...NO AND THEN!
Today on the docket is Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event.
From the first time I heard this song, it really just rubbed me the wrong way. It was featured on the Indie Spotlight on a local radio station here in Ottawa. The DJ opened with the fact that the band and it's album weren't getting great reviews and that every reviewer was probably a fucking moron not to like it. So, of course being impressionable as I am, I immediately decided I was going to love this song...until I heard it.
One thought rang through my mind as I listened to this song and it was "NO AND THEN!"
This song is another classic example of Every.Fucking.'Artiste'. that I went to highschool with and the result of them putting together a backup band and of course, shitty writing immediately means nega.points. I had high hopes for this band. I honestly tried to like this song. What's most unfortunate is that the rest of their stuff is tolerable. When they're not trying to to be mega depressing, they're quite the party band but it's almost like they're trying to be The Arcade Fire. So of course when you're trying to live up to that hyper talented sibling, you're bound to get quite a few 'E's for 'Effort'. I just think you're either naturally pathetic and thus poetic, or you're a party band. So, I'm sorry Airbourne, but you're getting broken down...
Aaaaaand here'a we go!
The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
And it starts, sometime around midnight.
Or at least that’s when you lose yourself
for a minute or two.
As you stand, under the bar lights.
And the band plays some song
about forgetting yourself for a while.
And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile.
And that white dress she’s wearing
you haven’t seen her for a while.
Okay - so this isn't so bad. It rhymes kinda and it sets the scene. The guy is getting drunk. Isn't it convenient that the band is playing a song that fits your mood so poetically? We also see that he's seeing a girl that I guess he dated at some point? Maybe he slept with her... either way, she's got a dress...that is all.
But you know, that she’s watching.
She’s laughing, she’s turning.
She’s holding her tonic like a cross.
The room’s suddenly spinning.
She walks up and asks how you are.
So you can smell her perfume.
You can see her lying naked in your arms.
Alright, so I guess that they dated or at the very least slept together at some point...that or the man's got an obsession. This man definitely digs the visualization, but what 'artiste' doesn't?
And so there’s a change, in your emotions.
And all these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind.
Of the curl of your bodies,
like two perfect circles entwined.
And you feel hopeless and homeless
and lost in the haze of the wine.
Tonic? Wine? Are you at a Gentleman's Club? Drink a fucking BEER, Casa Nova!
Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know.
But she makes sure you saw her.
She looks right at you and bolts.
As she walks out the door,
your blood boiling
your stomach in ropes.
Oh and when your friends say,
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
This is the part that bugs me the most. Perhaps it's the misuse of conjunctions, perhaps with the addition of the friend's chiming in... but honestly, I think any English Teacher would tear this song apart. There's so little structure, though it's aching to make sense. Listen man - This girl is a fucking TEASE! That, or she's a prostitute... just let it go man, let it go.
Then you walk, under the streetlights.
And you’re too drunk to notice,
that everyone is staring at you.
You just don’t care what you look like,
the world is falling around you.
Omg... can you all just say this with me, already? NO AND THEN!!!! This is really trying my patience...Then, but, so...you could just take these out, and I'd be happy, and your song would be almost like, 3x better than it is right now...
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You know that she’ll break you in two.
Okay - so reading these lyrics, not the worst task in the world, right? You NEED to listen to the song. It's just so.fucking.repetitive. The entire thing is a bunch of run on sentences and misuse of conjunctions. Actually, I took the liberty of highlighting each misuse in red... I'm a Grammar Nazi, gofuckyerselves.
Anyways, the lyrics, not that bad - might make a nice book. I heard on the radio this morning once I heard this little diddy for the umpteenth time that the initial concept for this song was for a book, but the lead singer decided "Why not put it to music instead?" - I'll tell you why... you can put a book down, Muchacho. Turning the radio off and on to avoid this shitola of a song is really a hassle. There are rules to writing - books, poems, songs, etc. FOLLOW THE GAWDAMN RULES! Geh. Enh. Beh. Meh.
This song just makes me so angry, but I do it to myself, y'know?
For the record, The Airborne Toxic Event is a band out of Los Angeles. Fronted by Mikel Jollet (who, btw suffers from two minor disease which affect the way he looks, so automatically I'm now a bad person for not liking this band) who started the band in 2006 after decided to not write the book he was working on but rather compose an album all based on his life experiences.
Sometimes you just don't quit your day job.
There's quite a few videos for this song on youtube, but the majority are have the embedding disabled. It's almost like they made a bunch of different videos so they could see which was the most pretentious arty. So here's what I was able to get:
I implore you all to really just, give in to the haze of the wine, or whatever...
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