their best song was a cover
frank ocean opens "sweet life" with, "the best song wasn't the single, but you weren't either."
but this isn't about frank, not1 this time. it's about cigarettes after sex. i'm talking about the non-album single, "keep on loving you." their best song was a single. not only that, their best song was a cover. this is reo speedwagon's song, and they covered it. i don't hold them in contempt for that. some people think covers are lazy. some people end up in loops of which version is superior (i'm looking at you, johnny cash's cover2 of nine inch nails' "hurt").
like one commenter said on the band's last.fm shoutbox:
I like their soft and repetitive sound. I like their cliche romantic lyrics. I value creativity and variety but, sometimes an artist just fulfills a very specific purpose, and they do it well. That's okay!
the band's monotonous discography is polarizing because it is, well, monotonous. i'm not being a hater. it's true, and i'm saying that as a casual listener. people love them or hate them for this same reason:
i used to really like them and it didn't never bother me that they sounds the same, for me it wasn't even a thing but now when i hear them i cringe so much because of that shitty romance sweet lyrics lmao. fucking cliché
but you know what?
sometimes all you need is 20 songs that sound the same
i personally love that diet beach house (affectionate) found their niche. not everything about love and desire has to be profoundly said to the tune of byron or rilke. sometimes it can just be a guy with an androgynous cadence singing about the same thing. there isn't a "right" way to convey this universal feeling, anyways.
so onto the song. i find this track to be different from other songs in their catalogue. the approach here is misty enough for someone to tell it's a cigarettes after sex song, but distinct enough to not be mimicking the power ballad tempo of the original. here, in his recitations, greg gonzalez manages to evoke the haze of recollecting and somber aching for someone missing.
You should've seen by the look in my eyes
That there was something missing
You should've known by the tone of my voice
But you didn't listen
the resignation in his voice comes and goes. things that are unspoken are as loud, or louder, than things that aren't. as funny as saying "i shouldn't have to do anything! they should just know!" is, it's not practical, nor is it fun on either end. still, everyone has been on the receiving end or not at one point.
You play dead, but you never bled
Instead you lie still in the grass all coiled up & hissing
avoidance from the other and yet he still approaches, danger, potentially, lurking. this is probably the first time i really looked at these lines. huh. so he knows this behavioral pattern of his partner, and yet he is...
& I know all about those men
Still I don't remember
Because it was us baby way before them
& we're still together
...holding on... despite it all... with a tenacity i'd expect from a connection rooted in love... yeah...
& I meant every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant that I love you forever
it feels like i'm intruding on a phone call here, or a message, text or handwritten. it feels very personal, like i'm overhearing something not meant for me. or maybe it can be, unintentionally, in that hearing the words makes me think of someone, a flash of a memory. i almost want to linger out of curiosity, over this pang i have related to before.
& I'm gonna keep on loving you
Because it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on loving you
here is where i find the song stands out over much of their discography. early and new work seems to harp on noncommittal connections dissipating, usually in the sleazy context of being forlorn in nyc somewhere, drugs tossed in for razzle dazzle. the connection in this song is much more grounded. it's the difference between "i miss how good it felt" and "i miss your pulse syncing with mine." it's a love, a desire, more tethered.
& I meant every word I said
When I said that I love you I meant that I loved you forever...
at this point, the tense of "love" shifting to "loved" at the end of the song as a reveal of him soliloquizing a defeat. somewhat. feels like a splash of water to the face. a realization to concede (for now?). perhaps he's speaking in past tense as an exercise of acceptance. maybe with time, it'll be past tense throughout. in the moment, though, love bends time. this kind of ache begs the question of when will letting go happen, but it's not always so simple. pining has a pulse.
i say their best song was a cover. presently, to me, their best song is an original song: "i'm a firefighter."
to me, the writing here is a treat. the beat stumbles in like the first walk out of the ocean, clothes and hair soaked. it's very heavy, a trudging along. it feels warm, though. delusion tends to be.
Baby I'm a firefighter trapped in a burning house in a silent picture
& there is no way out except to watch the love between us die
fire doesn't make a sound, only when currents of air draw the fire out is when we hear it "roar." a burning house, an inevitability to it. when ablaze, there's a finality to torrential ash. i've burnt a lover's letter before, watched it dance into unrecognizable soot; i thought i heard his voice but it was just a funerary echo.
That's called the Falling Angel
It's an amusement park ride
Some sort of rollercoaster
It takes you up & when it brings you down it gives you butterflies
i like the absurdity of denial. if you believe something hard enough it takes you to places you don't expect. everything is crumbling, but it's still all there, if you look hard enough. this reads like denial; he's making an effigy out of the ash. "look, i made this for us. i gave it a name." the subtle intonation of "takes you up" to "butterflies" evokes a sense of a false rise, an anticipation for the real drop on "an amusement park ride."
& now I'm longing for your kiss
Bet you could read it on my lips
then, gonzalez indulges in a falsetto i have yet to see him do again. this is what makes the song for me. a cool flush washing over your bones at the top of the roller coaster, right before the drop. it feels full, that fullness of giddy trepidation, makes you feel sick with excitement.
Waterfalls I'm jumping down
a descent, free-falling of splendor, the luster of memories past glinting, dazzling, eidetic film reel of a legacy only a deep romance could weave, an atemporal tapestry, and then a leap into...
I know you're leaving baby
The birds are flying south
& there's nothing to say
...languished acceptance. what's said is said and what's left unspoken is compelled to remain that way.
I need you here
I need your love inside of mine like I could die
a callback to where the second verse rose and fell when sang, repeated twice here, before a crescendo, a crash, the end. the yearning of it all! a coalescence of ache and longing! this is the best coda of their career.
these are good songs. i'm peeved they didn't play either song when i saw them on tour, but at least i got to hear "opera house" and "nothing's gonna hurt you baby" live. little things.
while "keep on loving you" has a more down-to-earth air about it, aware but pragmatic, "i'm a firefighter" commits to the astonishment of holding on, steadfast, just for a bit longer, there's still a chance, if you just wait, i can show you, just don't go, not yet, please, for me.
i knew i loved you at first sight.
as long as you're with me, you'll be just fine.