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This was the first song David wrote using his “take all the riffs you came up with over the past month and smoosh them into one song” technique, which he still uses today for songs like Branches in the Sea (Pariah) and Dinner at Barkham’s.
At the time, we thought it was better than Feral Dogs, but looking back on it, somehow we managed to write a worse song the second time. In David’s words, “I tried way too hard to make the song have multiple phases, like Happiness is a Warm Gun, which I was listening to a lot of at the time, and it ended up making it suck.” It was instrumental in developing a lot of the writing techniques we still use today, though.
The song was vaguely about a king watching his kingdom fall, like Viva La Vida, which Ryan and David were obsessed with at the time. We ended up reusing the riff in the outro for a small section in Shorthand after it became clear we wouldn’t be playing this song much anymore. David remembers this song being inspired by an old Muse demo called Coma.
In the words of Ryan Deloria, “Worse than Feral Dogs.”
[Verse 1]
I saw some sinking ships outside the waters of my motel
The birds that fly above seem to be confused by them as well
Their arrival is met with a response you could call deadpan
When a small burst of wind blows a little empty can
[Chorus]
It seems we have ourselves a twisted sort of deal
Cheat, lie, beg, my friend, I don’t even care if you steal
The message I hand to you is nothing short of grand
That’s what I learned firsthand
[Verse 2]
The bucket’s been kicked as well as the can I mentioned earlier
But the officers have not arrived to investigate scene of the crime
My vision seems to have become even murkier
But I won’t need my glasses for a long long time
[Verse 3]
The strangers still wave to us although no one knows their names
Their motions are quick, but we see all the sailors look the same
I fear for the simple man who doesn’t know the plan
They don’t know the meaning behind the boats and the can
[Outro]
(I don’t know where I come from)
All good things must come to an end
(I know exactly what I’ve done)
All good things must come to an end
(I just know the race was won)
All good things must come to an end
(At least we had a bit of fun)
All good things must come to an end
October 9, 2018. Here is the only recording of us playing this song, other than the video of the performance we gave to some friends in David’s bonus room one time that must never be seen. This is also the first time David ever sang anything. Yes, that’s him in this. Yikes buddy.
This is David doing a guitar play-through of the song for Ryan.
Here is an early version David put together called “Mystery Man.” It was named after the song Man of Mystery by The Shadows. Circa April 2, 2018. Again, yikes.
And a second version of Mystery Man.
(If this doesn’t load for you, reload the page. Idk why it does that lol)
This song has been performed only once, at our very first show in David’s bonus room for friends. We opened with it. It’s not that fun to play, lol