Golden Road by Gareth Wilson
The angst is palpable in my brother’s latest single
Starved of everything you needed,
The sacrificial lamb was in your bed.
Those sounds I hear from your apartment,
You can tune it out but you can’t replace your head.
I did not forget the name I lost the number.
But you wrote it out into the ledge.
You thought it was something sacred,
Something to pray to at your shrine.
You can’t keep what you don’t own.
You spit it out but you cannot cleanse your mind.
I did not forget…
She just jumped straight into the future.
From the fire to the infirmary.
Hold out!
You’ll find a better life if you don’t want to.
Hold on!
Down the golden road beyond your daydream.
As I first listened to my brother’s lyrics, I thought to myself:
Man, this guy has had a hard life. What the hell has happened to this dude that he is so angry?
I realized that I didn’t really know my brother at all. When he wrote this song, he was clearly dealing with some excruciating emotional pain.
How could I ever know his pain? What did I know of his suffering?
All I know for sure, because he told me, is that he is yelling at his ex-girlfriend throughout this song. He is on the offensive. There are many “you” and “yours” so it’s clear that he is speaking to someone.
I noticed, however, that in the first sentence of the third paragraph, the “you” switches to “she”:
She just jumped straight into the future.
He is turning back to his audience (the listener) here, and narrating for a moment.
At this point the song becomes even more psychedelic, and he adds an echo effect that propels it into its final third. I found this transition jarring but fascinating.
I wanted to know what it all meant. So I asked him.
ME: Who are you speaking to in this song? It sounds a bit angry.
GARETH: I’m speaking to my ex-girlfriend in this song. She used to date the lead singer of a famous band, which always made me feel insecure. I always felt like I had to live up to this guy, and I worried that she would get sick of me if I didn’t write good music.
ME: I was struck by the transition into the final third of the song, where you suddenly switch from “you” to “she.” Can you tell me about that?
GARETH: To be completely honest, I was drunk in a bar when I wrote that line. I thought to myself: “That would be a great line for a song. I’m going to use that.” So I did.
ME: It almost sounds like you added an echo effect there.
GARETH: Yeah, it’s actually a legit harmony. That part was the hardest for me to get right. It was difficult to make my singing match up with the instrumentation. I must have worked on that for hours…days even.
ME: I must say, I was very impressed with this song. It made me think about what you must have been going through at that time. How did you do it?
GARETH: Honestly, I just threw together some loops, sang shit over it and added guitar. That’s it.
ME: Oh come on. Quit being so modest. You and I both know that it’s difficult to write and produce good music.
GARETH: Ok you’re right. Maybe it’s not so bad. Let’s see if anyone actually listens to it.
Listen to Golden Road on Spotify.
