Author Archives: The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Unknown's avatar

About The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Just one man who's making his way through life one day at a time writing about the songs he has on his phone. And other things at some points.

#700: Kings of Leon – King of the Rodeo

2 Replies

This is another one of those songs where I was actually alive and could remember its video showing on the TV as opposed to finding it years later. One thing I remember about this track is that I, somehow, always managed to change the channel to MTV2 when the video for this song was almost finishing. I don’t think I ever saw the beginning until YouTube came along. Or maybe it was on the band’s official website when bands used to have their music videos on their in a .wmv format back in the day.

‘King of the Rodeo’ is on Kings of Leon’s second album Aha Shake Heartbreak, released in 2004. It was the album’s third single. I still don’t really know what Caleb Followill is saying throughout this thing. It’s never come to mind that I should find the lyrics and truly understand what he’s singing. I’ve always appreciated the sound of his voice here. The coarse tone, the breaks when he’s reaching for the high notes. It’s a characteristic that made the Kings of Leon those days very exciting to listen to. Yes, I’m one of those people. I think the real main highlight in the track is the guitar work of Matthew Followill. While Caleb pretty much plays two chords for the whole song, Nathan keeps the momentum going with the crunchy riffs and string bends. It’s in the left speaker if you’re using your headphones. Or the right, if you’re watching the video.

Now, I have read the lyrics. Apparently, there are a few references to the film Withnail and I in the track. I wasn’t expecting that. Other than that, there’s not much meaning to the lyrical content. I’ll take it that about they’re about some relationship between a guy and a girl in the South.

#699: The Tallest Man on Earth – King of Spain

Leave a reply

The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth turns 10 in just over a week’s time. I got into the album around 2012/13, when I was on a folk tip and trying to find more acoustic-based albums to hear after listening to Pink Moon too many times. The Wild Hunt is much more optimistic in tone, with the songs within mainly threaded by themes of moving on, moving forward and having dreams for the future.

‘King of Spain’ is the sixth track on the album, was the second single from it too, and sees Kristian Mattson – the “Tallest Man” – dreams of becoming the song’s title after unexpectedly starting a new relationship with someone. In his eyes, he could be almost anything now that he’s got that someone who he thought was way out of his reach. And it’s just him and his guitar that do all the magic on here.

Now it’s not out of line to say that here, Matsson wears the Bob Dylan influence on his sleeve from the folk-centric music to the raspiness of his voice. This is something he has gracefully admitted himself. ‘King of Spain’ makes reference to the Dylan song ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ too. But even so that shouldn’t get in the way of one’s enjoyment of this song. Or the album for that matter. It’s a tour de force delivered by a man and his guitar about daydreams of high hopes and wonderment. You can’t ask for more than that.

#698: Neutral Milk Hotel – The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1

Leave a reply

While I may not see In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as the classic, iconic indie album as a lot of people do – it’s not my go-to when I want something to listen to – I can still appreciate the musicianship and all those elements that make good songs.

‘The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt 1.’ is more or less the introduction to the record, detailing an abusive relationship between two adults while a young boy falls in love with a girl. I would say it’s actually my favourite song on the whole thing. You may find that strange; I won’t argue with you. It just provides a homely and warm vibe straight away from the busy acoustic guitar riff that starts things off. The repetitive melody within the verses become so familiar after numerous listens. I’ve also always liked how the track builds as it goes on, with an accordion added in for the second verse before everything climaxes with those rising horns. It’s beautiful stuff.

It carries on into Parts 2 and 3 where everything takes a left turn. The whole band joins in for a raucous and messy performance. I don’t like it as much. Not because of its rough style. Could never just get into it….. But it’s down there for you.

#697: The Band – King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Leave a reply

‘King Harvest (Has Surely Come)’ is probably the best song on The Band’s self-titled album from 1969. Some may argue ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ trumps it. It’s definitely a classic. ‘Whispering Pines’? I hear you, that’s not too bad (it’s definitely not my favourite, but I won’t hold anything against you if it is). Nah, it’s ‘King Harvest’. The final track on The Band, it has all five original members of the group in lock with one another’s groove – totally in sync with one another and playing just the suitable amount of notes and chords when needed.

It’s a tale of a farmer who has had their fair share of misfortune in their time. Their crops won’t grow because of a lack of rain, the barn went up in flames the preceding years, and a horse was driven to madness. It’s nothing that I can relate to. But it’s a fantastic set of descriptive lyrics. And what makes them greater is Richard Manuel’s vocal take when singing them. It’s one out of the many times Manuel sings his heart out on the album, and it’s here that he utilises the higher register in his voice to give off a real pained feeling from the subject matter. Drummer Levon Helm joins in during the chorus, providing a fine contrast with his lower tone.

The whole album is grounded by a theme of America, its history, culture, and agriculture. That all comes to a head on ‘King Harvest’. Even though it doesn’t have a great tone of finality to it, the band’s perfect performance makes it a worthy closer for any album.

#696: Eminem – Kill You

Leave a reply

In 2009, I was fourteen and going through those weird motions as you do at those early teenage years. That year saw Eminem return to music with Relapse. My friend and I thought that Eminem was the greatest rapper of all time. Thought all of his music was great. I hadn’t actually listened to any of his albums in full though, only his singles. So I decided to download The Marshall Mathers LP one day to up my game when it came to Eminem knowledge.

‘Kill You’ is the second track on the album, following the opening intro. Can’t say I had too many strong feelings about it 11 years ago. I thought the hook was good, the beat too, but I wasn’t really taking in what he was actually talking about. For that reason, I didn’t listen to it for a very long time. Gave the album a replay many years later…. and it became very clear that Eminem was saying some very fucked up shit on here.

It actually starts off quite normally. Eminem tells the listener about his less than pleasant relationship with his mother before voicing his acknowledgment of those who wondered what he would rap about now that he was rich from the success of The Slim Shady LP. And then he suddenly starts exclaiming about choking women until they can’t breathe. And then from then on it’s just one outrageous lyric after another with imagery of him raping his mother, dismemberment with a chainsaw, and basically being a psychopath and having no regard for any human life. He describes it so vividly and with such energy in his voice though, that it’s just enjoyable to listen to. Everything in here is so off the wall that you obviously shouldn’t take anything he says in it seriously. 20 years ago people didn’t understand this, and so protested and demonstrated against Eminem for his awful, hateful messages. Actually, he probably wouldn’t get away with releasing this in this age if he tried to.

This track is fantastic. It’s got all the clever wordplay, assonance, internal rhyming, metaphors, similes, imagery that you want from a hip-hop song and were the usual standard for an every Eminem song back in those days. He does the same thing now…. the songs just don’t sound as good. I’ll leave it at that.