Favorite Song Tourney Matchup #22 Big Bad World One vs. I Crush Everything.
Again both of these songs had first round Byes so they come into this matchup with only one match apiece under their belts.
Big Bad World One defeated That Spells DNA in matchup #6
I Crush Everything Beat I'm Your Moon in matchup #10
It's the battle of Self Loathing.
Favorite Song Tourney Matchup #22 Big Bad World One vs. I Crush Everything.
this one goes to I Crush Everything 25 votes to 21.
Big Bad World One defeated That Spells DNA in matchup #6
I Crush Everything Beat I'm Your Moon in matchup #10
It's the battle of Self Loathing.
Favorite Song Tourney Matchup #22 Big Bad World One vs. I Crush Everything.
this one goes to I Crush Everything 25 votes to 21.
Comments
Granted, some of the song seems like a tragic comedy in that the squid literally can't control its evil urges and will continually destroy the beautiful white ships, like a child smashing toys together because its so excited, but I just love the lyrical content of this song.
The melody is also superb, so I'd vote for it anyway, but the lyrics really just make it one of my favorite JoCo songs.
On the other hand, it seems like he has recently added BBWO to his regular live lineup, and removed ICE. Go figure!
ETA: After checking the wiki, I see that he has played Big Bad World One at four of his five shows this year. He has yet to play I Crush Everything.
My mouth is numb.
i quit - i'm done
cos i don't think it's gonna turn out okay
it's no fair - it's no fun
if, every time, it's gonna end the same way
versus
but i can't do that thing anymore
i can't be the thing i was before
maybe i am better off alone
i have to say that i really love the abab structure in the chorus, where the a lines are like 6 syllables and the b lines are twice as long. i don't know why but that is just super-catchy.
also, related to what encubed said, bbw:1 just seems much more personal, which generally wins points with me (c.f., e.g., famous blue raincoat versus hallelujah). i crush everything is a well-constructed and clever metaphor for life in general, but bbw:1 is a well-constructed and clever narrative about that specific dude's life, so the latter reaches me in a way that the former can't.
on the other hand, though, there's a reason i crush everything is a classic and a standard. bbw:1 is musically solid and engaging but just a little generic. it sounds a good bit like a fair few of coulton's other songs: not about you, (sort of) someone is crazy, i'm having a party. there are differences per the tone of the song, but they have a sort of common base. not so i crush everything. it's got its own entirely unique sound, and it's excellent. every part of it is excellent.
still, related to my first point above, i think he plays around more with the meter and lyrics in bbw:1 than i crush everything. this is probably due to experience - i crush everything came from his pre-internet-superstar, little gray book period, whereas bbw:1 is from thing-a-week 4, so it's not surprising he'd feel more comfortable with formal experimentation. in fact to a certain extent he might've felt he had to in order to keep the new things-a-week fresh after having written so many of them in such a short period of time. still, that does weigh in bbw1's favor.
in short i'm not decided, but if you put a gun to my head and made me pick, i'd karate-chop my way out, have you arrested and convicted of attempted murder, and then tell you bbw1.
I agree that the chorus of BBW1 is really, really catchy to me -- also love the way the verse melody doesn't seem to me to signal its tonal center immediately. At the same time, I've said before how much I love the last chord of BBW1 and how it leaves off unfinished.
Lyrically, my favorite moment in ICE, and really in what I imagine would be my top ten of JoCo lyrics, is, "And everything I want, I take / And everything I love, I break / And every night I lie awake." Wordplay, but not just wordplay -- absolutely wonderful.
ICE is full of imagery and more narratively ambiguous; BBW1 doesn't have a "narrative" per se either, but it's less imagistic and more little true-to-life "moments".
I like "Big Bad World One" more to listen to. (Oh, and its verse is in the "Octopus" meter as well.)
And as a Wavesinger who OWNS a kraken (LARP), I#m a little biased!
(But I have THREE Kraken songs, Coulton.. how many you got, eh?eh?eh!?!?!?)
;' ))
Also, anyone notice the musical similarities between the pre-choruses of BBW1 and Beige Bear?
Everyone else is having fun or else pretending to,
Everyone wants to go to bed.
or...
Indigo Monkey's making trouble when she should be sleeping,
Maybe you don't know who I am?
But I have to ask... what is a crue de tay??? (or however the French spell it).
Yeah... I know. There's a lyrics page.
...
We're a sad bunch.
Always thinking that I should be strong 'cause my body's strong but my will is weak.
I see the dolphins having fun, or else pretending to.
I eat another octopus.
I squid, I crush,
And I don't think it's gonna turn out OK
It's no fair, there's no rush
If every time it's gonna end the same way:
Me lonely,
pretty girl mush.
And the dolphins are all phoneys,
they pretend they're having fun,
and they pretend to be your friend,
until they see Big Bad World won
and then they leave you,
without a word they swim away.
I have to admit that I did it without really thinking - knee jerk reaction. But I think I'll stick by it. Both great songs.
(I picked ICE)
Goo tie-breaker!
I get a snack,a jellyfish that doesn't come with teeth
(or some other toothless sea creature, preferably one with the right stress pattern.)
Commie!
(Except the RIGHT one !!!)
TREASON! Send him to Gitmo!
Squid 0, Big Bad World 1