The Regular Friday Post
Rando Lyrics: I made a pilgrimage To save this human's race
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “only one way that it was always meant to be’” is from the song "Kill”, by Jimmy Eat World. Written by Jim Adkins, Tom Linton, Rick Burch & Zach Lind (Ed. - The members of Jimmy Eat World) it’s Track 4 on the album “Futures", released in October 2004. Produced by Gil Norton. Credit: Genius Links >Jimmy Eat World<
Interesting background quote: Jim Adkins: “I wanted to try writing something that didn’t have repeating lyrics. It seemed like a challenge, and I chose Kill to go for it. Got about as close as I could with it. Some elements I had to keep familiar as it went on, though.” Link: >Kill Lyrics<
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
For Today:
I saw Jimmy Eat World in concert several years ago in a medium sized venue in my hometown, the same one where I saw The Record Company, Pete Yorn and others. Great time with friends, musicians (and otherwise) at all of them (except for the one really drunk lady that security had to 86 - it took 4 of them, but we were in the second row of tables and she was up front and obviously not coming back, so we quickly moved there!). It’s sad now to see how many venues in mid-sized cities are struggling to come back after the lockdowns. It’s like a mindset of “must avoid crowds” has sorta set in everywhere. Many of my musician friends and acquaintances tell me “there’s just no gigs”.
On a happier note, I found the quote (above) by Mr. Adkins, one of the co-writers of “Kill” to be particularly interesting. I note Mr.Adkins’ first name is Jim and nobody else in the band is named that so maybe he’s the “Jimmy”, eater of worlds…but maybe not, it’s not like I know…. For the most part he achieved the goal of avoiding repetitive lyrics. But I think he did it the right way - there are a few, very few, songs that don’t have repeating lyrics or at least maybe only one repeating line. That’s really hard to pull off while maintaining some semblance of syllable count, meter and rhythm, while maybe forgoing some of the rhyme scheme. Here, the writers do an outstanding job of maintaining all of those elements with only one set of repeating lyrics, which form part of, but not the whole, of each chorus. My personal opinion is that that’s an amazing feat, and there actually is a place for the minimally repeated lyrics (below):
“You kill me, you build me up but just to watch me break
Hey hey, hey hey
I know what I should do but I just can't walk away”
The reason I say that is because it’s probably a good, if not strictly necessary, reason to have lyrics that form a sort of touchstone to the theme. Here it would be difficult to title a song “Kill” and not have a reference to what that means in the song. The repeated lyric section makes it clear this is a metaphorical, “emotional” kill, not a violent or murderous “kill”. So. it’s essentially a breakup song, or maybe more specifically an “I realize this is over” type of song. Kind of more heartbreaking because our narrator knows who he is (an “easy” kill) and what he should do, but won’t because he “just can’t walk away”. It’s gonna get worse before it ever gets better…
A Song To Play:
The original is in the Key of Gminor (I think) - it could be in the relative Key of BbMajor, though. There’s a chord chart on Ultimate Guitar for the song that is only 1 half step off (to be fair, it does say capo on one, but I’m not sure that’s worth the effort). If you want to play in the original key and you have a UG subscription, find it, transpose it up 1 half step and you’re there. This version is capoed on 3, to play in the original Key (maybe) of Gminor - at least that’s where I’m leaning based on the original chords. As I said, it could just as easily be in the relative Major key of BbMaj, but my feeling from the original (un-capoed) chords leads me more toward the minor key, for that downbeat, sort of sad feeling minor keys produce. If you’re comfortable singing in Eminor/GMajor, you can just leave the capo off and play the chords as listed below. I gotta admit, some days I’m OK in Em/G, maybe with some tea with a liberal amount of lemon and honey added, but I’ll likely play this capoed on 3 - Gm/BbMaj is just a more comfortable key for my voice. If you want to play the chords below without the capo, keep in mind playing along with the video will sound way “off-key”…because it is….
[Verse 1]
Well you're just across the street
Looks a mile to my feet
I want to go to you
Funny how I'm nervous still
I've always been the easy kill
I guess I always will
[Chorus 1]
Could it be that everything goes round by chance?
Or only one way that it was always meant to be
You kill me, you always know the perfect thing to say
Hey hey, hey hey
I know what I should do but I just can't walk away
[Verse 2]
I can picture your face well from the bar in my hotel
I wish I'd go to you
I'll pick up, put down the phone
Like your favorite Heatmiser song goes
"It's just like being alone."
[Chorus 2]
Oh god, please don't tell me this has been in vain
I need answers for what all the waiting I've done means
You kill me, you've got some nerve but can't face your mistakes
Hey hey, hey hey
I know what I should do but I just can't turn away
[Bridge]
So go on, love
Leave while there's still hope for escape
Gotta take what you can these days
There's so much ahead and so much regret
I know what you want to say
I know it but can't help feeling differently
I loved you and I should have said it
But tell me just what has it ever meant?
[Chorus 3]
I can't help it baby, this is who I am
Sorry, sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel
You kill me, you build me up but just to watch me break
Hey hey, hey hey
I know what I should do but I just can't walk away
Credit: Genius >"Kill" Lyrics<
Other Voices:
This is really cool - we’ve featured both of these Substack writers on Michael Acoustic previously, now they’re about to collab on a project to highlight some of Mr. Briscoe’s amazing life’s stories. Follow both of these extraordinary writers for maximum Substack joy!!
You really need to read this just to find out who the famous guitarist Nic met is, but read the whole thing - it’s fascinating!
The “ME!” Section…..
What I’m Listening2: >Well, This Is Annoying…<
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Some Links for today
ED. None of these result in compensation to me in any way, and I’m not endorsing any of them, but some of my readers may find them as interesting as I did…
From Blues Guitar Unleashed:
Pentatonics and the "A shape" Barre - The pentatonic shapes on 5th or 6th string roots. Yeah, it may be a bit complicated…
From the Disc Makers Blog:
Telling Stories Through Songs - My take on this is not every story (especially personal ones) make a good song, but good and great songs tell some sort of story, FWIW.
Digital Performance Royalties - We talk a lot on here about royalties and how to make sure you’re eligible to collect royalties that you’re due. This article is specifically about the different kinds of digital royalties, which are different than other types.
Signed To A Record Label - Yeah, I guess. There are some advantages to signing with a label, and a whole bunch of disadvantages as well. This is a reasonably good primer, but choose wisely….
From Songtown:
Write Compelling Songs - Sounds easy, right? Just write something compelling. So simple a caveman could do it. Or, maybe not. This is a good article. If you’re writing or thinking about writing, pay extra attention to #6 on the list at the bottom. This is where I think a lot of songs that could have been great run afoul. Nobody really wants to hear the story of you. They really want to hear the story of them, just with you telling it.
Say What You Want To Say - Another great article. Even if you don’t get anything else out of it, check the biz jargon word “furniture” - it kind of expands the concept of the “Write Compelling Songs” article just above. It’s the junk you trip over in what could have been a great song, but it was too cluttered with “furniture”…
Need Instant Melancholy? Get It Here - This is a bit down in those music theory weeds, but if you can get through this, it may open up a whole different approach to setting a mood in your songs.
From Carvin Audio:
Mixing Lead And Backing Vocals - An interesting article - it’s going to require a bit of understanding some of the terms used in mixing recordings.
From Acoustic Guitar Magazine:
Thumb Work - If you’re considering learning to fingerpick, this is a great article - pay particular attention to that Calypso/Island style - it ends up being a go-to for me in almost everything - that syncopated beat is magical.
From Speed Songwriting:
Songwriting Process With That One Thing - The thing a lot of musicians just don’t want to think or talk about - the “theories” part of music - but it really is the basic “language” of music. This is a good primer, but be warned, this is a commercial ad, Mr. English is goig to try to sell you something - I make no recommendation either way, choose wisely, but I will say he is preaching the basic truth: “Music theory is the language of musicians”.
Thank You To Our New Subscribers and Followers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika, the Cat:
Mika : “Tired. Gonna crash out here on your leg. Do you mind?”
Me: “Would it make a difference if I did?”
Mika : “Of course not. Silly human…”
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
i used to listen to Jimmy Eat World, and for a short time it seemed they were going to eat it and take it over. Regarding no repeating lyrics, Bob Dylan was skilled at that. Or at least for writing 15 verses and no choruses. The song of his featured in my playlist post today, “Love Minus Zero” has no repeating lyrics. Its why his lyrics are often thought of as poems.
Michael, thank you again for your support, really appreciated. I’m preparing the first, what shall we call it, in depth anecdote for Brad to weave his magic on. ✨ I’m looking forward to see how this collab goes, it’s new territory for me, and TBH I’m feeling the pressure a bit,’coz like I say, quite often this was just another day at the office for me and quite often not so much happened, nothing seismic at least, just time spent working with musicians, many of whom were or now are household names… so let’s see, no pressure 😅 😜