fun.: Be Calm (2009)

Now for something in total contrast to last week's selection.

fun.--yes, that's the correct punctuation--is a high-energy power-pop band that came out of the ashes of lead singer Nate Ruess' former band, The Format. Ruess is generally more well-known, in the circles that he is well-known at all, for his voice rather than his lyrics. But the truth is that they compliment each other pretty well, creating a sort of genuineness that forms a bond between the listener and Ruess.



Be Calm

As I walk through the streets of my new city
my back feeling much better, I suppose
I've reclaimed the use of my imagination
for better or for worse, I've yet to know
but I always knew you'd be the one to understand me,
I guess that's why it took so long to get things right.
Suddenly I'm lost
on my street
on my block

Oh why, oh why
Oh why haven't you been there for me?
Can't you see I'm losing my mind this time?
This time it's for real, I can see

All the treetops turning red
The beggars near bodegas grin
at me, I think they want something
I close my eyes, I tell myself to breathe

and be calm.
Be calm.
I know you feel like you are breaking down
I know that it gets so hard sometimes.
Be calm.

I'm scared that everyone is out to get me.
"These days before you speak to me you pause."
"I always see you looking out your window."
"After all, you lost your band, you left your mom."
Now every single crack, every penny that I pass,
says I should either leave or pick it up
But with every single buck I've made
I'm saddled with bad luck that came

the moment I was baptized or
when I found out one day I'm gonna die
if only I could find my people or my place in life
and when they come a'carolin'
so loud, so bright, the theremin
will lead us to a chorus
where we'll all rejoice and sing a song that goes:

Oh be calm.
Be calm.
I know you feel like you are breaking down
I know that it gets so hard sometimes
Be calm.
Take it from me, I've been there a thousand times.
You hate your pulse because it thinks you're still alive
and everything's wrong
It just gets so hard sometimes
Be calm.

I don't remember much that night,
just walking, thinking fondly of you
thinking how the worst is yet to come
When from that street corner came a song
And I can't remember the man,
the panhandler, or his melody.
The words exchanged had far exceeded any change I'd given thee.
-----------------

So it's not exactly Billy Corgan's complex and meaningful verses, but that doesn't mean that these lines don't have any value. In fact, you could argue that "Be Calm" is at times more poetical than anything in "Muzzle". And rather than trying to describe a general feeling, Ruess' lines actually tell a story.

Ruess is experiencing a new status quo in his life, feeling "lost" as he wanders around his "new city". It seems like he's either just exiting or entering a new relationship, based on the lines "I always knew you'd be the one to understand me/I guess that's why it took so long to get things right." It's ambiguous, at least until a few lines later, but we get the idea that he's fresh out of a relationship both because he's in a new location physically and because he has "reclaimed the use of [his] imagination." Relationships are draining! They're a lot of effort to maintain properly, and it can often seem like there's no time for extraneous things like imagination. Hence Ruess' "back feeling much better"-- the burden has been lifted from him.

However, that doesn't mean that everything is great in life. He already wants back what he left behind: "why haven't you been there for me?" Not quite knowing where he is, Ruess starts "losing [his] mind," and becoming paranoid with the beggars he sees outside the convenience stores, which is apparently what "bodegas" means, according to Wikipedia. We're learning something!

It is at this point that the quality of the song really ratchets up, mostly due to the way the lyrics and music dovetail: as Ruess has what basically amounts to a panic attack, the pace of the music and words picks up, whirling around with a barely-controlled confusion. If you're singing along, as I often am, you'll notice that this part is really fun to sing. Why is that? If you are a total dork and guessed "because it's written in iambic quadrameter," you'd be right. Each line consists of four pairs of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, giving the verse a great cadence. For example: "the beggars near bodegas grin."

I mean, basically. We're not talking Shakespeare here, so it's not perfect-- but everything here is at least iambic, even if what the "-meter" is fluctuates.

Ruess centers himself with the chorus: "be calm," and basically gives himself a little pep talk. Ths music slows back to normal to accomodate this.

What follows are, in my opinion, the best two portions of the entire song. As for the first, beginning with "I'm scared that everyone is out to get me": not only is 90% of it written in that old classic, iambic pentamenter, but what is sung is actually a dialogue between Ruess and his friends, displaying concern for the way he has recently been acting. The best part is that each of the lines are sung by different members of the band, creating a great interplay of voices.

Nate: "I'm scared that everyone is out to get me."
Female Friend: "These days before you speak to me you pause." (with an actual, awkward pause in there for effect!)
Male Friend: "I always see you looking out your window."
Other Male Friend "After all, you lost your band, you left your mom."

The proceeding bridge returns to the previous frenzied pace as Ruess works himself up again. He thinks of "his people [and] his place in life," both of which seem to be lacking. As such, the next chorus, though containing most of the same words as the first, is more frantic. He can't take his own advice.

In the final verse, Ruess seems to completely lose it. He refuses or is incapable of letting go of the past, "walking, thinking fondly" of it. His voice careens into the stratosphere as he sings: "I can't remember the man/the panhandler, or his melody./The words exchanged had far exceeded any change I'd given thee."

As we dip into the chorus a final time, Ruess obviously isn't following his own advice to "be calm." The violins in the song, which began it with a certain kind of sad sweetness, fall off with an almost sinister undertone before fading out entirely.

A hell of a journey. This is actually the middle portion of Ruess' tale, spread across three separate albums and nearly seven years of music-- but more on that later.