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October 4, 2010 - Week 15
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"Misery Loves Company"
Overview
Lyrics
Overview
Engineering
In one week we've gone from record setting heat to pounding rain and frosty mornings. Are we still in SoCal? With that in mind, it's only fitting that we offset our recent hot and heavy funk tune with something better suited for rainy weather. "Misery Loves Company" is a perfect foil for last week's "Love Me Like Your Submarine." Wish you could listen to this song in the rain? Stuck with an all-sun forecast? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Check the Odyssey later this week for a handy solution.By SeanThe lyrics for "Misery Loves Company" are the antithesis of the themes and style of last week's song ("Love me like your submarine"). I felt like after releasing such a raunchy, mother-funker of a song, balance needed to be restored our musical catalogue. For this song, I tried to use more literary/poetic phrasing, having the first half of stanzas vary in rhyme scheme, but also included a cohesive thread through the entire song by having the second half of each stanza rhyme with the previous stanzas second half. "Misery Loves Company" is a song about companionship in the cold. It's about not wanting to freeze (figuratively and literally), and making the most of opportunities to escape discomfort."Misery Loves Company" by The Theory of Funkativity Verse: I told you once I told you twice Misery Loves company Lights inside The frozen homes Reflecting on The empty streets The school yard The trial run Black and blue Missing teeth The wind is strong Get in close You are shaking Like a leaf Early dark A lack of life This is the time I like the least A single drum Counting off I know this song Waltz with me Transition: Misery Loves company We'll stop our mouths Fom making steam Chorus: I'm still the boy You knew from school I swear that I'll come clean We'll need to find New camouflage We'll hide ourselves, won't be seen I'll follow you No complaints You make me whole, I am complete Oh please tell me This is not a dream Verse: I want to touch The negative The mirror blurs As we breathe You and I Are changing states The particles In between The gray is gone The heat will come Winter snow Melts to spring The photographs Disintegrate All I have are memories Transition: The mirror blurs As we breathe All I have Are memories Chorus: I'm still the boy You knew from school I swear that I'll come clean We'll need to find New camouflage We'll hide ourselves, won't be seen I'll follow you No complaints You make me whole, I am complete Oh please tell me This is not a dream Chorus: I'm still the boy You knew from school I swear that I'll come clean We'll need to find New camouflage We'll hide ourselves, won't be seen I'll follow you No complaints You make me whole, I am complete Oh please tell me This is not a dream I don't want this to fade I'm still the boy You knew from school I swear that I'll come clean We'll need to find New camouflage We'll hide ourselves, won't be seen I'll follow you No complaints You make me whole, I am complete Oh please tell me This is not a dreamBy MichaelI wanted "Misery Loves Company" to avoid convention. Our last few songs have been a bit more chordally driven (excluding "Love Me Like Your Submarine"), so my goal was to make this one more melody-based and texturally complex. To make this happen, I used one of my favorite writing techniques to avoid getting caught up in chordal rules/patterns: I started with a couple nice-sounding notes in a random area on the guitar neck and begin toying with a melody that I could reach from that spot. As the melody progressed to new regions of the neck, the harmonizing notes followed and changed shape. With this technique the part writes itself... I'm completely free from my usual compositional habits and crutches. I don't know what chord I'm playing or what key I'm in at any given time. There are no rules. It's only when I start writing the bass line that I begin to realize why the song works the way it does. Although, in the case of "Misery Loves Company," some of it remains a mystery to me. It's fun because I don't have to get caught up in the nuts and bolts of the song. I just get to listen. In the spirit of unconventionality, I wanted the accompanying instruments to harmonize the guitar line in an interesting way. I built them around that original guitar melody. From start to finish, I completely avoided getting drawn in to a chordal pattern. As a result, "Misery Loves Company" has some unexpected and somewhat dissonant moments... mission accomplished. The strings were a new touch for us. I've included synth strings twice in the past, but this is the first time I haven't hidden them in the mix. The more I listened to the song the more cinematic it felt to me, so strings seemed like a natural addition.By MichaelThis song had me worried for a while. We originally recorded the vocals with pat singing much lower. We used to be able to get away with that back when our mixes were less instrumentally complex, but the new style doesn't leave room for bassy vocals. I spent a couple days frantically knocking out chunks from all of the instrumentals in the 4kHz range, but things only kept getting muddier. Any time I muted an instrument the song would sound infinitely better. This is never a good thing. The solution: we re-recorded the vocals in a higher range. Not surprisingly, the new part cut right through the mix. It's easy to get caught up in post-production damage control, but it's even easier to simply re-record the source material (though I'm sure Pat disagrees). Thanks, backyard recording studio.
