Ambulance

our love shines like strobe lights here in the ambulance

Lyrics

my love with your human shape hold my arm where it perforates
come any closer I'll breach your fortress, hold my arm
our love shines like strobe lights here in the ambulance

two sparks in this starry heap, they radiate, they burn in effigy
oh my how we're only only dead so slightly, hold my arm
our love shines like strobe lights here in the ambulance

oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh oh oh
 
this day we shared a galaxy and our hearts --how they bleed and they bleed
tonight when we're only dressed so slightly, hold my arm
our love shines like strobe lights here in the ambulance

here in the ambulance

Music

Chords

It's in C major.

gabe's best guess

C

(verse)
C F C C/B
a F C 
d   C F 
F   C F

(chorus)
C F C F
F d C

(bridge bass notes)   G A B C D E F G
(bridge guitar notes) G F E   D C C B

(outro)
F ?/G# a
F G C

Structure

verse, verse, oooooooooohs, verse

comments

i can't get over this song. the things i like most about it:

1. the transition back out of the bridge. lovely harmony. D.K. is the best.
2. conor, you have historically been excellent at writing lyrics that were relatively abstract but still incredibly expressive and evocative. you leave much more room for interpretation in lyrics than i've ever been able to, and so this is enticing to me. in this song, i feel like the images you use hold together a little more tightly than usual, that they paint an ever-so-slightly more complete and and specific picture. that push and pull between concrete and literal and metaphorical and expressionistic is blurred here, at least the way i hear it, and that's endlessly engaging for me.
3. that said, given the context, i hear the "oh-oh"s in the bridge like a siren (possibly even getting higher in pitch as it gets nearer).
4. this arrangement is dynamic and moving. the voices of the instruments have great character, even on this casual recording. it's great how you can hear when one or the other of you really starts digging into the instrument.
5. the the shape of the melody is compelling. good highs and lows. i really like the return of "hold my arm" at the end of the second line of each stanza. it's well-paced. you always take your time with a melody, you don't try to cram more motion or more notes than are needed. this is a good example of that. i wonder if that's a product of how you've said you write words and lyrics at the same time?

thank you, thank you. i enjoy this song a great deal on several levels.

Gabemcelwain 10:11, 31 January 2008 (PST)