The point I’m making is, I care about the lyrics. Care too much, probably. If a song’s lyrics seem mysterious yet potentially decipherable, I will ponder over them again and again, trying to stumble upon the meaning. Which brings us to “American Standard,” the (as far as I can tell) freshman effort by Seven Mary Three.
For whatever reason, I think I’ve spent more time pondering these lyrics than just about any other CD I have, even though I would say this album is not even top 100 in terms of how often I’ve listened to it. Maybe they just have a gift for what I’ll call the “invitingly semi-scrutable.” This even extends to the album cover. A farmer is about to chop off a chicken’s head with an axe. Why choose this for a cover? Your guess is as good as mine.
“Water’s Edge” - Bad things happen near the water. This is one of the things I’ve learned from music. In this song, it would appear that the singer saw a woman (maybe someone he cared about?) abducted and/or killed near the water, by some shadowy cabal that he could not stand up to. Lyrically, it seems like some bizarre otherwordly version of Richard Marx’s “Hazard.” However, unlike that song, or the much creepier “Possum Kingdom” by The Toadies (which also features a water-side murder, but from the perspective of the killer), this song drops the f-bomb. Which wouldn’t matter, except that I offered this CD to be played on a road trip to a church youth group trip (although actually I think it was a tape we had made from the CD). I handed the tape up from the back seat, having forgotten about the f-word. By the time I remembered - about five seconds before it was uttered - it was too late. I had to sit there and listen, ears burning, hoping no one else was paying attention. Oh well. Anyway, I enjoyed listening to this song again, but it definitely makes me feel uneasy to imagine a situation like in the song, where you are helpless before secret evil forces. The driving guitars and offbeat ride notes help sell the intense, creepy vibe.
“Cumbersome” - This is the song that got lots of radio play. It starts off with a Biblical metaphor: “She calls me Goliath and I wear the David mask, I guess the stones are coming too fast for her now.” The Biblical imagery here (and elsewhere on the CD) probably has something to do with me being entirely confused by one of the lyrics on this song: “There is a balance between two words: one with an arrow and a cross.” Until this very day I did not understand what the two worlds were. The cross seemed like an allusion to Christianity, but what of the arrow? Satan uses “arrows” against the shield of faith in the description of holy (and metaphorical) armor, so I figured maybe that was it. Nevermind that the song is about a fractured relationship with a woman. (Have you figured it out, readers? That was a big hint.) It has to do with the symbols for male and female. The whole song sets up a series of contrasts, and how constant struggle between them has grown cumbersome for him. If I can interject, I feel largely the same way about the state of political and spiritual discourse in this country. Anyway, all musical parts on this song are turned up to like 110% driving intensity, so it is an engaging ride if you’re in to rocking out.
“Roderigo” - This song feels like a story-song, one of those songs that vividly describes a situation. What that situation is, I’m not sure. In general it seems to be about a woman controlling the man in her life, and contorting him into what she wants/needs him to be. The instruments are a little more laid back and melancholy on this one, and I think that was the right choice. It sets up a nice contrast compared to the first two songs. In the later verses, it seems she has moved on from her old man to the narrator, but calls them both “Roderigo.” The image he paints is of a woman who is in a way just as much a victim of her controlling ways. Explain these words to me though: “Tied me down to her tree; state fair to name me what I’m gonna be.” Huh?
“Devil Boy” - I spent a lot of time listening to this one years ago, torn between really liking it and feeling it was sacrilegious. Which it may be, but whatever. The song describes a man harassed by various clergy for withdrawing from the church and/or faith, but he just longs for lost love. A few lyrics seem to make it plainly about a girl, but it is hard not to also feel the song calling out to a God who seems distant. “For heaven’s sake - it’s only been two thousand years! I can’t wait any longer for you.” “For heaven’s sake - I’d give away eternity, if you would come back to me.” I can appreciate those sentiments. The fully felt, indisputable presence of God now would more than compensate for letting go of any promise of eternity. Not the loss of eternity, but the loss of any promise. Why would you need it when a loving God is standing right before you? Another lyric I didn’t get: “Just to wonder if you’re listening from a soap box in the sky - to finally realize my price: was it you or I?” I get the first part - he’s wondering if God is listening. But what price is he speaking of? I guess it could be he is asking which is worse: an excruciating death to save mankind, or being left behind and waiting for two thousand years for Jesus to return. Interesting stuff to think about, though as for the music itself, I would not list this song as one of my favorites. It’s all right, but it comes off as a little slight compared to the subject matter.
“My My” - We’re back to full rocking out. Maybe 120% - at least by the standards of 7 Mary 3. More strangely compelling lyrics: “She tears down my front door just to hear my phonograph.” Then he says, “It spins:” and the song switches gears into something slightly lighter and you can hear the scratching of a phonograph. So essentially a song within a song, but still of a piece in terms of type of sound. Very cool.
“Lame” - One of my favorite songs on the album when I was in high school, and the place I first heard the word mulatto. Or anyway the reason I went and found out what the word meant. Since the song is about a mulatto boy who is an outcast, a wallflower, I wondered what the word meant. I identified with everything else about him in the song. Not that one so much. Though it makes the song even sadder, to know he is an outcast because of something he has no control over. This song is done with just acoustic instruments, which really works for selling isolation. I remember liking the lyrics, “Slender body slipped through his glance. I don’t give it a single chance.” That certainly summed up what high school felt like for me. But the narrator in this song isn’t the outcast, but the accepted person who sees the plight of the outcast, knows he should do something, and doesn’t. Instead he just beats himself up inside, and nothing changes. He wants the other guy to hate him, maybe to forgive him, but he can’t seem to take any real action. As songs with a message go, I think this one hits the right notes to connect without being preachy.
“Headstrong” - One thing I am noticing very clearly on this listen through: I like the drummer for 7 Mary 3. He doesn’t play overly complicated parts that often, but he has a really strong sense of how to build and layer on top of the base part. Plus he does some interesting rhythms on fills. I have a lot of respect for solid, non-showy drumming. And I am realizing more and more that - unbeknownst to me when I picked them out - I have a marked preference for music with interesting percussion parts. That said, I tend to hate drum solos, especially unmetered random ones like Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick.” It just goes on and on without any rhythm or progression, and it doesn’t feel like music to me. Anyway, “Headstrong,” showcases the drummer switching between straightforward beats and more offbeat / a-rythmical parts, and I think it really adds to the contrast. 7 Mary 3 rock out a lot, but they have enough sense to add variety.
“Anything” - “Me, me, is all I think, think about.” I’m not sure you could distill the human condition down any better than that. Other than that line, this song also resonates with me as it appears to be the desperate offering of himself to a woman who won’t have him and/or already has someone else. As is well documented here, I spent way too much time in high school pining. In the words of the janitor on Scrubs, “Time spent wishing is time wasted.” Anyway, I like the desperation in the song, but it isn’t a standout on the album.
“Margaret” - 20,000 days = 54 years, 9 months, and a few days. If the narrator is being literal, and Margaret is 16, and he is 20,000 days older, he is at least 70 years older than his love interest. Creeeeeeeepy. Even if he takes 1000 days to be a year, 20 years makes him 36, which is still intensely wrong. So I always puzzled over this song. I mean yes, the song is clearly about a love that the world would not approve of (“I can’t find a state we’re legal in”), but I’m lost as to why the singer decided to write a song about such a pairing. I get the idea of, “screw the world’s opinion,” but tossing in a shotgun wedding to the mix just makes it mostly sketchy. Still, really fun drums on this song. I’d like to just play along. Yeah, I might have to try that later.
“Punch In Punch Out” - This song, like “Margaret,” has some inherent silliness in it. Even the whole conceit of the song - the same lyrics, sung three times, but more intense music every time - is kind of corny. But dang if it isn’t fun. Also, I’m not a smoker, but how great of lyrics are “I’m only one cigarette away from mobility”? On the other hand, what the hell does “I wake up to beat the sun from her glory” mean? Plus, and wouldn’t you know it, the drum part is tons of fun. Silence, then marching rolls and accents on the snare. Then bouncing around on the toms. So much fun. Yeah, I need to add this to my list the next I feel like playing drums along with my iPod.
“Favorite Dog” - I never really cared for this song. Still feel the same way, mostly. There’s some sort of distortion on the singer’s voice, and I’m not sure what the goal was, but it feels like artificial gravitas. Hard not to, though, with lyrics like, “Another singer is born with every sip I take / Drain away my words just like they were my flesh and bone.” And yet, there is a cry from desperation here that connects. Plus it switches to a more rollicking part on the chorus, including the line, “Geronimo - yeah, look out below.” And then one of the stranger similes I’ve heard, “I love that rusty water like it was my favorite dog.” I’m realizing just how all over the map this song is. If anything, they might actually take the idea of variety too far here. The verses feel woozy - which is probably the point, what with the “every sip I take” stuff - but it is so strange when it abruptly jumps to the more rocking chorus.
I’ll probably have more to say about my other 7 Mary 3 CD, “Rock Crown,” but “American Standard” is no slouch. They really know how to make finely crafted yet raw rock ‘n’ roll. I enjoyed revisiting this one, and realize it has probably gotten short shrift on my playlists, not due to a feeling that it isn’t a good album, more just getting lost in the mix of hundreds of CDs. Some CDs refuse to be forgotten, and some are really great but just sort of fade over time. This was one of those, but maybe not any longer. At the very least, I’ve got some new music to play drums along with.
Next up: Dave Grohl tells us about both the colour and the shape. And then he yells for thirty seconds at full volume without taking a breath. Also: the perils of playing “My Hero” on Expert Drums in Rock Band.
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