Cherry Blossom

I saw an interview in which Brian said that he wrote half of it and Ian Perkins wrote half of it.
Just out of curiosity, can anyone see at which point Brian stopped and Ian took over? Or did I mishear what Brian said cause I can't really spot it. The only thing I noticed was "I'm sure she'd be laughing, conjuring spring/With some fella who just said the right thing" The rhyming between the two lines is quite obvious, that's not usually Brian's style although he does do it occasionally. (eg: I Believe Jesus Brought Us Together)

I drive this car through the city every night
There's a quiet I never heard before
And lonely, my sister could not describe
All the good things gone wrong

And there was blood on my teeth
From the long winter here
Bones broke in half
A stain on my shirt
From a couple hours out with the boys
And all good things come to an end
And all memory has left my bones

If I drove straight off this bridge
Only God and my baby would know
I'm sure she'd be laughing, conjuring spring
With some fella who just said the right thing

And there'd be blood on my teeth
From the long winter here
Bones broke in half
A stain on my shirt
From a couple hours out with the boys
And all good things come to an end

See all I can do is think about you
And miss all your kisses like the spring
But if I had a sign
That one day you'd be mine again, oh no
If I could hold you right then
As the chill in this season sputtered and spit and died with...

Blood on my teeth
From just what they did here
Snow tumbling down on the ground
And me stumbling out of my heart
Finding cherry blossoms on the hood of my car

I bet brain wrote the last 3 verses. Just because there is this imaginary thing going on in the last verse.

I'm not necessarily sure he meant that they split the lyrics but I don't know. I remember him saying they passed the guitar back and forth writing it. I was assuming Ian wrote the more complex guitar parts.

Quote :

I bet brain wrote the last 3 verses. Just because there is this imaginary thing going on in the last verse.

I'd probably agree but except the first point I made, I don't know why. Almost all of it 'rings' Brian and I, for some reason, doubt that Ian Perkins could copy his technique and style. Hmmm...

The interview I saw, Brian looked quite upset when talking about this song. At one point Ian even had to comfort him. It sounded to me as if he meant that he couldn't 'stand' writing it so let Ian help him. I can't find the original interview, annoyingly!

I recall, also, Brian saying that they were passing the guitar back and forth writing the song...Brian would write a piece, then Ian would, etc. So I suspect that each person's contribution were more intertwined with the other's, rather than the idea that "Brian wrote this half, Ian wrote that half." No clue who wrote what though.

Not to be confrontational, but this song is why Brian shouldn't write with other people. Every other TGA/THC song is amazing to me. This one is just blah...

If I had to venture a guess, I'd reckon the first, third, and fifth stanzas as written by Ian, and the Second, fourth, and sixth stanzas by Brian.

No particularly elaborate reasoning here, though it did strike me in stanza 1 that Brian doesn't have a sister, so I figured I'll go with Ian for Stanza 1.

Then moving onto Stanza 2, the tone/mood of those lines don't at all convey the same feel like the first, I'll attribute Stanza 2 to Brian. And so on and so forth,

Ian, Brian, Ian, Brian, Ian, Brian

taking turns every other one...maybe they even made a game out of it.

Stanzas 2, 4, & 6 also have blood and teeth which to me speaks more of Brian's style; then 1, 3, 5 just seem lonesome, lovesick, but not angry...feels like it would be Ian.

JohnnyC wrote:

Not to be confrontational, but this song is why Brian shouldn't write with other people. Every other TGA/THC song is amazing to me. This one is just blah...

NO! I've heard a few people say that about this song. It's softly haunting. It's dark and is meant to make you feel his pain and emptiness. They wrote it to make you shiver and it does it's purpose.

AGoodTime wrote:

JohnnyC wrote:

Not to be confrontational, but this song is why Brian shouldn't write with other people. Every other TGA/THC song is amazing to me. This one is just blah...

NO! I've heard a few people say that about this song. It's softly haunting. It's dark and is meant to make you feel his pain and emptiness. They wrote it to make you shiver and it does it's purpose.

I agree with AGoodTime. I think Cherry Blossoms is incredible. To be able to write about pain and emptiness with so much beauty and poetic grace is pure genius. It's the saddest song I have ever heard, it sends chills down my spine, and I love it.

Wait I'm almost 100% positive that you guys are looking at it wrong; They took turns writing the MUSIC, not the lyrics...They went back and forth with the guitar parts. Nothing out of the ordinary for bands. I highly doubt Brian only wrote half of the lyrics.

eagles1139 wrote:

Wait I'm almost 100% positive that you guys are looking at it wrong; They took turns writing the MUSIC, not the lyrics...They went back and forth with the guitar parts. Nothing out of the ordinary for bands. I highly doubt Brian only wrote half of the lyrics.

Agreed. I think these lyrics scream Brian, but it makes sense that the music was written by both him and Ian.

eagles1139 wrote:

Wait I'm almost 100% positive that you guys are looking at it wrong; They took turns writing the MUSIC, not the lyrics...They went back and forth with the guitar parts. Nothing out of the ordinary for bands. I highly doubt Brian only wrote half of the lyrics.

In the interview I saw it seemed very much like they meant the lyrics and the music. I'm also doubting that he wrote only exactly half the lyrics but there does seems to be random little touches in it that don't sound like Brian. Possibly they mixed them up like others have suggested. Or Maybe I'm looking too deeply into it...

By the way, Elizabeth is a better name, my username is already annoying me!

Oh, I think "Cherry Blossoms" is a beauty of a song and I agree with what Shannon said about pain and grace and genius.

Do I dare say that I also find Elsie to be Fallon's masterpiece to date? Nah -- let's save that discussion for another time.

But to clarify my post above:
I know nothing about said interview or whether and to what extent Brian & Ian collaborated on the wording -- I was merely toying around with the notion as invited by the author of this thread, who clearly suggests to look at the lyrics.

It did occurr to me that co-written wouldn''t necessarily mean 50% first half, 50% second half. I just don't think imaginative endeavors quite work that way.

So that idea led me to look at each and then every other stanza and postulate a theory. The word "sister" in the first stanza did raise a flag because it doesn't seem to be used in the universal sense and I believe I've read Brian was a only child. So just for sake of analysis, I assumed Ian has a sister and the reference is literal.

Of course, I cannot know for certain how the word was meant to be used or whether or whom has a sister.

Indeed, my whole theory could be so full of shit that my eyes turn brown though known to be blue.

The only thing I feel pretty sure about is:

Not every word, nor every line, in a given poem or song necessarily has some deep meaning. Sometimes words and phrases are simply chosen because they sound good and they work. The lyricist, poet, or author may have no better idea why s/he used particular phraseology than the reader/listener does -- s/he just knows it works well, and sounds right, for the overall thematic effect and they don't question it.

AGoodTime wrote:

JohnnyC wrote:

Not to be confrontational, but this song is why Brian shouldn't write with other people. Every other TGA/THC song is amazing to me. This one is just blah...

NO! I've heard a few people say that about this song. It's softly haunting. It's dark and is meant to make you feel his pain and emptiness. They wrote it to make you shiver and it does it's purpose.

Nah...Sugar and I Witnessed A Crime make me shiver. Cherry Blossoms is just...there. It's hushed for the sake of being hushed. Like the million singer-songwriters out there who think whispering into a microphone makes something emotional. There needs to be a strong song behind it, and a year later I've come to the conclusion I will never think Cherry Blossoms is a strong song.

Believe me, I wish I could, because I like to think Brian has the midas touch. So maybe that's why I place the blame on Ian.

JohnnyC wrote:

Nah...Sugar and I Witnessed A Crime make me shiver. Cherry Blossoms is just...there. It's hushed for the sake of being hushed. Like the million singer-songwriters out there who think whispering into a microphone makes something emotional. There needs to be a strong song behind it, and a year later I've come to the conclusion I will never think Cherry Blossoms is a strong song.
Believe me, I wish I could, because I like to think Brian has the midas touch. So maybe that's why I place the blame on Ian.

Sugar makes me more than shiver, half the time that song makes me cry! But Cherry Blossoms fits perfectly with the story of the album, it's the gap in his life and the cold winter. The slow tune and the almost ghostly whisper represents just that.
"If I drove straight off this bridge/ Only God and my baby would know" How can you say that's not emotional? That's pure honesty!
And Ian is AMAZING!

Good lyrics, but I wish they went to a tune that I loved. It's not terrible or anything, but it's the only Brian-related song I can think of where I think "yeah, it's alright". Maybe Our Father's Sons as well.

Sorry, I don't mean to derail this thread into negativity.

AGoodTime wrote:

JohnnyC wrote:

Nah...Sugar and I Witnessed A Crime make me shiver. Cherry Blossoms is just...there. It's hushed for the sake of being hushed. Like the million singer-songwriters out there who think whispering into a microphone makes something emotional. There needs to be a strong song behind it, and a year later I've come to the conclusion I will never think Cherry Blossoms is a strong song.
Believe me, I wish I could, because I like to think Brian has the midas touch. So maybe that's why I place the blame on Ian.

Sugar makes me more than shiver, half the time that song makes me cry! But Cherry Blossoms fits perfectly with the story of the album, it's the gap in his life and the cold winter. The slow tune and the almost ghostly whisper represents just that.
"If I drove straight off this bridge/ Only God and my baby would know" How can you say that's not emotional? That's pure honesty!
And Ian is AMAZING!

I can see everyone's point and I think it's fair. This song is just one of the rare few (at least so far) that Brian has written that maybe not everyone likes.

Personally, I agree with those who like it (again not devaluing the points of those who don't) I think it, in it's quiet simplicity, has such a chill to it. Like Sugar and I Witnessed a Crime I think have more of a "something's not quite right here" sort of feel which I love. But I think Cherry Blossoms is just flat out, it's cold and this sucks and i'm alone sort of feel. Very isolating. Also I agree about that line, "If I drove..." that line always makes me go "holy sh*t".

Regarding Brian's "midas touch" haha, I wouldn't say that because any one of us doesn't like a song that that necessarily means it's a bad song, thus breaking the "brian fallon can't write a bad song" legend. However, if the vast majority of us hated it, that'd be different. Also I think it's possible to not like a song but still recognize it as a good song. I don't know if that's how anyone else feels about it or if you folks just flat out think it's bad (that's fair if you do).

Also I love Ian. And to be fair, even if Ian had a greater influence on this song (we really don't know if they split the lyric writing or just the guitar part unless someone asks them) I can't imagine Brian ever saying okay to something he thought was lacking. So in a way, that makes all of it on him too.

I agree with the vast majority of what you said, but I just have a couple things to add:

1) The midas touch was mostly a joke, and it definitely wasn't to imply that Cherry Blossoms is a bad song. Again, definitely not a bad song, just not "golden" (hence the phrase) like literally every other song he's written (again, since they released Our Father's Sons I'd say there's two). In that I think literally every other song on Elsie, Sink Or Swim, Senor And The Queen, The '59 Sound and American Slang are basically perfect. That's all.

2) I've danced around the topic of Ian, and I really don't wish the guy ill at all. I just think the band sounds infinitely better without him...in it. He's often out of tune (which I don't get...the guy was a guitar tech after all...just puzzling) and he hits some wrong chords. And that's part of it...he just plays chords and muddies up the sound. It's hard to make three guitars sound good and they haven't pulled it off yet. Maybe they will and I'll be forced to eat my words (nothing would make me happier, honestly) but as of now I just don't get his presence in the band.

JohnnyC wrote:

2) I've danced around the topic of Ian, and I really don't wish the guy ill at all. I just think the band sounds infinitely better without him...in it. He's often out of tune (which I don't get...the guy was a guitar tech after all...just puzzling) and he hits some wrong chords. And that's part of it...he just plays chords and muddies up the sound. It's hard to make three guitars sound good and they haven't pulled it off yet. Maybe they will and I'll be forced to eat my words (nothing would make me happier, honestly) but as of now I just don't get his presence in the band.

Brian and Alex 1 and 2 all mess up and are out of tune fairly often. They're only human.

Harbortown wrote:

JohnnyC wrote:

2) I've danced around the topic of Ian, and I really don't wish the guy ill at all. I just think the band sounds infinitely better without him...in it. He's often out of tune (which I don't get...the guy was a guitar tech after all...just puzzling) and he hits some wrong chords. And that's part of it...he just plays chords and muddies up the sound. It's hard to make three guitars sound good and they haven't pulled it off yet. Maybe they will and I'll be forced to eat my words (nothing would make me happier, honestly) but as of now I just don't get his presence in the band.

Brian and Alex 1 and 2 all mess up and are out of tune fairly often. They're only human.

Apples and oranges.

1) Brian is the greatest songwriter of this generation and a fantastic singer. Playing guitar is just an aspect of what he brings to the band.

2) Alex R. has come up with so many memorable guitar lines in such a short time span. Also responsible for bearing the brunt of the backing vocals.

3) Alex L. has a great feel for the stage and is a solid punk rock bassist. Also responsible for contributing some backing vocals.

4) Ian is a touring member only and a former guitar tech who stands in the back and strums chords.

The point being the other three guys get a bit more leeway if they botch something here or there (which really doesn't happen as often as it does with Ian, at least the shows I've been to).

Side note: I don't really like that I'm coming off as this Ian hater, because it's not really the way I feel. I'm just genuinely baffled as to why the guys thought he should become a touring member.

Your argument seems to be that Ian isn't an important part of the group, which obviously is not the case because they let him tour with them. He's a good friend of the band. It wouldn't make as much sense for a DIY punk band to choose touring members based solely on their musicianship.

I agree on Cherry Blossoms though, it's just not that strong.

Harbortown wrote:

Your argument seems to be that Ian isn't an important part of the group, which obviously is not the case because they let him tour with them. He's a good friend of the band. It wouldn't make as much sense for a DIY punk band to choose touring members based solely on their musicianship.

I agree on Cherry Blossoms though, it's just not that strong.

Well, he isn't even a part of the group, is he? Or is he official now?

I think what you said illustrates my point, though: "They let him tour with them. He's a good friend of the band."

That's really the way I see the situation. He's a really great guy so they let him play with them.

I honestly want to put this to bed now, at least on my part. I hate talking so negatively about the band I love so much.

FWIW, Cherry Blossom is my favourite song on the album.

I always thought that Ian wrote the intro and verse riff on acoustic and the lyrics and chorus and everything else is Brian.

For the Horrible Crowes, Brian and Ian together works great. When it comes to Gaslight I agree 100% with JohnnyC - see my post in the Ian Perkins thread.

JohnnyC wrote:

Harbortown wrote:

Your argument seems to be that Ian isn't an important part of the group, which obviously is not the case because they let him tour with them. He's a good friend of the band. It wouldn't make as much sense for a DIY punk band to choose touring members based solely on their musicianship.

I agree on Cherry Blossoms though, it's just not that strong.

Well, he isn't even a part of the group, is he? Or is he official now?

I think what you said illustrates my point, though: "They let him tour with them. He's a good friend of the band."

That's really the way I see the situation. He's a really great guy so they let him play with them.

I honestly want to put this to bed now, at least on my part. I hate talking so negatively about the band I love so much.

Nah I just meant "the group" as in the group of people, not necessarily the band as an organization.

I mean I see your point and I wouldn't necessarily argue that they need the guy, but they seem to enjoy his company so we'll have to live with it regardless, hah.

I have a slight feeling that this may have gone off topic...
I'd swear Brian was talking about the lyrics too but he was a bit ambigous when he spoke.
Another thing I kinda noticed, this is all up for interperation, is that the events of Sugar/Behold the Hurricane sound like they happen in the autumn winter time. ("At the door the leaves had fallen") But Cherry Blossoms as a song seems to vary in the seasons in which it's set.
"From the long winter here" would suggest spring time.
"conjuring spring" Whilst I would say metaphoric, Brian seems to often mix metaphors and reality.
"And miss all your kisses like the spring" Winter now.
"As the chill in this season sputtered and spit and died" Spring again.
"Finding cherry blossoms on the hood of my car " The blossoms have finished so that means its going into summer.
And I have just realised how bored I must be to do that and read through all the lyrics to Elsie...