We now have our three winners. They have each won a pair of tickets to see Davey in American Idiot on Broadway! These are the entries that won:
Lauren T.
I chose the theme of loosing childhood innocence as one grows older:
1. The Boy Who Destroyed the World
2. Theory of Revolution
3. The Great Disappointment
4. Now the World
5. Over Exposure
6. ...But Home is Nowhere
7. Where We Used to Play
When you're young you're generally happy, naive, optimistic, and blind to the problems of the world, but as you grow older you begin to understand these problems and begin to go through problems of your own. You realize that the way you perceived things as a child is very different from the way things actually are.
The Boy Who Destroyed the World is about a boy who was once happy but as he got older, became depressed (maybe from being alienated from others?) and "lost his glow." He reaches out for help but it only makes him feel more alone because of how different he is from others, and how no one really empathizes with what he's feeling. He remembers when they were all young children and happy ("Remember when, Remember when, Remember when we were all so beautiful?") but as they grow older they all change ("But since then we've lost our glow").
Theory of Revolution is about people beginning to do drugs and drink. Younger children don't really have any idea what drugs are, but as kids get older they start experimenting, some at a very early age. Eventually for some of these people drugs will take over their lives and destroy them, while those who don't do drugs might lose their old childhood friends to drugs and will have to go through that pain.
The Great Disappointment is, to me, about a child who is brought up as a Christian and as they get older, realize that what they were taught is not true. The child is taught to believe in God and that their prayers will be answered, and being young and naive, accepts what they're being told without a second thought. The child dreams about angels and despite the fact that they have never seen an angel ("I knew they would appear, saw not a single one") still believes they exist. As time goes on the angels never appear and prayers remain unanswered yet the child continues to wait for something to happen, until they begin to start doubting their faith ("While I waited I was wasting away, hope was wasting away, faith was wasting away"), until finally they come to the painful realization that what they had been taught to believe in was just a lie. ("I always wanted to believe...But from the start I'd been deceived")
Now the World is about a boy who falls in love with someone, probably for the first time. He feels like the girl he loves could make him happier than he's ever been before ("Summer I painted, a scene, that lit the stars for me") and completely opens himself up to her, only to have her turn him down ("That summer created, those words, that came to life in three, They were denied by you"). Instead of ending up being happier than he had ever been, the boy's heart is broken for the first time and he instead becomes more miserable than he had ever been before ("This summer created a boy of abject misery. He was designed by you").
Over Exposure is about realizing all of the problems that there are in the world. It is about going through everything from being young and oblivious to it all, to experiencing pain, lies, and corruption, and feeling overwhelmed by all of this and wishing it was possible to be oblivious to it all once again.
...But Home is Nowhere is about how as time goes on one comes to terms with the fact that all childhood innocence is gone, and everything that was simple and easy about childhood is gone with it. As one gets older life becomes much more complex and painful than it was during childhood ("I lay strewn across the floor, pieced up in sorrow, The pieces are lost, these pieces don't fit"), but that's just the way it goes, and as difficult as it is, one must learn to accept that. BHIN relates to many of the points I talked about in the other songs; there is the lonely, misunderstood boy from TBWDTW ("Ungranted in dead time left me disowned To this nature, so unnatural, I remain alone"), the child who lost their faith in God in The Great Disappointment ("My prayers to disappear Absent of grace, marked as infernal"), and the boy who's heart was broken in Now the World ("Twenty-six years and seems like I've just begun To understand my, my intimate is no one").
Where We Used to Play is about trying to find again innocence that was lost. It could be interpreted as someone returning to the place where they grew up in hopes of reliving their childhood, but finding out that even though the place itself might still be the same, everything else is different. The people that had once been childhood friends have changed and become distant ("I know I'm with strangers I recognize and I realize my own disowned me"). The bottom line is that as you grow up and go through difficult experiences, you lose your childhood innocence forever, and you can never really get it back.
And that’s the end of my novel. XD
Entrant #36 (name omitted to respect privacy)
The theme of my AFI compilation is the instinctive evil of human nature, the darkness inside us that seeks to smother the light, to put out the fire inside us. This compilation follows our path from morn to night, our fall into darkness.
Songs:
1: Prelude 12/21
2: Death of Seasons
3: Beautiful Thieves
4: The Missing Frame
5: Medicate:
6: The Last Kiss
7: Reiver's Music
When we are young, the fire burns brightly within us. We are innocent, blind to the world's faults and horrors that surround us, the injustices, and evil. We think that we know people, and that they will never betray our trust ("This is what I thought, I thought you'd need me. This is what I thought, so think me naïve.") Promises and love all seem to be real ("I promised you a heart you promised to keep.") Each night, our parents put us to bed ("Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."), and we wake thinking the world is still a good place, and the fire is still the greater force within it. The fire is our life force, the thing that keeps us going, the essence of goodness. It is art, it is knowledge, it is love, it is utterly benevolent... and it is easily corrupted.
As we age and mature, we begin to see the human nature, and the evil that lies there. As Davey says in Death of Seasons, we are disgusted with what we see ("Writhing with sickness"), but we are immersed in it. In the media, criminals are glorified, broadcast around the world for all to see ("Turn it off." and "Turn it on."). We watch as all that is good, that stars and the light, fall, smothered by the crushing blackness of the sky, the evil that seeps into our hearts. We hate it, and would rebel against it ("All of this hatred is fucking real.") There are those that would comfort us, and tell us that life goes on despite it all, that it doesn't affect us. They try ignore it, but we know better. We know that it will not leave us alone, that the darkness will find us and try to take us, for it has taken so many in the past ("It won't be all right, despite what they say. Just watch the stars tonight as they disappear, disintegrate."). Even as we try to cling to our beliefs and our morals, we can feel ourselves slipping away. However, we believe that we won't sit by idly; we will fight to keep the fire burning ("I hope to shade the world as stars go out and I disintegrate.").
With each passing second, each beat of our hearts, we see more of the atrocities. In Beautiful Thieves, the phrase "beautiful thieves" has a double meaning. First, they are those with power and influence, who can get away with anything they please, any crime, any immoral action ("Can't you see they turn blind eyes to we swift and spotlight strangers? Oh, before the rush is over, we will be revered again while the victims still recover." "If we run this light, take a little life, no one will care at all.") The media will gloat over them anyway, simply giving them more publicity, and the people will love them all the same ("Even if we're discovered just be sure to wear your best; we will surely make the covers.") Secondly, they are addictive substances: drugs, alcohol, and sex, to name a few ("the rush"). Once you have become addicted, taken by these evil things, you do not know that they are wrong, and will keep coming back to them ("Who would run for cover? Who would run from us?" "No one suspects at all."). We see all this, we know it, but it is difficult to fight.
In The Missing Frame, our morals are blurred ("constants become surreal."). We see people turning to death to escape the darkness of the world ("suicides are revealed."). We see people forgetting the morals and values they once upheld ("I watch them all forget.") In the face of all this evil and corruption, we slip away faster and faster ("I'm lost in little deaths.") It becomes harder and harder to resist ("I forget my life"). We wonder if we can withstand the evil that rushes about us and the media that brainwashes us, barraging our minds. We wonder if we can keep our fire burning ("Will the flood behind me put out the fire inside me?") In the end, we stop trying to fight. The evil is too much to overcome, and we give in. We let it break in, and tear our sense of decency and goodness to shreds, even though we know it means we can never go back ("I'll let you tear it up if you don't wake me up. But if you tear it, we can't repair it, so please don't wake me till someone cares. Now no one cares. ... it's apparent that you don't care. And it's sunk into me 'cause I don't care. Now no one cares.") And no one cares; it's just another life lost, another fire that has gone out.
We fall from light into the darkness of addiction. It is both the addiction to drugs and a cheap, superficial, unfeeling and meaningless love ("Medicate here with me. Now as we lose ourselves in this, ignore that you don't even know my name. Medicate.") The darkness isolates us, even though we pretend to be loved ("I've come to find everyone goes away."). We know that we cannot escape ("I'm destined to remain."). In the cold and the dark, the evil has robbed us of all feeling and emotion ("Can you describe what it's like? I feel nothing. Can you feel this? Does it sting? I feel nothing at all. Can you tell me how it feels?"). We want to be a part of the darkness and embrace it. We want to still feel like someone knows us, or would want to ("Can we pretend this is real?"). And we continue to "Medicate."
The Last Kiss represents the trading of addiction to love for an addiction to self-infliction. We are left alone, and want someone to pity us, to bring us back from the darkness ("Hung in your room, swaying, hoping only that you'll see."). No one will come; there is only the evil and the darkness ("I'm alone in such poor company."). The evil cannot be stopped, and we continue to indulge on drugs ("I can't stop the insects that are feeding, pull the needles from beneath my skin."). Distantly, we remember a time when the flame was still alive within us, but cannot quite recall the light ("You'll love the eyes. Have they always shone so vacantly?"). Still, we sink further and further from the surface, down into the dark, into the evil. We try to put the blame on someone else, to free ourselves of the guilt ("Hurt myself today. It's all for you. Do you like what I'm becoming? Cut myself today. It's all for you."). In the end, we cannot escape our guilt, our self-hate, our addiction, our fate; and we, too, turn to death.
Reiver's Music is the mind reeling as we die. It is a reflection on the life we have lead, the path we traveled, and the fall off the edge. We recall when we were overwhelmed by evil, and stopped trying to resist, when our fire went out ("I gave up fighting.") We remember the first time, when we convinced ourselves that we could go back ("Am I now worse off for this one night?") We remember how we were so quickly abandoned by those we had trusted ("All the while we know those enamored never miss us.") Then we embraced the darkness utterly ("I've taken to speaking words that only they know.") Even when we were so far gone, we knew that we were alone, despite our denial of it ("How soon I did see, all here is unseen.") Then we despaired, and committed suicide ("I gave up trying. I've come to be these halos."). And we know that, in a world so full of evil, no one will remember us ("Those enamored who won't miss us."). As we lose our grip on life, we see these things one last time ("All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. Nothing is all we own. All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. No one is who we know.") And then the light fades in our eyes, and the darkness is complete, and we are lost.
Entrant #53 (name omitted to respect privacy)
1. The Boy Who Destroyed the World
2. Theory of Revolution
3. The Great Disappointment
4. Now the World
5. Over Exposure
6. ...But Home is Nowhere
7. Where We Used to Play
When you're young you're generally happy, naive, optimistic, and blind to the problems of the world, but as you grow older you begin to understand these problems and begin to go through problems of your own. You realize that the way you perceived things as a child is very different from the way things actually are.
The Boy Who Destroyed the World is about a boy who was once happy but as he got older, became depressed (maybe from being alienated from others?) and "lost his glow." He reaches out for help but it only makes him feel more alone because of how different he is from others, and how no one really empathizes with what he's feeling. He remembers when they were all young children and happy ("Remember when, Remember when, Remember when we were all so beautiful?") but as they grow older they all change ("But since then we've lost our glow").
Theory of Revolution is about people beginning to do drugs and drink. Younger children don't really have any idea what drugs are, but as kids get older they start experimenting, some at a very early age. Eventually for some of these people drugs will take over their lives and destroy them, while those who don't do drugs might lose their old childhood friends to drugs and will have to go through that pain.
The Great Disappointment is, to me, about a child who is brought up as a Christian and as they get older, realize that what they were taught is not true. The child is taught to believe in God and that their prayers will be answered, and being young and naive, accepts what they're being told without a second thought. The child dreams about angels and despite the fact that they have never seen an angel ("I knew they would appear, saw not a single one") still believes they exist. As time goes on the angels never appear and prayers remain unanswered yet the child continues to wait for something to happen, until they begin to start doubting their faith ("While I waited I was wasting away, hope was wasting away, faith was wasting away"), until finally they come to the painful realization that what they had been taught to believe in was just a lie. ("I always wanted to believe...But from the start I'd been deceived")
Now the World is about a boy who falls in love with someone, probably for the first time. He feels like the girl he loves could make him happier than he's ever been before ("Summer I painted, a scene, that lit the stars for me") and completely opens himself up to her, only to have her turn him down ("That summer created, those words, that came to life in three, They were denied by you"). Instead of ending up being happier than he had ever been, the boy's heart is broken for the first time and he instead becomes more miserable than he had ever been before ("This summer created a boy of abject misery. He was designed by you").
Over Exposure is about realizing all of the problems that there are in the world. It is about going through everything from being young and oblivious to it all, to experiencing pain, lies, and corruption, and feeling overwhelmed by all of this and wishing it was possible to be oblivious to it all once again.
...But Home is Nowhere is about how as time goes on one comes to terms with the fact that all childhood innocence is gone, and everything that was simple and easy about childhood is gone with it. As one gets older life becomes much more complex and painful than it was during childhood ("I lay strewn across the floor, pieced up in sorrow, The pieces are lost, these pieces don't fit"), but that's just the way it goes, and as difficult as it is, one must learn to accept that. BHIN relates to many of the points I talked about in the other songs; there is the lonely, misunderstood boy from TBWDTW ("Ungranted in dead time left me disowned To this nature, so unnatural, I remain alone"), the child who lost their faith in God in The Great Disappointment ("My prayers to disappear Absent of grace, marked as infernal"), and the boy who's heart was broken in Now the World ("Twenty-six years and seems like I've just begun To understand my, my intimate is no one").
Where We Used to Play is about trying to find again innocence that was lost. It could be interpreted as someone returning to the place where they grew up in hopes of reliving their childhood, but finding out that even though the place itself might still be the same, everything else is different. The people that had once been childhood friends have changed and become distant ("I know I'm with strangers I recognize and I realize my own disowned me"). The bottom line is that as you grow up and go through difficult experiences, you lose your childhood innocence forever, and you can never really get it back.
And that’s the end of my novel. XD
Entrant #36 (name omitted to respect privacy)
The theme of my AFI compilation is the instinctive evil of human nature, the darkness inside us that seeks to smother the light, to put out the fire inside us. This compilation follows our path from morn to night, our fall into darkness.
Songs:
1: Prelude 12/21
2: Death of Seasons
3: Beautiful Thieves
4: The Missing Frame
5: Medicate:
6: The Last Kiss
7: Reiver's Music
When we are young, the fire burns brightly within us. We are innocent, blind to the world's faults and horrors that surround us, the injustices, and evil. We think that we know people, and that they will never betray our trust ("This is what I thought, I thought you'd need me. This is what I thought, so think me naïve.") Promises and love all seem to be real ("I promised you a heart you promised to keep.") Each night, our parents put us to bed ("Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."), and we wake thinking the world is still a good place, and the fire is still the greater force within it. The fire is our life force, the thing that keeps us going, the essence of goodness. It is art, it is knowledge, it is love, it is utterly benevolent... and it is easily corrupted.
As we age and mature, we begin to see the human nature, and the evil that lies there. As Davey says in Death of Seasons, we are disgusted with what we see ("Writhing with sickness"), but we are immersed in it. In the media, criminals are glorified, broadcast around the world for all to see ("Turn it off." and "Turn it on."). We watch as all that is good, that stars and the light, fall, smothered by the crushing blackness of the sky, the evil that seeps into our hearts. We hate it, and would rebel against it ("All of this hatred is fucking real.") There are those that would comfort us, and tell us that life goes on despite it all, that it doesn't affect us. They try ignore it, but we know better. We know that it will not leave us alone, that the darkness will find us and try to take us, for it has taken so many in the past ("It won't be all right, despite what they say. Just watch the stars tonight as they disappear, disintegrate."). Even as we try to cling to our beliefs and our morals, we can feel ourselves slipping away. However, we believe that we won't sit by idly; we will fight to keep the fire burning ("I hope to shade the world as stars go out and I disintegrate.").
With each passing second, each beat of our hearts, we see more of the atrocities. In Beautiful Thieves, the phrase "beautiful thieves" has a double meaning. First, they are those with power and influence, who can get away with anything they please, any crime, any immoral action ("Can't you see they turn blind eyes to we swift and spotlight strangers? Oh, before the rush is over, we will be revered again while the victims still recover." "If we run this light, take a little life, no one will care at all.") The media will gloat over them anyway, simply giving them more publicity, and the people will love them all the same ("Even if we're discovered just be sure to wear your best; we will surely make the covers.") Secondly, they are addictive substances: drugs, alcohol, and sex, to name a few ("the rush"). Once you have become addicted, taken by these evil things, you do not know that they are wrong, and will keep coming back to them ("Who would run for cover? Who would run from us?" "No one suspects at all."). We see all this, we know it, but it is difficult to fight.
In The Missing Frame, our morals are blurred ("constants become surreal."). We see people turning to death to escape the darkness of the world ("suicides are revealed."). We see people forgetting the morals and values they once upheld ("I watch them all forget.") In the face of all this evil and corruption, we slip away faster and faster ("I'm lost in little deaths.") It becomes harder and harder to resist ("I forget my life"). We wonder if we can withstand the evil that rushes about us and the media that brainwashes us, barraging our minds. We wonder if we can keep our fire burning ("Will the flood behind me put out the fire inside me?") In the end, we stop trying to fight. The evil is too much to overcome, and we give in. We let it break in, and tear our sense of decency and goodness to shreds, even though we know it means we can never go back ("I'll let you tear it up if you don't wake me up. But if you tear it, we can't repair it, so please don't wake me till someone cares. Now no one cares. ... it's apparent that you don't care. And it's sunk into me 'cause I don't care. Now no one cares.") And no one cares; it's just another life lost, another fire that has gone out.
We fall from light into the darkness of addiction. It is both the addiction to drugs and a cheap, superficial, unfeeling and meaningless love ("Medicate here with me. Now as we lose ourselves in this, ignore that you don't even know my name. Medicate.") The darkness isolates us, even though we pretend to be loved ("I've come to find everyone goes away."). We know that we cannot escape ("I'm destined to remain."). In the cold and the dark, the evil has robbed us of all feeling and emotion ("Can you describe what it's like? I feel nothing. Can you feel this? Does it sting? I feel nothing at all. Can you tell me how it feels?"). We want to be a part of the darkness and embrace it. We want to still feel like someone knows us, or would want to ("Can we pretend this is real?"). And we continue to "Medicate."
The Last Kiss represents the trading of addiction to love for an addiction to self-infliction. We are left alone, and want someone to pity us, to bring us back from the darkness ("Hung in your room, swaying, hoping only that you'll see."). No one will come; there is only the evil and the darkness ("I'm alone in such poor company."). The evil cannot be stopped, and we continue to indulge on drugs ("I can't stop the insects that are feeding, pull the needles from beneath my skin."). Distantly, we remember a time when the flame was still alive within us, but cannot quite recall the light ("You'll love the eyes. Have they always shone so vacantly?"). Still, we sink further and further from the surface, down into the dark, into the evil. We try to put the blame on someone else, to free ourselves of the guilt ("Hurt myself today. It's all for you. Do you like what I'm becoming? Cut myself today. It's all for you."). In the end, we cannot escape our guilt, our self-hate, our addiction, our fate; and we, too, turn to death.
Reiver's Music is the mind reeling as we die. It is a reflection on the life we have lead, the path we traveled, and the fall off the edge. We recall when we were overwhelmed by evil, and stopped trying to resist, when our fire went out ("I gave up fighting.") We remember the first time, when we convinced ourselves that we could go back ("Am I now worse off for this one night?") We remember how we were so quickly abandoned by those we had trusted ("All the while we know those enamored never miss us.") Then we embraced the darkness utterly ("I've taken to speaking words that only they know.") Even when we were so far gone, we knew that we were alone, despite our denial of it ("How soon I did see, all here is unseen.") Then we despaired, and committed suicide ("I gave up trying. I've come to be these halos."). And we know that, in a world so full of evil, no one will remember us ("Those enamored who won't miss us."). As we lose our grip on life, we see these things one last time ("All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. Nothing is all we own. All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. No one is who we know.") And then the light fades in our eyes, and the darkness is complete, and we are lost.
Entrant #53 (name omitted to respect privacy)
For my theme I chose Losing Faith. I know these songs may hold a different meaning for everyone, but when I hear these songs I relate them to religion and the realization that your faith my be wrong.
1. The Great Disappointment- I see this song as the beginning of the realization that you have lost faith. The title alone relates to the Millerite Movement and the hope that the rapture would happen in 1844. When that didn't happen, it was then called the Great Disappointment. But the lyrics give way to the notion that he wasted away waiting for God and being excited about the idea until, at last, he realizes his mistake.
2. The Despair Faction- This has the same meaning to me as The Great Disappointment, just in a softer version. Waiting is a huge theme in this song as well.
3. This Time Imperfect- There are many meanings for this song to me. But one that can fit is the idea of being hurt because he feels betrayed by believing in God. "Seems no one will appear and make me real" is the idea of the Church saying you are not alive until you believe in Christ.
4. Miseria Cantare-This could also relate by finding a group of people with the same belief as you. "Love your hate, your faith lost, you are now one of us>"
5. Miss Murder- This is symbolic of Lucifer's fall from heaven, when can also be seen as one's fall from faith. "That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out, without hope." Maybe this is trying to convince someone that still believes that they are wrong?
6. Open Your Eyes- I see this song as being about the church and how many religions can make people feel worthless and criticize people for their sins. When in many cases the people who are doing the judging are sinning far more than the congregation knows. "Open your eyes, the real problem is you."
7. Sacrilige- This song comes full circle from The Great Disappointment. He is no longer struggling with whether or not God exists, he is fully comfortable with his beliefs. He is showing his frustration with the people who still believe, and just can't understand why anyone would choose to believe in God. He finds it a ancient fairy tale, and an obsolete idea. He says "I see you're scared, well I feel fine" which shows just how much he is set in what he sees as truth. This song is the the most obvious in this theme, there is no hiding the true meaning. It is just out there for all to see!
1. The Great Disappointment- I see this song as the beginning of the realization that you have lost faith. The title alone relates to the Millerite Movement and the hope that the rapture would happen in 1844. When that didn't happen, it was then called the Great Disappointment. But the lyrics give way to the notion that he wasted away waiting for God and being excited about the idea until, at last, he realizes his mistake.
2. The Despair Faction- This has the same meaning to me as The Great Disappointment, just in a softer version. Waiting is a huge theme in this song as well.
3. This Time Imperfect- There are many meanings for this song to me. But one that can fit is the idea of being hurt because he feels betrayed by believing in God. "Seems no one will appear and make me real" is the idea of the Church saying you are not alive until you believe in Christ.
4. Miseria Cantare-This could also relate by finding a group of people with the same belief as you. "Love your hate, your faith lost, you are now one of us>"
5. Miss Murder- This is symbolic of Lucifer's fall from heaven, when can also be seen as one's fall from faith. "That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out, without hope." Maybe this is trying to convince someone that still believes that they are wrong?
6. Open Your Eyes- I see this song as being about the church and how many religions can make people feel worthless and criticize people for their sins. When in many cases the people who are doing the judging are sinning far more than the congregation knows. "Open your eyes, the real problem is you."
7. Sacrilige- This song comes full circle from The Great Disappointment. He is no longer struggling with whether or not God exists, he is fully comfortable with his beliefs. He is showing his frustration with the people who still believe, and just can't understand why anyone would choose to believe in God. He finds it a ancient fairy tale, and an obsolete idea. He says "I see you're scared, well I feel fine" which shows just how much he is set in what he sees as truth. This song is the the most obvious in this theme, there is no hiding the true meaning. It is just out there for all to see!
-Original post below-
It’s time to announce how we will give away the remaining six tickets (three pairs) of tickets to see Davey in American Idiot!
To enter, think of a theme such as a season, place, or feeling (be creative!) and then seven AFI songs that fit that theme and explain why. No more than three songs from each album or EP! If a song was released more than once, count it on every release it was on. Post entries in the comments with your name and email*, only one entry per person please. The deadline to enter is 4PM Eastern on Sunday, February 27th.
Good Luck To All!
*If you prefer not to post your name and email in the comments, email James@AFINewsHQ.com with your info and you will be sent a number to include in your comment. Do this before posting your entry!
Thanks, James!
ReplyDeleteFor my theme, I chose a theme that was just like today: a cold winter's day.
ReplyDeleteThe 7 songs that I'd choose to fit this category are:
1.)Bleed Black
2.) Silver and Cold
3.) Death of Seasons
4.)Love Like Winter
5.)Miss Murder
6.) Summer Shudder
and 7.) Cold Hands
Bleed Black fits into the category because everytime I think of a cold winter's day, I picture it to be a very dark stormy day with an almost black sky, and thats the image I get when I think of the song. Death of Seasons, Summer Shudder and Love Like Winter all fit into this category because they either mention the word winter or something about the seasons. Summer Shudder reminds me of when the summer has finally come to a close and it's transitioning to the cold weather that no one's used to. Miss Murder, for some reason, always makes me think of a dark cold day every time I watch the music video, which I've got to say is pretty amazing! Cold Hands reminds me of what it feels like to reach for your girl's hand on an icy winter's day, and what the sudden surge of coldness feels like. Silver and Cold, I think, is the song that most helps me envision a cold winter's day because it immediately brings a thought of a snowy morning to my mind.
Rob Bodnar
email's :rbodnar68@yahoo.com
#42
ReplyDeleteFor my theme, I chose the creation of a Dystopia, or the destruction of a perfect place. A Dystopia is opposite of a Utopia.
1)Breathing Towers to Heaven
2)The Spoken Word(...But Home is Nowhere)
3)Kiss and Control
4)I Am Trying Very Hard to Be Here
5)The Missing Frame
6)Paper Airplanes
7)Death of Seasons
Breathing Towers to Heaven fits because every time I listen to this song, I see a burning city, and what terrible things that happened to destroy a "perfect" place. For The Spoken Word, I see places that are desolate and are deteriorating into nothingness. For Kiss and Control, I always see two people, falling, over this large expanse of chaos and fire. For IATVHTBH, I see people in their "masquerade", as if they're hiding their true selves, and that they are all fake because they are pretending to be something else. For The Missing Frame, I see the slow degeneration of a place that was once perfect. Where people are always running from a terrible "flood" of things that seek to destroy their perfection. For Paper Airplanes, I see a place that has already been destroyed significantly, but it's not quite finished yet. And lastly, for Death of Seasons, I see someone who is trapped in a once-perfect place that is being destroyed around them. Everyone else has been "brainwashed", in a sense, and this is that last sane person in that terrible place. But, they slowly decay and are no longer what they used to be.
For my theme, I chose infidelity.
ReplyDeleteLove Like Winter
Consult my Lover
The Great Disappointment
Endlessly, She Said
The Last Kiss
Salt for Your Wounds
It Was Mine
Love Like Winter represents what was once a fiery, steaming marriage has now turned icy because the wife began having an affair; her husband loves her so much and would walk through fire for her, but suddenly, she's emotionally unavailable and her heart is so cold. Consult my Lover represents the husband finding out who his wife is cheating on him with, and he confronts him about it (without the wife's knowledge). The Great Disappointment represents how the husband feels; deep down, he kind of saw this coming because he'd noticed changes in her behavior during the affair, yet before, they had the perfect marriage and nothing seemed like it could have gone wrong. That brings us to Endlessly, She Said; every night (before she started having an affair), they would hold each other close and she would constantly tell him how he was the only one for her and how they would be together forever. The Last Kiss represents just what it says; on the day her husband was leaving for work (before the affair), and the couple shared the last truly passionate, deep kiss before she fell in love with someone else. Salt for Your Wounds also fits this theme because it's a metaphor for revenge; after everything that has happened, the husband is so distraught, buys a .42 caliber and shoots himself in the head. He left a note on the bed, which stated "Look what you've done to me. I gave you everything and you threw it away like it was nothing. I hope the guilt eats away at you for the rest of your life." And lastly, It Was Mine represents feelings from beyond the grave; "I thought she loved me. To have and to hold in sickness and in health 'til death do us part, she would be mine; the love of a lifetime, my soul mate, my everything. Why did it all have to be taken away?"
My e-mail is xwillsing4foodx@aol.com
The Theme of Blood and Mortality:
ReplyDelete1) Strength Through Wounding –Black Sails in the Sunset
2) Fainting Spells – Crash Love
3) Bleed Black – Sing the Sorrow
4) No Poetic Device – Black Sails in the Sunset
5) Love Like Winter - Decemberunderground
6) Affliction - Decemberunderground
7) 3 ½ - A Fire Inside EP
Blood is a reoccurring theme and subject matter in AFI’s music. In “Strength Through Wounding,” it uses the theme of blood by its importance as an AFI chant at a concert, and the significant lyric, “Through Our Bleeding, We are One.” “Fainting Spells,” demonstrates the theme of blood by “Praying to get the Blood out,” which is mentioned with mortality. In the song, “Bleed Black,” the title relates to the subject of blood, while much of the subject matter of the lyrics relates to mortality and death when stating, “You can hear when the heart stops.” In “No Poetic Device,” the speaker states, “Blood was seeping through my pores,” this represents the theme of blood with nightmares and an aspect of death with bleeding in the speaker’s dreams. “Love like Winter,” describes the theme of blood, with the lyrics, “It’s in the Blood,” “I Taste of Blood,” because death bit the speaker’s lip and is draining the life from the speaker in the song. In the song, “Affliction,” it relates to the common them of blood and mortality by the lyrics, “Were you holding my hands, when my palms bled?” and “Were you holding my hands when my wrists bled?” because it relates to self infliction upon the body and relating to death because it could be assumed as an attempt in suicide. The song, “3 ½,” relates to the common theme of blood and death by the lyrics stating, “I’ve been choking on my own blood,” and how the speaker is discontent with himself and wants to die. These songs show the theme of blood and death in AFI’s music.
Elise Petras
eliseytook@zoominternet.net
Theme:
ReplyDeleteDying.
Songs:
Bleed Black
Death Of Seasons
The Great Disappointment
The Killing Lights
Kiss and Control
The Interview
Veronica Sawyer Smokes
Many of AFI's songs talk about death, but I selected these ones because it's the speaker himself that's dead or dying not someone else. Listening to these songs at the right time can make me feel that I am also dying and then eventually I'm gone.
From Bleed Black, "I know I died that night and I'll never be brought back to life." This is the point where death is a thing of the past and the speaker knows it to be a true fact.
From Death Of Seasons, "...I decay. Killed by the weaknes... ...And I hope to shade the world as stars go out and I disintegrate." The speaker is dying, the dies, and hopes to return to the world in another way.
From The Great Disappointmet, "Hope was wasting away. Faith was wasting away. I was wasting away." When hope and faith fade away he to wastes away with them.
From The Killing Lights, "Put on your face and let's pretend these killing lights wont kill us all again." The speaker is still alive but the killing lights are causing those 'deaths' in life that you live through. Being killed this way is harder because the lyrics say "us" and that's means the speaker is not only dying, but he has to watch as someone he loves dies with him.
In Kiss and Control I percieve it as the speaker is dead and is pulling his lover into death as well so they can be together. He persuades her by showing her the freedom in the stars and shows her his wounds as if to comfort and convince her that death isn't as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. She begins to believe him. They kiss and he shows her the beauty that comes with being dead. However, he tells her to, "steal the glamour from death," which in my story of it he is saying, "Yes it is death, and it's not horrid once you are dead, but dying is painful and should not be easy, graceful, or glamourus as some suicides are. Show everyone what real death is and make it painful but all the pain will be gone after and we will be together my love." Then the girl agrees and as she's about to commit suicide says, "We all want to die like movie stars," (aka the easy, graceful, glamourus way) but she jumps and cries to her lover, "We'll burn like stars. We'll burn as we fall. Watch as city lights dance for us," because city lights in the rain were one of the sights he showed her to persuade her into death. This is one of many ways I interpret the song.
In The Interview the speaker talks about how he is dying, once he's dead, and advice he gives to the living along the way."...pray for rain,ose your name and watch all your dreams come true." Then at then end which is also the intro to Love Like Winter he says, "...and I'll grow pale without you." Putting that into this theme it is refering to how without his lover he will grow pale and pale is fefering to dying like how a live body grows pale once the heart stops beating and is dead.
Finally, one way to percieve Veronica Sawyer Smokes. The speaker is in love with a girl and loves her so much he thinks he knows everything about her but that's all just in his imagination. When he finds out she 'smokes' or rather something about her that makes him realize they were never together, he experiences one of the 'deaths' within life which in this case is the worst kind of heartbreak.
Well that's all I've got. I did my best to try to show you the feelings I get from the theme of death in these songs. There are other meanings I get from them, but these were just some of my favorites and that's how death is shown in some of AFI's music.
I chose the theme of loosing childhood innocence as one grows older:
ReplyDelete1. The Boy Who Destroyed the World
2. Theory of Revolution
3. The Great Disappointment
4. Now the World
5. Over Exposure
6. ...But Home is Nowhere
7. Where We Used to Play
When you're young you're generally happy, naive, optimistic, and blind to the problems of the world, but as you grow older you begin to understand these problems and begin to go through problems of your own. You realize that the way you perceived things as a child is very different from the way things actually are.
The Boy Who Destroyed the World is about a boy who was once happy but as he got older, became depressed (maybe from being alienated from others?) and "lost his glow." He reaches out for help but it only makes him feel more alone because of how different he is from others, and how no one really empathizes with what he's feeling. He remembers when they were all young children and happy ("Remember when, Remember when, Remember when we were all so beautiful?") but as they grow older they all change ("But since then we've lost our glow").
Theory of Revolution is about people beginning to do drugs and drink. Younger children don't really have any idea what drugs are, but as kids get older they start experimenting, some at a very early age. Eventually for some of these people drugs will take over their lives and destroy them, while those who don't do drugs might lose their old childhood friends to drugs and will have to go through that pain.
The Great Disappointment is, to me, about a child who is brought up as a Christian and as they get older, realize that what they were taught is not true. The child is taught to believe in God and that their prayers will be answered, and being young and naive, accepts what they're being told without a second thought. The child dreams about angels and despite the fact that they have never seen an angel ("I knew they would appear, saw not a single one") still believes they exist. As time goes on the angels never appear and prayers remain unanswered yet the child continues to wait for something to happen, until they begin to start doubting their faith ("While I waited I was wasting away, hope was wasting away, faith was wasting away"), until finally they come to the painful realization that what they had been taught to believe in was just a lie. ("I always wanted to believe...But from the start I'd been deceived")
Now the World is about a boy who falls in love with someone, probably for the first time. He feels like the girl he loves could make him happier than he's ever been before ("Summer I painted, a scene, that lit the stars for me") and completely opens himself up to her, only to have her turn him down ("That summer created, those words, that came to life in three, They were denied by you"). Instead of ending up being happier than he had ever been, the boy's heart is broken for the first time and he instead becomes more miserable than he had ever been before ("This summer created a boy of abject misery. He was designed by you").
Over Exposure is about realizing all of the problems that there are in the world. It is about going through everything from being young and oblivious to it all, to experiencing pain, lies, and corruption, and feeling overwhelmed by all of this and wishing it was possible to be oblivious to it all once again.
(continued) ...But Home is Nowhere is about how as time goes on one comes to terms with the fact that all childhood innocence is gone, and everything that was simple and easy about childhood is gone with it. As one gets older life becomes much more complex and painful than it was during childhood ("I lay strewn across the floor, pieced up in sorrow, The pieces are lost, these pieces don't fit"), but that's just the way it goes, and as difficult as it is, one must learn to accept that. BHIN relates to many of the points I talked about in the other songs; there is the lonely, misunderstood boy from TBWDTW ("Ungranted in dead time left me disowned To this nature, so unnatural, I remain alone"), the child who lost their faith in God in The Great Disappointment ("My prayers to disappear Absent of grace, marked as infernal"), and the boy who's heart was broken in Now the World ("Twenty-six years and seems like I've just begun To understand my, my intimate is no one").
ReplyDeleteWhere We Used to Play is about trying to find again innocence that was lost. It could be interpreted as someone returning to the place where they grew up in hopes of reliving their childhood, but finding out that even though the place itself might still be the same, everything else is different. The people that had once been childhood friends have changed and become distant ("I know I'm with strangers I recognize and I realize my own disowned me"). The bottom line is that as you grow up and go through difficult experiences, you lose your childhood innocence forever, and you can never really get it back.
And that’s the end of my novel. XD
Lauren Tyrell
Ltyrell17@aol.com
Also it said on the other post that the voucher could be used for one of several different nights, does that mean any of the nights Davey's performing or just a certain few? If it is a certain few what nights are they? I wouldn't be able to go if they're not on a weekend :/
The theme that I chose is falling into a conformity.
ReplyDelete1)Too Late For Gods
2)Strength Through Wounding
3)Miseria Cantare
4)Beautiful Thieves
5)Sacrilege
6)Paper Airplanes
7)This Time Imperfect
Too Late For Gods- There is this conformity for peope to follow, and they are very tempting and seem so perfect. Their vision seems perfect and the people seem perfect. They can persuade you with "going down in glory"
Strength Through Wounding- But, the conformity is not what it appears to be. They are dedicated till death to one another. By joining together in pain and suffering, they become stronger.
Miseria Cantare- This is when you join the conformity. You become part of their "one dark flame". As more and more people join the conformity, their numbers grow, the flame grows, and therefore, their power grows.
Beautiful Thieves- But, what the conformity does is not what you expected. They seem so innocent, and they have good intentions. But really, what they do is bad. "We can burn it and leave, For we are the Beautiful Thieves, No one suspects at all, No one suspects". They can hide what they really are very well.
Sacrilege- This is the stage after joing the conformity, where you question their beliefs and if what they are doing is really right. You are conflicted with how you saw them before, and you're confused. You don't like their beliefs, and you begin to feel the want to leave the conformity.
Paper Airplanes- "Gaze, lie and smirk inside, your arrogance will suit you well." This is what they expect you to be. They don't want you to question what they believe in, they only want you to follow and destroy." You're going out, going out forever unknown." They expect you to lose yourself, and to conform.
This Time Imperfect- "I cannot leave here. I cannot stay. Forever haunted more than afraid." this is your end. The conformity changed you, so you're almost like a lifeless mass of their beliefs. Unlike others though, you don't seem to share their anger. You're almost neautral. Because of this state you're in, however, you slowly begin to die, and there's nothing the conformity can do(because they are always collecting more people) or you can do because you are part of the conformity. But, even the conformity doesn't notice the fact that you are decaying, because your decaying makes them stronger. ("Through our bleeding, We are one")
Lindsay Alaimo
linza19@gmail.com
100 Words
ReplyDeleteEver and a Day
The Interview
Girl’s Not Grey
The Hanging Garden
Clove Smoke Catharsis
The Despair Factor
Being a student of architecture, about to begin my career, I have always taken on inspiration from music when thinking about space and design. Of course AFI has been an immense source of inspiration to many, myself absolutely included. Some particular songs/lyrics have stood out and made me think more than others. It’s hard to put into words exactly the spatial conditions that have been provoked and just exactly they came about, but the point is that they have me constantly thinking. 100 Words, one of the most inspirational lines I have heard in this matter: “we’re no longer confined because yesterday I burnt the sky.” This suggests a limitless architecture, complete freedom of design without boundaries. Thinking about the line from Ever and a Day: “I retraced the steps that led me here but nothing lives behind me.” How to create space that has no evidence of circulation, meaning how could you create space that has no entrance? or for that matter, one that has no evidence of existence. “I flee to decemberunderground,” from The Interview, has puzzled me. I have often thought about what this place is like and can’t truly get a grip on it. I imagine a completely serene setting, very bright but with the completely opposite characteristics of picturesque and modern architecture (I apologize if you’re not familiar with this at all, I’d be happy to explain but I’m trying to keep this concise). The “place where I belong with all erased” from Girl’s not Grey portrays a blank space, similar to that in 100 Words, except that this place is more of a created one, where 100 Words describes a place that was broken down in order to become what it is. I hesitated using The Hanging Garden because it is a cover, but I couldn’t resist. The Hanging Garden is a natural green architecture. It is a place with restriction, but without law. From the song Clove Smoke Catharsis: “from above comes a smile, a new vantage, such a view.” This constructed environment, somewhere atop a bounding wall, in a place unknown, there is a viewpoint where all can be seen. Is this a fortress or a home? It could be anything, but it had a direct influence on one of my projects. It was an aviary/aquarium/arboretum that used the principles of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon to create perverse and ominous vantage points, exposing the exposers (again sorry for specific references). And finally, who hasn’t been beautifully haunted by the famous line from The Despair Factor: “my whole life is a dark room, one, big, dark, room.” Just the thought of this space is enough to stick in the mind. An endless plane of nothing, pitch black, without a notion of any sort of variation whatsoever.
George Zeiss
gpzeiss@gmail.com
“A Look…” Theme From AFI Lyrics
ReplyDelete1) Miss Murder - Decemberunderground
2) Touch Song - Crush Love
3) The New Patron Saints and Angels - Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eye
4) Morningstar - The Art of Drowning
5) The Lost Souls- The Art of Downing
6) Catch a Hot One- The Art of Drowning
7) At A Glance - Black Sails in the Sunset
I find “a Look” toward a very special individual a reoccurring theme in many AFI lyrics. I truly appreciate the intensity that AFI lyrics can so eloquently convey to express that moment in time.
In “Miss Murder”, they begin with,”With just a look they shook and heavens bowed before him. Simply a look can break your heart. “
“Touch Song” begins with simply, and so strongly stating, “I saw you. Angels came to light your path. I heard you keep their wings pressed under glass. Now am I so enthralled that I might die?”
“The New Patron Saints and Angels” states that, “I’ve seen the light that emanates from you and it makes me feel proud, above the muffling crowds.” How often AFI members traveling on tour so frequently must have that sensation?
“Morningstar” states, “I saw a star beneath the stairs glowing through the melting walls. Who will be the first to begin their fall? Or will we become one?”
In “The Lost Souls” AFI demands, “Look what you’ve done to me now, you’ve made me perfect. Look what you’ve done to me now.”
In “Catch a Hot One”, AFI speaks of “The hungry eyes waiting for your life flash, Now they’ve gonna see it, now they’ve gonna see it”.
In “At a Glance”, AFI expresses “The vibrant heart so quickly growing old, the warmest eyes so quickly growing cold. Just a glance for they don’t care to see what becomes of me.”
I truly love all AFI lyrics. I especially find a great pleasure in their reference to “a look” in which two
individuals can enjoy a special connection for a moment, or remembered for a lifetime.
Pam Petras
From: petraspam@zoominternet.net
Haley Mattes
ReplyDeletehip2thefray@yahoo.com
For my theme I chose despair and these are the songs that I chose:
1.Silver and Cold (Album:Sing the Sorrow)
2.The Leaving Song (Album:Sing the Sorrow)
3.Bleed Black (Album:Sing the Sorrow)
4.Veronica Sawyer Smokes (Album:Crash Love)
5.The Days of the Phoenix (Album:The Art of Drowning and AFI)
6.Ever and a Day (Album:The Art of Drowning)
7.A Single Second (Album:AFI & Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes)
1.)This Song is the one AFI song that speaks to me the most. The deep emotions really pull you into the story behind the lyrics. In "Silver and Cold" there was a time when things were great and peaceful. However, as things progressed and he carried someone elses burden, the stress of that burden depressed him greatly.
2.)"The Leaving Song" is a song that anyone who's ever been bullied or harassed can relate to.Davey Havok puts his heart into singing about a problem so many people deal with on a daily basis-judgement from bullies.My favorite line of the song reads "It's hard to notice gleaming from the sky when you're staring at the cracks." When people judge others before they know them and constantly antagonize them, their victim's self-esteem takes a severe downward spiral. It gets undeniably harder for them to have any hope.
3.)It's not hard to discover how the theme of despair ties into this track.The person being sang about tries to find some form of joy in his world, but finds none.Then, instead of trying to make things better they add to the sorrow.
4.)"Veronica Sawyer Smokes" is a classic case of love gone wrong. The man in the song thought the world of this woman, but didn't know anything about her.Once the man discovered what she was really like he was sad that she wasn't the girl he thought she was.
5.)On this track the comparison of the present to the future is the cause for grief. In the past everything was just how they wanted it to be and they were happy. Now that a few years have gone by things aren't like they used to be and the good times are fewer and fewer.
6.)Even though it may be one of the shortest tracks on its album it doesn't take much to get the theme across. It describes a person who has completely given up hope and now just waits for their despair to end their life.
7.)For "A Single Second" I'm going to be short, sweet and to the point.Someone who once had all the love they could ever need now has nothing.
I hope that you will take the time to look over my submission thoroughly. AFI has always been my favorite band and once I found out about this contest I worked as hard as I could on my explanations.To get to see Davey Havok on broadway would be a dream come true for me and undoubtably the best experience of my life! Thank you.
#53
ReplyDeleteFor my theme I chose Losing Faith. I know these songs may hold a different meaning for everyone, but when I hear these songs I relate them to religion and the realization that your faith my be wrong.
1. The Great Disappointment- I see this song as the beginning of the realization that you have lost faith. The title alone relates to the Millerite Movement and the hope that the rapture would happen in 1844. When that didn't happen, it was then called the Great Disappointment. But the lyrics give way to the notion that he wasted away waiting for God and being excited about the idea until, at last, he realizes his mistake.
2. The Despair Faction- This has the same meaning to me as The Great Disappointment, just in a softer version. Waiting is a huge theme in this song as well.
3. This Time Imperfect- There are many meanings for this song to me. But one that can fit is the idea of being hurt because he feels betrayed by believing in God. "Seems no one will appear and make me real" is the idea of the Church saying you are not alive until you believe in Christ.
4. Miseria Cantare-This could also relate by finding a group of people with the same belief as you. "Love your hate, your faith lost, you are now one of us>"
5. Miss Murder- This is symbolic of Lucifer's fall from heaven, when can also be seen as one's fall from faith. "That the ghost you love, your ray of light will fizzle out, without hope." Maybe this is trying to convince someone that still believes that they are wrong?
6. Open Your Eyes- I see this song as being about the church and how many religions can make people feel worthless and criticize people for their sins. When in many cases the people who are doing the judging are sinning far more than the congregation knows. "Open your eyes, the real problem is you."
7. Sacrilige- This song comes full circle from The Great Disappointment. He is no longer struggling with whether or not God exists, he is fully comfortable with his beliefs. He is showing his frustration with the people who still believe, and just can't understand why anyone would choose to believe in God. He finds it a ancient fairy tale, and an obsolete idea. He says "I see you're scared, well I feel fine" which shows just how much he is set in what he sees as truth. This song is the the most obvious in this theme, there is no hiding the true meaning. It is just out there for all to see!
Theme: The Obsession of Falling
ReplyDelete1) Summer Shudder- Sing the Sorrow
2)37mm- Sing the Sorrow
3) Kiss and Control- Sing the Sorrow
4)100 words- Crash Love
5) Too Late For Gods- Crash Love
6) The Boy Who Destroyed the World- All Hallows
7) End Transmission- Crash Love
AFI’s lyrics include many stories about falling, but I chose these seven because together they show that the speaker is obsessed with this idea of falling. “This is the fall. This is the long way down and our lives look smaller now, and our lives looks so small,” is a quote from “Summer Shudder” that shows the speaker does indeed fall. The lyrics from “37mm” also show he falls by saying, “Yes, I fall…Do you fall too…Every time I pacify I fall.” In “Kiss and Control”, some powerful lyrics that demonstrate a strong attraction towards falling is, “...fall upon debutants reeling like nights that kiss and control all of our broken hearts, “We all want to die as movie stars,” you said as you jumped from the height of you cutting room floor while above us, glowing, exploding, our dreams burst forth from light and death. Hold me and tell me “We’ll burn like stars. We’ll burn as we fall.” In “100 Words”, lyrics say, “Yesterday I longed to die, fell to the ground and the ground caught me,” and this is proof that the speaker desires to fall, but since the ground caught him, the song sounds poignant. In “Too Late for Gods”, “Diamond impressions lay where we fell without discretion.” In the song "The Boy Who Destroyed the World", the speaker says, "Will you wrap your arms around me as I'm falling?” Also, the lyrics of “End Transmission” and the song’s upbeat music illustrate that the speaker intimately explains how he longs to fall by saying, “I felt myself falling. I confessed to you”. With these lyrics and the how AFI songs are played out gives proof that the speaker has become obsessed with falling. I think the usage of falling leads me to think that this fall he is longing to obtain will lead him to an intimate and sudden crash.
Brigitte Petras
Email- Bridge22@zoominternet.net
Danni Pockat
ReplyDeletedannikhaos@gmail.com
1. Where We Used to Play
2. Okay, I Feel Better Now
3. Prelude 12/21
4. Silver and Cold
5. The Great Disappointment
6. 6 to 8
7. Totalimmortal
Theme : Ostracization
In Where We Used To Play the theme of ostracization is presented through not belonging to a group, any groups at all. “For though I try, I remain a stranger. Not of this time.” “My own disowned me. They were never mine.“ There is no home, no true place that the person belongs. This speaks of a complete removal from others, though not by others, but of one’s own choice.
Okay, I Feel Better Now shows this theme by speaking of a common, seemingly overstressed stereotype of teenage depression and “emo” tendencies. This self induced separation is destructive and dangerous. “There is nothing to me.” This ostracization is not physical but mental, the withdrawn person no longer sees nor feels the world or people around them.
Prelude 12/21 speaks about the leaving, the final step and submission of being ostracized; of cutting away from the last important person, so as to keep them safe and happy. “You may forget me. I promise to depart, just promise one thing.” The person wants to be accepted and they aren’t ready to leave. They don’t want to leave. This isn’t a willing snub from those around him, an attempt to dis-attach. This is the last pleading cry of an unwillingly cut off person. “Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep.” One last bit of affection and I will go and be cut off; numb as if from sleep.
Silver and Cold is the joining of two ostracized souls. Two people so shunned by their homes finding a solace in each other, utterly fascinated by one so like themselves. They see the other as the most despairingly beautiful thing in the world and are so enamored by each other that they push the other away. “I came here by day, but I left here in darkness and found you on the way.” This destructive fascination drives them to the edge and one kills the other, unable to deal with the presence of another after so long. “So I... I will paint you in silver, I will wrap you in cold. I will lift up your voice as I sink…” Yet, despite destroying the other, that memory holds off a remission into total aloneness.
The Great Disappointment is, to me, very representative of being ostracized due to something out of one’s control, like a mental illness. “I never, never wanted this, I always wanted to believe, I never, never wanted this. How could I have become? I never, never wanted this, but from the start I'd been deceived…” People pretended all was normal and right, then suddenly shunned this person once the difference, the illness, became more apparent. Yet, one friend stayed…for a while. “So dies all innocence, but you promised me” Until that friend left and all their lies came out, the illness was under control. Now the person suffers, alone, crazed by his fantasies. “Oh, how I smiled then, so near the cherished ones. I knew they would appear... saw not a single one.”
In 6 to 8 the ostracization is more in the person’s head than in reality. They speak of a journey and how they lost and found themselves. Yet, they say all this to another; someone close to them, someone important. This someone has helped them and yet it’s just barely enough. “Your fire makes it all worthwhile.” Yet, this person still believes that, despite the love and adoration they receive, he is alone.
Finally in, Totalimmortal the ostracization is a result of violent feelings and delusions. “I feel that I alone fear those who finally cease to feel.” This person fears those who have been ostracized and their retaliation on those who shunned them. This is the final step, hate of those like you because you know what they are thinking and planning, yet one day you will become that which you hate and fear.
Entry #76, Part 1/2:
ReplyDeleteI think that one recurring theme in AFI’s music that continues to draw me to the band is the idea that one night can change a person – you can forget who you are, redesign yourself, or act in a completely heinous way that will be forgiven by morning.
1. Strength Through Wounding (BSITSS),
“Through our bleeding, we are one.
Through the darkness breaks the light.
Through the light unending pain.
Deify the wretched ones till the darkness comes again.”
The night is not necessarily considered a safe place, but it is one where all of our ideas are safe, no matter how thoroughly we may be persecuted for them during the daytime.
2. Wester (The Art of Drowning)
“I can feel you waiting for me as the sun retreats to the hills and I,
Below the blanket of a burning sky, wrap myself within.
Embraced by dead leaves as the rain leaves trails of black down my face,
And I creep through the twilight to that
hidden place beyond the lonely.
I'll meet you tonight in the whispers when no one's around.
Nothing can stop us now.”
This song is about sneaking away to see a forbidden lover during the night and the invincibility that results from that feeling of togetherness and genuine understanding.
3. Morningstar (The Art of Drowning)
“And I don't want to die tonight; Will you believe in me?
And I don't want to fall into the light.
Will you wish upon?
Will you walk upon me?
I don't want to die tonight.
Will you believe in me tonight.”
So this one is a bit of a stretch, and I kept switching between this one and Kiss and Control, which may have perhaps been a better fit, but I think that including Morningstar is an interesting contrast to the others. In Astronomy, we were just learning about “morning stars,” which are planets you can see at dusk…I think the only one is Venus but I could be wrong. Regardless, this is interesting because there’s a star lingering on once the morning comes, almost like a ghost of the night before. I don’t think that this is the original meaning of the song, but in the context of this theme, perhaps the lyrics can be seen as a way to come to terms with what is left after a poetic night of changing faces.
4. [Untitled] (STS)
“The sun was stagnated somewhere beyond the rim of the horizon
and the darkness is a mystery of curves and lines.
Still, we lay under the emptiness and drifted slowly outward,
and somewhere in the wilderness we found salvation scratched
into the earth like a message.”
This poem is absolutely beautiful and I think it may be my favorite AFI verse ever. It’s about love at the last night on earth, so everything about it is especially powerful since the morning will never come.
Entry #76, Part 2/2:
ReplyDelete5. The Missing Frame (Decemberunderground)
“But tonight
I'll let you tear it up,
If you don't wake me up.
But if you tear it, We can't repair it.
So please don't wake me,
Til someone cares.
Now no one cares.”
During the daytime, no one cares. To be honest, this song fits into the theme mostly through the vibe of the music…it is less serious than the rest of these songs, and to me it sort of seems to communicate a feeling of letting go for a night, since no one will truly care about the things that matter to you. Instead of getting upset about the apathy surrounding you, you decide to go along in a dream-like state until someone wakes you up to help deal with it.
6. The Killing Lights (Decemberunderground)
“It's killing time again.
Put on your face and let's pretend,
These killing lights won't kill us all again.
Three A.M. on the city street,
When the air is sweet,
I've had my mouth full.
But it seems that outside the screen
Such a pretty face often will look dreadful.”
Yeah, so this is basically the epitome of what I was trying to communicate with the theme. This song is about putting on a fake face and (while perhaps not literally) killing people. Night is the time when you can see a person as he wants you to, and his actions are hidden by a blanket of darkness which protects him from the judgment of everyday conventional wisdom.
7. End Transmission (Crash Love)
“This night has only just begun
If there's discretion that you've not abandoned
Now's the time
We'll burn and best the morning sun
Go grab your bag, I'll bring the gun”
Such a fantastic song. Crash Love came out just as I first started driving, so I played this song on repeat…but I digress. A song about going on a secret rampage during the night fits into this theme quite nicely.
#36
ReplyDeleteThe theme of my AFI compilation is the instinctive evil of human nature, the darkness inside us that seeks to smother the light, to put out the fire inside us. This compilation follows our path from morn to night, our fall into darkness.
Songs:
1: Prelude 12/21
2: Death of Seasons
3: Beautiful Thieves
4: The Missing Frame
5: Medicate:
6: The Last Kiss
7: Reiver's Music
When we are young, the fire burns brightly within us. We are innocent, blind to the world's faults and horrors that surround us, the injustices, and evil. We think that we know people, and that they will never betray our trust ("This is what I thought, I thought you'd need me. This is what I thought, so think me naïve.") Promises and love all seem to be real ("I promised you a heart you promised to keep.") Each night, our parents put us to bed ("Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."), and we wake thinking the world is still a good place, and the fire is still the greater force within it. The fire is our life force, the thing that keeps us going, the essence of goodness. It is art, it is knowledge, it is love, it is utterly benevolent... and it is easily corrupted.
As we age and mature, we begin to see the human nature, and the evil that lies there. As Davey says in Death of Seasons, we are disgusted with what we see ("Writhing with sickness"), but we are immersed in it. In the media, criminals are glorified, broadcast around the world for all to see ("Turn it off." and "Turn it on."). We watch as all that is good, that stars and the light, fall, smothered by the crushing blackness of the sky, the evil that seeps into our hearts. We hate it, and would rebel against it ("All of this hatred is fucking real.") There are those that would comfort us, and tell us that life goes on despite it all, that it doesn't affect us. They try ignore it, but we know better. We know that it will not leave us alone, that the darkness will find us and try to take us, for it has taken so many in the past ("It won't be all right, despite what they say. Just watch the stars tonight as they disappear, disintegrate."). Even as we try to cling to our beliefs and our morals, we can feel ourselves slipping away. However, we believe that we won't sit by idly; we will fight to keep the fire burning ("I hope to shade the world as stars go out and I disintegrate.").
With each passing second, each beat of our hearts, we see more of the atrocities. In Beautiful Thieves, the phrase "beautiful thieves" has a double meaning. First, they are those with power and influence, who can get away with anything they please, any crime, any immoral action ("Can't you see they turn blind eyes to we swift and spotlight strangers? Oh, before the rush is over, we will be revered again while the victims still recover." "If we run this light, take a little life, no one will care at all.") The media will gloat over them anyway, simply giving them more publicity, and the people will love them all the same ("Even if we're discovered just be sure to wear your best; we will surely make the covers.") Secondly, they are addictive substances: drugs, alcohol, and sex, to name a few ("the rush"). Once you have become addicted, taken by these evil things, you do not know that they are wrong, and will keep coming back to them ("Who would run for cover? Who would run from us?" "No one suspects at all."). We see all this, we know it, but it is difficult to fight.
#36 continued:
ReplyDeleteIn The Missing Frame, our morals are blurred ("constants become surreal."). We see people turning to death to escape the darkness of the world ("suicides are revealed."). We see people forgetting the morals and values they once upheld ("I watch them all forget.") In the face of all this evil and corruption, we slip away faster and faster ("I'm lost in little deaths.") It becomes harder and harder to resist ("I forget my life"). We wonder if we can withstand the evil that rushes about us and the media that brainwashes us, barraging our minds. We wonder if we can keep our fire burning ("Will the flood behind me put out the fire inside me?") In the end, we stop trying to fight. The evil is too much to overcome, and we give in. We let it break in, and tear our sense of decency and goodness to shreds, even though we know it means we can never go back ("I'll let you tear it up if you don't wake me up. But if you tear it, we can't repair it, so please don't wake me till someone cares. Now no one cares. ... it's apparent that you don't care. And it's sunk into me 'cause I don't care. Now no one cares.") And no one cares; it's just another life lost, another fire that has gone out.
We fall from light into the darkness of addiction. It is both the addiction to drugs and a cheap, superficial, unfeeling and meaningless love ("Medicate here with me. Now as we lose ourselves in this, ignore that you don't even know my name. Medicate.") The darkness isolates us, even though we pretend to be loved ("I've come to find everyone goes away."). We know that we cannot escape ("I'm destined to remain."). In the cold and the dark, the evil has robbed us of all feeling and emotion ("Can you describe what it's like? I feel nothing. Can you feel this? Does it sting? I feel nothing at all. Can you tell me how it feels?"). We want to be a part of the darkness and embrace it. We want to still feel like someone knows us, or would want to ("Can we pretend this is real?"). And we continue to "Medicate."
The Last Kiss represents the trading of addiction to love for an addiction to self-infliction. We are left alone, and want someone to pity us, to bring us back from the darkness ("Hung in your room, swaying, hoping only that you'll see."). No one will come; there is only the evil and the darkness ("I'm alone in such poor company."). The evil cannot be stopped, and we continue to indulge on drugs ("I can't stop the insects that are feeding, pull the needles from beneath my skin."). Distantly, we remember a time when the flame was still alive within us, but cannot quite recall the light ("You'll love the eyes. Have they always shone so vacantly?"). Still, we sink further and further from the surface, down into the dark, into the evil. We try to put the blame on someone else, to free ourselves of the guilt ("Hurt myself today. It's all for you. Do you like what I'm becoming? Cut myself today. It's all for you."). In the end, we cannot escape our guilt, our self-hate, our addiction, our fate; and we, too, turn to death.
#36 continued again
ReplyDeleteReiver's Music is the mind reeling as we die. It is a reflection on the life we have lead, the path we traveled, and the fall off the edge. We recall when we were overwhelmed by evil, and stopped trying to resist, when our fire went out ("I gave up fighting.") We remember the first time, when we convinced ourselves that we could go back ("Am I now worse off for this one night?") We remember how we were so quickly abandoned by those we had trusted ("All the while we know those enamored never miss us.") Then we embraced the darkness utterly ("I've taken to speaking words that only they know.") Even when we were so far gone, we knew that we were alone, despite our denial of it ("How soon I did see, all here is unseen.") Then we despaired, and committed suicide ("I gave up trying. I've come to be these halos."). And we know that, in a world so full of evil, no one will remember us ("Those enamored who won't miss us."). As we lose our grip on life, we see these things one last time ("All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. Nothing is all we own. All now in dying days. Hear nothing and see no one. All now in dying days. No one is who we know.") And then the light fades in our eyes, and the darkness is complete, and we are lost.
(Sorry that this is technically 2 minutes past the deadline; didn't know I would have to break it up so much.)
Theme: Irreverence
ReplyDelete1. Smile (Art of Drowning)
2. The Killing Lights (Decemberundergroud)
3. Beautiful Thieves (Crash Love)
4. Sacrilege (Crash Love)
5. Affliction (Decemberunderground)
6. High School Football Hero (Answer that and Stay Fashionable)
7. …But Home is Nowhere
AFI’s music speaks to me for many reasons, but their biting, often sarcastic and sometimes literal social commentary has always resonated particularly strongly for me. That’s why I chose “Irreverence” as my theme.
Playing into social conventions, or a sense of normalcy as society tries to define it, is a concept that has always angered me. There is no one right way to “be,” no correct way to act, or look, or think, or want, or feel. Yet many people seem content to let the rich, powerful, influential and famous dictate what we should want or aspire to in life. In high school you should be attractive and popular because primetime TV teen dramas tell you to be. As a young adult, you should fight for the highest paying job or the most prestigious position, even if that the expense of your happiness or morals, because your teachers and family tell you to. According to Hollywood, we should all want a mansion, fancy imported cars, expensive dinners in exclusive clubs, exotic vacations and a contingent of beautiful sycophants to follow us around, pretend to be our friends, compliment us on our designer labels and tell us how beautiful we are.
The way I interpret AFI’s lyrics often gives voice to the opposite way of being: of throwing off social conventions to want or be something different. I chose “Smile” as the first song to fit the theme of irreverence. It speaks of a “post morality” culture, of setting the world on fire to write a love song in the warmth of the flames. To me, this song embodies the feeling of disdain for what our society currently values, and how people act. The second song, “The Killing Lights,” I chose because I feel it critiques the partying culture, or the sense that it’s okay to pass out drunk on the floor because it makes you look cool or part of the “in” scene. There’s also a sense of denial to face the self-destruction of this lifestyle the song hints at, with it’s mentions of cutting and cutting up, and the lack of regret. “Beautiful Thieves” speaks to the cult of celebrity – how we’re willing to turn the blind eye on the dreadful deeds of the rich and famous. Let them murder and steal and treat each other like pieces of meat, for they are celebrities and they can do no wrong! “Sacrilege” points out the utter hypocrisy of how some people choose to interpret and live their religious beliefs. They turn their faithful teachings around to conveniently suit them, and to ostracize those who don’t believe exactly what they do. The song also points out the short-sighted literalness – and danger – in taking religion at face value, with the line, “Don’t tell them you can walk on water, or they may drink your blood.” “Affliction,” when I listen to it, reminds me how people often use each other to get what they want, but ignore the true needs or problems of the people they claim to care about – the whole “using” sickness people fall into in their relationships. “High School Football Hero” pokes fun at what is considered desirable and popular in high school, and “…But Home is Nowhere” finishes my list because it gives voice to people who, at any given life stage, feel lost because they feel they haven’t met expectations or goals set for them by others.”
AFI points out where society is often ridiculous, which is how I see “Irreverence” as a fitting theme for their work.
The contest is now CLOSED
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your entries! We will work on picking winners tonight.