Song of the Moment: Sirens

[Chris_H_2]

This album may well be Ten 2013.

How did this gem slip through the cracks?

I'm good at slipping through cracks.

I wish you would post more in the Sigur Ros thread

Technically, if we push his posting frequency beyond what it currently is, we can go to jail for slave labor.

He should unionize . . .

[BeingeNlightened]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

[Strat]

"I studied your face, the fear goes away"


"Ive been hurt but i still recall the flaws on her face"

[OmegaprimeVKM]

the ending ahhh ohhhs on this song are very nice

This is how...You remind me...

[harmless]

This album may well be Ten 2013.

How did this gem slip through the cracks?

I'm good at slipping through cracks.

I wish you would post more in the Sigur Ros thread

Technically, if we push his posting frequency beyond what it currently is, we can go to jail for slave labor.

He should unionize . . .

I will post more about Sigur Ros when I'm over the Lightning Bolt frenzy.

[McParadigm]

the ending ahhh ohhhs on this song are very nice

This is how...You remind me...

There is a bit of that to it.

[harmless]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

Maybe he's an unreliable narrator here. Which would be another reason it isn't an 80s love ballad. He's just a human bean, after all.

[stupidmop]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

I thought the same when I read through the lyrics. I think the first one might be he knows he's made/ making mistakes but he's hoping its not enough to drive her away? Or at the least he wasn't trying to force her away.

The second Line I have no idea, 'choose to stay' implies staying with him. But then 'I'll understand' is an odd thing to say in response to that and why would he need to wait?

Unless he did something stupid, she left him, and he's hanging on the hope that she'll come back.....but then none if the other lyrics make sense, cause he's with her in them. Unless he's the other man Dum dum duumm

[Strat]

I think ive done a 180 on this song and it fucking pisses me off.

Goddammit.

[philpritchard]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

Maybe he's an unreliable narrator here. Which would be another reason it isn't an 80s love ballad. He's just a human bean, after all.

That's a real possibility. There are just so many ways to read it. Using the car accident concept, the arms of another man could be a paramedic taking her away while he just wants to hold her before he dies, "If you choose to stay, I'll wait" could be about her surviving while he's gone... it could very well be a less straight-forward Last Kiss.

[harmless]

I think ive done a 180 on this song and it fucking pisses me off.

Goddammit.

[harmless]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

Maybe he's an unreliable narrator here. Which would be another reason it isn't an 80s love ballad. He's just a human bean, after all.

That's a real possibility. There are just so many ways to read it. Using the car accident concept, the arms of another man could be a paramedic taking her away while he just wants to hold her before he dies, "If you choose to stay, I'll wait" could be about her surviving while he's gone... it could very well be a less straight-forward Last Kiss.

Yeah, someone else had that theory. Who was it? Good idea. But who knows, Ed is good at being almost very good lyrically but unfortunately vague.

[Thejambi]

The mistakes could be referring to what is killing him and not mistakes within the relationship. So if he self destructs and she moves on he understands.

[harmless]

The mistakes could be referring to what is killing him and not mistakes within the relationship. So if he self destructs and she moves on he understands.

Bingo, I would say. I mean, not that he's a gambler, although he might be.

[Thejambi]

The mistakes could be referring to what is killing him and not mistakes within the relationship. So if he self destructs and she moves on he understands.

Bingo, I would say. I mean, not that he's a gambler, although he might be.

Ah fuck now I'm focusing on the lyrics and its killing me.

[philpritchard]

Trying to discern the lyrics and the statement this song is making. Generally, it's pretty obvious, but I have to say I really don't get the second verse of this tune. Does anyone else find it out of place relative to everything else going on in the song?

you mean about the sirens possibly coming for him this time?

Well it starts there and that part makes sense, keeping in line with the whole death as a pathway to loss motif. But then it takes a weird turn and seems to speak of infidelity, unless I am really misreading that.

Every choice/mistake I make it's not my plan to send you in the arms of another man. --Wasn't he just talking about how grateful he is for this love and asking it to be the one thing that remains? And now he's doing things to jeopardize it and to foster (even inadvertently) the desire of this woman to find someone more suitable? That seems to undermine his credibility as someone really committed to the love.

But if you choose to stay I'll wait. I'll understand. --Does this mean if the woman chooses to stay with this other person that she has gone off to because she's been left unsatisfied with the shared love that the narrator will just stick around hoping that things get better and not hold it against her? That seems pretty passive for the need and fear he expresses previously and later in the tune.


That turn in the verse seems very odd to me. I am struggling to resolve the value of injecting that concept in here. But again...I may be really misinterpreting this.

Maybe he's an unreliable narrator here. Which would be another reason it isn't an 80s love ballad. He's just a human bean, after all.

That's a real possibility. There are just so many ways to read it. Using the car accident concept, the arms of another man could be a paramedic taking her away while he just wants to hold her before he dies, "If you choose to stay, I'll wait" could be about her surviving while he's gone... it could very well be a less straight-forward Last Kiss.

Yeah, someone else had that theory. Who was it? Good idea. But who knows, Ed is good at being almost very good lyrically but unfortunately vague.

Yeah, it wasn't me that mentioned it originally, but I like the concept. Either way, "another man" doesn't have to refer to infidelity. There are so many different ways to read it.

And I often like Eddie's vagueness. Right now, I think it works well with this song. The only thing we really know about the second verse is that something has gone wrong with the relationship. I like that it's so open-ended as to what that could mean.

[stip]

The narrator is haunted by the thought of death. The sirens (I get ambulances) remind him one day they will come for him causing him to reflect and express appreciation for what he loves. I don't get 80's cheese from this. The music has that 80's ballad production that carried over into alot of modern pop country top 40 songs but I have always had a guilty pleasure for those.

Much like Backspacer this song doesn't dwell on the doom but reacts more positively to it (more successfully in my eyes)

It is a beautiful and honest song that is really hitting me.

Spot on. And it's creeping up on me too.

I haven't been able to get past the music yet, and the lyrics could be taken as kind of cheesy if Eddie's vocal wasn't so beautiful and sincere. As others have said, he really saves this one for me. His emotion is palpable in this song--the execution is quite moving really and I'm not usually a fan of these types of ballads.

Get your PJ mobile app with lighter feature.

I was gonna make a lighter joke in my review, but I don't think this is a song you wave lighters too, and that's what so confusing about it. What kind of 80s power ballad doesn't involve waving lighters?

[stip]

all the time. But if it is from a director that I like and respect, and I wasn't sure what I thought the first time I'll wait a while and multiple views to make sure more doesn't reveal itself.

I would probably jump all over that kind of decision because frankly you shouldn't be basing your levels of patience on a prior track record. But not knowing you personally you're more than entitled to make your own mind up - what I think is irrelevant.

what other criteria should I base my patience on?

crap, I'm 10 pages behind. this question will never be answered

I'd merely say judge the band to the high standards you've always judged them on in the past. But I just remembered you actually enjoyed Backspacer so perhaps you're already doing that.

I hold the band in high accord. This is the first time they're truly retrofitting qualities into their music that aren't even of their contemporaries but of their publicly declared mainstream successors. It's abysmal behaviour - the kind one would expect of those of a lower calibre. I'm not the kind of individual to complain about a betrayal or being intentionally alienating but this is brazen self flagellation.

this has nothing to do with standards. You are critiquing the possibility that the complexity and charm and nuance of a piece of art may not reveal itself in one take.

[evenslow]

Usually the more vague Ed is, the better.

[stip]

Please do not request commercial material on the board