“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” is one of the most confusing Weezer tracks to exist. It can also be considered to be their most epic, depending on your taste. Lyrically, the song finds Rivers Cuomo at the height of hubris. In every line he is adamant on telling you he’s the best, no one can tell him he’s not the best, he will show that he is the best if you don’t believe him, he’ll mess with you if you get in his way leading into the final verse in which he defiantly declares that he is the song’s title, and it is his destiny to give to the world.
The other thing about this song is, for every verse that is delivered the band sing in a different style ranging from rap, to Slipknot, to Beethoven and Bach. Quite the mindfuck. Though it does make for an adventurous and unpredictable six minutes of your life. On listening to it years ago, I still have the thought that what happens in this just shouldn’t work. I shouldn’t like this at all. But it does. And I do. It is weird.
So either Rivers had just cracked during the writing of this, or it is the sign that the man is some sort of crazy genius.
I have a vivid memory of watching the music video for this song on the TV, years before I really knew who Mercury Rev were or properly listened to Deserter’s Songs, and thinking that it was one of the most depressing ones I’d seen in a very long time. In it, three members from the band go out camping in a landscape dominated by dull shades of grey while front man Jonathan Donahue mouths the lyrics with a solemn and sad appearance on his face. And at the end of it is assumed that he lets himself drown in the pond whilst the other two members look out at the stranded boat he was once in. I can’t specifically remember how old I was then, but it was a downer to witness at a young age.
It still is at nineteen years of living. But the visuals do accompany the music very well, so I can’t complain. “Goddess” was released as the first single from 1999’s Deserter’s Songs a few months after the album’s release, though the song’s creation goes as far back as 1989 when Donahue was still a member of fellow band The Flaming Lips. The lyrics on that version are basically the same, but recorded very hastily I guess on with very limited resources. But it was on Deserter’s Songs where it got proper treatment like all of the other songs and was recorded finely with a range of instrumentation.
Starting off with a lone piano and bass, “Goddess” follows the dynamic of the ‘quiet verse/loud chorus’. Donahue sings rather softly accompanied by the rhythm section and aforementioned piano before exploding into the chorus where every other instrument bursts into the mix from a whimsical recorder to distorted guitars. The title is played with a bit too which is quite noteworthy. It isn’t until the last verse that the title is actually uttered, but at the beginning the lyric states “I got us on a highway” which… I don’t know why it always strikes me when it gets to that last verse.
It is a haunting listen. One which requires much attention. Great song from a great album.
“God Put a Smile upon Your Face” is a track from Coldplay’s 2003 album A Rush of Blood to the Head, one which built upon the sound that the group had established with their preceding debut Parachutes. The former album contains some of Coldplay’s highly rated songs from “The Scientist” to “In My Place”. But I feel “God Put a Smile” doesn’t get much love as those, or any of the other tracks in Coldplay’s vast catalogue. Releasing it as a proper single in only a few regions may have something to do with that.
Starting off with Chris Martin singing the first verse with an sinister acoustic riff to set the ball rolling, the track picks up with a cool bass groove and steady beat with little guitar licks added by Jonny Buckland for effect. There’s something about this track that I think makes it have an edge over a few others. I think it’s quite a dark song. I know that ‘dark’ isn’t an adjective that you would normally associate with a band such as Coldplay. It just has that dissonant tone about it. The music video maybe reinforces this idea.
Honestly can’t say much about it. Nothing personal; it is a good track that fits in with that killer first half of the album.
Sadly Diamond Hoo Ha, Supergrass’ sixth album released in 2008, turned out to be their last as the group’s four members from Oxford went their separate ways two years later. Although to me it doesn’t rank up there as one of Supergrass’ best albums, Diamond Hoo Ha still provides many moments of melodic joy and rocking tunes.
From what I can recall, the album was available to listen to on NME’s website before it was physically released and one of the songs I remember listening to around the time was “Ghost of a Friend”. I liked it then, and it remains a favourable track of mine from Diamond. Apart from being a straight up memorable song, what also made it stick in my head was the observation that it was sung, not by Gaz Coombes or Mick Quinn, but by the band’s drummer Danny Goffey making it the only track (I am sure of this) in the band’s discography where this occurs.
Although the song has a brisk and peppy quality to its sound – Gaz provides some backing vocals as does vocalist Jodie Rose – it is quite a sad one thinking about it now. It concerns a narrator who is visited by the…. ghost of a friend who takes him away from the ‘fools’ and ‘clowns’ that are dragging him down. Eventually it comes to the point where the ghost has to leave again, but the narrator upon seeing the ghost feels much happier than he did before. A bit emotional.
But this all shouldn’t come to mind when actually listening to the song. I also feel much happier after hearing it. In fact, to me it had the potential of being a single. It was not meant to be. But it is an underrated gem amongst the many others Supergrass already have.
Hope you all enjoyed your festivities over the holiday season. Feels quite strange starting this up again, seeing as I haven’t done one thing on this site since late November. I apologise. I need breaks too. But here I am again, and here I should be (almost) every day to give you the songs on my iPod beginning with the letter ‘G’.
So what better way to start it, than with a track entitled “G-Song” – the fifth track on “In It for the Money“, the second album by Supergrass. I always wondered why it was named as so. The title has nothing to do with the song’s subject matter; the phrase doesn’t appear in the lyrics. But it came to me not so long ago. The song’s written in the key of G Major. Duh.
The only reason I can think of enjoying “G-Song” is having listened to it repetitively alongside the other eleven tracks that accompany it on “In It for the Money”. After “Late in the Day” ends I always expect “G-Song”‘s sudden introduction to kick in, with its chugging guitars and solid bass. The instrumentation is something that really gets to me when listening to this track. It’s got a real *oomph* to it. Can’t find a better way to describe it. Especially the phrase that plays during the “There may be troubles…” refrain. Groovy as anything.
Like many of the other tracks on the album, it also contains a bridge which sounds like it could have been used to a completely different song altogether. Yet somehow, the guys manage to bring it back right into the song’s already established riff. That is good stuff, right there.
In terms of lyrics, I have a feeling that this track is one of those where the band worked on the music beforehand before coming up with the words to suit it. Gaz Coombes sings about feeling strange whilst walking on his way home or something….. I really don’t know. But that’s not a bad thing. What matters is, this track is pretty good. Recommended listen.
On an unrelated note, “I Should Coco” turns twenty this year. Anyone on getting a Supergrass campaign started to get all their nineties albums re-released and remastered? Very politely ask Gaz Coombes and Mick Quinn.
Annnnnnnddddd……
The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
Hello again. If you read the final post from the F’s, you’ll remember me writing that I had actually skipped one track out by mistake. This was the track. How I skipped it, I’ll never know.
“Fell in Love with a Girl”. Classic. Not much to say. Bass-less, simple five chord track with an amazing video which makes you wonder what you’ve been doing with Lego your whole life.
I remember seeing the start of this video when I was younger, and being disappointed when it turned out that it wasn’t “Walkie Talkie Man” by Steriogram. That video was directed by Michel Gondry too. As a result, I would always change it without really listening to the song. Big mistake. The White Stripes’ video and song are much better.
Was never a huge White Stripes fan. But this track is great. Have to say. RIP.
The Music in My Ears 