Well, it seemed like a good idea to not spend the next 1000 days procrastinating, plus, I wanted to take a little bit of time to see if my views on the song evolved, so I held off posting my thoughts on “1000 Days” for a few days. I was also waiting to see if/how the song was changed in concert, because I know that my strongest (though perhaps not most fundamental) objection to JY was overcome when they tossed the “touch the sky”/”mountain oh so high”/”we’ll fly away” lyrics. Yes, I’m still traumatized by those. g

Well, so the major change in “1000 Days” in 5 concert performances simply seems to be Clay’s level of confidence/assurance in singing it, as well as how he is backed when he does. Basically, the live performance of the song has become much more effective. And I think “1000 Days” has won converts in the process. I’m still a fan of the melody, and I adore the bridge of this song, and the way it serves to heighten the energy and tension of the song. But GAH. The lyrics make no sense to me at all. I’ve tried. I’ve run them through a Babelfish translator, I’ve turned them upside down, I’ve even run them backwards for subliminal messages, all in an effort to find something in them that makes sense.* No dice. I don’t see a story. I don’t see lyrical progression. What I do see is a jumble of very overused images and phrases weighing down what could be a great song. And I can’t get past that, which is annoying because I really do love the melody.

• Just in case it needs to be said, I didn’t actually do any of these things. Though, now that I think about it, it might be fun. g

Melody The instrumentation drew me in from the start—I felt immediately that I was being drawn into a room, being promised an intimate story. The only thing I might change is this—the first line of the verse starts off on a B, I think, such that “Through my eyes” is sung on the notes B-A-B-A-Ab. That makes the line “For you,” which follows the same sequence, seem redundant. I think I’d like it better (for everything that’s worth g) if the first 3 words of the song were sung Ab-A-B-A-Ab, with the “For you” being sung the same way it is now—to me, it would lend a sense of melodic progression to the verse. But that’s a small nit to pick, because I thought the melody on the verses continues that feeling of an intimate portrait being drawn. Then, that last line of the verse amps things up into the very catchy chorus, and the melody does a great job of conveying that the chorus is this euphoric reaction to the portrait that has been painted. The chorus is catchy, it’s very singalong—perfect for a concert setting, especially because the backup singers join the chorus midway through—there’s no better cue for the crowd! I also love the descending “response” of the piano to the unresolved ascending sequence on “not enough.” Works really well.

And again, that bridge—I really do love everything about it. I’m assuming that, in a studio version, they’ll be layering a full Clay glory note over Clay singing the chorus that picks up while the glory note is ongoing? Or will they keep the backup singers and have them start the chorus, allowing Clay to finish the glory note and join them on “are not enough!” I’m not entirely sure how this is being handled in concert, but it has sounded to me like Clay and now, Quiana, work/finish the glory note while Jacob and Angela pick up the chorus, with Clay joining the chorus on “are not enough.” Like I said, though, I’m really not sure. Whatever the case, the dynamic progression of this song, as conveyed by the melody, is really effective, in my view.

Lyrics So here I am, listening contentedly to the first bars of “1000 Days,” thinking that Clay has opened a door or lifted a curtain to reveal a room where he is going to tell me a good story. And he starts it with, “Through my eyes, I see the world start spinning like a ball.” Wha-huh?? First of all, what’s with the redundance—what on earth could you do through your eyes except see? And the world starts to spin like a ball? What, is Shaquille O’Neal’s finger the new axis around which the world turns or something? ARGH. Not a good start. So now, the world is spinning, and you see stars light up and then fall…why do I suddenly get the feeling that someone knocked your lights out and you’re having those cartoon birdies and stars circling your head—or is that what love is supposed to be? And how do you get from there to Clay asking if he gave “you the moon, would you notice” that he’s right beside her? I’m completely lost.

Then, we’re told that 1,000 days and 1,000 nights are not enough (for what?), because Clay can’t “hold back the way” he feels “about [his] love,” which he won’t let go. See, that doesn’t make any sense to me, either. At first, I was thinking that when he said “’Cause I can’t hold back the way I feel about my love,” the word “my love” was the person he’s singing to—the problem is, the next line says he “won’t let it go – “it” is an inanimate object. So what Clay is saying is that he can’t hold back the way he feels about this feeling of love he has? Again, what kind of sense does that make? Pull up Mapquest, I’m still lost. The chorus continues, and Clay basically sings about how he would go all Orpheus on the angels and fight them to keep his love with him. That’s a bit dark for the melody, but I could live with this if the buildup to those lines were there.

Now, the second verse. Now, he has gone from offering her the moon to saying that she is the sun. <sigh> Once again, trite. Plus, why must she both “shine” and “light the evening sky”—doesn’t the latter imply the former? And isn’t there some measure of inconsistency when he is offering her all these things from the night sky but she is the sun that prevents those things from actually showing up? And then that metaphor is dropped entirely in favor of more cliché—“Hold on/Come with me and I will never let you down.” I could live with this line, trite though it is, because I do get the sense that the song is about Clay asking this girl to take a leap of faith and to love him as he loves her. But there’s no progression to it—we go from thinking of her as the sun to needing her to hold on and believe that he will never let her down? It’s just a total non sequitur. Speaking of which, he’ll never let her down, but they’ll “drown” in “this love”—isn’t that inconsistent? This melody deserves better than this package of clichés. And then, to end with “’Cause they can’t hold us down”? Not only is that a repeated word ("down") to achieve the rhyme (it was used 2 lines ago), suddenly there is some peril—but what? Who are “they”? Why are they trying to get in the way? I don’t think Mapquest is going to be sufficient. Someone get me a GPS.

Having said all that, the lyrics on the bridge work for me. They’re simple, they’re still not terribly original, but they work. To me, they encapsulate the central message of the song. If only the verses and the chorus did so in a way that was coherent.

Summing Up Have I mentioned that I love the bridge of “1000 Days”? Because I do. I also really, really like the melody. I think this could be a great song, and it actually kind of frustrates me that I can make neither heads nor tails of the lyrics. I think there is a great story to be told to this melody, and I would so love it if someone were to try. Clay sounds great singing this song—better and better each day. And, if the bridge is any indication, this is a story he can tell credibly. The story of a guy who is crazy in love with this girl, a guy who just wants her to take that leap of faith and love him like he loves her, a guy who, watching her from across the room, is so full of love that his heart is bursting with that crazy confident belief that happily ever after awaits them—that’s the moment that I think “1000 Days” could capture so well.

What would I do with the lyrics? Well, I would rework the first verse to paint a scene, in which the guy is gazing at the girl, and we get a sense of what he is seeing in her. And he can end the first verse with that question of whether if he gave her the world (the moon, whatever), would she notice him. Then into the chorus, where he makes his declaration about how strong his feelings are, but maybe make it clear exactly what “1000 days and 1000 nights are not enough” for. Then, the second verse could continue by describing what this girl means to this guy (just in more inventive lyrics than we already have, and hopefully ones that draw on the imagery of the first verse)—that’s what the current second verse seems meant to do, but I just think the lyrics fulfill that purpose. And, then the chorus and the current bridge (::wub::).

I don’t know. I suppose if I were more creative, I’d write new lyrics and present them in a way that is much less clunky than what I wrote above. But the bottom line for me is that I think this song has so much potential; I hope it gets the coherent story that it deserves.

So maybe next time I blog, there will be a new song to dissect? Failing that, maybe I’ll babble about how I’ve imagined Clay’s next album might sound.