Analyze: The '59 Sound

So here is my checklist for analyzing this song:

1. What are Marley's Chains
2. What is the '59 sound
3. What is the song/words/name and reasons that is mentioned in the last verse
4. Who died

4. Wasn't it a friend of Brian's that died?

i get the vibe that it was one of his friends

I get that too... but who? figuring this out is going to take some serious research!

you can hear the chains throughout the whole album.
most notably in film noir.

Brian was asked what The '59 Sound was in an interview not too long ago, I'll try and find it!

Marleys chains: anyone here read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens? The ghost of Jacob Marley appears before Scrooge with chains, that he has because of the way he lived his life (being an awful person and not caring for other)

so the line "I hope we don't hear Marley's chains we forged in life" is Brian saying that when he dies, he hopes his life was lived right and that he was a good person. Seems this is a big worry, if he's been hearing it for most of his life...
I never knew my knowledge of Dickens would come in useful~

That is friggin awesome!!

damn good job

and thats only one tiny line.

dear brian,
please make this easier on us and stop being so intelligent and cryptic. just for future reference, ya know?

love,

sye

I can't remember what thread it is in, but I felt like a fool when it came to Marley's Chains... I thought it was a reference to the Aimee Mann song, and just as I hit Send, my wife looked over and says... you do know that the Aimee Mann song is a reference to A Christmas Carol... damn her for being so smart and making me look like a fool!

I remember those times! You're 7" sent

I think I used up all of my insight, someone else figure out the rest of this please.

I remember that too....I already searched that Aimee Mann song!

damn gaslight and there references

Look up "the day the music died."

There was a recent interview in Thrasher Magazine from when TGA played in Brooklyn, that show was a bit ago- awesome show- anyway- Brain gave a little bit more as to what The '59 Sound means to him....““That title came from the idea that we were going for the youthful sound of soul music. I have this vision of 1959 where Elvis is playing, and although there were problems in the country at the time, there was this youthful excitement in the music he was playing that I don’t think exists right now.”

i always figured that the title came from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", released in '59. the '59 sound cover seems to be an homage to this record's cover. and there's "Miles Davis & The Cool", and he talks about being blue a couple times

yeah, dude, same. I checked out "Kind of Blue", and I liked it a lot. This might only be because I used to play trumpet in jazz bands in high school, but still. and I've checked out Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Ben E. King, too, but I'm not too into them

btw, i think Brian sings "Stand By Me" better than Ben E. did...

"btw, i think Brian sings "Stand By Me" better than Ben E. did..." - wicked funny- Brian puts a whole lot of feeling into his songs- and songs of others- I think that radiates....you feel it.

And, I guess that's how you hear about new music, through music and friends. I've never listened to a band that talks so much about other bands.....not sure if that's just me not picking up on it, or if it's something different with these guys...???? Either way- they've taken me down a few paths I otherwise would have passed.

the song is about his friend that died in a car accident. Zach Finch.

Not only Zach, others too.

really kool thread, really insightful