john-rzeznik.com

Previously, I blogged about a song I’d written as a response to “Slide,” using the same tuning and the same chords, just rearranged and reworked and from the perspective of the girl in the story. Yesterday, I wrote one for “Iris,” and I just want to talk about the song a bit first.

“Iris” was the one that hooked me, like I suspect it was the one that hooked a lot of fans my age. I was fourteen the first time I heard the song, eleven and a half years ago. And how much does a fourteen year old girl really know about anything, right? Something about this song invaded my brain and Xeroxed itself into my consciousness, and yet I’m realizing that maybe in all this time, I’ve never even understood what any of it actually meant. Because when I told myself that I was finally going to do it, that I was going to wrestle my guitar into the most insane tuning I’ve ever heard of, that I was going to re-examine the song that changed my life, I realized that I’d never actually examined it in the first place. I didn’t know where to start.

In terms of run time, “Iris” is a fairly long song for this band. But in terms of lyrical content, “Iris” is a fairly brief song. There are no lyrics in the bridge. There are twelve lines of verse, and then there’s a tiny little scrap of a chorus, and in terms of words, that is it, and that is not very much. Maybe the song isn’t even supposed to be about the words. Maybe it’s just supposed to be about the way the music skips in, double-time waltz, understated verse, soaring chorus, orchestrals for miles, a time signature change in the middle of a fucking pop song (!), build, build, build, swell, and then release. And honestly, maybe that’s enough. Just close your eyes, and imagine yourself listening to the music. Maybe that’s the part that matters. Maybe the words are just ornamentation.

But I’m not a musician, and I cannot write the sonic response to “Iris.” I use words, and so I couldn’t just approach the project telling myself, “Iris” is about the way my heart beats faster when I hear it.

I guess I started out by thinking about the movie. I’ve seen City of Angels a bunch of times, and I’ve also seen Wings of Desire. All I really remember about City of Angels is falling and tasting, and all I really remember about Wings of Desire is that it’s a lot, lot better than City of Angels. And so I started trying to write the song based on the movies, and I got a little bit done, but then I asked myself, “Do you really, in 2010, need to be writing a song based on a movie from 1998 that is itself only even remotely noteworthy because it’s the movie that gave us ‘Iris’? Is that at all a worthwhile endeavor?” I didn’t want my song to be about the movie. I wanted it to be about “Iris.”

Like I said, it’s not a song with very many words. It’s kind of understated and cryptic, which is not my style at all, because I’m kind of a wordy little bitch. But that’s okay. Because I’ve been thinking about it, and to me, this song is sort of about the uncertainty of what will follow the present moment. He is giving up forever, y’all, and all that matters is this moment, this one right here with this girl, this one night. Sooner or later it’s over, and maybe there will be consequences, and maybe there won’t be, and it doesn’t matter, because it’s a song about now. About being so fucking into someone that you’re reckless, even if it makes you vulnerable, even if it could bite you so hard in the ass tomorrow. But this is not a song about tomorrow. It’s a song about tonight, and he doesn’t want to miss her, and fuck the world, and fuck what they will or won’t think. The only thing that can sustain him through all of this uncertainty is her seeing him as he is. And that’s something worth fucking writing about, no matter how many or how few words it takes to get there.

Briefly, I just need to disclaim that I know I am not John Rzeznik and I know that my song is obviously not in the same solar system as the greatness that is “Iris,” and I am not trying to pretend otherwise. This is just for fun. Same weird-ass tuning, some of the same chords, sort of the same story. All interpretations are mine and should not be interpreted as the actual intentions of John or anyone else.