Favorite Song Tourney Matchup #22 Big Bad World One vs. I Crush Everything.

edited February 2009 in Forum Games
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.
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Comments

  • I Crush Everything is FANTASTIC; I really have to pick it over maybe any other song he's done.
  • Maybe I haven't give BBWO enough of a chance, but it never really grabbed me the way I Crush Everything has. And it took me several listens before I really began to appreciate ICE, and that just hasn't happened yet with BBWO.
  • BBWO wins this for me. I'm just more sympathetic with the lonesome loser than I am with the squid. And I've gotten tired of hearing ICE while I don't skip over BBWO when it comes up randomly.
  • BBWO is a good song that certainly has its place, but I Crush Everything, like Octopus or other songs, isn't just a song abut some wacky situation; it's a fantastic metaphor for our lives. Haven't you ever felt like you ruin everything you touch, say, on a project at work or on a sports team or a relationship? Or maybe you got drunk or angry or emotional once and someone (or some people) saw you at your worst and moved right on and left you behind?

    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.
  • edited February 2009
    It's probably worth mentioning that JoCo has occasionally cited I Crush Everything as his favorite song, or a song that he is particularly proud of.

    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.
  • Big Bad World One...

    My mouth is numb.
  • edited February 2009
    both of these have a lot in common:

    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.
  • edited February 2009
    Generally speaking, I agree with three08. These are two great songs, similar in theme. Gonna have a tough time choosing. :-)
  • Launching into scattered thoughts without a thesis:
    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.)
  • I love the choris to BBW... But I crush holds together more as a song...
    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!?!?!?)

    ;' ))
  • edited February 2009
    As silly as it seems I'd first thought that this would be a difficult choice to make, but now that I've listened to both I'm surprised to find I liked one more than the other.
  • I didn't seem to like ICE as much as some people, but I really really like BBWO. Especially the chorus. So true, so true.
  • ICE is one of my favorites, so I'll be voting for it. Have to admit that BBW1 has been growing on me recently.

    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).
  • edited February 2009
    Dude! Google! ;-) crudites
  • I tried, but Google didn't know what a "crue de tay" was! ;-)

    Yeah... I know. There's a lyrics page.
  • that's why knowing is only half the battle.
  • edited February 2009
    Well, at least it's not another Venn diagram. I think I'll go have another crudite.
  • Nice, Mitch. You really need to spend more time here, y'know? You're missed!
  • I think...I would have to go with "Big Bad World One." I've liked that song for a while, and while I don't dislike "I Crush Everything," I don't love it as much as everyone else seems to...like others have said, I sympathize more with the narrator in BBWO.
  • BBWO has a great chorus but i love ICE to... cant decide
  • "I Crush Everything" is good, but it's kind of slow and depressed. BBWO is another "hey, he's talking about my life!" kind of song. It gets my vote.
  • I prefer the sound of "I Crush Everything"
  • Voting now open
  • Voted for ICE, because, as Spiff touched on, He's talking about my life! ;' )
  • I'm surprised this is so close. I always thought that ICE was one of his best songs, far and away. Interesting vote so far.
  • Hey, I thought BBWO was about my life.

    ...

    We're a sad bunch.
  • All alone in the depths of the sea with my crushing arms and my ugly beak,
    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.
  • That's great! Not so much a mash up, as a crush up. I like "I see the dolphins having fun, or else pretending to."
  • A mush-up! :D

    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'm surprised that ICE isn't slaughtering BBWO. They're both good songs, but wow.
  • I just cast a vote that evened them out to 50-50!
    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)
  • I too just voted for ICE.
    Goo tie-breaker!
  • Just thought of a nice line for the mush-up:

    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.)
  • Oh, I just broke the tie in favor of BBWO. I like ICE just fine, but it's never really grabbed me the way it has other fans. BBWO took a while to grow on me, but I like it better overall, lyrically and musically.
  • It's close ties like this one that make me glad I voted. Landslides aren't worth voting in, but it being exciting is... well, exciting!
  • and its close to maximum votes too !!!!
  • and the wrong song is winning!
  • No, the correct song is winning.

    Commie!
  • exactly the sort of comment i'd expect from an anti-squidite!
  • Come on guys ... BOTH of them are winners!

    (Except the RIGHT one !!!)
  • I think it's curious that Lex has an Emo Squid as his icon, and yet he voted for BBWO

    TREASON! Send him to Gitmo!
  • I just came back from a long trip and voted :D. Go go Big Bad World One! Huge upset!
  • On a related note, until I paid attention to the song, given most of the JoCoeuvre I'd been exposed to at the time, I assumed BBWO was about the character in a particularly difficult videogame.
  • When I first heard the title, my first instinct was that it might have something to do with World War One.
  • I really am kinda surprised at the way this one has gone...
  • edited February 2009
    Me too. I think BBWO is maybe a little like Better.... not one of his best known songs, but well loved and appreciated by the hard core fans. Assuming it holds on to win here, the next round against The Future Soon should be interesting.
  • "Interesting" in the sense that TFS will continue its rampage? :P
  • Like everyone else, I'm surprised at this one. I thought ICE would er... crush the opponent. Instead, it looks like we're getting crushed ice.

    Squid 0, Big Bad World 1
  • I do quite like both of these songs, but because I'm a sentimental sort I have to go with I.C.E. Plus I know the mandolin part for it now, so that's all sorts of cool. Next I need to learn the accordion part, now that my new roomie has LOANED ME AN ACCORDION :)
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