Day 53: A Lyrical Comparison

A vicious dog just barked at me from my neighbor's apartment while I was unlocking my door. It scared me, and I almost dropped my keys. This was strange, since, as far as I know, my neighbor doesn't have a dog. Or, at least, I hope he doesn't. We aren't allowed to have pets, and his, mine, and another guy's apartments are the only ones on the same floor as the landlord's office. They aren't here on the weekends, so maybe he has a weekend dog. Anyhow, it surprised me.

In other news, my cousin's basketball team didn't win their semifinal game, in case you were at all invested in that tidbit. It sucks, but that's just how it goes. Sad.

Contrary to what you may believe, this post is not about angry dogs or sad high school sport news. What it really is, is a comparison between a song by my favorite song writer, Adam Lazzara of Taking Back Sunday, and a song by Chad Kroeger, of my favorite band.

I'll be comparing "Carpathia," from the newest Taking Back Sunday CD, New Again, to "Hangnail" from Silver Side Up. Now, "Carpathia" is not, by any means, my favorite TBS song, but it's the first one that came into my mind when I thought of clever songwriting. As compared to terrible songwriting, in which "Hangnail" popped up.

First, a history lesson. The RMS Carpathia was the ship that rescued the survivors of the Titanic in 1912. In 1918, the Carpathia was sunk by a German U-boat. That's all you need to know.

Now, for the lyrics. I'm not posting all of them, because that would take up a very, very large space. But here are some lyrics of each.

"Carpathia"

I don't worry half as much as I did
When I was an experiment
Your resident tourniquet
Lax now about your neck waiting, just waiting
I am a mantle and you are a painting
Come rest your frame on me
I was a tower and you were an airplane
We happened before we knew what was happening

That's the verse. Now I'm skipping to my favorite part.

When oh when will this sinking feeling
Feel like, "Man, that was ages ago"

Alright, so you may not think this is brilliant songwriting. And it probably isn't anywhere near the best, most clever writing Adam Lazzara has done. But I just love it because it's about a boat that sunk and it says "sinking feeling."

Anyway, now let's take a look at "Hangnail." Negative one for the title, Mr. Kroeger. You're blowing it already.

"Hangnail"

It's not worth it for me, gets harder every time call you
This life you lead, like swimming in a shiny ballroom
Next time you bleed, right about this time tomorrow
Next time you steal, better ask before you borrow

And I don't see too well, don't sing too well
And so I settle to scream
Just grab your shit, and leave with it
They won't make no statues of you

Ok. "Swimming in a shiny ballroom?" "Just grab your shit and leave with it?" Really, now.

Maybe I'm just biased, I don't know. But to me, it seems like Adam Lazzara realizes that good lyrics isn't about rhyming anything that can rhyme, just for the sake of rhyming. I, for one, think that someone should take lessons from the other.

Does anyone agree?