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 Song discussion: In The Arms of Ms Mark of Cain
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Netherlands
5976 Posts

Posted - 07/22/2019 :  20:13:56  Show Profile  Click to see billgoodman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Ok lovely people
Surprised that this isn't a thread already.

Lot's of spoilers on this track on YouTube and you can hear a big chunk of it on the podcast. At the end of episode one.

This is going to be the opening of BTE.

To me, it sounds like a mix of Bossanova and Frank's solo work. It's also very Pixies 2.0. I can imagine a track like this on both IC and HC.

The synth sequence at the begining seems to be a first for the pixies. Also Joey's lead is being doubled with synth or violin. I can't tell. Very dark. Very moody.

The main vocal melody was something I had to get used too. The chorus however is an instant FBF classic.

What do you guys think?

---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?

sdon
= Cult of Ray =

France
779 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2019 :  04:34:07  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Didn't quite like the live versions this Spring

The western-sounding strumming and horse-drumming is not my cup of tea, but it's more interesting than what they achieved on Snakes for instance

Weirdly enough, Dalgety's production seems to benefit the track, and makes it more nuanced and uplifting

--
"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)"
"Fucking up my devotion!"
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <

2940 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2019 :  06:43:03  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
"And the LORD said unto him, "Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."
Genesis 4:15

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The Maharal
= Cult of Ray =

953 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2019 :  08:26:47  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It's a bit so-so for me (going by the live versions). I dislike Frank's singing on the verses and besides the nice title refrain and cool intro the song kinda plods along a bit. Hopefully a grower.
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Netherlands
5976 Posts

Posted - 07/23/2019 :  10:02:39  Show Profile  Click to see billgoodman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Totally understand your feelings. But I keep humming the chorus.
Also the first verse after the first chorus.

Classic Frank

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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
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Bedbug
> Teenager of the Year <

2940 Posts

Posted - 07/24/2019 :  03:33:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Like most of what I'm hearing lately I would describe this one as "solid but not exciting." But I'll gladly take it over most everything else out there.
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Stevio10
* Dog in the Sand *

United Kingdom
1062 Posts

Posted - 07/24/2019 :  04:46:35  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The strumming and drumming remind me of early Pixies western efforts Build High and Weird at my School - minus the mania.




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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Netherlands
5976 Posts

Posted - 07/24/2019 :  05:12:42  Show Profile  Click to see billgoodman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Also some parts of Cecillia Ann en Alisson.

---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1866 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  09:54:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
This song sounds very much like Trompe pieces stuck together

Lovely Day's ending --> Cain's guitar ending
Motorway's ending --> Cain's main piano melody
Trompe -the song- galloping rythm --> Cain's galloping rythm

I don't know if its intentional or not. But it sounds GOOD.

___
"Service Unavailable"

Edited by - picpic on 09/21/2019 09:55:37
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <

Iceland
3894 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  10:40:35  Show Profile  Visit pot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I like it a lot.

But what the hell is it about? Mark's a dude's name, as is Cain. I'm slightly gender confused about this track, but the main thing is I like the way it sounds.

I'll happilly accept that it's about nothing in particular, and Frank just battered out the lyrics one day while he was sitting around bored. Just threw them down on a piece of paper and said: "Right then. That's another set of lyrics for one of the new songs. I don't know what it's about, and it's slightly nonsensical and that's generally what I've always aimed for"
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billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Netherlands
5976 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  11:44:10  Show Profile  Click to see billgoodman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
It's a biblical reference. Cain was marked after killing Able

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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *

USA
1290 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  12:51:54  Show Profile  Visit johnnyribcage's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by pot

I like it a lot.

But what the hell is it about? Mark's a dude's name, as is Cain. I'm slightly gender confused about this track, but the main thing is I like the way it sounds.

I'll happilly accept that it's about nothing in particular, and Frank just battered out the lyrics one day while he was sitting around bored. Just threw them down on a piece of paper and said: "Right then. That's another set of lyrics for one of the new songs. I don't know what it's about, and it's slightly nonsensical and that's generally what I've always aimed for"



It’s definitely a biblical reference but I’m not much of a biblical kind of guy. That said, they may not say this in the UK, and it’s a little old fashioned in the states, but calling a married woman Mrs. [insert name of husband] is a perfectly common practice here. Less common than it used to be of course.

He’s (almost certainly) doing this in this song. He’s in the arms of the wife of Mark of Cain. It’s quirky, but it’s again almost certainly not some kind of gender equality or trans message as you seem to be taking it. But even if it was, it seems like that would bug you?


I had a bad reaction to your public hobby writings.
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =

France
779 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  22:02:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Mrs John Murphy

--
"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)"
"Fucking up my devotion!"
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <

Iceland
3894 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  23:28:06  Show Profile  Visit pot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman

It's a biblical reference. Cain was marked after killing Able

---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken?



I was thinking either that or something to do with Cain Dingle from Emmerdale.
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <

Iceland
3894 Posts

Posted - 09/21/2019 :  23:38:50  Show Profile  Visit pot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by johnnyribcage

It’s definitely a biblical reference but I’m not much of a biblical kind of guy. That said, they may not say this in the UK, and it’s a little old fashioned in the states, but calling a married woman Mrs. [insert name of husband] is a perfectly common practice here. Less common than it used to be of course.

He’s (almost certainly) doing this in this song. He’s in the arms of the wife of Mark of Cain. It’s quirky, but it’s again almost certainly not some kind of gender equality or trans message as you seem to be taking it.



I figured that might be the case, but it was Mark of Cain that threw me. Is that the son of Cain or what?

My OT biblical knowledge goes as far as Adam & Eve, a snake biting Eve because she ate an apple, her getting up the duff twice and having two boys (which wasn't really helpful considering the need for procreation) and then one of them killing the other one.

quote:
But even if it was, it seems like that would bug you?



Not at all. But it's all the hot gossip nowadays as we evolve as a species out of the classical heteronormative age, and therefore fodder for bants. I like to give millenials a bit of a ribbing sometimes when they get all SJW about it (some of them assume that everyone from my generation is an lgbt-phobe by default)

Edited by - pot on 09/21/2019 23:40:25
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trevgreg
- FB Fan -

45 Posts

Posted - 10/05/2019 :  08:40:32  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by pot

I like it a lot.
I'll happilly accept that it's about nothing in particular, and Frank just battered out the lyrics one day while he was sitting around bored. Just threw them down on a piece of paper and said: "Right then. That's another set of lyrics for one of the new songs. I don't know what it's about, and it's slightly nonsensical and that's generally what I've always aimed for"



In my own experiences with songwriting, I tend to find that this is EXACTLY how lyrics are written a lot of the time!

And truthfully, I tend to prefer those things over A-to-B-to-C stories or "sensical" stanzas most of the time. I can dig those things too. But a lot of the success for vocals is going to depend on the melodies anyway, imo.

Edited by - trevgreg on 10/05/2019 12:03:43
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The Maharal
= Cult of Ray =

953 Posts

Posted - 10/05/2019 :  08:50:50  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I believe BF has stated a good few times that that's how things work for him too.
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Troubles A Foot
= Cult of Ray =

USA
802 Posts

Posted - 10/05/2019 :  14:26:02  Show Profile  Visit Troubles A Foot's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by trevgreg

quote:
Originally posted by pot

I like it a lot.
I'll happilly accept that it's about nothing in particular, and Frank just battered out the lyrics one day while he was sitting around bored. Just threw them down on a piece of paper and said: "Right then. That's another set of lyrics for one of the new songs. I don't know what it's about, and it's slightly nonsensical and that's generally what I've always aimed for"



In my own experiences with songwriting, I tend to find that this is EXACTLY how lyrics are written a lot of the time!

And truthfully, I tend to prefer those things over A-to-B-to-C stories or "sensical" stanzas most of the time. I can dig those things too.




In my experience songwriting, lyrics that are battered out without thinking often end up being more meaningful to me than lyrics I slaved over for hours, days, or even years.

It doesn't make sense to me to dismiss the meaning of a song due to the speed or manor in which lyrics were written. The process is interesting and often very different on a song by song basis, but what you need to look at is the final product and inspect from there. I guess this is my way of saying I'm not crazy about describing his songwriting that way, it feels dismissive to me, and seems at odds with basically everything Frank's said about this album and songwriting in general, i.e. he works very hard on the lyrics and often finds revealing truths and meaning in them before, during, and after writing the song.
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