comfort eagle the album

 I heard the Cake song 'Love You Madly' on the radio yesterday and then I remembered that I have the album it's on, Comfort Eagle. And I've been listening to it and I can't believe how good this album is. I've heard it many times but I haven't listened to it all the way through in a while and now I'm going to share my favorite parts of each song.

Opera Singer- My favorite thing about this song is the syncopation (?) or the timing John McCrea uses but I can't sing a lot with it. I mean I can sing along with it but I can't do it perfectly. Like perfectly perfectly. I've tried so many times. Using 100% of my brainpower. I know all the words but he never comes in on the beat and there lines he repeats but he changes them each time slightly. I don't know. Every time I start this album it's a challenge to sing along to the first song and come in at the right time and I can never do it perfectly. That was a weird start and it makes it seem like I don't know how music works but you have to listen to the song to know. He's doing some crazy stuff. All the other songs I can sing along to. Literally any other song in any language ever I can sing along to. It's just this one. Probably no one can. 

Meanwhile, Rick James- The best line in this song is 'We will swim in your kidney. Kidney-shaped pool." What a twist! Also, I always thought the chorus was "Meanwhile, Rick James takes anew" Like he's...doing a new take or something? Because he's a musician? But no I just looked up the lyrics and it's "Meanwhile, Rick James takes her nude." And I don't like that. I'm not gonna sing it that way. 

Shadow Stabbing- The consonants in these lyrics are incredible.

adjectives on a typewriter

he moves his words like prize fighter

the frenzied pace of a mind inside the cell

The crunchy sounds are so good. Also this song is used in the opening sequence of a movie I saw on TV once. Orange County starring Jack Black. I don't remember the movie at all but I remember this song was in it.

Short Skirt, Long Jacket- I heard this song for the first time on WNRN with my mom in the car and we thought it was the coolest funniest thing we've ever heard.

Commissioning a Symphony in C- I'm going to say this and you won't believe me and you won't understand but there's a line that goes:

"to your nephew you can give it as a present"

And it scratches my brain in a way that no other delivery does. It's like when water is flowing so smoothly that it doesn't look like it's moving at all. The way those words move together unlocks something in my brain. I can't explain further.

Arco Arena- I think of this song as the intro to Comfort Eagle and the only lyrics are "YA!" and there's a couple YA moments and it's a very satisfying build and then you yell YA! I guess there are also some 'heys' or something.

Comfort Eagle- Every time I sing all the words to this song I get...mouth fatigue? Like it's tiring to sing all the words and only this song does this. He's doing this kind of talk-singing thing and the words are relentless. It's very fun. I love this song.

Favorite line: The double wide shine on the boot heels of your prime

Long Line of Cars: This is a good song but it is the first potential skip. But also it's commentary on how car-centric American life is and I like that kind of commentary. It's a good song.

Love You Madly- I first heard this song from like a JMU Acapella group when I was in high school. Oh and Comfort Eagle I first heard in like an old flash animation back when websites just hosted animations that people made. The crazy thing about this album is that I have like old old memories of all these songs before I ever owned the actual CD that I bought from a Goodwill in Harrisonburg with my sister one summer. It's like if through your life you met all these different people that you formed meaningful relationships with and then when you were like 27 or something you found out they were all related. Anyway the best line in this song is "when I kiss your lips I want to sink down to the bottom of the sea."

Pretty Pink Ribbon- This song confuses me. The lyrics

Your cancer would eat to the bone

your muscles would bulge underground

your demons would all be around

without the pretty pink ribbon

you'd end up just like me

I still don't know what this one is about. Well, I guess those lyrics are pretty clear. But then the rest of the song has nothing to do with any of that stuff. I don't know. 

World of Two- I think Cake wanted to make a song that like a best man or maid of honor could sing at a wedding. Or a parent maybe? It's clearly about being close to someone who is presumably getting married. It's a nice song to end the album on. There's this part at the end where he goes

It's not that I don't think you are

two of the most

perfectly

beautiful

people in your world 

in your world of two

Anyway, I could understand if people don't like these songs as much as I do. I think you either like John McCrea's voice or you don't. But I do and like I said I heard a lot of these songs growing up and I love the lyrics and how they sound. So there you go you read that whole thing and if you did then I'm proud of you and I love you.