LogFAQs > #957080858

50. LCD Soundsystem Someone Great (2007)
from the album Sound of Silver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eISo-iFGGDg

Key lyrics:
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming and it keeps coming
And it keeps coming til the day it stops

Of the many songs about death, few capture the initial numbness as well as Someone Great. Though ostensibly a synth-pop track, the opening synth-line here exists more to drone than to bounce. It plays somewhere between a warning signal and a phone call you are trying to ignore. Another synth intrudes, whirring up and down, fading in and out like a dawning horror. An introspective bass soon follows, with the actual lead sound taking over a minute to appear. This slow build intro covers every inch of coping short of acceptance before James Murphy says a single word. This is a soundscape many artists could learn from, the coldest electronic sounds representing the rawest human emotions.

And that is only the intro. James Murphys lyrics and delivery cover the same expansive ground, shuffling through the minor details after hearing the news. The weather fails to match the mood, morning coffee leaves him empty. Murphy appears to have been so shaken up that he can rarely confront the subject directly, turning a rather specific relationship into a universal lament. Amidst the dense instrumentation, a glockenspiel underlines his every syllable. This lone acoustic instrument floats apart from the others, a quiet ray of hope.

Someone Great reaches its high points when Murphy twice loses his typically verbose tongue. After the third verse, he can do nothing but remark upon the crashing waves of realization. It keeps coming, and it keeps coming, little reminders of what this person meant always striking at unexpected times. By the end, he seems to find acceptance but still lacks the words. What is there to say when someone great is gone? Life goes on, but there will always be this droning void where a person once stood.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/