The New Pornographers: Crash Years (2010)

Now for something a little bit different than what we've been looking at for the past two weeks. Previously, we analyzed a song by The Smashing Pumpkins, of which the lyrical approach was to describe general emotions and feelings. The next song we focused on was by fun., a band which the lead singer uses to tell personal stories through his lyrics. Today we'll veer off a little further into The New Pornographers. For those unfamiliar with the band and also at work or perhaps reading with their grandmothers, don't be afraid to click on the embedded video. I promise that it's actually quite pretty.



Crash Years

The skirts go up
Before the war
Among the madding crowds
They're ruined like the rest of us ruined
Rest of us ruined

You are a living doll
Riding the circle tracks
Behind the walls of clocks
And you're ruined
Like the rest of us ruined
Rest of us ruined

Traffic was slow for the crash years
There's no other show like it 'round here
As a rule
Windows were rolled for the crash years
There's no other show like it 'round here
As a rule

Light a candle's end
You are a light turned low
And like the rest of us
You've got those old eternity blues
Eternity blues

Your fingers raised, you're looking for the word
What you want is accident
Another drag
Spectacular view
What you can lose

Traffic was slow for the crash years
There's no other show like it 'round here
As a rule
Windows were closed in the crash years
Honey child you're not safe here
As a rule

Traffic was slow for the crash years
There's no other show like it 'round here
As a rule
Windows were rolled for the crash years
There's no other show like it 'round here
As a rule

The ruins were wild
The ruins were wild
Tonight will be an open mic
-----------------

It's a little bit more obscure than the others, isn't it? That's kind of par for the course with the New Pornographers; the case in point being 2007's Twin Cinema, of which the title track is dedicated to discussing (of all things) the Roxie movie theater on 16th Street in San Francisco. That's nothing that you would be able to gather just by looking at the lyrics.  But the music behind the words of "Crash Years" is so easily accessible, especially given Neko Case's infectious vocals, that I can't help but want to dig a little deeper into songwriter A.C. Newman's words. Let's take a look at what we have and see if we can't at least bring the song generally into focus.

I really love the first few lines here. "The skirts go up/before the war/among the madding crowds". Not exactly mind-blowing, but I enjoy the double meaning, either that the girls wearing skirts are going somewhere, or the sexual connotation of skirts being lifted. The question, of course, is before which war, exactly? It's up for debate but there are clues elsewhere in the song. As far as "the madding crowds," okay-- now we have a bit of a picture of girls going up, presumably on a stage, in front of a bunch of frenzied people.

It's interesting to note that the phrase "the madding crowd" actually comes from a Thomas Hardy novel Far From the Madding Crowd. He, in turn, took the title from a Thomas Gray poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. The idea is that "the madding crowd" is something negative, something that needs to be escaped-- essentially city versus country living. However, in "Crash Years" we begin among the madding crowd, not far from it, and it seems like that is a positive state of being. Nevertheless, this happiness, frenzy, sexuality is all "before the war". Now everything is "ruined like the rest of us".

The second verse is pretty opaque and I'm not quite sure how to interpret it. But someone who is "riding the circle tracks...behind the walls of clocks" I would assume to be doing the same thing over and over again for a long period of time, stuck in a rut. And maybe this is because he or she is "a living doll", always subject to the whims of others, unable to speak for him or herself. There's the hint of something here about creation and creativity, but it won't become clearer until later.

As far as the chorus goes, "traffic was slow for the crash years" again has a double meaning. Aside from the obvious play on vehicles slowing down when there's some kind of accident, if we refer back to the girls going up in front of madding crowds from the first verse, we can gather that "traffic" means "patrons" or "business", and then of course "crash" will refer to an economic downturn. We're assured that it's not because of a lack of quality: "There's no other show like it 'round here/as a rule". Newman provides even more images of the economic downturn with "windows were rolled for the crash years" (and later "windows were closed for the crash years"). This is something we can see even in our current economic state. How depressing is it to drive down certain streets where stores, restaurants, bars, venues have been shut down and boarded up?

The short whistling bridge between the chorus and the next verse provides a window into the time frame that Newman is discussing. To me, the sound and tune really conjure images of old-school military. I can't exactly place my finger on it but it seems like something out of an old newsreel: the boys go off to the front! Something like that.

In the next two verses, I think that Newman is returning to his notions of creativity. We often talk about finding that "spark", but the subject of the song's "light [is] turned low" and he or she is "searching for the word". The next lines seem to be kind of a list, and if I were to punctuate it, it would go something like this: "What you want is: accident, another drag, spectacular view, what you can lose." The song's subject is looking for something, anything to light that fire, the happy accident of inspiration, a drag on his cigarette, staring out at a view, and most importantly, "what you can lose". He wants that which has already been lost, wants it back to be able to lose it again.

Also, and this deserves its own separate mention, the line "you've got those old eternity blues" is really kind of wistfully beautiful.

I understand that the stuff about creativity isn't readily apparent, and you may be wondering just what the hell I'm talking about. But for me what gave some great insight was the line "Honey child you're not safe here." In doing a little bit of research, this line is extremely close to something from an old Smiths song, "Panic" (the line there says "honey pie you're not safe here". Close enough). "Panic" is a song about dissatisfaction with the contemporary pop music of the time, including the words "the music that they constantly play/it says nothing to me about my life". A songwriter expressing dissatisfaction with radio music, which is often popularly referred to as soulless, trendy, repetitive, or corporate-- we can begin to see how this relates to the second verse of the song in which "living dolls...[ride] the circle tracks".

So we've got parallel running lines of depression, both economic and creative. Things were good at one point; they were vibrant and alive. But something happened to ruin all of it.  And I'm sure that Newman intended us to extrapolate these themes to our society today, still reeling from the same problems that we faced along with "the war"-- whether we're talking about 1941 or 2001.

Keeping these ideas in mind, we can take a look at the outro and attempt to decipher its message. It's important that the line "the ruins were wild" is in the past tense; the sense now is that we are past what happened and are left dealing with what has been left behind. The final statement, "Tonight will be an open mic", brings us back to the imagery of the stage from the beginning of the song. Its interpretation largely depends on what you think Newman means by "open mic". It could of course refer to an open mic night, where members of an audience are allowed to perform on stage. Or "open" could mean "vacant," indicating that the shows "before the war" are over for good.

I can't prove it's what was intended, but I personally prefer the latter. Something about a lone microphone standing unattended inside an abandoned venue seems infinitely more poetic. But maybe it was meant to be ambiguous and is a message that what we build from these ruins is up to us.

I don't know about you, but I found that much more rewarding than "I have no idea what these words mean." It was a lot of work but I think it got us somewhere. Next week, I'll discuss a song with a narrative that is a little less thematic and a little more straightforward. See you then!