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And here is what I personally consider one of the best albums of the year that is about to end: the first album by the Cold War Kids, a Californian quartet originating from that Fullerton (situated between the fading Orange County and the Los Angeles suburbs) that gave us so much in hardcore matters: but rather than Adolescents and Agent Orange, these young musicians are indebted to folk of Dylan, to Jeff Buckley (listen closely to the vocals), even to soul music.
Indeed, as there's no other way to define tracks like the opening "We Used To Vacation": a piece that springs directly from the soul, among a mesh of piano and drums, and a guitar that sneaks in, while Nathan Willett's voice grows in intensity narrating stories of people who simply "can't make it", who remain on the margins of our world. Or like "Tell Me In The Morning", which starts in a "normal" way, as any indie band might sound, only to soar and then suddenly end, almost breaking. "Hair Down" has an "a cappella" start, where you can even sense the tremor in the singer's voice, while the chords of "Hospital Beds" have an almost embarrassing beauty.
Forget the "piano rock" (an indecent definition, I know) from the charts of bands like The Fray or Keane: if you are looking for a splendid yet tragic album, angry and in a certain sense even committed in narrating the drama and decay of a whole small microcosm called America, it's towards the work of the Cold War Kids that you should turn your attention.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 We Used to Vacation (04:01)
I kissed the kids at noon
Then stumbled out the room
I caught a cab, ran up a tab on 7th & flower
Beth's recital I had to run
Missed my son's graduation
Punched the Nichols boy for taking his seat
He gets all that anger from me
Still, things could be much worse
Natural disasters, on the evening news
Still, things could be much worse
We've still got our health
My paycheck in the mail
I promised to my wife and children, I'd never touch another drink as long as I live
But even then it sounds so soothing
This will blow over in time
This will all blow over in time
I'm just an honest man
Provide for me and mine
I give a check to tax deductible charity organizations
Two weeks paid vacation, won't heal the damage done
I need another one
Still, things could be much worse
Natural disasters on the evening news
Still things could be much worse
We've still got our health
My paycheck in the mail
I promised to my wife and children I'd never touch another drink as long as I live
But even then it sounds so soothing to mix a gin and sink into oblivion
I promised to my wife and children
That accident left everyone a little shook up
But at the meetings I felt so empty
This will blow over in time
This will all blow over in time
02 Hang Me Up to Dry (03:38)
Careless in our summer clothes, splashing around in the muck and the mire
Careless in our summer clothes, splashing around in the muck and the mire
Fell asleep with stains, caked deep in the knees (what a pain)
Now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the whites the whites of your eyes
All mixed up in the wash
Hot water bleeding our colors
All mixed up in the wash
Hot water bleeding our colors
Now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the whites the whites of your eyes
Now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the whites the whites of your eyes
03 Tell Me in the Morning (03:37)
Stick around greenleaf, now that she's gone
Take my time when I got to bed, and I sleep long
I'm getting over, mulling over
I said "Could you just wait to tell me in the morning?"
Slow it down, slow it down, and lay it low, save it for the morning
I know that you would like, like to change me
Make me softer to your voice like a baby
I'm using caution, but you're warning
I wish that you could wait to tell me in the morning
Slow it down, slow it down, and lay it low, save it for the morning
I'm shouting questions, like a fist fight
You try to take me by the arms lead me to the light
I'm almost over, warring over
I wish that you could wait to tell me in the morning
Slow it down, slow it down, and lay it low, save it for the morning
And I'll tell you one more thing
I confess to self deception
And I broke the lock and I pried it open
Then pretended to be stolen
I am my own thief in the night
Struggled for many years, just to get here
To learn humility, and be my own teacher
I guess it backfired, cause my motive was just to take and never care bout' what I give
Slow it down, slow it down, and lay it low, save it for the morning
I'm shouting questions, like a fist fight
You try to take me by the arms lead me to the light
I'm almost over, warring over
I wish that you could wait to tell me in the morning
Slow it down, slow it down, laying low, save it for the morning
But I'll tell you one more thing
I confess to self deception
And I broke the lock and I pried it open
Then pretended to be stolen
I am my own thief in the night
06 Saint John (03:26)
Suppertime in the hole
Suppertime in the hole
I shame my family
Shame my home
Suppertime...
Old Saint John on death row, he's just waiting for a pardon
Old Saint John on death row, he's just waiting for a pardon
Old Saint John on death row, he's just waiting for a pardon
Old Saint John on death row, boy he's just a-waiting...
All the white boys in their stay-pressed slacks, they're home for the summer from college
Stayin' out late, getting rowdy at the bar, they're looking for trouble uptown
They come up my block, about 5 or 6 of them, smashin' their bottles in the gutter
Yelling all kinds of obscenities, about woman and God and law
Another suppertime in the hole
Suppertime
I shame my family
Shame my home
Suppertime...
Young girl turn the corner with her clerk dress on, that girl was my sister
Just got off the night shift at Penningtons Place, just wanna go home and get some sleep
Boys grab her by the waist with their caffeine eyes, their hands all figdet and 'lectric
I picked up a brick from my papa's front yard and threw it at the tallest boy's face
Well blood was streaming like a well that sprung, I couldn't believe what I had just done
Well the other boys ran and this one stayed on the ground and he would never move again
Old Saint John on death row, he's just waiting for a pardon
Old Saint John on death row, he's just waiting for a pardon
All us boys on death row, we just waiting for a pardon
All us boys on death row
Yours truly on trial, I testify
I got to keep on running till the well run dry
Yours truly on trial, I testify
I got to keep on running till the well run dry
Yours truly on trial, I testify
I got to keep on running till the well run dry
Yours truly on trial, I testify
I got to keep on running till the well run dry
07 Robbers (03:39)
sulkin'
walkin' 'round the city after dark
need protection from street toughs
who clip the locks
and rip the doors off rough
the cowards
on this life of glorified
robbin' from the blind
it's not easy, you see
don't think I don't know sympathy
my victims in my shadow
starin' back at me
not me, I'm knockin
tip toe outside a stranger's door
casually let myself in
fill pockets with
trinkets, purses, china, antique armoire
and all this life we've glorified
robbin' from the blind
it's not easy you see
don't think I don't know sympathy
my victims in my shadow
starin back at me
as robbers in my thoughts
they tell me what to think
they're hiding in my clothes
crawling in the kitchen sink
08 Hospital Beds (04:39)
There's nothing to do here, some just whine and complain, in bed at the hospital
Coming and going, asleep and awake, in bed at the hospital
Tell me the story of how you ended up here, I've heard it all in the hospital
Nurses are fussin' , doctors on tour somewhere in India
I got one friend laying across from me
I did not choose him, he did not choose me
We've got no chance of recovery
Sharing hospital joy and misery, joy and misery, joy and misery
Put out the fire boys, don't stop don't stop
Put out the fire on us
Put out the fire boys, don't stop don't stop
Put out the fire on us
Bring your buckets by the dozens, bring your nieces and your cousins, come put out the fire on us
Vietnam, fishing trips, Italian opera
Vietnam, fishing trips, Italian opera
I got one friend laying across from me
I did not choose him, he did not choose me
We've got no chance of recovery
Sharing hospital joy and misery, joy and misery, joy and misery
The joy, the joy, the joy misery
Put out the fire boys, don't stop don't stop
Put out the fire on us
Put out the fire boys, don't stop don't stop
Put out the fire on us
Bring your buckets by the dozens, bring your nieces and your cousins, come put out the fire on us
09 Pregnant (03:58)
Sliver deceit, speaking in tongues
Deft as a surgeon's knife carving through bone
Pregnant with doubt
You figured out
Tricks of the trade to make whisper a shout
Mouth full of sweets
Rotting your teeth
Lift up the rug and sweep it underneath
You were dreaming when you don't believe
Pregnant with doubt
You figured out
Tricks of the trade to make whisper a shout
Mouth full of sweets
Rotting your teeth
Lift up the rug and sweep it underneath
You were dreaming when you don't believe
Sliver deceit, speaking in tongues
Deft as a surgeon's knife carving through bone
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