and the anguished, piercing voices that characterize much of Aly & AJ's best work ("Not This Year", "No One", etc.). The song has no immediately straightforward interpretation, other than that it's obviously a triumphant anthem to standing up for yourself. But as to who is keeping her down and whose grasp she is freeing herself from, I suppose there's no definitive answer, at least not one that I'm aware of. But that won't stop me from analyzing away!

OK, so where are we getting at with this song? First verse plays through pretty standard ignoring lyrics. She is not noticed, they don't care about her, they leave her on the outside (shades of Jordan Pruitt here, though it's worth mentioning this song predates "Outside Looking In" by a good year). And it obviously bugs them. Heck, when you care about somebody and want them to like you and you can't even get them to acknowledge that you exist, that rubs wrong. And the girls (believe it's AJ, but I could be wrong) sing it with just a heartbreakingly anguished and pinched tone to their voice. The very tone to her voice and inflections on the phrasing imply an intense pleading, as if they are pleading to be noticed. Then we go into the chorus, which is just one big kiss off of a "If you don't wanna notice me that's your own fault". Hey, their self esteem doesn't rest on what the popular people thing of them. They are their own girls, and they are gonna do their thing and screw anybody else who doesn't like them. Very triumphant thing to hear from the high school girls. Or, on the other hand, is it a triumphant kiss off to an inattentive boyfriend? I can speak for myself, and you don't really know me, and if you REALLY loved me, you'd want to get to know me.

The second verse plunges way deeper into the despair than the prior ones. It's so melancholy in fact, that it makes me doubt the certainty with which the chorus is presented. Really, she's "suffocating", her heart is "screaming without a sound"? I find the last line in this verse to be extremely fascinating, though I'm still not sure if it actually means anything. This very verse in fact, makes me doubt that it's an anti-bully sentiment, as it seems to be sung to a boyfriend who is treating her badly. That's an interpretation that I tend to reject because they don't seem to sing about relationships and love very frequently, but this really seems like a level of emotional pain that is beyond what we would typically expect from the schoolyard bullies. But on the other hand, it is still fairly consistent with that interpretation.

One way or another, in any event, the song is about getting yourself noticed in the fact of inattentiveness. And not getting yourself noticed by pretending to be somebody else, but of putting yourself out there, in the face of all who have done you wrong, and daring them to get to know the real you. Daring them to stare you down. Only, the air of anguish and of defeat permeates the entire song. The girls' voice just adds an extra layer of despair atop the whole thing that's almost crushing, even when it's triumphant. Even when they are kissing off their opressors, you never forget what they are standing up against. That they are standing up, but that they are still hurt. And that it's OK to let these people hurt you, as long as you are willing to do something about it. But just the decision to stand up for yourself doesn't take the despair away. That's what I think is really going on underneath this seemingly straightforward triumph here. This song is a perfect example of how the vocals can affect the interpretation of the lyrics.

What's the moral of the story here, after all that rambling nonsense: You need to stand up for yourself and never stop being yourself. But, standing up for yourself is hard, and the mere decision to do so doesn't take away all the pain people have caused you. But that's what makes it even more important to do so! This song makes me feel really bad for the girls. It makes me want to go out and slap whoever this song was written about.

Or is it just about trying to be religious in the face of a sinful world? Is it about being crushed and suffocated and ignored in the face of a world that glorifies sins such as violence and lust and turns its nose at the fundamentalists? In a nation where more than half of people say they are Christian but that turn their noses up at public Christian displays. Is it about being yourself, and rubbing it in the nose of that world, and triumphing over sin and not letting the world get what it wants. And I am gonna speak your mind and be myself, and if you only listened to me you would understand.

Aly & AJ's lyrics are constantly toeing the line between the religious and the secular and that is one of the things I find most fascinating about them. I mean, listen, I don't agree with any of the above sentiments, but I love the way that they have managed to integrate their evangelical Christianity into their lyrics without beating our head over them. These aren't explicitly Christian lyrics here, and they can't possibly be offensive to anybody, as they can just as easily be interpreted in a secular way. But if you listen to the song with that interpretation specifically in mind, it falls out pretty naturally, and I can't believe that's just a coincidence. And listen, again, just to make things perfectly clear here, I find their brand of evangelical Christianity (or at least what I know of it from their interviews, etc.) to be rather distateful, but at least they are being real. I get the impression from listening to Into the Rush that this album, this really is a document of Aly & AJ. A kind of sense I don't get from, say, Fall Out Boy or Hannah Montana or Paris Hilton or most pop stars. And if evangelical Christianity is clearly a part of who they are, then by gum, that's what I wanna hear.

Continuing on the above point, I've been doing a lot of self-reflection lately, and thinking about what it is exactly that draws me so heavily towards teen pop. I love pop music in general, and I love lots of different types of music, but lately it's the teen pop that's been drawing me in. And it's just the intense personal nature of it. I just get this despaired sense of real personal nature from Ashlee and from Jordan Pruitt and from Aly & AJ, like they are too young to know that you shouldn't really put yourself out on the record like that. And when I can listen to the album and really feel like I've gotten to know and love the singer/songwriters of that album, that to me is the height of the music listening experience. And I get that experience from lots of different genres, but I think teenpop is where I've found the most raw emotions, the most ebullient love and the most despairing sadness, and the most crushing loneliness, etc., etc. And you hear it all on Into the Rush: the high highs and the low lows (but, yeah, the low lows are presented a lot more convincingly than the high highs. The girls know how to pull off drama.) And you've got the explicitly relgious songs ("Protecting Me") and the explicitly secular songs ("Chemicals React") and the maybe religious, maybe secular songs (this song, "Rush"), and it all adds up to Aly & AJ. Or if it doesn't actually add up to who Aly & AJ really are, it all adds up to somebody and something, and who I love and identify with isn't really Aly & AJ but is "Aly & AJ", as an image they calculatedly present of themselves. Heck, I don't care. It's something.

The point being, of all this fractured prose, that there are a lot of different interpretations to this song, and I don't even know myself which one I'd lean towards. Is it an anti-bullying sentiment, or a kiss off to an inattentive boyfriend, or a song about remaining Christian in a secular world? It's all 3! I picked this song partly as an excuse to run that real emotions rant, but also to highlight a song with multiple interesting interpretations and to highlight a song where the vocal performance really adds to the lyrics.

Final Rating: A powerhouse vocal effort, truly anguished lyrics, and one heck of a catchy melody make this my favorite album track off of their debut effort and one of my top 5 favorite Aly & AJ songs overall ("Not This Year" --> "Rush" --> "Greatest Time of Year" --> This song --> "Chemicals React"). 8.5/10.

Song Analysis: Hilary Duff - "So Yesterday"

I urge everybody to check out "Take a Walk" by Sara Paxton, currently linked in my sidebar, if you don't know it already.

In some ways, "So Yesterday" is a pretty important song in my musical autobiography, and I liked it at the time for very specific reasons I'll get into below. Before I get into it, really briefly on American Idol (I'll post a full update on my thoughts in another week or 2 once the chaff [Paul Kim] is gone and we've seen a few more performances).

The guys: Liked Blake, Chris Sligh and Brandon Rogers were OK but kinda boring, didn't really care for any of the others. One of the weakest AI shows I've ever seen. Sanjaya has the least stage performance I've ever seen in an American Idol contestant, it truly is stunning. Let's see if his cuteness carries him through. Favorites: Blake; Voted For: Nobody; Would Like to See Go Home: Sundance and Paul Kim

The girls: Wow, way better than the guys. But extremely retro. I generally have liked the more current voices among American Idol contestants, but the group is just so talented. Agreed with the judges for the most part: Lakisha, Melinda, Jordin, and Steph all very good. I thought the judges went a bit overboard in their Lakisha praise. My problem with Lakisha is that I don't like that song and I still have a lot of trouble emotionally connecting with that type of singing. Only counterexamples I can think of are Mariah and "I Will Always Love You" (not even Aretha, really). In any event, I liked Melinda better. I liked Gina a lot, though she was a little off pitch. Antonella was awful, I've done a complete 180 on her. I really, really like Leslie Hunt, even though her performance wasn't the best; I love her for real crazy personality. She's not the best performer, but it's good to see some vocal restraint UITP, I like her smoky voice a lot, and she's the most entertaining remaining contestant, to me at least. Favorites: Melinda, Jordin, Leslie, Gina; Voted For: Leslie (I felt like she needed my help); Want to See Go Home: Antonella, Nicole

That went on a little longer than intended, here's the main content:

Lyrics:
You can change your life (if you wanna)
You can change your clothes (if you wanna)
If you change your mind
Well that's the way it goes
But I am gonna keep your jeans
and your old black hat (cause I wanna)
They look good on me
You're never gonna get them back

At least not today, not today, not today

Chorus:
If it's over let it go and
Come tomorrow it will seem
So yesterday, so yesterday
I'm just a bird that's already flown away
Laugh it off and let it go and
when you wake up it will seem
So yesterday, so yesterday
Haven't you heard that I'm gonna be OK

You can say you're bored (if you wanna)
You can act real tough (if you wanna)
You can say you're torn
But I've heard enough
Thank you, you made my mind up for me
When you started to ignore me
Will you see a single tear?
It isn't gonna happen here.

At least not today, not today, not today

CHORUS

If you're over me I'm already over you
If it's all been done what is left to do
How can you hang up if the line is dead
If you wanna walk I will step ahead
If you're moving on I'm already gone
If the light is off then it isn't on

At least not today, not today, not today

CHORUS

Song Analysis/Comments: Seemingly very simple and straightforward lyrics, that are rather easy to interpret. Which they are. Clearly, her boyfriend isn't paying very much attention to her, so she's decided to pre-emptively break up with him. She's made up her mind and is telling him to go ahead and get over it now. Very Kelly Clarkson-ish, and I actually like the lyrics to this one. Simple, but very effective. Now for story time, and we can see why I chose this song for a song analysis.

This was Hilary Duff's third "Disney single", by my recollection, following "I Can't Wait" and "Why Not". At the time this song came out (2003) I was in college, and I would pretty regularly watch repeats of Even Stevens and Lizzie Mcguire, having largely missed the boat on these shows earlier. And they would show the videos for those songs a whole lot. Remember, Hilary Duff was their first big breakout star, and they were pushing her music career hard. Anyways, I really disliked both songs, as I was very indie at the time. (Still don't like "Why Not", "I Can't Wait" is pretty good). My initial reaction to "So Yesterday" was the same: stupid pop crap. But then, I slowly started to like it. Finally, I had to admit to myself that it was a good song, which horrified me. It was a small but significant step to my curret poptimism/teenpoptimism.

What I loved about the song then, and still love now, and what I want to talk about, is the "At least not today, not today, not today" part. The first verse builds up with very definitive lyrics. We start by noting that he can change whatever he wants and it's not gonna help him get her back. Nosiree, she's made up her mind. Not only that, but she's stealing your stuff too, and you are gonna like it. Very self-assured, harsh lyrics, and Hilary delivers them with the best self-assured sneer she can muster up. Which is kinda cute. The musical tone of the acoustic guitar then lightens up significantly as we get to "At least not today, not today, not today". Ha, this is somebody trying to convince herself she's made up her mind. She knows he's bad for her but can't let go. Interesting to note there's significant overdubbed harmony on this line too, which also softens it up a lot. Makes it sound very vulnerable.

The second verse is even more so. "Will you see a single tear? It isn't gonna happen here." Not even sad! Well, at least not today! What I like about the line at all is that it inserts a nice bit of vulerability in a song into an otherwise straight ahead breakup number. Which, in my opinion at least, makes it more real and allows me to connect with it more. I can really empathize with Hilary here, wanting to do the right thing, and forcing yourself to pretend that you have enough strength to do it. Welling all your strength up into doing the action itself, and leaving none behind for the aftermath.

Many songs seem to just pick one mood and go with it. Like "I'm over you" or "I still love you" or "I wish you loved me" or whatever. But I think it's more real when there's several emotions swimming together in your mind together. Which is why I love "Moodswings" so much, incidentally. Rather than integrate the several moods into the course of the song though, like "Moodswings" or "Hear Me", the song just provides a bit of self doubt as a counterbalance to the anger in the rest of the song. So rather than having wishy-washy "I wanna break up with you because you don't like me much, but I'm not too sure and I still like you and...", they convey each emotion separately, in turn. And that's the kind of crap I love, injecting a whole new layer of meaning on top of a song with just one simple line! Of course, if it's not executed perfectly, that's also the kind of thing that can come back to bite you. But I'd say they convey the vulnerability and woundedness of her rather perfectly with the line.

These days I like a lot more about the song than just that one line, and I'm relatively unashamed to admit my Duff love, but it's still what propels the song into greatness for me.

FINAL RATING: The song has an extremely catchy melody and deceptively deep, complex lyrics. It's not as good as "Come Clean" or "Fly", but it's up there. 9.5/10.

Great Lyrics: Lee Ann Womack - "I'll Think of a Reason Later"

I was gonna write a full song analysis tonight, but I kinda realized that the song I wanted to do an analysis of (Lee Ann Womack's "I'll Think of a Reason Later", for those of you not into reading titles) doesn't need one, as the lyrics are extremely straightforward. There is no trickery, and as far as I can tell the musicality of the song does not enhance the lyrics at all. I'm going to print the lyrics here anyways, since they demonstrate something I wanna talk about a bit. The song's not available on Youtube or any other free listening site as far as I can tell, boo! Anyways, I recommend you download (or legally buy!) the song, because it's great!

Here are the lyrics, before I get too ahead of myself:

I heard he was gone to marry some girl from Denver.
Then my sister came over, had the Sunday paper with her.
There was the girl on the social page,
loooking in love and all engaged.
We decided she don't take a very good picture.

It may be my family's redneck nature
Rubbin' off, bringin' out unladylike behavior.
It sure ain't Christian to judge a stranger,
But I don't like her.
She may be an angel who spends all winter
Bringing the homeless blankets and dinner.
A regular Nobel Peace Prize winner,
but I really hate her.
I'll think of a reason later.

I drew horns and blacked out her tooth with a marker.
Childish, yes, but she made such a thin little target.
I couldn't be happier on my own,
But I've got the slightest of a jealous bone,
And seein' her with him tends to enlarge it.

It may be my family's redneck nature
Rubbin' off, bringin' out unladylike behavior.
It sure ain't Christian to judge a stranger,
But I don't like her.
She may be an angel who spends all winter
Bringing the homeless blankets and dinner.
A regular Nobel Peace Prize winner,
but I really hate her.
I'll think of a reason later.

Inside her head may lie all the answers
To curin' diseases from baldness to cancer.
The salt of the earth and a real good dancer,
But I really hate her.
I'll think of a reason later.

(Well, it was just one tooth.)
(Did I mention I don't particularly care for her.)
(She makes me sick.)

Reasons this song has great lyrics:
1. It has a great story and simple theme that is used in a few other songs but not so many other songs as to make it totally overdone. I can't really think of another song that deals with quite this aspect of your ex hooking up witha new lover.
2. It doesn't need a whole lot of words to say what it's got to say. It gets its message across then rides off into the sunset
3. The lyrics are genuinely funny and nearly have made me laugh out loud on some occassions (though, admittedly, some of the humor is in the performance too). I love love love the "thin little target" line. Also where it punches in with the "We decided she don't take a very good picture" out of nowhere.
4. It's a country song that is anti-redneck! Take that red states!
5. It demonstrates that songs don't have to be serious and oblique to have great lyrics. Anybody could listen to the song once and instantly understand (and probably identify with) the message to the song, and it's entirely tongue in cheek the entire way. But the lyrics are still great! Back when I was indie (a.k.a. "The Dark Years") I used to only respect (and I get the idea that a lot of people still do this) songs that had obtuse, inscrutable lyrics with multiple interpretations. Or only one correct interpretation but it's hard to get to. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, etc. And a song as tongue and cheek as this is a silly little throwaway novelty hit; maybe good for fun but not to be seriously enjoyed. Anyways, this song demonstrates that silly and very straightforward songs can have great lyrics if they can pick a good theme and consistently turn good phrases, as this song does. [Not that serious or inscrutable or general or vague songs can't have good lyrics too, of course.]

Song gets a 10/10, it's one of my 10 favorite country singles of the 90s.

As a bonus, here's another great song with great lyrics that takes the same general idea and goes a different way with it [Note: Setting the line breaks in these lyrics was really hard]:

Well he used to be mine, not so very long ago.
I was crazy to ever let him get away.
But girl you should know better,
than to go braggin' in my face.
So forgive me for what I'm 'bout to say.

Big deal.
So what.
Who cares.
You just got lucky, that's all it was. Shut up.
Don't wanna hear another word about candlelight and long-stem roses
And how you've fallen head over heels
In love.
So what.
Big deal.

He's perfect, I heard ya
the first ten times that you told me, yeah yeah
It's amazing, it's lovely, I can't believe I let him go
I regret it, there I said it.
You call yourself a friend but you just keep rubbin' it in.

Big deal.
So what.
Who cares.
You just got lucky, that's all it was. I swear.
If I hear another word about candlelight and long-stem roses
And how you've fallen head over heels
In love.
So what.
Big deal.

Congratulations I'm just so happy for you
I can't contain the way I feel.

[Chorus repeats a few times to close out.]

Youtube: LeAnn Rimes - "Big Deal"

Miscellaneous note: This one goes with the angle of pretending not to care when she clearly does, which is another nice angle to take on the matter. Lyrics have a nice sense of humor but are more anguished and definitely less funny than "I'll Think of a Reason Later". So I guess it's a matter of taste, but I prefer the Womack one. Anyways, this is probably my favorite LeAnn Rimes song. This or "Commitment".

Meta: I was at a Sara Evans concert on Thursday night and I'll probably put something down on that this weekend. Jordan Pruitt album comes out this Friday, and I'll be posting a review of that sometime soon (as I have gotten my hands on an advance copy). Plus there will be a real song analysis coming soon. My queue on that is growing, but the plan as of right now is to do "So Yesterday" then some Sheryl Crow song, maybe "My Favorite Mistake". Plus other stuff too, if I think of it I guess. Maybe some non-musical stuff but I haven't been watching much of TV lately and I don't really watch movies, so whatever. Still waiting on Unfabulous to come back on...(screw you Nick).

Song Analysis: Natasha Bedingfield - "Stumble"

The Song: Featured on the American release of her Unwritten album, Natasha Bedingfield's "Stumble" was never a single. But yet, it's a rather lovely little acoustic rock number that would have contended for top 50-ish single of the year had it ever been released. It's the only song on the album not cowritten by Ms. Bedingfield, which may make it seem like I'm slighting her. But I'm not! Her songs are great too, and some are even better than this one ("Unwritten", "The One That Got Away")! But this was the one I felt like analyzing, so that's where I'm going with it. No offense intended TashBed, you are a great songwriter!!

Youtube: "Stumble" [Not that anybody does what I say, but listen to this before you read the review if you don't know the song. The song depends on misdirection so it's better if you are "unspoiled"].

Lyrics:
I'm not the kind of girl you bring to mother
I'm not the kind of girl you kiss in public
My manners leave a lot to be desired
At least i'm not a liar

And I'm not about the subtle innuendo,
More likely to throw rocks up at your window
We'll walk on eggshells so you don't hear
The crazy things I'm saying when you get near me
I'd rather disappear than be faking it, anyway

CHORUS
You like me, yeah, I know it
You're so transparent
How you stumble 'round those words so well
You like me, there I said it
Don't need a dictionary helping me
'Cause I can spell

My foot was in my mouth the day I met you,
All my friends they said I'd never get you
But they don't know it when they see it
They need glasses to believe it
They dont understand, so be it
What can I say, anyway?

CHORUS
You like me, yeah, I know it
You're so transparent
How you stumble 'round those words, so well
You like me, there I said it
Don't need a dictionary
Helping me, cause I can tell

By the way you turn me on to your favourite band,
By the way you pour me coffee when I'm too tired to stand,
The way you lift me up when I'm fading,
Breathe me in when I'm suffocating
Don't say that it's just because you can

Don't be stupid, thinking I've misjudged you
I know enough to know when someone trusts you
Why fight it now, It isn't gonna hurt you, anyway

CHORUS

Song Analysis: I love a good misdirection based song, and this is one of the ones I've been listening to a whole lot lately. The general story is about a girl who likes a guy, and thinks she likes him back too. Does he really like her back or not? It's unstated, but I have my thoughts on the matter. The story itself is nothing special, what I'll get into here is how it's told, and I'll get a little bit into how the music helps the story along.

The song opens with a rather plucky piano line and a breathy, light tone to Natasha's voice you'd expect from a love song. The first half of the first verse details all the ways in which she is imperfect, but, the verse ends, at least she tells the truth always. The next half of the verse confirms this, she is up front with her feelings and doesn't hide them in. But she's bursting; she likes this guy and she can't keep it in any longer. She can't "walk on eggshells" and just sit around being coy and quiet. She's exploding trying to fake it and has to let it out, so we get to the chorus and...

Rather than the declaration of love, as we would expect, it's a declaration of how much HE loves HER. Ha, a nice little switch up there, and one that changes the complexion of the song entirely. "You like me, there I said it" -- so what's been building up all this time, is not that SHE likes HIM (as one would naturally assume from the first verse), but how obvious it is that HE likes HER. Hey, you stumble round words and whatnot, so let's get it out into the open. Of course, the whole first verse was saying/implying that she was stumbling with words around him. But, at this point all her feelings for him are just implied, never actually stated. Note that nowhere in the chorus does it contain any response as to how she feels about him loving her. Interesting. There's a nice bit of musical misdirection here too. Like I said I don't know music theory at all, so maybe I lack the tools to properly describe it. But, from the "rather disappear than be faking it, anyways", it sounds like it's building up to a really big chorus, the big declaration of love. But the chorus is almost some kind of small breakdown. It really comes out ouf left field, just like the declaration itself! Nice synergy there. The song continues...

Verse 2 makes her feelings for him explicit, where it was only implicit from verse one. So now at least that much is unmistakeable. In fact, verse 2 is a nice bit of misdirect too, as it calls into question the very issues brought up by the declaration in the chorus. The chorus is a nice little unequivocable statement that she KNOWS that he likes her. In verse 2 we reveal that none of her friends really think that he likes her. They all know that she loves him, and think he's out of her league and that she's deluding herself. She remains undeterred. "They need glasses to believe it", kind of a weird line, but the point of this verse is clear. She likes the guy and wants to be with him, but her friends doubt the possibility of that. Verse ending line of "What can I say anyways?" is I guess supposed to be the response to her friends. She can't say anything to convince them, but she knows what she knows, as far as she is concerned. "So be it", she'll go on without them. Chorus continues with no change, except that "spell" is changed to "tell" in the last line, so as to lead into the bridge.

The bridge details all the ways that she knows he loves her. And, once again, it starts out with a nice misdirect. The line "By the way you turn me on to your favorite band" contains a brief but definitely noticeable pause between "turn me on" and "to your favorite band". Not too long as to kill the effect, but just long enough so you think the line ends at "By the way you turn me on", which would be an odd line and had my mind racing with possibilities for about a half a second before the line continued. Right, so he tells her about new music, pours her coffee when she can't be bothered to do it on her own, these are standard flirting items, though they are also gestures of simple friendship. But then it goes off onto "By the way you lift me up when I'm fading", which honestly sounds to me more like a sign that she loves him, but whatever. Then we get the immensely weird line "Breathe me in when I'm suffocating". I like this line because it sounds creepy and stalkerish (actually it sounds like a Kelly Clarkson lyric), but I don't have the first clue what it's supposed to mean. "Don't say it's just because you can" -- I know you love me and nothing you say will change my mind. Actions speak louder than words. Last chorus then song over.

Based on verse 2 and the end of the bridge, I'm going to go ahead and make the call that this is a song about how when you really, really like someone, you tend to read way too much into their actions and become convinced they like you back. A deadly, and I think fairly universal, cycle. As I see it, and stripped from all the misdirection in the song the story is as follows: TashBed sees this guy and likes him a lot. Really really likes him; a love at first sight kind of thing. Not normally accustomed to holding her feelings in, but she doesn't want to screw this up! She's friends with the guy and he does nice stuff for her and she assumes he likes her. These feelings bottling up are killing her and she wants to let them out. But rather then put herself out there on the line by saying how she likes, she couches it in terms of HIS feelings rather than HERS. So it's not like "Hey I like you tons lets go out", which makes herself vulnerable. It's "I KNOW you like me, and sure since you like me so much I'll go out with you", which allows her to maintain her cool. Whether her really likes her or not is never known and is immaterial to the song. We never do get to hear his response. But anyways, I'd run run away if I was him, this girl sounds like a creepy stalker to me. I love this story because I think a lot of us have been there before and I'm not sure if I can think of another song offhand that tells the same story. And great musical misdirection too because it just sounds, based on the instrumentation and TashBed's tone like a cute little love song and it's totally not!

FINAL RATING: The song has a nice little catchy melody to it, although it's very musically simple, and features a truly stellar vocal performance by Natasha. But the clear standout in the song are the lyrics. Constantly taking you in new directions, and featuring several surprising twists, but always grounded in a central story that I think is interesting and insightful. For a simple, silly little love song this has quite a few layers of depth to it. Should have been a single, it's a better song than "Single", at any rate. 8/10.

META COMMENTS: OK, way shorter than the Charlotte Church song review, which I think is better for everybody. Still haven't received any feedback about this, but as long as I don't receive really negative feedback I'm going to keep going ahead, because I enjoy writing these. Probably will grow less and less frequent due to laziness but whatever. Next song in the queue is "So Yesterday" by Hilary Duff, so be on the lookout for that, probably within the next couple weeks.

Song Analysis: Charlotte Church - "Moodswings"

I don't know how much interest there is in stuff like this from my readers, but I love doing analyses of songs. It's one of my favorite parts of running a blog. So, I figured why not make a semi-regular feature out of this. It's my one man combat to try to prove that pop music can and does have some depth to it. I'm going to start with my #21 favorite single of 2006, "Moodswings (to Come at Me Like That)" by Charlotte Church. Just to say right off the bat, I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about music theory, so this is inherently a non-academic discussion. But if you have anything of an academic nature to say about the song, feel free to chime in.

This is a teenpop song because Charlotte was a teen when it was released, even if it sounds nothing like what we would normally thing of as teenpop. Maye one of my Brit readers out there can clue me in to how this was marketed (i.e. which demographic it was primarily marketed towards).

Youtube: "Moodswings" (You should really listen to the song before reading the analysis).

Lyrics:
Now first of all I
Wanna let you know that
I've been known for some
Minor moodswings, now and then.
It all started back when
People were doing me wrong and
Because of my position
I would hold my tongue for them.
Bad relationships, and people I thought were friends and
People judging me, before they get to know a thing.
When you decided to step to me
It shows me so clearly
You just wanna see, see the other side of me.

Chorus: And you dont know what I'm going through and
You might think it's all about you.
But its everything, I've been holding back.
It's just bad timing
To come at me like that.

I try to keep my cool, thus,
That's what I try to do but
It's so hard dealing with
People just like you.
I try to walk away from
Situations that run
Into complications
That make me lose control.
If I give in to you then
It's what you want me to do
And if I lose my cool
Then I'm only pleasing you.
You know just how to push me.
My temperature is rising.
Blood pressure is building.
I'm about to lose control.

Chorus

I'm sorry did I,
Did I cross the line?
I Tried to warn you away
Way ahead of time.
I'm so frustrated that I
Feel like I could cry.
This could be the time
But I'm not going out like that.

Chorus x 2
To come at me like that x3

Song Analysis: The lyrics describe a fairly simple story, where somebody who has been hurt by past relationships is not quite ready for a new relationship. And so while she rather likes this new guy she's met, she just cannot be with him, and is telling him that. This is a woman who is not completely devestated by their last relationship, it's somebody who is in that phase where they appear to be happy on the surface but can be touched off by any of the slightest old thing (the same phase of a breakup captured in "Behind These Hazel Eyes"). This is a guy who has caught her in one of her "good times" and thinks that she's always fun and light and happy. She's warning him that she's not always like that, and it's not worth getting into a relationship with her at this point. It's "It's not you, it's me" in song form. Except that I take the lyrics on the surface and presume she's being on the up-and-up rather than giving some kind of lame breakup excuse. And I really love some of the lyrics to this song, especially the beginning sentence "Now first of all I/Wanna let you know that/I've been known for some/Minor moodswings, now and then." Starting off in a very understated way, saying "minor moodswings" and opening the song seemingly in the middle of a conversation and relationship. So it's all a bit disorienting to start out, such as who is she talking to and why is she having moodswings, etc. OK, a simple story stated in sometimes great ways, but mostly with fairly straightforward lyrics. Most of all I admire the minimalism of the lyrics. No more is said than needs to be said. It seemingly picks up in the middle of a conversation, and precisely why this is "bad timing" is never referenced or stated. But it doesn't need to be! The song works perfectly well without trying to shoehorn in some kind of meaningless backstory.

What make this song truly great, is the way the structure and the sound of the song reinforce and enhance the meaning of the song. I love crap like that in music (see also, say, "Everywhere" or "Since U Been Gone" or "Friends in Low Places"). Notice how random the line breaks are in the lyrics above (I got these off of a lyrics website which are sometimes unreliable but those line breaks are accurate). They break totally randomly, not just in the middle of sentences but in the middle of thoughts and phrases and clauses. The verses are all sung at a very understated and rambling talking-style cadence, though she is singing. So even though she's completely singing, it has a really conversational feel to it. The last note of each line is dragged out which enhances the line breaks, making the sound of it all even odder. The lines in the verses are far from uniform in length, and there's even variations in the melodies. So there's no real set "melody" in the lyrics as each of the lines has a slightly different melody and cadence to the previous lines, due to the differences in length and rhythm in the lyrics. All of this is backed by an extremely out of place sounding plucky and cheerful piano line in the background. Strings and guitar riffs appear in the background at seemingly random points. It's all rather odd and disorienting. But, what makes it great is that it all serves to reinforce the confusion that she is feeling about the whole situation. She likes the guy and wants to go out with him, but knows with her brain that it's a bad idea due to the timing of the situation. Very confusing time, aptly captured by the melody.

This leads into the chorus which features an immediate and abrupt shift in the musical characteristics of the song. The plucky piano line and staccato instrumentation is replaced with no transition by a fuzzed out guitar line, and prominent percussion and bass line. While the verses are sung in a very wary, talking style voice, the chorus instantly starts with a more self-assured tone, with layered harmonies. Even the "What I'm going through" line, which features no harmonies as far as I can tell, is sung in a different voice than the verses. So while the verses project an air of confusion and uncertainty, the chorus projects an air of confidence in her decision. She's decided to blow this guy off and that's final. This isn't even something you will necessarily get from the lyrics, which is one way how the musicality of the song enhances the lyrical content. But there's no transitionary prechorus in this song, it instantly flips the switch from verse to chorus, which I love in this song. From a musical standpoint, I also love how the strings in the chorus enhance the drama and build-up in the music (surely there's some musical term for this), which all ultimately pays off with the "To come at me like that" line, which is the main hook of the song. Then it instantly and abruptly switches back into the verse.

Verse two. The second verse has basically the same lyrical backdrop and melody as the first verse (keeping in mind that there really isn't any consistency in the melody here. The second verse reads as her justifying her decision to herself. She tries to avoid situations where she might meet people that she likes. Which makes her "lose control" of her actions and "lose control" because she is letting her (constantly chaning and inherently unreliable at this time) emotions get in the way of what she KNOWS is the right decision. The verse ends, instantly, with several short lines. Whereas the rest of this verse and the entire first version contain lines that are small fragments of sentences broken up over several lines, each of the last four lines of the verse are complete, self-contained sentences. A drama addled string line is layed under these lines, which gains in slight intensity as the lines do: "My temperature is rising" and "Blood control is building" underscored, appropriately, with credscendo-ing music. The the last line in the verse is "I'm about to lose control". But before she totally loses control, it goes back into the self-assured chorus, rejecting him.

The bridge is between the chorus and verse in sound. The vocals are similar to the vocals on the verse, but the musical backdrop is nothing like it. Gone are the plucky piano and staccato instruments. It's backed by a "sad" sounding string and guitar sound which give off a feel of anguish. Maybe she's confident in her decision but that doesn't mean it makes her happy. The wildcard here is the line "I'm not going out like that." I just interpret that line as a brief moment of self-doubt, rather than negating the entire lyrical content of the song previous.

OK, but then why is the song called "Moodswings", when the word only appears once in the song and even then it's in the middle of a random line in a verse. The single release is officially titled "Moodswings (to Come at Me Like That)", presumably because "To come at me like that" is the central line and main hook to the song and the executives wanted people to know what song it was by the title. Anyways, "Moodswings" certainly seems like an absolutely perfect title for the song, given not just the lyrical content, but the way the "mood" of the song seems to shift rapidly and abruptly between the verses, chorus, and bridge. Think about it, if you've got a song named "Moodswings" it'd be silly to make the song have a similar musical backdrop and singing style throughout.

The music to this song, in the way it changes so frequently, gives the impression of somebody who is deeply confused and rapidly changing her mind, exactly like the lyrics imply. When the music and the lyrics match so perfectly, it really enhances my enjoyment of the song. So what's the final story and impression we get from the song, speaking generally? So, some fellow has broken up with Charlotte or hurt her feelings, or whatever. Some time after this, she meets a new guy, she's happy and the guy likes her. (This all happens before the song even begins). But then she's starting to feel confused. She doesn't know what to think or do, because this guy makes her happy but she knows she can't stay with him. She's not ready for a relationship yet, and he's not gonna like "the other side of [her]". Amidst all this confusion, she finally decides to break up with this guy. She feels good about the decision, justifies it to herself. But then starts to feel some self doubt. It makes her sad to lose this guy, but she knows what she has to do. Song over.

Final rating: This is one of the great singles of 2006, and the best song on Charlotte Church's first pop album ("Crazy Chick" also a great song). Possibly underrated in my year end singles list, but whatever. 9/10.

Why "Not This Year" Is My Favorite Song of 2006 (Part 2)

Subtitle: Why my previous review significantly underrated Acoustic Hearts of Winter.

Read Part 1 first, or else this won't make too much sense.

Day 10 of the TCR Christmas Extravaganza (this day has at least some relation to Christmas too!)

OK, now I want to explore how my previous statements on the image of Aly & AJ, and the inherent contradictions in their image reflect upon my analysis of their music. And since this is Christmas season, I'm going to apply it to Acoustic Hearts of Winter and, remember, this whole two part post is meant to explain why "Not This Year" is my favorite song of 2006, in what has been in my opinion an incredible year for singles.

OK, before I get into "Not This Year", I need to first get into "Greatest Time of Year", which is the opening track and single on AHOW. First, here are the lyrics to the song:

"It's the greatest time of year, and it's here
Help me celebrate it
With everybody here, friends so dear
Let me simply state it
It's our favourite way to spend the holiday

There's a special kind of feeling in the air
It only happens at this time of year
When everyone is filled with love and cheer
'Cause that's what matters
Pretty paper boxes tied with bows
Walking in the sun or in the snow
We can feel the excitement growing, growing

It's the greatest time of year, and it's here
Help me celebrate it
With everybody here, friends so dear
Let me simply state it
Joy to the world and everyone
Lift up your hearts and feel the love
It's our favourite way, to spend the holiday

We can get all cozy by the fire
Turn the music up a little higher
I don't think that I could ever tire
Of being together
Decorate the tree, hang mistletoe
And stand by me
It's a picture perfect moment captured
Memories that we'll have after"

After this it repeats the chorus a few times and fades out.

Clearly this song is extremely positive about Christmas, but what is it specifically that they love about Christmas? In keeping with the separate personas idea fleshed out in the last post, there is no religious content in this song at all, even though a majority of their covers are religious . Based on these lyrics, the reason why Christmas is "the greatest time of year" is your standard: traditions, being with family and friends, everybody being more living and nicer, etc., etc. But what, specifically is their favorite way to spend the holiday? That line still seems to come out of nowhere in the chorus, but I suppose they mean that they love spending the holiday with loving friends. Anyways, the key section of the song is "There's a special kind of feeling in the air/It only happens at this time of year/When everyone is filled with love and cheer/'Cause that's what matters". THIS is what matters, that everybody is filled with love and cheer. And presumably that's what they mean when they say it's the greatest time of year. Notice that they don't mention presents just "pretty paper boxes tied up in bows". So it's just the aesthetic feel of Christmas and the way it makes other people act that they love about the season so much. Listening to this song, you obviously get the idea that they love the Christmas season. The lyrics are maybe a bit hokey and unoriginal, but they seem to be good to me, and the performance totally sells them.

I'm not sure how this song fits into the overall catalogue of Aly & AJ's work. You have 3 basic categories of Aly & AJ songs: the religious (which play into their public persona, and include songs like "Shine" and "Never Far Behind"), the inspirational/positive, but still serious and not fun ("Rush", "No One") and the sad ("I Am One of Them", "Sticks and Stones"). This song and "Chemicals React" are in categories by themselves, seemingly outside their work as a whole. But, this song does, contrary to part 1 of this post, flow directly from their public image and acting work. It's just a fun song, and certainly the type of song you might expect an evangelical Christian to sing. It's not about the religious aspects of Christmas, but it's not about the materialistic aspects of Christmas either. And unlike the majority of "happy Christmas" songs in modern pop the song IS actually about Christmas and not a veiled love song. Great tune, and I think the only genuinely positive, fun, non-religious song in their catalogue. It's an explosion of joy the likes of which they haven't done before [edit: Other than the covers, the likes of which I usually ignore because they don't fit into their work as a whole. But the covers definitely flow from their acting image]. Still don't know how "Chemicals React" fits into all this.

All of which, I think, serves to give "Not This Year" even more punch. I did my analysis of this song in the previous post, but here's a new & more in depth one. First, the lyrics:

"This Christmas card is so contrived
A mannequin looks more alive
Haven't meant a word I've written here
The page is full not one thing sincere

(chorus)
I can't, I can't
I can't, I can't take it
This is the time to smile,
I can't fake it
Please allow me the chance now
To break it down

It's not snow, It's rain coming down
And the lights are cool,
But they burn out
And I can't pull off the cheer
Not this year
Not this year
Not this year
(end chorus)

When I look into the mirror
No happiness is present here
Not supposed to whine,
Not supposed to cry
Try to hold it in, but not this time

(chorus)

Don't know, don't know
If you can hear me
I will, I will
Speak louder for you

No more whispering
Are you listening
I am pleading
I am pleading

(chorus)"

Unlike last time, let's assume this song is intended to be written and sung within the context of their other work, and analyze it based on that. This song does have the same slate of writers as "Greatest Time of Year", so this is not an unreasonable. So here we have some fun loving evangelical Christian girls, but with a really strong serious side. We have two girls who love the Christmas season, and everything that it stands for and all of the ways that it makes people feel. It makes people feel happy! and cheerful! and full of love! That's just who they are. But something is different this year....and what is it? Who knows, because it's never said. Maybe they just broke up with their boyfriend, or a family member died or whatever. I like to think it's just end of the year blues. A tough year, frustration and sadness have set in, you don't like the direction your life is headed in, who knows. The point is, this year they aren't feeling it.

And there they are writing Christmas cards, writing your standard platitudes about what a great year it's been, how happy they are, how they hope you have a happy Christmas, when suddenly they realize: I'm not feeling the Christmas cheer! They are just going through the motions and pretending to be happy. And all of this pretending is giving them stress, plus seeing everybody else so happy is just making them spiral further and further into depression. They've hit the breaking point. They're ready to break down and they can't handle putting up a front any more, they just want to scream out and cry. The pre-chorus states this excellently: "I can't, I can't I can't, I can't take it This is the time to smile, I can't fake it Please allow me the chance now To break it down". They just can't keep it up. And they can still appreciate all of the great beauty of Christmas that they sang so joyfully about in "Greatest Time of Year": "And the lights are cool," but they still have the knowledge in them deep inside that after Christmas, after all the joy and the beauty and the peace, they are still back in their misery. They can't put this off forever, and the pain will return: "But they burn out". The knowledge and dread of which can be worse than the actual feeling! This is somebody who desparately WANTS to be caught up in the Christmas season but just can't do it because of the knowledge of the sad things in their life. They are looking in the mirror, trying to salvage any semblance of happiness to exploit upon. Any nugget they can build on.

The real question is, who is this song spoken to. They only break into the "you" one time in the whole song (well three times, but they are all in the same part): "Don't know, don't know If you can hear me I will, I will Speak louder for you No more whispering Are you listening I am pleading I am pleading". This is a heartbreaking part of the song. And I think one of the things that really makes it extra affecting is that despite oblique references throughout the song to people who are forcing them or expecting them to be happy, this is the one time the person is directly referenced. I normally don't like "you" heavy songs, but "Are YOU listening" is just great. But seriously, they've tried pretending and beating around the bush but the "you" just isn't getting it. They need to just scream it out "I'M NOT HAPPY AND REFUSE TO PRETEND TO BE JUST BECAUSE IT'S CHRISTMAS. PRETENDING JUST MAKES IT ALL THAT HARD WHEN I REMEMBER THE SADNESS WILL RETURN POST CHRISTMAS." And I don't interpret the pleading as literal begging, but just the silent desparation that seems to characterize this song. This is somebody who really doesn't want to rock the boat. Who doesn't want to ruin everybody's Christmas by saying that she can't get into this year. It's a quiet pain that she's been suffering, and she's just begging to be let free of it. But she can't just sit down and cry and scream, she just needs to silently beg, through her feelings and actions for her to be let off the hook. So when this part of the song seems to imply there's been some sort of resistance to her sadness at Christmas time, I interpret the resistance as being primarily internal, projected out to whoever is the subject of the song. Because nowhere else in the song is it stated anybody is giving her grief.

So let's return to the question of who "you" is. It's pretty clearly not God, despite the girl's other Christian output, based on the lyrics. At least not by the interpretation that I'm choosing here. This is somebody who is forcing them or pressuring them or otherwise expecting them to be happy at Christmas time. My first thought was their parents, but this kind of rebellion seems unbecoming of Aly & AJ and anyways I don't find that intepretation particularly satisfying. I would like to submit that the "you" is not any one person in particular but is society as a whole and the pro-Christmas season. You can hardly watch TV without seeing a commercial for some saccharine Christmas special, listen to the radio without hearing stations dedicated to Christmas music (we're up to at least 4 stations in Atlanta) or go shopping without seeing Christmas decorations and hearing that sappy Christmas music piped over the store speakers. It's a bombardment of forced joy, the likes of which can magnify any sadness, and which is obviously unstoppable. Society expects you to be happy at Christmas and there's nothing you can do but put up your front until you just completely break down.

This is a song about the self-perpetuating cycle of sadness at Christmas, sung from the perspective of somebody who has a deep love for the holiday. It's an inherently Christmas song, but an inherently human song too. I know I've been there before. Aly & AJ songs can have great lyrics, and this one has the best, but I think that when you view it kaleidoscopically through the lens of all the various contradictions of their public image, it brings a lot more depth to the sadder songs. The sad songs are given an extra punch by the evangelical Christianity, and the fun persona they put on by acting, and the inspirational rah-rah songs. These are people who desparately want to be good role models for kids, and who desparately want to have a good time, but who are also attuned to the sadness in the world. Compared to this song, the other songs I've loved this year seem shallow and silly. It has an amazing, catchy melody, good music, and a GREAT singing performance by the girls. Their performance is what really sells the lyrics. Anybody who thinks that pop music is incapable of the kind of depth that rock and indie can have needs to listen to the recorded output of this band (and Ashlee too of course).

I find myself agreeing with Frank Kogan that these are the best artist of 2006 by far. I was wrong, Aly & AJ ARE great singers, both of them, at least on their recorded output. Still unsure about the live stuff I've heard. Aly & AJ released a grand total of 4 new original songs this year: "Greatest Time of Year", "Not This Year", "Chemicals React", and "Shine". They put out one album which isn't in my top 20 of the year, though it is better than I originally gave it credit for and isn't too far away. But I can't think of anybody else, not even Ashlee or Lindsay in my opinion, who have done more in a 12 month period to demonstrate and legitimize that teen pop can have just as much depth as any other genre of music. And not just hrough their lyrics, but through their acting, their interviews, their overall public image. Like I said, they are a mess of contradictions, but I love them.

And THAT's why "Not This Year" is my favorite song of 2006.