music & personal association

[timepiececlock]

The artist/band "Bright Eyes" was ruined for me for over a year, especially the song "Lover I Don’t Have to Love", which I'll happily never listen to again. Or at least not for five or six years. Anyway, Bright Eyes was ruined for me because I was introduced to their songs by my first university dorm roommate. She was crazy. (Not the cute, fun kind of crazy where there are penguins and oddly put together sentences; the paranoid nasty kind of crazy. I was so put off by her craziness that even after she moved out and I got a new roommate (who was a lovely person and NOT crazy), I still went all the way till the end of the school year before refering to her as a "psycho bitch" to people who asked. Now that it's been over half a year since I lived in that dorm house, I feel quite happy refering to her as the psycho bitch without an LJ friends-lock, thankyouverymuch. My inbred courtesy for not speaking poorly about others behind their backs (to people who's business its not) has a statute of limitations.)

Anyway, she played this Bright Eyes CD, especially that song, ALL THE TIME. I've only once before had a song so negatively associated with a personal experience that I couldn't stand to hear it (the song "Crash Into Me" by Dave Mathews Band, for a mortifyingly embarassing moment with an older crush), and that lasted about three years. Then, like nothing, one day my negative association with the song was just gone. *POOF!* No more embarassment, it just stopped. Now I love "Crash Into Me."

I still have no desire to hear "Lover I Don’t Have to Love" (which I doubt I'd like anyway even if not for her because it had the sound of emo indie pretentious acoustic stuff that doesn't come off as "raw", just as something with no effort put into it), but I have recently thought about hearing other Bright Eyes songs, seeing if I like them. I think I've heard a few on the radio this year with more interesting instrumentals, but I don't normally listen to the radio so I don't remember much.


What are your favorite Bright Eyes songs? Do you like them/him at all?

Comments

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

I've only heard a few Bright Eyes songs. That emo stuff usually isn't my bag. But I absolutely ADORE "Road To Joy". They take Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" and turn it into a great track:

The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleepin in their beds
The city cemetary's hummin
I'm wide awake its morning

I have my drugs I have my woman
they keep away my lonliness
My parents, they have their religions
they sleep in seperate houses

I read the body count out of the paper
and now its written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes thats just the most comfortable place

So I'm drinkin, breathin, writin, singin
Every day I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
but can't keep up with what I got

I hope I dont sound too ungratefull
well, history gave modern man
a telephone to talk to strangers
a machine gun and a camera lense

So when you're asked to fight a war thats over nothing
It's best to join the side thats gonna win
No one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make em God damn certain how its gonna end

I' could have been a famous singer
if I had some one else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise!

BTW, check out my latest post. Music for you there.

[corvidae9.livejournal.com]

omg that sucks. That's my favorite bright eyes song. :P

[irfikos.livejournal.com]

Back when I used to go see little Conor play he was a scrawny little Harry Potter looking kid with a squeaky voice - and his band Commander Venus absolutely rocked the stage. He would scream and writhe on stage pretty impressively.

I sort of prefer the first Commander Venus disc to any of the Bright Eyes I've heard. It was a bit less emo, a bit more punk. The second Commander Venus disc didn't impress me as much as the first, even. I like Desperacidos better than his Bright Eyes stuff now.

I saw him play as Bright Eyes only once. It was an intimate affair in the bar a few blocks away. He shunned the stage to sit with the audience. My guest & I sat a few feet away and were absolutely bored to tears as Conor & Co. proceeded to mope to a musical accompaniment for the next hour. I ended up having to apologize the the person I brought with me. "He was more interesting when he was 15. Now he's just depressing."

Long story short - there are 2 Bright Eyes songs that I absolutely love:

A Perfect Sonnet

and

The Calendar Hung Itself

both two excellent break-up songs. That I highly recommend. I have 3 or 4 Bright Eyes albums and my favorite would be Fevers and Mirrors.

Honestly though, I would recommend seeking out his early stuff, before his voice changed, if you're looking for raw, pre-cocaine emotion.

Or listen to Cursive. In a choice between the two I'd choose Cursive hands down.

[memlu.livejournal.com]

I, uh, really don't like Bright Eyes, or the dude what fronts it. Hate his lyrics, hate his singing, so can't give recs. *g*