From "The Soft Bulletin 5.1/Outtakes"
Year: 1999?
If you don't mind, I'm just going to write a paragraph about me and this blog rather than this song.
This is what my blog was originally going to be; me talking about my favorite songs. Somewhere along the way (I think it was after one post) I figured that was a terrible idea and that I should just do what all great blogs do and provide people with links to awesome music. The thing is I alway had the same goal, to talk about music that I dig and (hopefully) get more people listening to some of the artists that don't get enough love. And you know what? That means that I can still do the occassional post about a favorite track. So there.
So what can I tell you about this track? I mean, apart from the fact that it's the best thing The Flaming Lips have recorded ever. I guess I could explain were the hell it came from. So pull up a pew, stick the kettle on and get comfy.
I don't know where this track came from.
I wish I did, but I have no idea when this was written and recorded so it's hard to explain how this amazing track came about. It was probably written during the Zaireeka sessions, when The Flips were experimenting like crazy, trying to change their sound to something completely different. And so we have this.
It starts with some very dramatic (and most likey synth'd) orchestration. Horns blur, strings flood in and chimes, uh, chime. But then it all ends. That great big wall of sound that just built up just fades away into nothingness and we're left with Wayne Coyne singing over some acoustic guitar strumming (and the beautiful piano playing of Mr. Steven Drozd). He's singing something about how things are "really bad" and that "this one here won't make it to the land". None of it makes sense, not that Flaming Lips songs usually do but still. A few more lines are sung before it speeds up a little bit. The lyrics are creating tension as Wayne Coyne begs "The Captain" to make an exception. It's all building up, and then the drums kick in. Something big is coming up, and you know it.
"Instead of being bold about it..."
And then the organ wails like a banshee.
"The Captain's being cooooooooold!!"
That wall of sound that opened the track is back, and louder, noisier and more beautiful than ever. You've got this incredibly awesome, almost shoegazey, vibe going on. The strings sound like they've been taken straight from My Bloody Valentines Touched, and Wayne keeps on singing those same lines.
"Instead of being bold about it..."
Needless to say, by the end of this track I am usually stood up out of my seat, arms raised in the air as I sing along at the top of my voice.
I really wasn't joking when I said it was the best thing The Flaming Lips have ever recorded.
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