So lately things have been pretty heavy so I decided to do what I do best and lighten the mood instead of write my 1400 word paper due tomorrow at 1:30pm. Lately one of the albums that has really been speaking to me is "all you can do" by George Watsky. Now Watsky is kinda odd in the fact that he is a white Jewish rapper, but my friends and I love him any way. He started out kinda goofy but has some really interesting things to say. The concept of an album I think is really lost upon most people nowadays. When artist spend a year making 14 songs its not cause they have to or because they think one or two will make them a lot of money it's cause they have at least 14 songs worth of stuff they want to tell people. Listening to an album straight through is a great thing... even if u don't like 5 or 6 of the songs, I promise they will grow on you. Listening to a full album gives you the incite to who the artist is as an artist and as a person, again I highly recommend it. So without further adeu this is my track by track review and commentary. Also PS im going to write as long as the song plays, I think its a good testament to how much you can think about a song and still enjoy it.
Track 1: All you can Do: So the beginning of this song is amazing but you don't realize why until 16 tracks later. The piano and natural drums are just a great vibe to start this very person album. The first verse is really about Watsky as a person and his ideas about moving and family and no matter how much people talk shit about him or his city, a home is a home no matter how much you've grown. The chorus: All you can do is, all you can do is, all you can do is, is Watsky just telling people to go with the flow and try and do what makes them happy, and to learn from his experiences that he shares over the rest of the album. He gets into some funny and heart wrenching specifics over the album so this track sets it up nicely. The second verse is all about he 27 club in heaven, the 27 club if you didn't know is a group of famous musicians who all died at age 27, he name drops a couple greats until he is booted out of heaven by Jimmy Morison. He also references his stage dive gone wrong for the first time when he says "try to fly like a bird of prey, but I hit the ground and break a mother fucker's vertebra" this references when he was on his world tour, stage dived, landed on a girl and seriously injured her. You can tell over the album that that really had and effect on him.
Track 2: Stand for Something: This song has a nice fast vibe that really gets me dancing. The first verse is all about his move to LA and the strange culture associated with the west coast, specifically movie stars and the rich and famous. He talks about "low-cal and no-cal meals". The second verse again touches on the theme of personal independence, and being yourself and that Watsky is part of that group that are independents and what to party alone. He just wants to stand for something.
Track 3: Bet against me: This track is a lot heavier and starts with his high pitched "Watsky" sliding off and falling over. It's a hostile attack on people trying to bring people down down, like the popular culture of today and the industry. He then has the first of a couple interviews with his parents as his father talks about the Cuban missile crisis. This is a really creative and spooky track that is added by the interview. He then goes off on what people who "bet against me" will be left with. Really intimidating song.
Track 4: Woah, Woah, Woah: Watsky's first single off the album is crazy. Its just savage, he just goes off with his classic white kid flow. Goes after Miley, mentions PETA, MJ, and apparently likes to spit game at soccer moms (btw check out his remix of Mrs. Robinson, its awesome). Second first same as the first, great rhymes great flow. Like he asked his teacher when he heard the crowd applaud he thought he was an atheist before he realized he's a god. Love that line.
Track 5: Ink Don't bleed: one of the most personal tracks on the album Wastky does some self analysis and talks about the industry as a monster. The second verse is even worse as he goes into graphic detail about his stage dive and how the girl's life was altered and how he and the media should view those kinds of incidents. He wants people to judge him by the content of his character, not just be happy because your a fan. The third verse is even better as he condems himself and tells people to not confuse what celebrities do as all good. "everything I say conflicts with everything I do but I already did it so I guess it must be true."
Track 6: Right Now: one of my favorite tracks starts with some fast paced drums and a time jump from birth to teenage years and a 4:20 weed joke. It's all about his view on life and how we should enjoy freedom and have fun while we can: "Life is hard and then you die, so lets all go hard tonight". He enjoys what little money he has in the second verse and rhymes Matt Lauer with Jack Bauer... love that. The chorus is about embracing the now and having fun with your friends and city. Very positive message.
Track 7: First Stalker: the first classic funny Watsky song on this album. Very cool groove about a stalker. Really funny how he views others viewing him. He likes it but he tries to use the rest of the song to describe that he's just like you. He's just watching Netflix jerking off to porno (he has a subscription) but she thinks he's in there writing songs about her. Very funny track... very short, I nice light note.
Track 8: The One: honestly this is fighting for my favorite song right now. It's all about Watsky's troubles with the ladies. I get that, I feel your pain bro. So he's watching everyone pair off even dogs, he makes a tomb raider's reference that you gotta be good to spot, a beyonce one that is easier way. A very realistic look at hook up culture and the self esteem problem with young adults. second verse goes to a wonderland metaphor and a balls joke and an awesome math calculation: "theres over 7 billion mother fuckers on the planet and 4 billion are of legal age, that 2 billion ladies, 4 billions titties and guess that a couple of them aren't engaged!" And continues to encourage guys to get back in the sattle with some inspirational words and self confidence. Best white guy/ jewish rapper break up song ever :-).
Track 9: Boomerang: this song is more of a slow jam for Watsky and special lady that he used to get Mexican with. He observes her from afar before he tries to get back together with her. He's just observing a weird limbo between the 2. The best line from this song is definitely: "when you want me I don't want you and when I want you you don't want me, when I sing a tune and you sing it too it's just wamp wamp in the wrong key" perfect explanation. The song is not knowing how to me apart or together and just coming back to each other because it feels right, like a boomerang. Also the horns are really nice.
Track 10: Why don't we get high and watch planet Earth: pretty much exactly what you think it is. A weed song about enjoying the little things in life, like take-out, lovers, small moments in time together. Honestly, if Watsky gave me a blunt and told me to smoke, chill, and philosophize with him, you could sign me up in a heart beat. This is also a good time to talk about instrumentals. in every song you can bet on 20 sec of just music, its very nice and everything is different and new and nice. The song ends with another interview with his dad talking about the hippies: "the hippies were doing alot of cool things, and I think they did some stuff really well, like the sex".
Track 11: Hand Over Hand: a nice acoustic guitar intro's this song about more societal problems, he calls it as he sees it, most people rubber necking the problems in life until its them in the car crash. He wants it to be hand over hand, love over everything. Anderson Paak does an awesome feature on this song's chorus and second verse. The message comes through crystal clear on this song, wishing to break free from this world and wanting the world to change for the better. Watksy's tries to put some of it perspective in the last verse with a personal question to the listener to ask what they've done to help the cause. Again with an awesome horns section at the end of the song.
Track 12: tears to diamonds: just a heart felt flow about lost, whether from death, or personal reasons. Watsky tries to display what what it means to love some people and has some choice words to say to drug abusers and pharmaceutical companies hooking people for profit. Another heavy song from a Watsky album that is much more mature and crafted than his earlier work.
Track 13: The Grass is Greener: Watsky nearly writes a ballad in this slow acoustic guitar driven track. Him and a female rock a chorus that is hypnotic. He uses the ground as a continued metaphor for life and how people continue when they see different people and judge themselves to others. Like how Watsky feels so much more grateful when he walks through a hospital. I always think the album is falling off by then end of this song, which I think is the worst on the album but then...
Track 14: Never it Die: This driving song with the repeated chorus "I'll never let it die" is just driving on down beats and a nice little piano chord progression and little bit of glass xylophone. It's all about self confidence and great rhymes and creative story telling allows this song to really fit well. The music video is also very cool, I highly recommend it. Watsky wants the early worm, so hes the determined sparrow, flying circles around the sternest scarecrow. He wants everyone who has a burning flame within to take a deep breath and feed it oxygen. Just an outstanding song that ends with an interview with is mom and her memories of folk music, politics, and her father, before going back to chorus showing the connections of family. Now the that point the music video ends but the track keeps going as he talks about his ancestors exiles from east Europe during WWII, and the statue of liberty. His diatribe is more than enough to warrant hearing the entire song just for that last spoken word verse.
Track 15: Sarajevo: this city is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina but in the late 1960's was the sight of a horrible civil war that put the three main world religions against each other (Christianity, Jewdeism and Islam) thousands of innocence were killed for almost no reason. Watsky takes this song to tell the legend of the lovers of Sarajevo, an inter faith couple who were gunned down by snipers trying to leave the city together. I highly recommend you read further into the story to get the full effect of the song. He uses the story not to make a religious point but a point about love, god, and others, the song is not about religions, but the problem with religious leaders and people who use religion as an excuse for war and hatred. The song tries to convey the lovers as the listener and Watsky who want to bridge the gap, end the hatred and spread peace. Dia Frampton adds spine tingling vocals to the chorus "Sarajevo, Sarajevo, you're the alter that I pray to, God is love and love is all we have." I've take blocks of 35 min to just listen to this one song on repeat, very powerful.
Track 16: Cannonballs: so you know how I told you to remember the piano at the beginning of the album, well that's cause this whole song is built on that piano melody. The track is mostly Watsky's spoken word (which is excellent). The verse is mostly about a trip he took to a park by his house with an old girl friend. One of the my favorite parts is when he talks about commemorating the moment with bug bite tattoos, because in the video for let the ink bleed there is a quick cut to his ankle with the 3 circle tattoos.. really brings everything full circle. Stephen Stills rocks a chorus on forever as this song just keeps going forever. Awesome drum fills, more trumpets, a slight melody shift puts this song in the conversation with Sarajevo, The One, and Never Let is Die for my favorite on the Album. I just love the artistry of basically putting a musical cover on the album like a book. Beginning and ending. And of course at the end of the song you hear Watsky talking to his parents. His Dad says "well that was fun" and all you hear from Watsky is "I love you" and an "I love you too" right back.
Now its been about an hour now and I did say I had work to do but I'm gonna do one more Watsky review because this next one pulled my head out of my ass the other day when I was thinking that maybe friends were overrated and I should just stick to myself. The song is called Sloppy Seconds and its off his last Album Cardboard Castles.
Track 1: Sloppy Seconds: piano chords introduce this song that I can only describe as what I would want my life to be like with the people I love. There's a genuine feeling in the chorus of acceptance. The second verse about people baggage, personal problems, and everyone's take on it. I love that verse a lot. 'I don;t care where you been, how many miles, I still love you." Is on repeat for a while and it's excellent. Watsky tells you he's the guy who rocks the bad fashion and is bad with the ladies simply because he's staying honest to himself. And the line that hits me the most is "That's a temper, in a kitchen, in a Christmas sweater, sipping cold coffee on the phone with damaged goods.""and there not a single place that I would rather be, I'm fucked up just like you are and you're fucked up just like me". He goes on to list very very important things "cold pizza, tie-dyed shirts, broken hearts, hand-me-downs, leftovers, sloppy seconds".
So yeah, that's enough for tonight, and I challenge every reader to listen to a full album straight through without stopping sometime in the next week, and the one rule is it can't be your favorite artist/ your favorite artist right now. Before I listened to this I was on a heavy ADTR binge, I promise, if you are so brave, comment what you listened to. I'm always looking for new music.
Your Eager Listener,
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