incorporating
Well, it’s a new year and time to try new things, eh? The first time I’ve ever done this, merging two sections, but I couldn’t decide which this album should go under, so in the end I thought why not do both, as it fits the one as well as it does the other?
Most people here will laugh at the idea of listening to Train. I thought at first that was just a sense of elitism, maybe ignorance, and truth to tell I enjoyed their “Save me San Francisco” album. But this one is a whole different kettle of fish. I was so surprised by how poor and generic it is that for a moment I had to check to make sure I hadn’t thrown on an album by The Script or Imagine Dragons by accident. It’s so far removed from SMSF that it really doesn’t seem possible that this could be the same band. And there’s only three years between them!
Anyway, we’ll go with the first part and get that out of the way. So what is good about this album? Well, basically two songs:
The hilarious “50 ways to say goodbye”, which really does sound like something Robbie Williams would write
and the touching and rather surprising “When the fog rolls in”
Other than that it’s pretty lowgrade material, like the opener “This’ll be my year”
The very annoying “Drive by”
The total rip-off of Madonna’s “La isla bonita” that goes under the title of “Mermaid”
not to mention the title track, which somehow hip-hops up “Hotel California”. Eh???
And that’s more or less the way it goes. It’s not the worst album I’ve ever heard but compared to “Save me San Francisco” it’s a big big disappointment.
But as I say, there are two quite excellent tracks on it, notable for two very different reasons, and I’m now going to explore these in the second part of this feature, as I look deeply into the lyric on both songs.
50 ways to say goodbye (Train) from "California 37", 2012
Music and Lyrics by Pat Monahan, Espen Lind and Amund Bjorklund
This is just a fun song, and in some ways it’s not so unique but it does evoke that awkward moment when someone meets you who doesn’t know you’ve broken up with your girl asks where is she and you struggle for an answer that won’t paint you in a bad light. The singer here decides to go with the story that his girlfriend died, and comes up with a laundry list of possibilities , each funnier and more unbelievable than the last. I mean, come on: listen to this.
“She dried up in the desert/ Drowned in a hot tub /Danced to death at an east side night club..”
No it’s not the most insightful songwriting ever committed to paper, but some of the excuses offered just have to make you smile --- stop taking notes! Nobody is going to believe any of these! Well, maybe that one…
”My heart is paralyzed,
My head was oversized,
I'll take the high road like I should.
You said it's meant to be,
That it's not you, it's me:
You're leaving now for my own good.
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned.
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water,
Fell and no one caught her.
I returned everything I ever bought her.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.
My pride still feels the sting;
You were my everything.
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours).
She'll think I'm Superman,
Not super minivan:
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion.
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert,
Drowned in a hot tub,
Danced to death at an east side night club.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.
I wanna live a thousand lives with you.
I wanna be the one you're dying to love...
But you don't want to.
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
She went down in an airplane,
Fried getting suntanned.
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water,
Fell and no one caught her.
I returned everything I ever bought her.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies.
She was caught in a mudslide,
Eaten by a lion.
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert,
Drowned in a hot tub,
Danced to death at an east side night club.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.”
And while that’s pretty damn funny, if perhaps slightly morbid, the other decent song on the album is a heartfelt and moving love song that pays tribute to what it’s like to break up a relationship.
When the fog rolls in (Train) from "California 37", 2012
Music and Lyrics by Pat Monahan and Gregg Wattenberg
This song says everything we dread about the ending of a relationship. It’s all the little things --- will she be there when I stop by to pick up my things or can I get away without having to talk to her? Will there be another man? Am I strong enough not to fold and go back to her? Some great and insightful lines:
”Friends become lovers/ And lovers lose friends” really encapsulates that moment of fear when you wonder if it’s worth taking the extra step and falling in love --- or admitting your love for --- your friend. Will it change the way she sees you? Of course it will. Will it lead to a better, or a worse relationship and when or if it ends, will you, can you still be friends?
”In through the kitchen/Where we used to laugh;/ Smells of your cooking: /Sounds of the past.” That’s a fantastic little line there. The little things you’ll remember when the relationship is over, the simple, everyday things you’ll miss.
The song also looks, rather atypically, and very briefly, at both sides of the story:
”Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you/ Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me too.” And then the final moment, when there’s no more thinking about the past or putting it off:
”I take a deep breath with my hand on the door /Afraid 'cause I'm not gonna see you anymore.”
A truly lovely song with one of the best lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. And the more surprising, given that it comes amid such other generic trash on what is a pretty low-par and very disappointing album.
Driving over the bridge to give you my keys
I know you don't love me,
I know it ain't easy.
Friends become lovers
And lovers lose friends:
That's when the fog rolls in.
Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you.
Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me, too.
In through the kitchen
Where we used to laugh;
Smells of your cooking:
Sounds of the past.
Somehow we got older,
The air just got colder:
That's when the fog rolls in.
Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you.
Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me too.
So much for sewing up.
So this is growing up.
Everything's going up for sale.
The fog kept on rolling in,
Time came to sink or swim:
They say it's better to try and fail
And we tried like hell.
I take a deep breath with my hand on the door,
Afraid 'cause I'm not gonna see you anymore.
These were our tender years, this was our street:
All of our stoplights and all our concrete.
Now it's all somebody else's to take
Until the fog rolls in.
Ooh ooh ooh and now we're through.