“Why Would I Want to Die”
by Grandaddy
from the album Concrete Dunes
2002
Buy the album on Amazon
I love the idea of a monthly theme based on shuffling, and not being able to skip, but the problem is for me my 5 star playlist is only has 122 songs on it (vs. 2448 4 stars), so all of them are going to be things I love and almost never skip. I’m very restrictive about what makes 5 stars, whereas there are plenty of moments of potential embarrassment (if that’s what Lance was hoping for) in the 4 star list (I’m not entirely positive Lance and I use the same criteria for our rating system). But, this month is about the best of the best, so onward.
I don’t know much about Grandaddy. I think maybe my friend/former coworker/former boss Patrick recommended them, and he and I used to be concert buddies so I decided to check them out (or maybe I’m totally making that up and I came across them just via Pandora or something – no idea). I downloaded one or two of their albums a few years back, and I think I’ve only rated 2 or 3 songs of theirs highly. I do really like the singer’s voice though, and I really love this song. I’m a big fan of songs that tell a specific story so well that when I hear it, the wannabe film director in me pictures exactly how I would shoot the short film portraying the story. Just try to listen to this and not picture the characters, the conversations, and the actions.
You didn’t really die you only went away
my drummer he saw you
buying supplies about a week ago
a couple towns away south on the interstateI gave him shit for not telling me sooner than he did
he said he thought I knew
he said everybody else has seen her too
I haven’t been around that much
or kept in touch with anyone or anything.You didn’t really die although it seems as if you did
why would you have to hide
and who stayed on with you while you hid?
through all those silent nights
that silence sure can be real loud,
louder than anything.You didn’t really die
So what am I to do with the memories of ours
I chronicled and buried in the back yard
dig them up today attach a note that say they’re yours
leave them at the door of the supply store
and hope that when you come along
you bring yourself to reading them
and wonder from precisely that there moment on…
Why would I want to die?
Why would I want to die?
Why would I want to die?
Why would I want to die?
Yeah, we definitely have different criteria, but I think that’s okay. My 5-stars should be songs I love, but I bet there are some temporary 5-stars in there as well. I guess we’ll see. I was also debating doing an unrated shuffle, so we could get all discovery, maybe next month.
For the record, my criteria is:
1 star – problem with the file (messed up audio, etc. so I can flag it)
2 star – don’t like the song
3 star – average. Sometimes I keep them just for completistism, but they’re not worth being on my phone.
4 star – all the songs I love or like enough to have with me at all times
5 star – the very very best. Generally unskippable.
You?
Mine is:
1 star – worthless – so usually weird track fillers, like those little 3 second intros, or like 20 minute hidden tracks. Stuff I never want to see come up. If I come across a bad file, I save myself a note to replace or delete it.
2 star – a song I don’t like, as in my opinion it’s no good.
3 star – I don’t like the song much, but it’s worthwhile including when listening to an album
4 star – I like the song, but I don’t always have to have it with/I should listen to this more and see if it needs to move up or down.
5 – songs I want with me at all times. Song sometimes come off this list.