Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Help, Help
Tell me what I wanna hear This shits too good to be true My dear
Tell me lies Tell me lies, tell me Tell me lies, tell me
Help me
Storybook keeps from hurting me You see Shell of the man from the sea
Tell me lies Tell me lies, tell me Tell me lies, tell me
Tell me why Tell me why, tell me Tell me why, tell me
Tell me lies,...
Help me
Reservoir Of hate and fear Invisible In repair A hundred thieves Cast a spell This is hell
Help me
The man they call my enemy, I've seen his eyes He looks just like me, a mirror
The more you read, we've been deceived Everyday it becomes clearer,...
Clearer.
Not my enemy,.. no, not my enemy,.. Don't speak for me. No, not my enemy.
Like most recent Jeff songs, help help could have ended up much stronger than it is, and is more striking for its potential than its execution. The music is generally unhinged in a fairly harmless way--reflecting the sense of distrust and paranoia, but not panic, of the verses. It contrasts nicely with the chorus in that regard, which gets more urgent. I like the music in the chorus quite a bit, especially the way it builds. And the outro is very good (a good headphone listens). But I can't really get into the music in the verses that much. it fits the mood of the song, but I don't really enjoy it. Part of the problem is that it isn't unsettling enough to really justify the 'help me' chorus--I just don't get where the desperation is coming from to justify that line.
Where help help suffers is lyrically and vocally. Lyrically it has the usual problem with Jeff lyrics. Things are either too blunt to be compelling (show me, don't tell me) as in the first verse, or they don't make much sense (the 'not my enemy' outro lyrics). The only part that is compelling is the bridge, where jeff did a nice job.
I can appreciate that they tried to do something new and theoretically interesting with Eddie's vocals here, but to my ears it comes across as a bit too much of a gimmick--I don't necessarily hear confusion, or desperation, or even resignation (if you want to interpret the help me as too little too late). I'm not quite sure what Eddie was trying to accomplish here, but it doesn't work for me. The vocal melody isn't that interesting either, which doesn't help matters.
Good song live though--too bad they don't play it more.
2 stars from me (2.5 really but closer to 2)
_________________ "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
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:04 pm Posts: 1875 Location: Atlanta, SE of Disorder Gender: Male
Hated it for the longest time and almost always skipped it. But it's on one of my 03 boots and it did translate better live. I wouldn't say it's a great song but I do get the idea of where it was going and thinks it could have been left in the oven a little longer. I don't hate it anymore; more like don't care either way. It kind of fits on Riot Act but it has more of a Lost Dogs quality to it. **
_________________ From under my lone palm i can look out on the day
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Angus wrote:
5 stars
Explanation to follow
I know you like this one a lot. i'm looking forward to it.
I will say re: Lord Vedder that it fits very well on Riot Act conceptually--the whole record is a 'what the fuck just happened to my country and my world' reaction to the start of the 21st century and so this fits in quite well in that regard
_________________ "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
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 11:00 pm Posts: 13226 Location: Adelaide, AUS
4 stars, I really enjoy this song.
No idea why they've dropped it from setlists, from the 2003 boots it comes across really well live (much better than You Are which has hung around much longer).
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:30 pm Posts: 918 Location: Miami Gender: Male
Cinco.
_________________
Angus wrote:
Sleater-Kinney is a gift from God to mankind. Then that gift was taken away again because mankind was too stupid to realize how kind God was to give mankind such beautiful present.
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:19 am Posts: 728 Location: Island Continent Gender: Male
4 stars for me, i love this track. It has a very spaced out, hushed feel to it, and although the lyrics are lacking a bit i think that the music is great. It fits perfectly on RA and is in fact one of, if not my favourite on the album.
_________________ Vedder’s sticking with the underdog, McCready’s classicist rock solo, Gossard, Ament, and Abbruzzese’s solid yet organic and rootsy rhythm section. It’s earnest, it’s got tension, and that nod to classic rock. It’s Pearl Jam.
I feel that the non-Ed PJ songs rarely get regular rotation live after its album's tour. I am sure there some that make it through, but most of them get the axe.
I probably should have given it two stars, but the word "Average" really connected the song to my opinion of it. It's dull, it drones, and the I think the execution is poor. I also don't really like it love that much. It does improve from the studio version, but I would rather hear 100 other PJ songs before this one.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:09 pm Posts: 13868 Location: Norn Iron
4 stars. There's something really wrong with this song... it's like the three-legged freaky deer with an extra milky eye in the forehead. It's creepy, unsettling and subversive. Which makes it excellent, obviously.
_________________ "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck
Out of 34 votes, this song gets 15 4 or 5 star votes. Wattafack? I thought we were like 3 people totally loving this song.
I fully expected to be the first 5 star vote and to see mostly 0, 1 or 2 stars. Maybe its bizzaro day at RM?
_________________ "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck
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