Will Wood - Suburbia Overture - 🇨🇦 RJJ's Reaction
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ย. 2024
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I love this album, the mask of normalcy slowly falls away throughout the songs
Thank you. Looking forward to reacting to more. 🙂
Do the whole album! It’s one pf my favorites of all time, and it’s a VASTLY under appreciated artist in the reaction space.
Thank you for commenting. I have just recorded my reaction to the second song on the album. It should be posted within the next few days. I'm very intrigued and intend to do the whole album. 🙂
@@rjjsreactions-rk7zh Looking forward to it!
will wood is a VERY talented artist. his songs often center around critiquing society while also drawing a few references to his BPD(?) and his history with substance abuse. the normal album is a great album to start with, but he also has 4 other albums with slightly different vibes but are still beautiful. one of my favorite parts about his music is that it usually doesn’t conform to an actual genre, so you just have to listen to the song to see if you like it. i stand by the fact that will wood has not wrote a bad song, though
Thank you for commenting and the information. He sounds like a very interesting artist. Since I like many genres he might just be right up my alley. Have a great day. 🙂
Will Wood is amazing, I just discovered him maybe 6 months ago and went on a nice little hyperfixation vacation.
That's awesome. I have only heard this song so far, but I am intrigued. 🙂
@@rjjsreactions-rk7zh I would suggest BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA next, especially the live in studio vid, but the non-live one is just as good. :)
@@godzillaeyes Thank you. I think I'm going to go through the Normal Album in order first, but I've added this to my list. 🙂
@@rjjsreactions-rk7zh awesome, I think that song is on The Normal Album. I specifically rec that song because you liked the piano on this one.
@@godzillaeyes I looking forward to it. 🙂
Sorry I didn’t see this sooner - college finals were a nightmare. But regardless, I’m here now, and holy cow! This was absolutely worth the comment, especially seeing your analysis of the lyrics. One song in, and you already nailed the theme!!
You seemed to have a lot more ideas about the lyrics and their themes, but you ended the video before you could get into them all. I personally prefer longer videos myself, but I can understand the scheduling restraints (this is the longest song on the album). That being said…
What were those other ideas??? Now that you’ve taken the time to think about it, were there any new insights you gathered?? The lyrical mastery of Will Wood is truly something to behold - every time I listen to it, I notice something new.
Thank you so much for taking this recommendation, and now I can say this with certainty: you’re going to LOVE the rest of the normal album.
Thank you so much for your comments. All best wishes on the results for your finals. I don't have anything to add for this song at the moment; however, like you, I expect I would extract more every time I listened (or read through the lyrics - or both). I have recorded my reaction to the second song on the album (the album is well beyond "Normal" in my opinion - lol) and will be posting it tomorrow (barring death - the grim reaper and I have become friends of late, but you never know when it will change its mind). 🙂
Omg Will wood!! I love this album and definitely reacting to the rest of the album, also yes that is Will in the album cover. Will was my favorite artist for about 3 years however he is on an indefinite hiatus. The main theme of the album in my opinion is to challenge what people consider as “normal” and taking it past its limits. Lots of wills music have deeper meanings behind them and many genre bending instruments.
Also Will’s band is called Will Wood and The Tapeworms and Will is the singer and pianist, Mike Bottiglieri on Guitar, Matt Berger on Alto Saxophone, Mario Conte on Drums, Vater Boris on Bass, and Rob Schaefer on trumpet.
Also fun fact Will grew up in suburbia
One of the main things I’ve seen about the song is the theme of the citizens of the suburb being like “Vampires” who drain you leaving you “blue and cold” or in other words sad and apathetic leaving you in a state of not wanting to follow their culture that they are trying to force onto you to make you normal as some suburbs would consider you outliers if you didn’t follow their norms
Thank you for your comments and information (including added comments below). I appreciate it. Will Wood seems like an interesting character. I'll probably go through the album in order. I'm very interested to find out what normal is - been searching to try to be normal for a long time now - lol. (Don't think that's ever going to happen, but I do a great imitation of it if I do say so myself.) 🙂
This is an interesting perspective! I always thought the "Vampires" being referred to in "Vampire Culture" were the rich. In a way, the culture of suburbia was created for middle aged families to mimic the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Whole cultures are built around the idea of creating a picture-perfect image, but who decides what's in that image? Ultimately, the image of suburbia is a hollow one with hollow ideals, striving for a perfection they will never reach, all the while those they aspire to be couldn't care less what their blood type is. There are people who sell "normal" as a commodity, and they will not stop until you're - as Will himself put it - "Blue and cold."
Im looking forward to seeing you react to more will wood in the future!
Thank you. I'm going to be posting one in a day or two if all goes well. 🙂
So the gist of this song is basically just about how fake, toxic and predatory 'perfect' middle class suburban living is.
A lot of the first section's lyrics are almost ambient in nature - some of them do have a deeper meaning but a lot are just there to establish our 'setting' of the perfect suburbs while showing little flashes of the ugly truth underneath.
The second section, to me, is where the mask comes off and we see that, under the hood, the fancy sports car has just as much nasty oil sloshing around as any other car. I also see it as a sort of fundamental rejection of all this 'playing nice' and just letting go of any and all cultural norms.
The third section is a lot harder to pin down. I guess its just kind of an overview that wraps everything up in a nice little bow.
Some stand out lyrics (to me, anyways):
"It takes a village to fake a whole culture."
ie. everyone's pretending like there's a tight-knit community in sort of subconscious collaborative effort to make culture where there is none.
"Ch-ch-chamelion peacocks are talk of the town."
ie you're camouflaging by showing off. Wearing trendy new clothes that make you stick out, not really because you like it, but because you don't wanna be the unfashionable one.
"You cocked and sucked your lack of empathy,
pulled the trigger with your foot to prove you've got
blood, didn't they want your blood,
so why apologise for being blue and cold."
I take this as these middle class people draining out their empathy and (metaphorically) killing themselves (or maybe even... 'shooting themselves in the foor', eh? eh?) in an effort to mimic the true rich elite. Basically the suburbians are the elite vampire's livestock, but they're all screwing themselves over just to try and be vampires themselves, and then blaming themselves when they inevitably get sucked dry (of life, enthusiasm, money, whatever. Metaphorical 'blood'). You can also see this back in the first section when he says that we "Breed out [our] incisors."
"Do you know the difference between blazing trails and slash and burn?
Going against the grain and catching splinters."
This coming right after '(Vampire) Culture', which basically just "fuck you and your stupid fucking 'culture'", I personally interpret this as a kind of cautionary word and acknowledgement that just because middle class culture sucks, that doesn't make the brazen disregard for any and all cultural norms we see in '(Vampire) Culture' good either.
Also, yes, you're bang on with the radiation stuff being to do with how 'suburbia' and its culture evolved out of the dark times of the cold war. Basically, I think its just a clever way to tie into that whole 'not as nice as it seems' theme.
There are other things I could individually analyse but if you care that much you can just look at the genius page or smth lmao. I just wanted to talk about some lines I, personally, found interesting.
Thank you. It's always interesting to see what others think. Given the complexity and variety of the lyrics, I fairly certain there isn't "one" way to interpret the "meaning." I love it when lyrics, poetry, stories, novels, etc. can have multiple layers and meaning. Once it's out of the author's (performer's) hands, it's out there! Lol. 🙂
This is such a good video! I highly recommend will wood thank you for this video
Thank you! More Will Wood to come. 🙂
I loved the reaction!! If you're looking for recommendations I recommend listening to Behold, The FUTURE by Lemon Demon
Thank you! 🙂
a very good react! you should do mroe will wood
Thank you! I am planning on going through the Normal album. 🙂
Hello and welcome to Elfie’s Normal Album Lyrical Deep Dive Part 1 (try saying THAT five times fast). Today, we will be breaking apart as many of the symbolism/references in Suburbia Overture as possible. All of my commentary will be written {like this!}. Keep in mind that, due to the nature of the album itself, songs will likely be referenced in the lyrics of others, connecting themes and small musical nods. If I miss any, please tell me in the replies, so I can add them in!
Original post date: 8-14-24
Last edit date: N/A
Suburbia Overture Part 1: “Greetings from Mary Bell Township]
Do-wop, ba, do-wop, ba, do-wop, ba, do, ba-ba-ba
Do-wop, ba, do-wop, ba, do-wop, ba
Good morning!
{Fun fact: this doo-wop style also appears multiple times in the fourth song of the album “I/Me/Myself”. Calling back to the theme of normalcy, the style of “Doo-Wop” gained most of its commercial popularity in the fifties. If you were around during that time period, hearing songs like this would be your version of normal. The concept of suburban living (and all the horrible truths therein) also got its start in the 50’s, as will become obvious over the course of the song.}
White picket fences
Barbed wire and trenches
Trick or treat, merry Christmas
Howdy neighbor, thank you Jesus
{The concept of the idyllic suburban life was never just about protecting those inside, but keeping out those that didn’t fit their “normal”. If everything is truly so great, why do you build such high walls? …Are you picking up on the criticism here? I hope so, because this is the tame stuff (note the references to Christianity, as that was the primary religion pushed upon suburban communities)}
Oh, what is he building in that painted lady?
{The lyric “what is he building” is a reference to the 1999 Tom Waits song “What’s He Building There?”, another song that criticizes the almost dystopian levels of paranoia in suburban living; this was confirmed in the remastered version of this song released on August 9th, 2024. Will Wood has also cited Tom Waits as being an artistic inspiration. | The term “painted lady”, while also referring to the butterfly species of the same name, is specifically used in this song to reference older houses (usually from the late 19th or early 20th centuries) that have been repainted multiple colors to look more appealing for new buyers. The term was also used to refer to a prostitute in the 18th century, so you can put two and two together}
A participation trophy wife or blonde, blue-eyed baby?
{Another multilayered lyric, the term “trophy wife” refers to a woman (usually very young) whose presence is used as a status symbol to prop-up the husband. Though some elements of this song borrow ideas from multiple eras, the general theme of Suburbia Overture takes place in the 50s, a time where women were expected to be subservient to the father of the house. If the woman is pressured by society to become a trophy wife, then the husband didn’t “win” anything; he got the trophy just for showing up. “Blonde, blue-eyed” are also stereotypical of a nuclear family, making the whole thing almost like a living product to be advertised, marketed and exploited.}
Wide-eyed and wired, the snap-crackle-pop of the Geiger
{“Wide-eyed” is a phrase typically used to reference the young and naive, and “wired” refers to someone on drugs. Putting those two phrases together, and you get the image of an innocent child high on drugs. If you want to learn more, I suggest researching the history of heroin in the 1950s, and its relationship to suburban culture at that time. Real scary stuff. | “Snap-crackle-pop” is the catchphrase of the Rice Krispies cereal brand (which was also popular in the 1950s), again tying back themes of commercialism. The term “Geiger” is referring to the “Geiger Counter” - a device used to detect radiation - which makes crackling noise when it is nearby.}
Camouflage billboards for lead-lined Brooks Brothers
You elbow the jukebox and sing “Duck and Cover"
{“Camouflage billboards”: a deliberate oxymoron - billboards are designed to be seen, and things that are camouflaged are designed NOT to be seen (subliminal advertising). Brooks Brothers is a clothing company, so it can be inferred that what is being advertised is lead-lined clothing. Why lead, specifically? Lead was commonly understood to be an effective shield against radiation in the 1950s; the start of the Cold War. The song “Duck and Cover” was a popular Cold War song (and very catchy), essentially telling people that if nuclear explosions start raining down, you should find the nearest object and hide under it. Nothing like America to commercialize a possible extinction event!}
And breed out our incisors, feed on white wine and Pfizer
It don’t look like survival, b-but buy now or die
{Will Wood has gone on record stating that the word “incisors” was a mistake on his part, as he got canines/fangs confused with incisors, but the meaning still stands. As humanity evolved, the need for animalistic violence was replaced with easily commercialized things like alcohol and drugs. While it may be a far cry from the savagery of our ancient cave ancestors, these things are still needed to survive (i.e. if you don’t buy our products, it’s your fault if you die in a nuclear hellfire). We’re still putting others down so that we may survive, it just has a new coat of lead paint! :D}
[Chorus]
Suburbia
You’re not alone
The lights are on
But no one’s home
So, welcome home
{The chorus sums-up the concept of suburbia as not just a collection of homes, but a mindset in and of itself (a culture, one might say). This mindset of suburban living is a cult that consumes the identities of those who follow it; “The lights are on, but no one’s home”, their hearts may beat, but no one’s “home” in the head. In the context of the rest of the album, it is important to remember that this way of thinking was the “Normal” for that time.}
[Verse 2]
Myers-Briggs, OKULTRA
Takes a village to fake a whole culture
{“Myers-Briggs” is referring specifically to the “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator”, which is a well-known personality quiz (outside of the context of being text on a screen, I do believe you should take the test if you can - it’s free on the internet, relatively short time-wise, and may provide some interesting insight). The personality test was officially published under the name “Myers-Briggs Type Indicator” in 1956, in theme with the song’s time period. As for OKULTRA, I’ll leave the analysis of that for when we get to song #7. Until then, I suggest doing a bit of internet searching of the phrase “MKUltra” on your own time. Wild stuff. | The second line is a play on the phrase “it takes a village to raise a child”, and while the cult of suburban living can be considered a “culture”, it’s not a real one by any means. Cultures are supposed to spawn naturally, and can you really consider the backwards manipulation/isolation of suburbia life as natural? The “culture” of suburban living was a commodity to be bought and sold by those in power, so they had all the incentive to keep it going.}
Your ear to the playground, your eye on the ball
Your head in the gutter, your brains on the wall
Oh well
{A lovely show of wordplay to paint the picture of suburban paranoia. You have to be ever-vigilant of others because anyone could be an enemy to this idyllic life. Words like “playground”, “ball”, and “gutter” all call to mind these everyday places; even they can be tainted by “others”.}
Home is where the heart is
You ain’t homeless, but you’re heartless
{Again calling back to the cardboard cut-out culture of suburbia. One fan of Will Wood by the name of “bettlejuiceleftist” on the community lyric website known as “Genius” mentions something that I found particularly interesting for this section: “In this part you can hear a 1 3maj(7?) 6 2maj(7) progression. This progression can also be heard in ‘Memento Mori’ and in ‘well… better than the alternative,’ which is another example of the ways in which this track functions as a sort of overture for the album.”}
It’s the safest on the market
But you still gotta watch where you park it
{Calling upon ideas of a car salesman, there are two ways to interpret this. 1: Regardless of how something may be advertised, it’s important to always be careful (suburban living might be perfect on the tin, but you still have to spy on your neighbors just to be extra sure). 2: If the car is really as safe as it’s advertised, then that makes it extra valuable (keep your eye on it - you never know if Sue across the road is planning on stealing it), and thus less safe.}
[Verse 3]
So give me your half-life crisis
I can tell that you know where paradise is
{“Half-life crisis” has a triple meaning in this lyric. 1: It’s a play on the phrase “Midlife crisis”, which is a period of time in middle age where one experiences a crisis of identity and purpose. 2: The term “Half-life”, in the context of medicine, is the time it takes for a substance to reach half concentration in the human body. Future tracks in the album discuss the theme of medication, but this phrase becomes especially pertinent in tracks like BlackBoxWarrior. 3: The term “Half-life”, in the context of 1950s Cold War-era nuclear threat, is the time it takes for an isotope to lose half its radioactivity. All three of these contexts apply to the culture of suburbia, which is the “paradise” referenced here.}
Where parasites don’t care what your blood type is
Only pheromones and serotonin decide
{The culture of suburbia acts as its own parasitic cycle on every conceivable level. The only people who benefit from a society of fear are the ones who sell the things you need to stay safe, and from a certain perspective, isn’t that what suburbia itself was trying to mimic? Advertising of suburban living was made to emulate the rich and successful, but these people were of the middle class - likely never rising to that same level of wealth in their lifetimes. The wealthy don’t care who you are, as long as you’re buying their products, they’re happy.}
If it's true that a snowflake
only matters in a blizzard
{Another commentary on normalcy. Snowflakes are each unique and special in their own ways, but they’re also extremely fragile. We may give meaning to the special nature of snowflakes, but they make no visible impact unless there are billions of others. If you only notice something unique when it's surrounded by billions of other unique things… was it ever unique to begin with?}
Everyone knows that nobody knows that
Everybody’s all up in my, everybody’s all up in my
Everybody’s all up in my business
{These lines will reappear multiple times in the fifth song of the album; the chord progression is also used in the bridge of the 2econd song}
[Chorus]
Suburbia
Where you belong
The lights are on
But no one’s home
So, welcome home
{Fun fact: If you listen closely to this part, you can hear vocals singing gibberish in the background. These voices are not members of the band, but fans who participated in the crowdfunding indiegogo campaign. You can actually see the process in the mini-documentary “What Did I Do? (The Making of The Normal Album)”, which is fully available to watch on Will Wood’s TH-cam channel. He’s genuinely a great vocal coach.}
[Bridge]
Ch-ch-chameleon peacocks are talk of the town
Well, word gets around on hit number stations
He cums radiation
{Much like “camouflage billboards”, “chameleon peacocks” follow the same principle of standing out through blending in. “Numbers stations” are radio stations that broadcast code (usually for times of war, when military secrets needed to be passed long-distance), and a “hit radio station” is a station that plays popular (though often stereotypical) music. As for the final line… Will loves to be comedically dodgy about what it means. Some fans suggest that it is a literal depiction of the nuclear family as the toxic environment it is, and I’m inclined to agree. My personal interpretation of the line is that “He cums radiation” is what is being rumored about the chameleon peacocks on the hit number stations, referencing the paranoid rumor culture of suburban living. Or it could mean nothing at all, and the point is the absurdity. Or it could be all of the above!}
The dog bites the postman while basement eyes dream
Of a night at the drive-in with an AR-15
{The song now starts to peel back the coats of paint on suburban living even further. The concept of a dog hating the mailman is well-known to the point of normalcy, but it’s still violence in what is supposed to be a “paradise”. The term “basement eyes” could be referring to one song by Frank Iero (another Will Wood inspiration) of the same name. As suspicion and paranoia builds in a community, it has to be let out somehow, and in a country that prides itself on its second amendment… you can see where that goes.}
[(Vampire) Culture]
{I don’t want TH-cam to smite me, so I’m not going to take my chances with the cursing}
[Intro]
I dropped my eyeballs in the bonfire, we f****d on a bed of nails
I caught Kuru from your sister and died laughing in jail
{Kuru is a unique brain disorder that is most known for its transmission between humans, that being consuming the brain of someone with prion disease. Keeping with the theme of the fifties and sixties, Kuru had become an epidemic in New Guinea during that time period. One of the symptoms of Kuru was hysterical laughter, and considering that all known cases of Kuru were fatal, it makes sense why the speaker would die laughing. Despite this, it’s important to remember that the lyrics of these lines don’t matter as much as the imagery/emotions they convey. As said by Will Wood himself in one Genius annotation: “A lot of thought went into the words, and they meant a lot to me as I was writing, but a lot of my lyrics sorta work the way shapes and colors work in abstract art - they reflect something I felt and I chose them very specifically for emotional reasons, but they aren’t some code to be interpreted. Setting the tone is basically it, yeah, what matters is how you feel it, not what I meant inside my head when I chose ‘eyes’ instead of a different body part and ‘bonfire’ instead of a different type of fire or heat source.”}
Smell those screaming teenage sweetbreads on the 4th of July grill
{Fun biology facts with Elfie: Did you know that sweetbread is the meat of a thymus gland? Did you know that the thymus gland gets smaller as creatures mature, which is why lambs are the preferred source for sweatbread? Did you know that you have a thymus gland?}
Smile and wave, boys,
kiss the cook, live laugh and love, please pass the pills
{“Smile and wave, boys” is essentially the older version of “act normal”. The latter line is a twist on common family phrases and a wonderful use of alliteration, with “salt” being substituted for “pills”.}
[Verse 3]
It’s only culture, it’s only culture
It’s only culture, sulfur, smoke, and soot
You learned to torture house cats like vultures
You c****d and sucked your lack of empathy, pulled the trigger with your foot to prove you’ve got-
{Further exemplifying what goes on behind closed idyllic doors, empathy matters less than reputation. It must also be noted that animal abuse is a stereotypical “symptom” of psychopathy/sociopathy, but the lyrics specifically mention it having been “learned”. They weren’t born with these traits, the culture taught them that was needed to survive. In an effort to prove they were alive, they gave up that life.}
[Chorus]
Blood, didn’t they want your blood?
So why apologize for being blue and cold?
Blood, didn’t they want your blood?
So don’t apologize for being blue and cold
{The culture of suburban living drains the life, joy, and empathy (blood) from those within. Why would you want to keep seeking its approval? The people in power got what they wanted, yet the culture still tries to mimic the same parasitic behavior as the ones who put them there.}
[Verse 4]
It’s only culture, it’s only culture
It’s only ah, ah, ah, ah
Culture’s not your friend
Hey, f*** your culture, I ain’t got no culture
It’s only culture, and it's more afraid of you than you are of it
Go on, drink that
{Not much to analyze here - if you didn’t figure out what Will Wood was trying to say before, here he clearly spells it out. Culture is not your friend, and it never was. Taking that a step forward: normalcy is not your friend.}
[Chorus]
Blood, didn’t they want your blood?
So why apologize when you turn blue and cold?
Blood, didn’t they want your blood?
So don’t apologize for being blue and cold