The words, borrowed from everybody's favorite bummer of a book in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes, are much more of an existential downer than the rest of the record, which itself is mostly about death. But "Meaningless" transcends the mourning of individual loss because it's about how life is pointless to begin with. "It's all meaningless," goes the cheerful hook. The CCM-approved bridge goes on to say "Fear your God / This is all I know," but that hardly brings more comfort**, what with the connotations of fear in our language. The other dramatic breakdown, with Leigh and Matt singing in grave unison a riff on Robert Herricks's "To the Virgins to Make Much of Time," urging us to "gather ye rosebuds while ye may/tomorrow you could lie in a silent grave/pawing the dust and awaiting the end of time."
"Solomon the Mystic" is an excerpt from the live digital-delay-fest that is the jam at the end of "Meaningless," and it's the most dynamic instrumental performance Sixpence has put on a record. Slocum slices and dices the song's mesmerizing riff, moves it way up the neck, and utliizes his delay pedal in a way that would make the Edge jealous. This is a jam that moves, deteriorates into sound and fury, as Plascencio detunes his bass strings so that in the end they're merely rattling, croaking, signifying nothing.
*This is also perhaps the only Sixpence mystery I've never solved: somebody says something, very very quietly, right at this moment. It's almost imperceptible, but it's there. What is it?
3 comments:
Wow, that bit at the end of Meaningless is something of an open secret - I just assumed you knew. Listen to it backwards.
I don't know, though, if there are any good live recordings with the jammy version of Meaningless that ends with "Solomon the Mystic".
Been awhile since I actually reversed the sound so I could listen to it. But I think it said something like:
"Read Psalm 39 instead of listening to this backwards message."
Or maybe it was 29.
Dan, in my opinion the one I linked to (Floodzone 03) is as good a version of the jam as the one on Tickets. There's no Plascencio (and the bass in general is too quiet), but I like the addition of a second guitar, and Slocum goes a little crazier at the end.
I never even thought about turning it around! Sixpence backmasking? Clearly Satanic.
Thanks for the comments, dudes. It's nice to know someone's reading. If either of you has strong feelings about a particular song (that I don't have something in mind for yet), I'd love to have a guest post in the future...
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