William The Arsonist

here's another song from October Mountain, William the Arsonist.. we first wrote about him in the song The Apple (from the second round of song-a-day), but it wasn't very clear. i suppose it never is, anyhow.

i had it in mind (in our mythical alternate reality) that the human population would plummet with the coming of angels, human babies not being valued anymore.. and the cities would empty as civilization reshapes itself around the rapture.. and the angels take over the cities, but they don't like the steel and glass buildings, so they construct giant aeries (?) around the buildings, using the structures as a skeleton for epic towers of wood to nest in.

william kinda sets off the revolution.


William the Arsonist

when i was young i grew up towards the sun
i felt no fear, i was a perfect son
you gotta grant me that.

my hands were small, but not my vitriol
i stopped the sound, i burned the cities down
all the planes will come down hungry.

i finally found a way to hold me up
the perfect pill, i couldn't get enough
clean the cobwebs from the room

we culminate, lets be the end of this
we'll make a thing, lets build an arsonist
all the dogs give up your barking

when we grow up, lets grow up towards the sun
we'll live with pride and never once let on
you gotta grant us that

our lives seemed small, but not our vitriol
we claimed the ground, and pulled the heavens down
all the angels come down hungry

there's this line i keep drawing
and i can't see where or when
i've secured the coin of vantage
i can't possibly offend
i'm no milquetoast

and the morning finds you tired
sporting someone else's brand
how much longer till you remember?
you've been missing your friends
i'm no milquetoast

as for the music, Kathy Lee played the flute parts for us.. and Mattie did the viola, (including the solo before the outro!) big thanks to them. we're pretty poor and didn't pay them or anything, so hopefully it wasn't too bad for them. emily wrote that cool verse riff, with the alternating turnaround in 7 and 9.. i had the big guitar break and outro.. but it was a long time ago, so the details are fuzzy. i remember wanting a big freakout at the end, but it gets pretty muddled pretty quickly.. lots of drums and cymbals rolling around, crazy guitars, choruses of vocals, bass, piano, trumpets, viola.. see? muddled.