Cherry Chopsticks
Cherry Lipstick always celebrated the best in fan writing, inspired by the best (and sometimes worst) the band had to offer. The relaunched CL is therefore delighted to showcase for you the website www.headfullofchopsticks.com
It is an in-depth look at the lyrics to a particular song of interest. So far there are 8 lyrical analyses, with the latest for The Promise having just been posted.
Here is the appropriately-named author, Cherry Ice Cream (no relation) to introduce the site, followed by some extracts to whet your appetite:
Something on my mind, breaking open doors I sealed up before....
I started in January 2017 after writing a number of posts on Mark's board about lyrical analysis, but it got to the point where wanted a home for them that wasn't buried on a message forum. Ostensibly, while I publish these online ...umm "essays?" Lol....for myself, in my heart it's primarily for the band, and specifically Simon. It's a love letter of sorts to convey that I understand (hopefully!) the art form and its message. That it has touched me enough to make a genuine, concerted effort (esp with the most cryptic songs), to convey my understanding, gratitude and love. By making these posts easily accessible online, a large part of me believes my message in reply will eventually be heard, (if not acknowledged) by the band and that's my small gift back to them.
Box Full O Honey was the hook that sucked me into this bizarre, niche hobby, though I've yet to post that one...such a complexity of emotion conveyed with such economy of words. I really admire Simon's ability to do that - take an emotion, drape it in imagery and write a song / poem. You need a powerful emotion to start with, and an imagery trigger but then it just writes itself. And how quite easily you can bury a real meaning several layers deep. I just try that to mimic that process in reverse. Genuinely I believe this is how Simon writes. Every word carries ten more in emotion... though I'm thinking of covering Last Night In The City and just sticking up an image of 10 people staring into an empty box....
Of course, it's perverse at times, and that's the fun in it too ... it's SLB ffs, feel free to "use psychology to find the twist in me," you won't have to look very hard!! And hopefully there is something of value for the small section of the fanbase who appreciate at the overall art form of songwriting and poetry, and not simply a mechanism to gel the melody. There is deep thought in the song composition to project a message to us, the fans, which is married to the music atmospherically. So yes guys, I can "hear you calling!"
@_cherryicecream
Selected extracts from songs covered so far:
The Chauffeur
“It's a song about blinding ambition as observed through the eyes of others, how it changes you, and, yes, liberates you from your past, told from the perspective of the affected people you leave behind. And suddenly it seems a little trite to be singing about a random stranger who drives you from place to place. The real chauffeurs in our lives are friends, family, lovers.... some drive us for a short leg of our life tour, others commit to years of loyal service. Be as it is with all relationships there are casualties aplenty as we change and grow.”
Vertigo (Do The Demolition)
“I can draw parallels between it and New Religion in that I believe both deal with internal conflict. With Vertigo, what really moves me here is the perfect marriage of the music and lyrics in evoking a sensation of spiraling self-destructive behaviour... Simon has often said, of the first three albums, that they never looked down, and the title, though Vertigo is never mentioned in the song itself, is appropriate, as a reflection of a band taking stock for the first time from the dizzy heights of fame.”
Other songs include Skin Divers, Breath After Breath and Night Boat
Now read more: www.headfullofchopsticks.com