my careless contagion

In my world, this song always existed. Indeed, it was released in 1977, the year I was born. It was covered numerous times, including by NOFX (about two minutes in length, complete with the expected punk-rock irreverence, and with some vocals by Bad Religion's Greg Graffin). It's a good song and robust, having survived several decades. I guess I could say some of the same about myself since we're the same age. It's one of those songs that builds momentum. It starts fairly quiet and slow but eventually takes off like a jet plane. It has a fairly fast tempo for a classic rock song. The song has so much momentum, it simply fades out at the end, which is the easiest way to end a song like this. The cover art is curious, especially if your eyes are drawn to the dangly bits of the man's outfit. I wonder whose idea that was.  The vocals are perfect. I don't even know how he does some parts. The yelping inflection on "go" and "your" gets me every ti...

Ah, Depeche Mode. I used to listen to this band a lot when traveling. The sound was conducive to flying over pavement of various vibrations through the shifting American landscapes, one moment surrounded by concrete and skyscrapers and the next cornfields and pastures. I could chose several songs by this band, but this one saw a resurgence in popularity because it was featured on HBO's The Last of Us, which I tried to watch but realized it was yet another soap opera masquerading as an adventure in zombie land. The action got less and less and the talking got to be too much and after the gay episode, I had enough and quit watching. It seems all entertainment is a vehicle for agenda now. Needless to say, The Last of Us let me down.  And that's what the song is about. People letting us down. Or not letting us down. Whichever your perspective. I recently tried to get in touch with the parents of one of my best friends growing up. We had been talking through Facebook, but my Faceboo...

You may ask yourself what the heck I'm doing writing about this song. We'll get there. But, first, listen to it so as to familiarize yourself. You've probably heard it. I used the lyric video because I want to talk about the lyrics.  The lyrics are vague, to say the least, but they bring up a few things I'd like to dissect. The lyrics are almost like brushstrokes. They are clumsy but give an idea of what the song is about. First, the mention of a star. The Bible mentions stars, and it often refers to angelic beings, usually fallen angels. So that's interesting.  The lyrics also talk about Atlantis, a supposed antediluvian civilization. I'm not going to say Atlantis didn't exist. I believe it or something similar to our modern-day myth of Atlantis certainly did exist. And it was wicked, otherwise God wouldn't have wiped it out. It is always referred to wistfully because mankind lost so much knowledge when it was destroyed, the same way people talk about t...