Red Mosquito

time to revisit the Riot Act lyrics courtesy of B's liner note archive on the main page

Can't Keep: Some nice simple images and striking lines that don't overreach, like they are afraid to say too much and become weighted down, which fits the song. It's not a remarkable song lyrically, but it is a very appropriate song, and not overwriting can take skill

Lyrics: good

Save You: I like the chorus in a slightly juvenile kind of way, but the rest of this, while sincere and eager, aren't very good. And the basic declarative statements make sense in the song, but they can be done much more artfully than they are here (see can't keep, for instance)

Lyrics: ehh

Love Boat Captain: The all you need is love stuff is stupid, and the love boat captain metaphor is mixed and dumb. I do kinda like the defiant cheesiness in the chorus (fuck you universe, I DO think love is great). The verses are pretty good, and the bridge is quite good.

Lyrics: highs and lows

Cropduster: This may be the best set of lyrics on the album. The optimistic rebirth imagery juxtaposed with images of powerlessness. It's a nice synopsis of what the album is dealing with.

Lyrics: very good

Ghost: The darker, better version of Gone. The lyrics for the most part are very good. The soap line is pretty ham handed though, and it's not like their weren't a ton of better products he could have chosen.

Lyrics: Very good, except for that one line

I Am Mine: Some images in here I still don't know if I understand. Some clunky lines. A few good ones (I really like the 'the ocean is full' verse). But the chorus is wonderful, especially with the subtle changes across each iteration.

Lyrics: pretty good. Some wonderful moments, and the weaker moments are not distractingly bad

Thumbing My Way: I really like the central desolate image, the hopelessness in the song and the dogged refusal to surrender to it knowing it will not get any better (the most Sisyphean song in the catalog, perhaps). The rope line may be a little too much. Otherwise this is excellent

Lyrics: excellent. This is actually probably better than cropduster

You Are: An utterly fantastic opening pair of lyrics (the dot on the sun lyrics is decent too, but it's been used before) and everything else is a boring cliche

lyrics: great as long as you stop listening after the first two lines. Then pretty weak

Get Right: I've come around a lot on this song over the years and there are days I'd give it 4 stars. There is a nice vocal melody, but the lyrics are pretty bad. I do kinda like the back half of the first vese

Lyrics: not good.

Green Disease: The greed/green disease central metaphor is weak, so are all the times he is directly talking about how awful greedy people are. On the other hand the metaphorical moments (the second verse about the weeds and the fat man bit) are good, and I quite like the chorus, which is earnest without sounding naive or cliched.

Lyrics: pretty good

Help Help: The bridge and outro lyrics are good. I also like the pleading 'tell me lies' The rest of this is ehh, but not distractingly bad or anything

lyrics: pretty good


Bushleaguer: Great chorus and prechorus, horrible verses. The cleverness in the first verse is A: not all his (the born on third lyric) and kinda just juvenile name calling. And the second verse is trying way too hard without really saying much. I have no problem with trying to assess the administration in metaphor and abstract images, but none of these are particularly striking. They're just confusing. This was a big target, and an important target at the time, and it's hard for me to listen to Bushleaguer and not see anything other than a song falling flat on its face

Lyrics: not good

1/2 Full: Calls back to a number of the images and ideas appearing earlier on the record in a pretty effective way. Nothing too remarkable, but they get the job done and set up the 'won't someone save the world' plea at the end, which pretty much encapsulates the whole record

Lyrics: pretty good

All or None: The most depressing song in the catalog for its utter bleakness. Like thumbing my way there is still that ember that refuses to give up despite its surrender. The lyrics are pretty good. A few memorable lines (to myself I surrender... and the depressing 'can we help that our destinations are the ones we've been before).

Lyrics: good, better than I recalled.


There are definitely some clunkers on this album, but some nice high spots as well.

stip wrote:All or None: The most depressing song in the catalog for its utter bleakness. Like thumbing my way there is still that ember that refuses to give up despite its surrender. The lyrics are pretty good. A few memorable lines (to myself I surrender... and the depressing 'can we help that our destinations are the ones we've been before).

This song is me and my family, in particular my folks and my sis. Nothing's gonna change and it's always the same shit over and again.

Certainly the line "to the one's I'll never please" is pretty perfect for me.

And I know it's literally "to the one I'll never please" and that many will say that he is actually singing about himself. But not in Varis world. There it is about others and those others kinda suck.

i can usually ignore bad lyrics to songs like, but the second verse in 'yellow moon' really sticks out every time i hear it.

what's wrong with that verse?

I think I dislike all the verses to yellow moon. 'Round we go Where we stop, yeah no one knows' especially, maybe because its a random common phrase...but it feels like the song is trying to make it sound particularly deep or something.

'As we all do under its gaze' is also kinda meh.It's just a random observation adding nothing imo. Love the bridge though, and 'tonight the moon I go'.

I've always hated the second(?) Verse in I am mine. All that north south east west bullshit, bleh.

stip wrote:what's wrong with that verse?

i thought it was self explanatory

Round we go
Where we stop, yeh no one knows
So tonight, the moon I go

there's a nursery rhyme feel to it that highlights the singer's insignificance that I think is nice.