Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:18 am
Epitome of cool
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
tyler wrote:
Habit = some of the surrounding bullshit the previous characterr left us with in Off He Goes. Even when we get our lives under control we have those we love who don't have their lives under control.
You and I are on the same page.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:53 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
tyler wrote:
Habit = some of the surrounding bullshit the previous characterr left us with in Off He Goes. Even when we get our lives under control we have those we love who don't have their lives under control.
Interesting--not a connection that I'd made before but that makes sense. I'm still inclined to think of habit as a drug issue but the next time I give No Code a serious listen (probably at the end of Frank's tour) I'll look for this
What do you make of the child of the 90's lyric Frank, Tyler, or someone else?
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:56 pm
Epitome of cool
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
I'm working on the Red Mosquito write-up now, folks. I have so much to say about the song itself and it's relation to the previous two songs that organizing my thoughts is extremely difficult. But I can promise you that you won't be disapointed.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:20 am
Epitome of cool
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
Red Mosquito
Red Mosquito is about confronting your personal demons. Drenched in symbolism and visuals, it allows the listener to take from it whatever they will, but still maintains the aforementioned theme to remain universally adaptive. And it's also, in my opinion, the final chapter in a song trilogy/story (Off He Goes-->Habit-->Red Mosquito). But more on that later.
The first verse presents us with a narrator who's trapped. He's watching the world outside from a window in a room, accompanied only by a red mosquito (or, the devil). We have no idea why or how he's in this room, but he's been there all night, awake the whole time. What's important here is that he's captive ("I was not allowed to leave the room"). For whatever reason, he's confined. And perhaps not necessarily by the mosquito itself.
Then the chorus offers us a bit of an explanation. "I was bitten," he sings, obviously by the mosquito. Let's consider what an insect bite does: it stings you and/or injects you with a poison that causes a bad reaction within the makeup of the human body. But keep in mind that the mosquito is the devil, and when the devil is in one's bloodstream, it's called possession. Demonic possession is temporary, hence the lyric "he was just paying me a little visit, reminding me of his presence." The devil rubs the narrator's face in it, making him aware that he's waiting for him to submit. Because that's what the devil does. He waits for moments of weakness and exploits them.
And at this point, the narrator has reached a moment of clarity, at least to a degree. He openly accepts the fact that something is wrong and that there is some sort of problem. Blind eyes don't see what's in front of them, right? This is his moment of clarity, or realization that he cannot deny that the devil is traveling with and within him. In the first verse, he's admitting to something being wrong in a first-person point of view. In the second verse, he switches to the second-person. Now he's preaching.
"Red man's your neighbor, call it behavior." The devil (now, interestingly enough, seen as a full-grown human and not a bug) is in direct proximity of where you live. Why? Because of behavior, or a habitual way of living.
"...While you're climbing up slippery hills." Whatever it is that you're doing, you're trying to ascend but in realty you're going nowhere. Even if you do reach a higher altitude, you're destined to fall again and again and again.
"Hovering just above your bed." Not once does the narrator make this point, but twice. Besides reiterating the devil as your neighbor theme, it brings the point home, literally. One's bed is a place of rest, comfort and leisure, and is meant for sleep (an escape from consciousness). In the first verse we learned that the narrator did not sleep all night, this is why: the devil was floating atop him, and once the narrator realized this, it scared the ever-loving shit out of him, and he's now trying to make clear that the devil floats atop all of us when we're at our most vulnerable. Most importantly, he understands that we're all subjected to our own demons (victims of an affliction), and we have to help each other through them. He says so much by his readmission of his experience in the chorus that follows.
And regarding that second chorus, I'd like to point out one thing: whereas in the first chorus Ed sings "reminding me of his presence," in the second I swear that he sings "reminding me of his presents." The devil is offering a bribe (re: tempting) for the narrator's soul. The first trick the devil ever pulled on mankind was temptation, as per the Garden of Eden story. It's an old trick , but one that keeps on working and working and working.
Finally, we have the outro. The music changes tempo, moving from that frantic guitar sound to a more soothing, rhythmic collection of chords and beats. And the narrator offers his final words: "If I'd had known then what I know now." He's found some sort of redemption, not from a higher power, but from within. No one came to rescue him; he's rescued himself. He exorcised the demons without the help of God. Thematically, Red Mosquito is a callback to Sometimes. We only find true strength when we worship ourselves, because pleas for help from above often go unanswered.
So what is this trilogy that I speak of? It's simple, really. Off He Goes tells us about a man whose friend continually disappears. Habit tells us that the friend disappears because he's a slave to some sort of addiction. And Red Mosquito is about the friend detoxing and realizing that he's wandered the wrong path. I'll explain no further, because I ask you all to listen to these three songs and consider my hypothesis. Discussion, as always, is more than welcomed.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 2:10 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
I always described Red Mosquito as a song about temptation (and always felt it belong on Vitalogy) but I like your use of the word posession there. It makes it much stronger
This is the best song on No Code
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:24 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:36 am Posts: 5458 Location: Left field
Well done, well done; I’ve always wanted to write about music, but I’ve never really understood how to do it properly. And your write up on No Code and Stip’s write up on Ten is finally helping me open that door. It’s like a how to write about music, even for idiots like me.
_________________ seen it all, not at all can't defend fucked up man take me a for a ride before we leave...
Rise. Life is in motion...
don't it make you smile? don't it make you smile? when the sun don't shine? (shine at all) don't it make you smile?
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:34 pm
Team Binaural
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:39 pm Posts: 9981 Location: NYC/Savannah
well done Frank. Everytime I listen to Red Mosquito I think of Ed being sick in 1995 and that is what inspired this song. That's nothing new, but I always think of that.
_________________ I don’t understand a word of these emails and I am ok with that. -KC
I just try to ask as many questions as I can, and then I try to sit down and write a story that people will want to read. – Chris Jones
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:43 pm
Johnny Guitar
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:31 am Posts: 142 Location: Danville, KY Biatch Gender: Male
this is my favorite on no code and definitely in my top 3 pj songs period. absoultely brilliant song. the Lo2l version is still the best ever, and boom stealing the crazy guitar parts from mike now when they play it live is a travesty.
still, RM with boom playing lead i suppose is better than no RM at all.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:21 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:15 pm Posts: 3875
stip wrote:
What do you make of the child of the 90's lyric Frank, Tyler, or someone else?
An admission by Ed that he was childish in the 90's. Being mad at the world, being mad for being mad's sake, and being mad for having your dreams come true and more is childish. I know for myself I always think I grew up when I stopped blaming others for how I am. I stopped being a child when I took responsibility for who I am. "Off He Goes" were Ed's first grown up lyrics, where he assessed who he was without blaming others for what he found and did not like about himself.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:22 am
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Frank,
I really enjoyed reading through this thread. Your insights, as are everyone else's, are always very interesting, and it's clear that you've put a lot of thought into how the thematic threads of No Code fit together. One of the things that I find interesting is the vocal styling on No Code. There is great variability in the way that Eddie chooses to sing the songs as opposed to his choices on Ten, and there are things that we've never heard before. This is a topic that we've discussed before, but I was wondering if you were planning on talking about this a little in the context of No Code?
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:11 am
Epitome of cool
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 5:47 am Posts: 27904 Location: Philadelphia Gender: Male
SLH916 wrote:
Frank,
I really enjoyed reading through this thread. Your insights, as are everyone else's, are always very interesting, and it's clear that you've put a lot of thought into how the thematic threads of No Code fit together. One of the things that I find interesting is the vocal styling on No Code. There is great variability in the way that Eddie chooses to sing the songs as opposed to his choices on Ten, and there are things that we've never heard before. This is a topic that we've discussed before, but I was wondering if you were planning on talking about this a little in the context of No Code?
I've made it a point to touch on this subject here and there (most notably during my description of the final verses of Off He Goes), but hadn't really planned on expanding on the topic too much. I still believe that the No Code/Yield era is Ed at his best vocally. He stopped screaming and started singing, and in turn revealed a beautiful voice that's more powerful playing wounded than playing angry. And once again, this all goes along with the "growing up" aspect of the album.
_________________ It's always the fallen ones who think they're always gonna save me.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:46 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Frank,
Are you going to post LUKIN today? I'm leaving on a ten-day car trip tomorrow, and I'm really anxious to read it before I go. Sorry to be so pushy, but I'm going to be without a computer of my own until August 2.
I can hardly wait for MANKIND and I'M OPEN. I guess I'll be seeing them sometime in August.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Red Mosquito
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:40 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
i missed this thread
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Habit
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:29 am
Unthought Known
Joined: Thu Apr 13, 2006 4:33 am Posts: 8422 Location: Berthier-sur-Mer Gender: Male
tyler wrote:
stip wrote:
What do you make of the child of the 90's lyric Frank, Tyler, or someone else?
An admission by Ed that he was childish in the 90's. Being mad at the world, being mad for being mad's sake, and being mad for having your dreams come true and more is childish. I know for myself I always think I grew up when I stopped blaming others for how I am. I stopped being a child when I took responsibility for who I am. "Off He Goes" were Ed's first grown up lyrics, where he assessed who he was without blaming others for what he found and did not like about himself.
i read somewhere, maybe in Alternative Press or RS,that this was an allusion to "against the 70s" by Mike Watt...anyone able to give info on this?
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