xp - yeah, i think i was "turned off" by what I felt was "schmaltzy" - like it was R.E.M. doing "wind beneath my wings" or "bridge over troubled water" after everyone associated "bridge over troubled water" with commercials for casualty insurance or something
― sarahell, Sunday, 6 January 2019 23:04 (five years ago) link
Yeah, not saying it does, but I think a couple of the lines are throwaways and he could done something better. Specifically talking about "Don't throw your hand" (?) and "Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along."
― timellison, Sunday, January 6, 2019 1:44 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, when you just throw your hand into the middle and quit to cut your loses instead of trying to bluff while holding bad cards by continuing to bet
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 12:54 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I think that's the best line in the song.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:36 (five years ago) link
Definitely the best line!
I never considered the folding a hand of cards, I always just took "throw your hand" as some sort of dramatic gesture of despair, like maybe punching a hole in the wall, or shaking one's fist at God. What makes it so great is its unexpectedness and obtuseness, something you almost never find in the top 40.
― rip van wanko, Monday, 7 January 2019 13:48 (five years ago) link
I mean they were Southern boys I'm p sure it's cards
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:53 (five years ago) link
that basic guitar arpeggio on everybody hurts just bores me, it doesn't do the lyric any favours
― ufo, Monday, 7 January 2019 14:04 (five years ago) link
"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, I mean, I thought this was obvious(!); and it’s why I was agreeing w/Tim about that line. “Don’t commit suicide” seems like somewhat... clumsy advice to a severely depressed person. But if it helped some people to hear it in this song, ok!(Incidentally, I recall some mishearing this line as an even more specific suicide reference: “Don’t blow your head off”!)
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:25 (five years ago) link
there might be a UK/US divide wrt to poker?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:12 (five years ago) link
FWIW, I actually like “Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along” — it feels like a glimmer of the “self-aware inspirational song” thing
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:19 (five years ago) link
this is an interesting genre, the explicitly palliative/consoling song
― rip van wanko, Monday, 7 January 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link