Future Rust

This was not real deep or earth shattering stuff, so I couldn't help but wonder to myself what made these classic songs stand the test of time.

When Jerry got back in the truck, I started up a discussion on how confused I was on the mass appeal of The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger's voice isn't the best. In many of the songs, his background singers outshine him. Their lyrics leave a lot to be desired, and their sound is generic at best. I pretty much hear that same sound every time I go into a redneck bar with a live band. Jerry immediately got defensive. He said there was a reason I hear that sound every time I go into a bar, because every other band was trying to copy that sound but The Stones were the first to do it. I admitted he had a good point, but still "shake your tail feather baby" is the stuff classics are made of?

At this point, Jerry felt the need to start tearing down my favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie. He called them "poppy." Oh, motherfucker, it was on! I got really defensive, stuck out my bottom lip, and said I couldn't believe he was tearing down the music we fell in love to. He responded by saying he was just trying to listen to some Stones when I started making fun of his music choices. I came back with "Oh, I'm sorry my annoying voice was drowning out your crappy music." The argument ended with me trying to defend Death Cab's honor, but no matter how I phrased it, trying to proclaim Death Cab for Cutie as a better band than The Rolling Stones was pretty laughable, even though I really do feel that way, dammit.

I guess it all comes down to different strokes for different folks. Jerry grew up with The Rolling Stones, so I'm sure their music and light-hearted lyrics hold special value to him. As for me, I've always been attracted to lesser known bands. Ones with a different sound and lyrics that I can really relate to. Death Cab for Cutie may be a band with a silly name and beta male members, but they never fail to turn out a song that speaks to exactly what I'm going through at a particular moment in time.

The constant battle between your brain and your heart:

"Your heart is a river that flows from your chest
Through every organ
Your brain is the dam
And I am the fish who can't reach the core.
Oh, instincts are misleading
You shouldn't think what you're feeling
They don't tell you what you know you should want."

Growing older and apart:

"You may tire of me as our December sun is setting 'cause I'm not who I used to be
No longer easy on the eyes but these wrinkles masterfully disguise the youthful boy below
Who turned your way and saw something he was not looking for
Both a beginning and an end
But now he lives inside someone he does not recognize when he catches his reflection on accident...
Now we say goodnight from our own separate sides like brothers on a hotel bed."


Struggles with religion and the afterlife:

"At St. Peter's Cathedral
There is stained glass
There's a steeple that is reaching
Up towards the heavens
Such ambition never failing to amaze me
It's either quite a master plan
Or just chemicals that help us understand
That when our hearts stop ticking
This is the end
And there's nothing past this."