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[Mr. Mojo]

the car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
and a dark wind blows
the government is corrupt
and we're on so many drugs
with the radio on and the curtains drawn

we're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
and the machine is bleeding to death

the sun has fallen down
and the billboards are all leering
and the flags are all dead at the top of their poles

it went like this:

the buildings tumbled in on themselves
mothers clutching babies picked through the rubble
and pulled out their hair

the skyline was beautiful on fire
all twisted metal stretching upwards
everything washed in a thin orange haze

i said: "kiss me, you're beautiful -
these are truly the last days"

you grabbed my hand and we fell into it
like a daydream or a fever

we woke up one morning and fell a little further down -
for sure it's the valley of death

i open up my wallet
and it's full of blood

[sean]

Yes, Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a good band, we realize that. 

Can we move on now?

[onewheelwizzard]

Would I be a total square if I just agreed with the OP that this was actually worth a thread?  I remember listening to this song for the first time and in retrospect I'm surprised I didn't do this myself.

[sean]

Not really, I remember thinking "HOLY SHIT" or something equivalent the first time I heard this. However, to make a thread about it, telling a forum that is rather music savy about a song written by one of the most prominent post-rock bands is kinda unnecessary. Also, to just post the lyrics to a song and nothing else is not good material for thread discussion.

Well, I guess the thread is made, best not to waste it. Anyone wanna talk Godspeed?

[imapiratearg]

John Darnielle and J. Spaceman both write way better lyrics than that.

Also, Bob Dylan.

John K. Samson, too.

[sean]

Thats kind of a tough one, since you really can't go wrong with any of their stuff, and everyone I know usually gives a different answer.

I would say start with their EP Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada. I kinda feel like thats their most accessible work, especially with Moya only being a ten minute song. Moya is also one of their best songs in my opinion.

[onewheelwizzard]

Yeah, that's the first one I heard.  It's fantastic, and as good of a starting point as any.

[Caspian]

In all seriousness, Godspeed are one of the most overrated bands ever. Boring and insufferably pretentious.

The guitar delay part in East Hastings is pretty cool; that's pretty much the only worthwhile thing they've ever done.

[Mr. Mojo]

Why are so many people hating on Godspeed?

[KickThatBathProf]

Now we just need a bunch of people to come into here and say A Silver Mt. Zion is better.

Which they are

[E. Spaceman]

I dont think Silver Mt Zion has ever done an album as good as Yanqui UXO

[imapiratearg]

I don't actually mind Godspeed all that much, but I tried listening to them and found their music to be a little on the boring side.  Sorry guys!

My comment really stemmed from the fact that I am a rabid Weakerthans fan.

[KickThatBathProf]

I dont think Silver Mt Zion has ever done an album as good as Yanqui UXO

I think 13 Blues is better.

Opinions!

[sean]

I'm starting to think A Silver Mt. Zion is better than Godspeed. I think the vocals add something Godspeed can't give.

[RedLion]

John Darnielle and J. Spaceman both write way better lyrics than that.

Also, Bob Dylan.

John K. Samson, too.

Leonard Cohen > those

[pwntuspilate]

Bob Dylan.

THREAD OVER

Though Leonard Cohen is also great.

[RedLion]

I dunno man. I'm going to be assailed for saying this, but here goes anyway :  I love Bob Dylan-- one of the best lyricists ever. But when I listen to him when I'm having a shitty day I always wind up feeling like I'm just hearing an above-average street poet spouting random free-association poetry.

Obviously I know his lyrics have a much deeper meaning. But sometimes--and this is what I'm going to be attacked for, I think--he's so adamant about not just saying what he means simply and openly...it gets to be bordering on pretentious at times.

:calls a doctor for myself in advance:

[karl gambolputty...]

I dont think Silver Mt Zion has ever done an album as good as Yanqui UXO

The first track of that album gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.  I love SMZ, but they're no Godspeed

[TheFuriousWombat]

I dont think Silver Mt Zion has ever done an album as good as Yanqui UXO

That's harsh, considering that's Godspeed's worst album.

[E. Spaceman]

no no. I did not say F#A#∞


Opinions: I do not think that there has been a better lyricist in the last 3 decades as Will Sheff

[Jackie Blue]

I prefer ASMZ to GY!BE, on the whole.  Particular the last two ASMZ albums.

That said, yes, in 1998 I did fucking drop my jaw when I first heard the opening to "The Dead Flag Blues".  Utterly perfect.

[KickThatBathProf]

Opinions: I do not think that there has been a better lyricist in the last 3 decades as Will Sheff

Hey, no arguments there

[Ishotdanieljohnston]

Agreed, Sheff defeats all. This thread would be more worthwhile if it had the lyrics to "Westfall", "A Stone" or "The president is dead" in the first post.

[Bayley]

I came to Godspeed after the fact, after hearing numerous fellatious opinions from individuals I considered trustworthy. That plus just their influential status made it really hard NOT to interpret even their flaws through that filter. So even when I would hear some terrible line of poetry from them or Silver Mt. Zion, I'd let it slide, thinking Efrim knew what he was doing. Maybe he knew it was overangsty, one-sided? Maybe that's the point?

Aaaand I kinda don't care anymore. I come at them from a more skeptical POV now, and his lyrics are guilty until proven innocent. Much of the time, FAIL.




I consider a good amount of Bobby's lyrics from Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde to be impressionistic, but occasionally venturing into the unintelligible and sometimes into nonsensical. But I tend to take it the same way I take more abstract beat poetry. Don't try to decipher it, but just float over the (seemingly non-sequiter) imagery and metaphors, allusions. But just let each one take your mind wherever it takes you, and dig the ride. I tend to fall off half-way through on the longer songs (Desolation Row), but it's a fun little exercise for me at least. Usually I end up with some weird picture that he probably had no intention of conveying, which is sort of what I love about him.

If I'm having a shitty day and feel like listening to Dylan, I go no further than Freewheelin'. Or yeah, Blood on the Tracks.

In general though, I wouldn't go to Dylan on a shitty day.

[TheFuriousWombat]

This thread would be more worthwhile if it had the lyrics to "Westfall"

Shoulda ended it there.

[Jackie Blue]

his lyrics are guilty until proven innocent. Much of the time, FAIL.

I don't think I can take someone's opinion about lyrics seriously when they type in stupid webbernet-speak, sorry.

[E. Spaceman]

No one wants to hear about your 97th tear
So dry your eyes or let it go uncried, my dear
I am all out of love to mouth into your ear
And not above letting a love song disappear before it's written

And no one wants a tune about the 100th luftballoon that was seen shooting from the window of your room
To be a spot against the sky's colossal gloom
And land deflated in some neighbor's state that's strewn with 99 others

8 chinese brothers
Well, there's a reason why the last is smiling wide and sitting higher than the others
Swinging his arms

You would probably die before you shot up 9 miles high
Your eyes dilated as light played upon the sight
Of TVC16 as it sings you goodnight
Relaxed as hell and locked up in cell 45
I hope you're feeling better

The 51st way to leave your lover
Admittedly, it doesn't seem to be as gentle or as clean as all the others
Leaving a scar all in the after hours of some Greenpoint bar

I told you, I can't listen, baby, 'bout the 4th time you were a lady and how your forthrightness betrayed a secret shyness
Stripped away by days of being hailed as "your highness"
And what's new pussycat, is that you were once a lionness
They cut your claws out

Kitten, not everyone's keen on lighting candle 17, the party's done, the cake's all gone, the plates are clean
The chauffeur's leering from the cheerless mezzanine
And in just one year, this straight world could pay to see what they have been missing

You were caught kissing 8 chinese brothers
Well, there's a reason why the last is smiling wide and sitting higher than the others
Staking with charm

And he says, "Lets get lost, let them send out alarms"
He says, "Let's get crossed out and come to harm"
"Lets make the world's stupidest stand and truly mean it
Lets hit the limit of loss over lover's arms
No, lets exceed it"

[pwntuspilate]

I also think Sufjan Stevens deserves mention in this thread...I think he has really honed his lyrics on his last couple albums.  The songs "John Wayne Gacy Jr." and "Casimir Pulaski Day", both from the Illinoise album both give me goosebumps every time I hear them.  If you believe Dylan to be a bit high handed, then I think these songs are a better fit.  I find them to be very real, filled with stark emotion.

[Bayley]

his lyrics are guilty until proven innocent. Much of the time, FAIL.

I don't think I can take someone's opinion about lyrics seriously when they type in stupid webbernet-speak, sorry.

Oh would that I had not revealed myself in such a hasty a manner as this!
So unfortunate, Good Creator, the plethoric quantity out of a hundred of your subjects be so vain!
Must every nit be picked? Must every hair upon one's head be split?

Good sir, inform me most benevolently: if thou choosest to be offended by a humble opinion of mine,
and thus take the low road, assaulting in a most petty manner my choice of words
Which of the two of us is degrading the discourse?

Which of us is inviting internet squabbles?
Which of us is taking the thread entirely off-track?

And answer me this: Is it my opinion that offends thee? Be it truly my unfortunate (and unknowingly inferior) choice of words?

Or perhaps thou art simply a post-count snob of the lowest order.

[jimbunny]

And maybe you're overreacting.

Anyway, I feel like it's pretty interesting that we're having parallel discussions of great lyricists and Godspeed. I feel like they should intersect somewhere, instead of this thread devolving into "I like so-and-so."

Here's a thought: a lot of songs that have words in them, don't have lyrics. I was thinking about this before, while listening to "D.A.N.C.E" by Justice. Are those really lyrics? I feel like there's a pretty fundamental difference between the words to "Dead Flag Blues" and the words to a song by Dylan or Sheff.

[Jackie Blue]

"Overracting" is certainly one way to put it.  To put it in the parlance of webbernet-speak, I would say "LURK MOAR".

And you're right, of course, Godspeed You! Black Emperor only have one fragment of one song with lyrics ("Moya Sings Baby-Oh") and that's only like two minutes long.  Found sound and, in the case of the OP, a fragment of a screenplay do not really count as "lyrics".  I similarly wouldn't say that "Car Chase Terror" has lyrics.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i downloaded F#A# infinity once and did not like it one bit. never bothered listening to any of their other albums.

in fact, it was that album that had me declaring my hatred for all post-rock before i even knew what it really was. then, of course, i heard EitS and moved on from there to bask in the glory of many post-rock bands of different sorts and degrees. i've yet to return to Godspeed to give them another chance but someday i probably will.

[Nodaisho]

Dead Flag Blues underwhelmed me, I heard a 4-5 minute version of East Hastings (guessing that isn't the original) which was decent, but still didn't care for it too much. Anyone got a recommendation of what album to start with from GY!BE?

[sean]

Thats kind of a tough one, since you really can't go wrong with any of their stuff, and everyone I know usually gives a different answer.

I would say start with their EP Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada. I kinda feel like thats their most accessible work, especially with Moya only being a ten minute song. Moya is also one of their best songs in my opinion.

Durrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Kai]

Dead Flag Blues underwhelmed me, I heard a 4-5 minute version of East Hastings (guessing that isn't the original) which was decent, but still didn't care for it too much. Anyone got a recommendation of what album to start with from GY!BE?

Yanqui U.X.O. is excellent, as is the Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada EP, although pretty much every Godspeed fan has their own opinions on what the best album is.

[sean]

On that note, you could not press me to pick an album by them that I would consider their worst. They are all so good!

[Albatron]

I like Godspeed, but I find I have to be in a very particular mood to listen to them. It's like watching the extended edition of Lord of the Rings, sure its cool, but it takes so damn long to get anywhere. The same goes for Mogwai, but not as bad. I never put either band in my car cd player because usually I won't even get through one song.

[spidergland]

 Greatest thing I've ever heard?

No Mogwai in your car stereo?  Not even Mogwai Fear Satan?  Sure it's long, but its pretty immediate for post-rock.

[Jackie Blue]

You do realize that only three songs on the last Mogwai album are over 5 minutes long and that none of those three go to the 6 minute mark, right?  And that the album before that only had one 7 minute song and a bunch that were 2-4 minutes as well, right?

[imapiratearg]

Opinions: I do not think that there has been a better lyricist in the last 3 decades as Will Sheff

Will Sheff is fantastic, definitely up there with John K. Samson, John Darnielle and Bob Dylan.  I think Mark Kozelek is also pretty great.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Like her voice or not, Joanna Newsom writes some damn good lyrics. Also, I think John Samson is pretty great too.

[spidergland]

You do realize that only three songs on the last Mogwai album are over 5 minutes long and that none of those three go to the 6 minute mark, right?  And that the album before that only had one 7 minute song and a bunch that were 2-4 minutes as well, right?

To be honest, no matter how good 'Happy Songs...' and 'Mr. Beast' are, when someone mentions Mogwai, I will always think of 'Young Team' and 'EP + 6'.  They just seem more vital to me. 

Lyrically, I do have a soft spot for Nick Cave, even some of the Birthday Party's more ridiculous stuff.

[Tom]

Plus ones

This may be my favourite song of all time. I have been listening to it looping for several hours.

Will Sheff is much deserving of communal grovelling.

So, I guess I should start listening to some of Menuck's stuff apart from his mix of No Lucifer.

[Jackie Blue]

To be honest, no matter how good 'Happy Songs...' and 'Mr. Beast' are, when someone mentions Mogwai, I will always think of 'Young Team' and 'EP + 6'.  They just seem more vital to me.

INDIE ROCKER CLAIMS BAND'S OLDER MATERIAL IS BEST IN QC FORUMS SHOCKER.

FILM AT 11.

[spidergland]

Hey, I'm not saying which is better, but if I was going to describe Mogwai to someone I would use their earlier stuff as a template.  Its just what I've listened to more.  Kinda like if someone asked who River Phoenix was I'd say the narcoleptic rent boy in My Own Private Idaho, not the kid with the no good family from Stand By Me.  I'm not saying which film is better, just what comes to my mind first.

[Jackie Blue]

I was just messin' with ya.

I am curious about what "more vital" means, though.  I've listened to Mogwai since they started yet I still would always tell anyone who wants to check them out to get Mr. Beast first.  It's the sound of them growing into a real sound instead of Young Team which is a bunch of teenagers who discovered you can turn the distortion pedal on and off in mid-song.

[spidergland]

Yeah, vital's probably not the best word.  Its more a case that the earlier records had a greater effect on me I guess.  I dunno, I'm just a sucker for the romantic image of teenagers in bands with distortion pedals trying to make an "important" record.  Mr. Beast is a great record (which I really should re-listen too, thanks for the reminder), but it just sounds like they're in a bit of a comfort zone to me.

[Kai]

I find Young Team to be terribly boring. Loud, sure, but nothing happens. Mogwai Fear Satan is pretty cool I guess. Happy Songs for Happy People and Mr. Beast are much better records.

[Johnny C]

Rock Action you cunts.

[Albatron]

You do realize that only three songs on the last Mogwai album are over 5 minutes long and that none of those three go to the 6 minute mark, right?  And that the album before that only had one 7 minute song and a bunch that were 2-4 minutes as well, right?

Crap youre right, but in my defense, I'm hardly in the car for more than five minutes at a time. But now that I actually think before I post, I remember having Happy Songs for Happy People in there once. But not since. I guess the reason is that Mogwai and Godspeed are a bit depressing and I mean genuinely depressing, like I don't listen to them too often for the same reason I can only read so much news before I get all angry and depressed about the current state of affairs. Which to me is a testament to their talent.