Lyrically, I want to read through it and fully understand what he's singing about. I suspect this one to make better sense the more I listen to it. I love it though, and as others have pointed out and I pointed out earlier today, if this is Jason's least favorite and I love it as much as I do... Dis gun b gud fellas.
As long as the lyrics mean something to Dustin, that's all that matters. This track is so Soundgarden and I love it. In essence, Thrice has become a 90s band as of M/m. And that's not a bad direction to take since the 90s were the greatest decade for music.
shot in the dark, honey=oil. which is why its called "black" honey..the rest is pretty easy to follow?
Liked it more on a second listen with headphones, a more detail-oriented listen. Lots of great layers of sound in this song. I think my biggest issue is that I like the pre-choruses and bridge more than I like the chorus.
Love the sound, lyrics are simple but poignant, especially if we're to consider this album as Thrice's response to the current political climate. And the finale is badass, sort of reminds me of the ending to Words in the Water.
"they are following me across the sea, now they are stinging my friends and family" hits home for some reason.. I actually really like this song.. it is so easy to understand lyrically but it sends a strong message.. these people have been attacked their whole lives... of course they are going to fight back.
Lyrics are personal. The melodies and harmonies throughout this song are flawless and that's what matters most. Dustin doesn't write lyrics for you. So, critiquing his lyrics is an exercise in futility.
The new song reminds me of mewithoutYou in the strangest way. The riff gives me that kind of vibe and the bee/honey metaphor reminds me of Nice and Blue pt. 2 I dig the song tho it's nice. I wish it ended differently though. The vocal at the end doesn't really do anything for me cuz repeating the lyric softly at the end is such a common songwriting device
It was the part that the end where I was like, "okay, yea that's definitely what it is" I probably wouldn't have gotten it if everyone wasn't complaining about the lyrics so much haha so I was listening very intently
Unless you know what he's trying to say or understand the meaning these words have within his own life, you're just drawing conclusions of your own without any context. It's like reading someone's diary and criticizing what they're saying when you haven't lived their life. I've been in several bands and people would always attach meaning to our songs that we never intended. We never corrected them since they're allowed to interpret things as they please. More often than not, people never understood what we were really saying because each song was personal to us. There were also songs that meant absolutely nothing as we just chose cool-sounding words (as an exercise) and people came forward with all sorts of meanings that were never there. I'm sure you get the point by now. People also criticized "Promises" when it first came out and said how they wouldn't sing along to that song. Yet, people go nuts for that song now and sing every word. Again, as long as these words mean something important to Dustin, that's all that matters. He's not trying to write words that cater to your taste or mine. Lyrical content should never weigh down a song unless it's blatantly offensive. If his performance is lacking or his melodies/harmonies are subpar, then you have grounds to critique him since you know how good he can be. But you can't compare lyrics in the same fashion. It's not like he's a lesser lyricist now. If he's being too repetitive within the song, that's a valid critique, but to judge his lyrics from afar, when you'll never know what he's truly saying, is futile.
Authorial intent is basically useless and unneeded for critique. I recommend "The Death of the Author" by Barthes as a good starting point. The idea that as long as the words mean something to the author that's all that matters is patently false - that may be all that matters to Dustin - but that is irrelevant to the larger conversation of literature analysis, which can, and does, and should, occur.