What Imagery Do You Associate With Some Of Matt's Songs?

[MarcoBeltrami]

I've always been curious because Matt's lyrics are very open from person to person as to what they mean, what do you imagery comes to you when listening to certain songs?

 

For me, A Boy and His Machine Gun "when you're finished struggling, are you free tonight?" I imagine some guy with a shitty job working for some asshole getting off work, running to his car in the rain, and finding a note stuck under his wiper from a girl he's got a thing for. "One day we'll wake up and there'll be advertising on police cars" brings a vivid picture of a very bleak and colorless future, a police car with a big Smirnoff logo plastered on it. The opening instrumental for The Boy Who Could Explode makes me think of Abbotsford, seeing Matt from front row as he did a little footwork, bobbing a bit as he got ready to sing, the lights penetrating the darkness, the feel of the crowd, the sheer power of his vocals--exactly as he sounds on CD. It was the first time I'd seen him in concert and remains to this day one of the single most memorable and best days of my life--and sharing it with the girl I'd had a major crush on for 4 years, who became my girlfriend basically as a direct result of the trip from very northern BC to the concert in Abbotsford.

 

My ex-girlfriend (same one as above, 2 years together, then when my best friend of 17 years killed himself I fell into depression and she left me for my second best "friend", who was fucking her while I was in mourning. Nice ending to 3 relationships in the span of 3 months and in no way a depressing explanation, yay!) said in Set Me on Fire the part about "While I rock the boat, sing to me" she imagines a little kid being cuddled by his mother, in a boat on the ocean, as she (shockingly) sings to him, which never crossed my mind, I imagined two lovers in a boat at night under the moon, on a lake.

[c0micb0y]

I have colour/texture association more than anything. A Boy and His Machine Gun, for example, I've always seen an orange and black static-e/molten pattern.

Your ex was a real cold tony, forget her; remember your old friend :)

[MarcoBeltrami]

Oh wow, guess that just shows how differently everyone "experiences" a song. Thats kinda cool, static or molten associated with the song. I don't see it at all, but I'm sure you don't see pizza delivery guys, vodka ads, and especially Abbotsford ;) and thats why I asked in the first place. For some fucking reason I associate Black Helicopter with Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. I realize its a black helicopter, but the lyrics in no way refer to anything like that movie's events, so yeah.

 

Haha, cold tony, never heard that one before. Thanks Kickass. Theres far worse stuff to that story but yeah, pretty fucking heartless--and I think of my old friend every hour of every day, without fail. Don't have one bad memory of him besides how he left; Never argued, never hurt me, I never hurt him.

 

On a side note I just won a copy of Loser Anthems for 13 bucks on Ebay. One of the few CD's I don't have, yay.

Edited February 16, 2012 by MarcoBeltrami

[IamNick]

The Ocean makes me think of an animated painting of the ocean at sunset.

Dusk makes me think of blue-green with a white section in the middle. They're very clean colours except where the white changes to blue, as if they were stretched over eachother.

The Boy Come Home makes me think of someone sitting in a Ford truck, it's sunny outside, a nice day, but there's a sadness to the picture that I can't describe.

 

I think the musical tone of the song usually has a colour, and then the wording will have an associated image(s), and the song will be some sort of combination of the 2.

Edited February 16, 2012 by IamNick

[c0micb0y]

Agreed, fair assessment Nick. And I see the truck prominently as well in the Boy Come Home... that and the unemployment line stretched to the desert!

I always see 'the clear' that the narrator came upon in While We Were Hunting Rabbits. A big open meadow under a huge, bright night sky. I'm sure this is a pretty common association, it's a powerful image, along with the boat on the ocean.

For House of Smoke and Mirrors, I see a lot of plum purple with dusty yellow patches of light... and some orange near the end. Ha, maybe a mirror or two?

 

And LOL, Marco, my name's Christian - 'kickass' is the member title applied that denotes my status in the Bored hierarchy in terms of my participation through topic creation and responses (i think). You're 'a long way down', accordingly :P

[MarcoBeltrami]

I feel I am missing out on something everyone else experiences, I have never associated any color with any song, beyond of course the color of the imagery I see.

 

Haha indeed your name is not Kickass. I am well aware of the bored heirarchy, I just wasn't paying attention or looking where I should have. 1-3 hours sleep for 6 weeks now, my concentration is a bit lacking atm ;)

Edited February 17, 2012 by MarcoBeltrami