Category Archives: Music

#592: Jakobínarína – I’m a Villain

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I’ve written about Jakobínarína once before; to save me the time of writing about who they were and what happened to them, I refer you to the previous blog that has all the details.

‘I’m a Villain’ is the tenth track on the band’s one and only album The First Crusade. The song is about exactly what it says in the title. Being a ‘villain’ and having pride in doing so. The track is all tongue-in-cheek though. The narrator takes great joy in petty thefts, but sees it as this kind of mission or ‘fighting test’ they have to endure. It’s a fun little composition. Quite repetitive but not to the point of being annoying.

Older players of the FIFA series may recognise it as being one of the tunes on the FIFA 09 soundtrack. For obvious reasons, EA usually censor the tracks if they have swear words in them. Sometimes they can be a bit excessive. The word ‘hell’ in this song is muted in the game which I can see as acceptable for some, though any mention of ‘shoplifting’ is edited in a strange way which I think is pushing it just a bit. There was a lot of good music on that edition.

#591: The Cribs – I’m a Realist

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I think the first song I’d ever heard by The Cribs was ‘You’re Gonna Lose Us‘. The video showed up on MTV2 a few times some time in 2005/06 (I don’t know just a guess) and I reckoned it was an all right one. First thing I noticed about the band was that their two singers (bassist Gary Jarman and guitarist Ryan Jarman) looked very much alike. For obvious reasons too. They are identical twins. Further research showed that the drummer (Ross Jarman) was their younger brother. So that was cool…. A literal band of brothers. So the video had a bit of circulation and then it died down. Didn’t hear from The Cribs on TV for quite some time.

That was until 2007. That was the band’s big year. They came back with ‘Men’s Needs‘ which was repeated endlessly and to a point where I couldn’t really stand it anymore. Unfortunately, that feeling still lasts to this very day. A lot of people love it though so who am I to say anything.

So to the actual song that today’s post is based on. ‘I’m a Realist’ is the fifth song on The Cribs’ third album Men’s Need’s, Women’s Needs, Whatever, produced by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos and released in 2007. The track was released as the album’s last single in early 2008. To be honest, I’ve never thought too deep into what this song is about. Listening loosely I will say it is a self-deprecating take on dating and relationships. Gary and Ryan’s vocals are on point, with each brother alternate lines before singing in unison for the chorus. Strong harmonies abound throughout. It’s pretty much their trademark. They pull it off very well. The guitar riffs are really catchy too. Helps that they almost match the vocal melodies for the majority of the track.

How NME/UK indie 2007 is that music video as well? Could never be pulled off today. Those were good times.

#590: The Beatles – I’m a Loser

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So on the day that couples are loving it up, surely to go on a date somewhere or other to look in each other’s eyes and display how much they care with an act of affection, the song that follows the last post is The Beatles’ “I’m a Loser”. Mainly written by John Lennon, the track is about the end of a relationship and maintaining a happy appearance whilst feeling like you’re dying inside. This one is for the lonely people. The irony hasn’t been lost here.

Appearing as the second number on Beatles for Sale, an album where the band started incorporating more introspective elements into their repertoire, “I’m a Loser” is just one of the tracks that were to be influenced by Lennon’s meeting with Bob Dylan in the summer of 1964. The track is carried by its prominent acoustic rhythm and folk elements that The Beatles were to further develop down the line.

#589: Foo Fighters – I’ll Stick Around

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Recovering from the emotional exhaustion caused by bandmate Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994, Dave Grohl decided to go into the studio and record some songs that he had written and kept on the down low whilst still performing with Nirvana. It took him about a week to do so in October of the same year, recording all the instrumental parts himself (bar one guitar track) and singing every word from the heart.

The debut album by Foo Fighters has always been my favourite of the band’s….. it’s the most raw and possibly impulsive that Dave Grohl has been in the entirety of the group’s active years. He’s admitted that a lot of the lyrics don’t make sense, and his vocals are double-tracked and lathered with effects in some places because he was insecure about his vocal abilities. But that all adds to its charm.

‘I’ll Stick Around’ was the second single released from the album but was the first Foo Fighters track to get the music video treatment (as can be seen above), allowing everyone to see the drummer from Nirvana’s new band. In it, he, Pat Smear (guitar), Nate Mendel (bass) and William Goldsmith (drums) are confronted by a massive 3D HIV virus. The track itself is meant to be a ferocious scathing attack on Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, who Grohl hadn’t felt the greatest of ‘love’ for up to that point. In fact the HIV virus in the video was initially conceived to be a ‘bloated, charred, inflated girl representing Courtney’ before management got in the way.

The track is a powerful one. From its pummeling opening drum roll, it hardly lets up. Even in the “calmer” verses, there’s a sinister tone to the surrounding guitar and menacing groove before it all builds up into the raucous refrains. I can barely make out what Grohl is singing in those verses, though the message of the track is really summed up in its two most clear lines: “I don’t owe you anything” and “I’ll stick around, and learn that all that came from it”. The latter arriving in the song’s cathartic last minute and repeated to oblivion before it comes to a dramatic close. It’s a great tune.

#588: The Beatles – I’ll Follow the Sun

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So it goes that ‘I’ll Follow the Sun’, the fifth track on the Beatles’ second album of 1964 Beatles for Sale, had been one that Paul McCartney had saved up since he was sixteen up to that point. That album was created during a time when the group were constantly touring and barely had any free time to themselves; when they did have that time, it would be used for working and going into the studio and recording more songs. McCartney and Lennon didn’t have as much time to write original material together too, so the former pulled this particular track out to get things moving forward.

‘I’ll Follow the Sun’ sees McCartney writing about the end of one relationship and looking on to the next one with a sense of optimism and wonder, whilst the lady who is left behind doesn’t know what she’s lost until it really hits. It’s a good tune with a great melody as is typical in a lot of McCartney songs. Very mellow with subtle knee-slapping percussion from Ringo Starr and a rhythm guitar in the right channel that has such a smooth tone to it, either played by Harrison or McCartney. In comparison to the ‘shake-it-up-baby-now’ good time music of their previous albums, ‘I’ll Follow the Sun’ – and Beatles for Sale as a whole – signified a change in musical style that would only continue to evolve as the group continued to work together.

Here’s Paul playing the song live with his band in 2005, ’cause why not.