Speaking of McCartney! Charades is my attempt at a "You Never Give Me Your Money" style song with elements of Modest Mouse and Liam Brown thrown in. I wrote the music for this song in 2014/15 when I shared a wall with Brown in our old building and I would hear him playing at all hours. Deeply influential,
Lyrically this is unpacking the resentments of my childhood feeling as though I had no agency due to living with a bleeding disorder. It takes the perspective of an unnamed narrator talking to a little girl named Ophelia, and if I'm being honest, I probably leaned a little too hard on that name to get Hemophilia to rhyme with stuff, and while I stand behind the work, it does cringe a bit.
lyrics
These were the games you’d play
Got you through the day
You saw no other way
With a life out on display
Days were long and days were boring
Days are gone away
Days you used to scheme, ophelia, how you’d get away
When things were getting too performative
You would’ve had your day, but you fell astray
You got in your own way when you tired of the charades
Such ambition, such conviction, such a crooked line
Such a lofty dream, ophelia.
Do you realize that you’re the only thing that’s stopping you?
You were anxious, you were angry, it was so absurd
Makes you want to scream, ophelia, that you lost your nerve
But we still do the things we gotta do, right?
A pain you settle into to forgive
Such a bloody boring way to try to try to live
So easy to tune out all the static when you pull the plug, but we’re here to dial in
You’ve got a lot to say, let’s put it on a tray
Without the disarray, you could move on with your day
You can move on with your day and take your life off of display
What’s one small thing you can do to make your world a nicer place?
credits
from Redefine,
released March 25, 2022
Written by Max Feinstein
Produced and Arranged by Max Feinstein and Polina Antoni Kanin
Recorded at IIWII by Billy Perez
Vocals recorded at World Alert Studios by Jeff Jones, The Jedi Master
Overdubs by Max Feinstein and John Roccesano at Silver Horse Sound
Edited at Silver Horse Sound by John Roccesano
Featuring Performances By:
Max Feinstein: Vocals, 6 and 12-string Guitars, Moog
John Roccesano: Drums and Percussion
Wilhelmus .! Sapanaro: Electric and Upright Bass
Nick Potters: Keyboards
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