NUR EIN
almost 7 years agowon
4:37
Survival
Vowl Sounds image
Vowl Sounds

Entry from Survival in Nur Ein XIV.

Bring your A-Game.

LyricsShow lyrics

Survival
by Vowl Sounds ft. Agony Sauce

*Guest starring the Glenn Case Birthday BBQ Choir (happy birthday, Glenn!):
Glenn Case
Don Hawkins
Rachael Layne
Dawn Sanger
Kirsten Darling
Travis Powell
Nick Harrington
Fen Wolf

And with a very special dog solo in C# from:
Siouxsie-Q Case
Roxie Case
Glenn's neighbor's unnamed junkyard dog

Also featuring the delightful saxophone stylings of Mr. Nathan Tredinnick from Something To Do, Cribshitter, The Shabelles, and The Arkoffs, among other fine Southern Wisconsin musical concerns
*

Oh, and in case you haven't been following along, previously in the Ouijaverse...

boy meets girl over Ouija board ("Message Received")
Ouija Boy and Ouija Girl break up ("Shock Value")
Ouija Boy marries someone else ("Pump the Brakes")
Ouija Boy's wife gets worried ("Color Me Lonely")
Ouija Boy and Ouija Girl rekindle their old romance ("No Memory")
Ouija Boy kills his wife so he and Ouija Girl can be together ("Where the Streets Have No Name")
Ouija Girl gets worried ("You Too")
an intrepid dog solves crimes in a nightmarish alternate-universe Great Britain populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals ("Canine Surprise")*
*
* non-canon
*
What do you do when you've somehow painted your life into a corner?
Tied your hands to a man you're afraid to leave?
He swears to me that there's no-one else, but I know better
I was a fool to think what happened to her wouldn't happen to me

So I laughed at all his jokes
Kept his darkest secrets close
Let myself dissolve away like rising smoke
I thought I was made for you
So what do I become
When you've decided that you're through?

I lived my life for love
I lived my life for nothing
But I don't want to die
I want to survive
Please don't let this be the end
I can be more, more than I have been
I want to survive

The Ouija board sits out there, our private joke, on the bottom shelf
I hear a clatter, and the planchette's moving all by itself
It spells a message from beyond
"Turn the radio on"
(T-U-R-N I-T O-N)

And a voice pours out, it's her
Singing like a bird
Like a bird
She says, "We were never friends
But I know that it was him
That brought me to my end
It's not your fault

I died for love
I lived my life for nothing
But you don't have to die
I want you to fly
Please don't end up like me
You can still be more, more than I could be
I want you to survive

So go, go and buy a gun,
Buy a one-way ticket to anywhere
Just run
Call the cops
They'll find out soon enough
The dog next door is in the yard
Digging up my bones from the earth"

I tell her,
"I don't want to go on like this
I want to live a life
That passes the Bechdel test
I want to change the world
Make art, learn to play the bass guitar
Learn the shapes of trees, learn the names of stars

I want to listen to old songs
Echoing beyond the grave
Think of all the lives they saved
When they said, 'You're not alone'
Like a message from a Ouija board
Spelling it out for me
You're worth something without him
It's not too late, you're free"

Reviews

2 posted notes

Spintown

Forum post

Another case were I’m just ready for the gimmick to end. I think this was one of the better songs in this story. You bring it to a close nicely, even if I don’t fully buy the wife would be as forgiving to the girl as you wrote it. She stole her man, and helped cover up her murder so I thought that was a bit of a stretch. That’s also one of the things that’s bothered me throughout this contest. You write a song. I enjoy the story, but then I also create my own story in my head imagining how it would continue. But then the next song comes out & you blow up my little image I had of your song. Lol Not really your fault at all, but people do that with songs all the time. They can mean 1 thing to 1 person, and another to someone else. So you basically don’t allow me create my own version of the story by constantly correcting me each round. ;p I haven’t been listing my rankings in these reviews since Niveous has been doing it when he posts the results, but you do get my vote in this final round. Because like the Agony Sauce song, this was really well done, and sounds great. I think I enjoyed it a tad more because I didn’t feel as if I’d heard it before.

Adam!

Forum post

This is an incredible feat, an epic story-song of Decemberists calibre. Triumphant. Every part of it is great, but the drums are actually perfect, conducting the song and driving its energy. The huge, wide vocal layering during the big moments are ear candy. The sax was a genuine surprise.

Vowl Sounds - Survival | Nur Ein