Longshot album Love is for Losers

[Biddymc]

I had a very different take on Chasing a Ghost.  With the similarity in the lyrics to Devil's Kind, I just naturally paired these 2 songs together.  I took Devil's Kind, which is from Ordinary World, to reflect the early life of the character Perry, and what it felt like to live in a perpetual party, until by the end of the song, the party got to be too much.  Of course, there are a lot of natural parallels to Billie's own life in that as well.

Take me into the water   (Like a baptism or a rebirth)
And pull me from the slaughter  (Saved from the progression of death from the lifestyle he's living)
Because I've got the shakes (Literally -- the early days of recovery)
And I'm so petrified (And the process of the DTs and sobering up is pretty darn scary)

But in Chasing A Ghost, it seems like the same character is telling the story, but from the perspective of many years later.  The narrator seems to want to rehash or relive some of those "glory days" (and maybe those days weren't as glorious as time fools you into thinking).  It's like you're chasing something that was never really there.

The last verse is the most interesting to me as well.  It's this part, where I'm not if the character is telling the story, or if it's Billie himself.

So if you see him
Tell him that I said hello  
I miss the times we spent
And now I'm gonna go  

(This part really seems like he is talking about his former self, but it could also be someone from that time.  Again if it is written from the perspective of Perry, it could just be one of his old bandmates, and that he has finally moved on from their collective past.)

She was my last hoorah
And always got me stoned
Thanks for the sympathy
And the punch in the nose

(I'm not totally convinced that this is about Lady Cobra.  Although I could see why the connection would be made.  It seems to be about woman who drew the narrator to a more dangerous/drug induced life.   Again if it is written from the perspective of Perry, there was the character of the ex who attempts to draw Perry back into his old lifestyle, but he ultimately chooses to to go home to his family and wife.  However, the lyric itself seems so darn specific, that it's hard not to imagine a real life event tied to the actual lyric.)

 

[LaughingClock]

18 hours ago, j3sus0fsuburbia said:

 

I love you guys so much.

It’s funny this post. Tell ya why. I’m so tied to the idea of St Jimmy being Billie’s true wild alter ego that I wasn’t even thinking about Green Day, I was a thinking about Billie.

Yeah, AI was pretty fucking amazing. I listened to it today to remind myself. It is. Ha.

@Biddymc that post was epic! I love the so many ways people go.

[Beerjeezus]

So do we like...believe in the Lady Cobra conspiracy now 

[Hermione]

16 minutes ago, Jane Lannister said:

So do we like...believe in the Lady Cobra conspiracy now 

Billie partying with her (at FBHT etc) is the only real life bit being implied here I believe. And I think the discussion about "she was my last hurrah" in Chasing a Ghost being a continuation of the trilogy was referring to the "Lady Cobra" character on the trilogy rather than the real person as such. Hope so anyway  

[Thatsername]

On 30.4.2018 at 3:19 AM, LaughingClock said:

That’s just it. Billie is brilliant at that type of pros where the meaning can be taken around in a circular fashion. I feel like I say a lot of the same stuff around here but it’s always him. He’s a fucking lyrical genius and only the initiated realize it and the uninitiated are haters and wonder why I love Green Day and Billies writing so much.

History will look back at Billie Joe Armstrong as one of the great lyricists of the century up with Lennon and McCartney.

I'm SO late to the party and the discussion has moved on, so I'm sorry for going back and quoting this. Btw it's nice to see this place is alive again, I'm just so fucking busy right now I can't keep up with it.

I couldn't agree more with what you said above. I've always been a lyrics person and always will be, lyrics are usually one of the, or maybe even the most important part of a song for me. Maybe because books were my first love and I fell in love with music much later, I don't know and it doesn't really matter. All I know is that when the lyrics don't speak to me, it's much harder or even impossible to fall in love with a song. Billies lyrics always speak to me. But to really understand them, you have to listen closely, you have to take them in, and you have to look beyond them. His lyrics are so brilliant because they seem to be simple and easy to understand, and they are full of clever, often funny ideas (most recent example: "Let them eat poison and it tastes like lemonade"), but there's always more to them than the words he is actually using. There's always a deeper meaning, something you can't quite put your finger on, but it makes you frown and ponder. His words are very ambiguous and often very sarcastic, and he uses lots of metaphors.

Many people don't get that, I think that's why Billie is not getting the recognition as a songwriter he deserves. People are like 'Green Day, that's the three-chord pop-punk band like Blink-182 that's singing about masturbation, right?' People are prejudiced and don't bother to take a closer look at his lyrics because they don't take him seriously anyway. Whenever I tell someone that GD is my favorite band and Billie my favorite songwriter they smile and go like 'ahhh, you have no idea what good music is'. I hate that. I really, really hate that people are too ignorant to see what's so obvious for me. I hope you're right and history will look back on him as one of the greatest. Well, he was already included in the Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest songwriters of all time, so there are some kindred spirits who recognize his ingenuity (although he could have been higher on the list imo). Rant over And I can't wait for new Billie lyrics, even if we just got tons of it. The most brilliant thing about his lyrics is that you can never get enough of them.

[pacejunkie punk]

25 minutes ago, Thatsername said:

I'm SO late to the party and the discussion has moved on, so I'm sorry for going back and quoting this. Btw it's nice to see this place is alive again, I'm just so fucking busy right now I can't keep up with it.

I couldn't agree more with what you said above. I've always been a lyrics person and always will be, lyrics are usually one of the, or maybe even the most important part of a song for me. Maybe because books were my first love and I fell in love with music much later, I don't know and it doesn't really matter. All I know is that when the lyrics don't speak to me, it's much harder or even impossible to fall in love with a song. Billies lyrics always speak to me. But to really understand them, you have to listen closely, you have to take them in, and you have to look beyond them. His lyrics are so brilliant because they seem to be simple and easy to understand, and they are full of clever, often funny ideas (most recent example: "Let them eat poison and it tastes like lemonade"), but there's always more to them than the words he is actually using. There's always a deeper meaning, something you can't quite put your finger on, but it makes you frown and ponder. His words are very ambiguous and often very sarcastic, and he uses lots of metaphors.

Many people don't get that, I think that's why Billie is not getting the recognition as a songwriter he deserves. People are like 'Green Day, that's the three-chord pop-punk band like Blink-182 that's singing about masturbation, right?' People are prejudiced and don't bother to take a closer look at his lyrics because they don't take him seriously anyway. Whenever I tell someone that GD is my favorite band and Billie my favorite songwriter they smile and go like 'ahhh, you have no idea what good music is'. I hate that. I really, really hate that people are too ignorant to see what's so obvious for me. I hope you're right and history will look back on him as one of the greatest. Well, he was already included in the Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest songwriters of all time, so there are some kindred spirits who recognize his ingenuity (although he could have been higher on the list imo). Rant over And I can't wait for new Billie lyrics, even if we just got tons of it. The most brilliant thing about his lyrics is that you can never get enough of them.

I’m also always drawn in first by lyrics and the best ones are the ones that continue to reveal new meanings to you five, ten even twenty years after you first hear them, or after the 100th or 500th listen. Billie’s lyrics are like that for me (as are Elvis Costello’s— damn I swear I’ve been listening to a song of his for thirty years and will one day discover some new reference or wordplay). But Elvis C is much more of an intellectual writer and less of a personal one, in that he reveals very little about himself that I find relatable.  Billie writes from both head and heart and his songs are like little puzzle boxes that he hides himself away in and by working away at it you’re rewarded with little revelations of who he is or new ways that you relate to him with a similar feeling or experience. It’s more than just music, it’s a connection. 

Billie described something similar in BIAB when he talked about how people feel and connect to JOS, that it was more than just saying you love the song it was that feeling of bringing your own baggage to it and connecting with him and his through that, it’s something you know he feels equally as strongly as the fans making the experience more symbiotic — it’s not just traveling in one direction from artist to fan. When he plays these songs, he gives them to us and we give back in our connection to them and that inspires and drives him on. I feel like a part of the process and it’s something really special 💚 

[LaughingClock]

@Thatsername and @pacejunkie punk

I don’t have time at the moment for a good response but I couldn’t leave it without saying I agree with both of you and I guess why I love all of Billie’s projects.

Oddly, and as stated by Thatsername (why does that trip me up to write your avvie. Lol) that he is starting to get recognition and oddly on a lot of reviews of this album. Maybe because of the Green Day stigma of simplicity and comparisons to Blink 182 which is funny because GD are idols to whoever that dude is from Blink. They are basically a band that made it sounding a little like Green Day’s soft stuff without good lyrics. I literally want to punch people when they make that comparison.

Im curious what Costello song you listen to every day. I’ve always loved Costello but not really was a HUGE fan but only because I don’t listen. Give me the track. Please. Wanna check it out.

Ill add to this later but great read by you both and for the most part could not agree more!

In the parlance of our time, I’ve certainly done my part to make the world and media “woke” to who BJA is as a writer. Yeah I said “woke” what?

[pacejunkie punk]

12 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

Im curious what Costello song you listen to every day. I’ve always loved Costello but not really was a HUGE fan but only because I don’t listen. Give me the track. Please. Wanna check it out.

Hard to narrow it down to a single track but as far as albums go I’d start with imperial Bedroom and then go to Blood and Chocolate. If you’re familiar with those then step up to Momofuku — mature, complex and staggeringly accomplished.  For any lover of lyrics and storytelling it’s porn. ❤️:

”It’s not very far, from tears to mirth,

There’re not many moments that will capture your breath,

It’s not very long, that you spend on this earth,

She’ll never know, just what Harry was worth,

She’ll never know....” — Harry Worth

[Hermione]

1 hour ago, Thatsername said:

I'm SO late to the party and the discussion has moved on, so I'm sorry for going back and quoting this. Btw it's nice to see this place is alive again, I'm just so fucking busy right now I can't keep up with it.

I couldn't agree more with what you said above. I've always been a lyrics person and always will be, lyrics are usually one of the, or maybe even the most important part of a song for me. Maybe because books were my first love and I fell in love with music much later, I don't know and it doesn't really matter. All I know is that when the lyrics don't speak to me, it's much harder or even impossible to fall in love with a song. Billies lyrics always speak to me. But to really understand them, you have to listen closely, you have to take them in, and you have to look beyond them. His lyrics are so brilliant because they seem to be simple and easy to understand, and they are full of clever, often funny ideas (most recent example: "Let them eat poison and it tastes like lemonade"), but there's always more to them than the words he is actually using. There's always a deeper meaning, something you can't quite put your finger on, but it makes you frown and ponder. His words are very ambiguous and often very sarcastic, and he uses lots of metaphors.

Many people don't get that, I think that's why Billie is not getting the recognition as a songwriter he deserves. People are like 'Green Day, that's the three-chord pop-punk band like Blink-182 that's singing about masturbation, right?' People are prejudiced and don't bother to take a closer look at his lyrics because they don't take him seriously anyway. Whenever I tell someone that GD is my favorite band and Billie my favorite songwriter they smile and go like 'ahhh, you have no idea what good music is'. I hate that. I really, really hate that people are too ignorant to see what's so obvious for me. I hope you're right and history will look back on him as one of the greatest. Well, he was already included in the Rolling Stones list of the 100 greatest songwriters of all time, so there are some kindred spirits who recognize his ingenuity (although he could have been higher on the list imo). Rant over And I can't wait for new Billie lyrics, even if we just got tons of it. The most brilliant thing about his lyrics is that you can never get enough of them.

Totally agree! It's all about the lyrics for me too, Billie's are wonderful and what drew me to Green Day. I've been really enjoying the lyrics on Rev Rad and then following that Love is for Losers, the way writes has grown and changed through different albums but I particularly like how direct and honest they are at the moment. There's still layers of meaning and wordplay but it feels no frills with no characters or grand concepts and I like it a lot.

[Beerjeezus]

I agree, lyrics are always what I look forward to the most when there's a new record. 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

2 hours ago, LaughingClock said:

Maybe because of the Green Day stigma of simplicity and comparisons to Blink 182 which is funny because GD are idols to whoever that dude is from Blink.

Don't talk about Mark that way. He's my fave.  (Assuming that's who you're referencing.)

I understand what you mean about being frustrated by the comparisons though because Green Day will always be superior to blink-182 in my eyes, but I do enjoy both bands and blink-182 does have some songs with good lyrics that go beyond "I want to fuck a dog in the ass." I promise.  Just like not everything Green Day does is mature, either. They just tend to skew that way more often, while blink-182 often skews the opposite way.

I do like both the sound and the lyrics on this album though. I know everyone always says this on here but I really feel like this approach was the intention with the trilogy, but the end result just didn't deliver. These songs are about a lot of sad topics but they're still more fun to listen to and relate to (in my opinion, of course).

[LaughingClock]

1 hour ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

Don't talk about Mark that way. He's my fave.  (Assuming that's who you're referencing.)

I understand what you mean about being frustrated by the comparisons though because Green Day will always be superior to blink-182 in my eyes, but I do enjoy both bands and blink-182 does have some songs with good lyrics that go beyond "I want to fuck a dog in the ass." I promise.  Just like not everything Green Day does is mature, either. They just tend to skew that way more often, while blink-182 often skews the opposite way.

I do like both the sound and the lyrics on this album though. I know everyone always says this on here but I really feel like this approach was the intention with the trilogy, but the end result just didn't deliver. These songs are about a lot of sad topics but they're still more fun to listen to and relate to (in my opinion, of course).

I agree but I'll just have to take your word on Blink 182.  I only like them because they idolize Green Day.  lol.  Aside from that, I feel about Blink how my friends think of GD but since they are very intelligent and even musicians and won't get on board with me, maybe that's me on Blink.  But I've been a fan of GD since I was a kid so I don't even know if I just started listening today, if I would know or realize what BJA is.  Like I've said here many times (a phrase I'm noticing everyone here says, I mean that they are repeating themselves) is that Green Day and specifically BJA are just untouchable writers.  Musically and lyrically Blink in my opinion can't touch GD with a 100 foot stick.  Of course this is just my opinion but I don't hate them. I don't even dislike them. To me, they sound like Green Day just made a horrible record. I've seen them live several times and I still don't get into it. I love live music more than anything in the world but there are probably only 3 or 4 bands I would travel just to see and about 30-40 maybe off the cuff that I would be very excited to see if I happened to be around wherever they were playing.

We can't all like the same things or life would be boring as hell.

As for a second chance at writing the Trilogy, as I posted earlier.  CAG is pretty much STN.  Listen one after the other.  They are pretty much the same song with different lyrics.  You have to get to the verse to really hear it but the verse is musically and the lyrical beats are identical.  I will mash it up later if I have the time.
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jengd]

@LaughingClock I think you might mean Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio, he is a big BJA fan.

@pacejunkie punk I agree re Elvis Costello.

you guys who like lyrics should give a listen to The King Blues, Jonny Fox reminds me at times of a young BJA, he even references GD in one song.

[LaughingClock]

57 minutes ago, jengd said:

@LaughingClock I think you might mean Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio, he is a big BJA fan.

@pacejunkie punk I agree re Elvis Costello.

you guys who like lyrics should give a listen to The King Blues, Jonny Fox reminds me at times of a young BJA, he even references GD in one song.

Yeah, sorry.  I know not a single name from the band. I suppose that disqualifies me on its face from even having a valid opinion.

I like "Immortals" from Big Hero 6 because my daughter loves that song because she loves the movie.  It ends there though.  I will check out your suggestions but I don't have to check out The King Blues. I know them quite well.  Literally.

My friend who is a colorist (for film and video) in Soho district of London did a video with them and they were all there at the studio when I happened to be visiting Lee and sitting in all day on his sessions for a couple days. He's an old college friend) and I have maintained a friendship with Ben Bridges. If I'm in London and often am, I pretty much if I have leisure time, always visit Ben if he is around.   I say that like it happens all the time but those two things being available is not often.  I've hung with him in London probably 3-4 times in my life.  I am a huge fan of TKB. You always surprise me Jen.  Love it!

 

EDIT: HOLY SHIT. I just saw how many posts I have here. I used to cringe when I saw I had hundreds. I know I've been here a lot longer than Jen but that I have that many posts is scary.  How much of my life have I umm, whats another word for "wasted" in here?  Lol

[Melodyisdestiny]

7 hours ago, Hermione said:

Totally agree! It's all about the lyrics for me too, Billie's are wonderful and what drew me to Green Day. I've been really enjoying the lyrics on Rev Rad and then following that Love is for Losers, the way writes has grown and changed through different albums but I particularly like how direct and honest they are at the moment. There's still layers of meaning and wordplay but it feels no frills with no characters or grand concepts and I like it a lot.

As I've gotten older my interpretation of the lyrics of some songs has changed as well. Strange when a well-loved song hits you in a totally different way! Great songwriting grows with you.

[Eric]

Goodbye to Romance and Body bag are the only bad songs on this album.

[KGLWW]

2 minutes ago, Eric said:

Goodbye to Romance and Body bag are the only bad songs on this album.

Whether or not you like the song goodbye to romance or not, it's easily the best recording on the album

[Eric]

1 minute ago, Cult Hero said:

Whether or not you like the song goodbye to romance or not, it's easily the best recording on the album

That would be Happiness.

[KGLWW]

1 minute ago, Eric said:

That would be Happiness.

It is pretty good, but not quite. The vocals work best on goodbye to romance. Drumming is best on happiness, but still not better overall imo

[Eric]

Just now, Cult Hero said:

It is pretty good, but not quite. The vocals work best on goodbye to romance. Drumming is best on happiness, but still not better overall imo

that sucks we disagree!  

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

30 minutes ago, Eric said:

Goodbye to Romance and Body bag are the only bad songs on this album.

I actually feel the same way. I think I'd like Body Bag live, I just can't listen to it the way it's recorded. And I don't necessarily think Goodbye to Romance is a bad song, but I just can't get into it.

[Montclare]

Goodbye to Romance is probably in my top three on the album.  It doesn't translate live as well though.  Soul Surrender is the opposite.  I don't like it as much on the album, but it works live.  Sucks that they didn't do it at my show.

[pacejunkie punk]

I guess loving Body Bag is an unpopular opinion. I’m sad so many people list it as their least favorite (for me it would be Soul Surrender)

[Khaleesi.]

11 minutes ago, AlissaGoesRAWR said:

I actually feel the same way. I think I'd like Body Bag live, I just can't listen to it the way it's recorded. And I don't necessarily think Goodbye to Romance is a bad song, but I just can't get into it.

Exactly how I feel. 

[pouty bitch]

Maaaaaan, Soul Surrender is one of my faves. I love Body Bag now, but I was never a fan of it in OW. And Goodbye to Romance is nice, but it's nearer to the bottom of my ranking because I prefer to hear Billie's originals.