jptexas
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Post by jptexas on Jan 26, 2015 12:53:19 GMT -5
Yeah, what evidence is there the subject matter of "SITW" is what held it back? It seems like it was more about labels wanting to push other (male) artists. I was commenting on Some Guy saying LTG might be less polarizing, hence I assume he thinks SITW was polarizing. I also said the fact that Carrie is female might have been a factor, so in that statement, I agree with you.
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rsmatto
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Post by rsmatto on Jan 26, 2015 14:49:39 GMT -5
There's a movement to have "less faith-based" music in some areas (large markets), So that could've contributed. Who knows.
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mus1cr0w
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Post by mus1cr0w on Jan 26, 2015 16:36:59 GMT -5
I really like this. It is afresh idea and sounds really large without being too overbearing. Well done all around. I hope this hits the top.
MR
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Zazie
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Post by Zazie on Jan 26, 2015 16:57:08 GMT -5
Interesting lyrics. I like the first verse especially, although I don't get "fighting at the drop of a faucet." I would understand "drip" there, but probably it's just me. I can't figure out yet whether the song as a whole makes sense to me but the imagery is intriguing. I recognize that I pay more attention to lyrics than many.
Are people saying this song can be interpreted as anti-gun? It's a song about violence being done with words, not guns. And preferring something that children do to what, all too often, adults do. I'm not sure the central comparison works for me, but I don't see this as a song about guns, despite the presence of lyrics like "caught in the crossfire." I'll go listen again.
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14887fan
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Post by 14887fan on Jan 26, 2015 17:14:59 GMT -5
It's definitely not a song about guns. It's a song about a little girl wishing the harsh words that her parents exchange towards one another weren't so brutal and corruptive to the overall family picture. Little toy guns are just used as a comparison -- harmless, disposable, and ineffective, just like how she wishes the way her parents spoke to each other would be.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2015 17:34:54 GMT -5
^I take the drop of a faucet line to mean like maybe the faucet hasn't gotten fixed and they're fighting. I don't know.
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14887fan
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Post by 14887fan on Jan 26, 2015 17:39:57 GMT -5
^I take the drop of a faucet line to mean like maybe the faucet hasn't gotten fixed and they're fighting. I don't know. I think it's meant as every time there's a drop on/from the faucet, they fight. Aka, constant fighting.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2015 17:45:34 GMT -5
Interesting lyrics. I like the first verse especially, although I don't get "fighting at the drop of a faucet." I would understand "drip" there, but probably it's just me. I can't figure out yet whether the song as a whole makes sense to me but the imagery is intriguing. I recognize that I pay more attention to lyrics than many. Are people saying this song can be interpreted as anti-gun? It's a song about violence being done with words, not guns. And preferring something that children do to what, all too often, adults do. I'm not sure the central comparison works for me, but I don't see this as a song about guns, despite the presence of lyrics like "caught in the crossfire." I'll go listen again. This song is simply using guns/playing with guns as a metaphor; anyone citing this as "anti-gun" either did not pay attention to the lyrics, or simply read between the lines when there's nothing there. The "fightin' at the drop of a fucet" lyric just further develops the dysfunctional, argumentative relationship between the couple (ie if a couple fights over something as mudane as a drop of water in a fucet, that only supports the little girls view of her parents relationship as toxic).
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Typo
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Post by Typo on Jan 26, 2015 18:16:50 GMT -5
The central metaphor is strange but it works for me because children often do see the world through their own experiences alone. It makes sense to me, at least, that a child would re-imagine their parents argument as a game of war.
The more I listen to "Little Toy Guns," the more I appreciate it. The imagery is so well developed and her interpretation is on-point - I especially love how she sings "throw away the scorecard." This is also probably the most unusual song conceptually she's ever recorded. I'm not expecting any "Song of the Year" awards from the Country Music industry, but I hope listeners and reviewers can at least recognize the creativity and ambition that went into writing this song. :)
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Post by 43dudleyvillas on Jan 26, 2015 18:54:02 GMT -5
Count me in on this one. The imagery is intriguing and pretty well-woven, and the chorus in particular is really catchy. I'm drawn in by the bass line under the verses and find the drum work in the chorus to be dramatic and quite compelling. I also really agree with something sbp17 pointed out in another thread: LTG sounds great. I agree with those that like her story songs. I do, too, I like that they have been having a bit of an edge to them sonically so they do not come off as melodramatic. Where "Little Toy Guns" builds especially well from "Blown Away" is in incorporating dark musical elements and imagery to convey a sense of danger and then juxtaposing them with the point of view of a young girl. Carrie's delivery has an innocence and a cry in it, but the musical edge of the song, as sbp17 points out, offsets it so that the song doesn't feel mawkish or exploitative. Personally, I took to "Little Toy Guns" much more strongly off the bat than I did "Something in the Water," and the degree to which the latter wound up connecting with the public took me by surprise. My hit instinct is shot (outside of Sam Hunt, who is an easy call in the current environment), but I feel like the two new tracks on Carrie's Greatest Hits: Decade I do a really good job of establishing her position in the market -- she is the person who will sing about faith, family...oh, and the occasional felony, probably. I do hope that, moving forward, Carrie does more story songs...She is an increasingly strong interpreter and storyteller these days, and her vision of the "real life" that country music is supposed to be about is mercifully more expansive than that of most of her mainstream peers. Sure, she is no Brandy Clark or Angaleena Presley, but I think Carrie occupies an important space in mainstream country as a current radio fixture who is interested, for the moment, in giving voice to some of the people whose stories get lost in the media shuffle. Carrie continues to push the boundaries of country sonically (banjo aside, the instrumentation and tempo of this song reminds me more of Oasis' "Wonderwall" than anything else), but I can accept that as long as the sensibility of her songs and her vocal delivery remain rooted in country. I do hope she doesn't leave more traditional-sounding material behind entirely though, and I still await the day when she releases some of that material to radio. Interesting lyrics. I like the first verse especially, although I don't get "fighting at the drop of a faucet." I would understand "drip" there, but probably it's just me. I can't figure out yet whether the song as a whole makes sense to me but the imagery is intriguing. I recognize that I pay more attention to lyrics than many. I think I wanted that line to be "fighting at the drop from a faucet" (or "drip from"), but I think it is intended to convey both literally and metaphorically how little it takes to set the parents off and/or how often they fight (as 14887fan and @carrieflattsfan suggest). The use of "drop" versus "drip" might be to maintain a consistent vowel sound. I had an internal debate as to whether it makes sense to compare words to (toy) guns as opposed to (toy) bullets, but I wound up deciding that a metaphor in which words are the dispensers (as guns are) works here -- we use words as we might a (toy) gun (we aim them in a certain direction, we load them depending on our intent), the smoke after gunfire is analogous to the metaphorical smoke that comes from a heated temper when someone 'fires' verbal volleys, the "kick from the trigger" is analogous to the sharpness of a person's delivery when someone verbally attacks another. I'm with Typo in that I wish that the bridge were stronger -- specifically that it hewed more tightly to the gun/toy gun motif of the song rather than jumping to other weaponry, but that's a relatively minor complaint. The song is also a touch bigger than I would prefer after the second chorus, though I can rationalize most of the rest of its busy-ness. Overall, the production feels pretty dynamic, and while I think there is about as much energy in the song as it can stand, it doesn't cross the line for me, for the most part. It has been a while since a mainstream country single has had enough in it to warrant more than a couple looks at the lyrics, so for me, that's another reason to be glad for the effort here. Are people saying this song can be interpreted as anti-gun? It's a song about violence being done with words, not guns. And preferring something that children do to what, all too often, adults do. I'm not sure the central comparison works for me, but I don't see this as a song about guns, despite the presence of lyrics like "caught in the crossfire." I'll go listen again. You're right, the song is not about guns. But in this era of outrage-baiting headlines in the blogosphere, it isn't a stretch to imagine that someone will take the chorus, which uses gun-relevant details (there's "smoke," "bullets," a "kick from the trigger when you pull it," as well as "pain" and "damage done") to describe what words can do, and try to instigate a new battleground in a culture war with it. It doesn't take much these days...some extremist right wing blogs made up a story that atheists were "furious" over "Something in the Water," and the story went viral in that corner of the universe. Of course, not a single concrete example of an infuriated atheist was provided, but the story did resurrect a years-old quote from Carrie in order to make it seem like she was defiant in the face of this outrage. Hilariously, at least one of the sites that declared Carrie a hero for her brave stand for Christianity subsequently declared that she had betrayed her faith when it discovered that she had made statements supporting marriage equality. It's a stupid sideshow, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one attached to "Little Toy Guns" as well (nor Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," for reasons already noted in that thread).
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dbhmr
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Post by dbhmr on Jan 26, 2015 19:09:10 GMT -5
Haven't heard this since it first came out, but listening again and I enjoy it again. Not the same immediate adoration I had for "Blown Away," but this is definitely among my favorite single releases of hers. The chorus melody is great, and her voice is really strong here, with an instrumentation that matches her powerful delivery (not always the case with her). I also appreciate the quiet moment of the chorus--it's an interesting choice for a song so bombastic, but works well, and adds some nice decibel diversity.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2015 20:44:30 GMT -5
^I take the drop of a faucet line to mean like maybe the faucet hasn't gotten fixed and they're fighting. I don't know. I think it's meant as every time there's a drop on/from the faucet, they fight. Aka, constant fighting. Oh, that makes a lot of sense. You are smarter than me for putting that together, it sounds a lot better than the simple idea I came up with.
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 26, 2015 21:34:21 GMT -5
I took the 'drop of the faucet' line to be like another way to say 'at the drop of a hat,' which is a saying meaning to do something immediately or instantaneously, or in other words, the parents are prone to break out into a fight quickly and without warning.
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someguy
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Post by someguy on Jan 26, 2015 23:19:40 GMT -5
Yeah, what evidence is there the subject matter of "SITW" is what held it back? It seems like it was more about labels wanting to push other (male) artists. I was commenting on Some Guy saying LTG might be less polarizing, hence I assume he thinks SITW was polarizing. I also said the fact that Carrie is female might have been a factor, so in that statement, I agree with you. I think it was polarizing to some extent, in that it's subject matter that right off the bat a certain percentage of potential listeners won't be able to relate to. Something like "Little Toy Guns" doesn't have that strike against it from the beginning.
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jptexas
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Post by jptexas on Jan 27, 2015 0:17:57 GMT -5
I was commenting on Some Guy saying LTG might be less polarizing, hence I assume he thinks SITW was polarizing. I also said the fact that Carrie is female might have been a factor, so in that statement, I agree with you. I think it was polarizing to some extent, in that it's subject matter that right off the bat a certain percentage of potential listeners won't be able to relate to. Something like "Little Toy Guns" doesn't have that strike against it from the beginning. I hope you're right.
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leilamaurizia
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Post by leilamaurizia on Jan 27, 2015 5:56:32 GMT -5
I took the 'drop of the faucet' line to be like another way to say 'at the drop of a hat,' which is a saying meaning to do something immediately or instantaneously, or in other words, the parents are prone to break out into a fight quickly and without warning. Same here. I took "drop of the faucet" as a clever play on "at the drop of a hat." The smallest things, even a leaky faucet, can immediately trigger the parents to fight. SITW is my favorite personal, as opposed to story, song from Carrie. It just hits me on a visceral level on my own faith journey and IMO, it's the most authentic-to-Carrie song she's ever released. Story-song-wise, LTG is very strong. I didn't connect with it as immediately as SITW but I have found myself listening to it on repeat and very much appreciating the songwriting growth and sonic risks Carrie has been showing since the Blown Away album. She's definitely not resting on her laurels and she's definitely not following trends on radio. Much kudos to her! I haven't been as much of a numbers-cruncher and chart-watcher as before because I'm in that cynical place called "What's The Point?" So.... did SITW reach #1? Just kidding!
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Zazie
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Post by Zazie on Jan 27, 2015 14:35:39 GMT -5
I thought about "at the drop of the hat" myself, but I disagree that this is a clever play on that expression. It seems random, not clever. Hats can drop, but faucets don't drop. Unless you want to suggest that they're carrying around disconnected faucets that they keep dropping because they're in the middle of a fight.
On the other hand, I do think this is one of the best-written songs Carrie has ever released as a single, and I have really enjoyed reading all the theories about the meaning of this song lyric. And I think it's a song lyric well worth exploring. Thanks for making me think.
On another topic, I had no idea there were roving bands of furious atheists being driven mad by SITW. I never did like SITW and would consider becoming an atheist, temporarily, so I could get some publicity for myself. Zazie the Atheist Considers Huge Underwood Hit "Polarizing"; Moves To North Pole in Protest. Alert the blogosphere!
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 27, 2015 15:05:00 GMT -5
I thought about "at the drop of the hat" myself, but I disagree that this is a clever play on that expression. It seems random, not clever. Hats can drop, but faucets don't drop. Unless you want to suggest that they're carrying around disconnected faucets that they keep dropping because they're in the middle of a fight. Water drops from faucets and it's a sound that can become deafening when everything else is quiet. I believe it was a play on that phrase but coupled with that imagery, and maybe 'drip' would've worked better there (I personally prefer 'drop' and think that sounds better), but this is country music and grammar is often muddled in this genre so I don't see anything wrong with how it sounds. It's probably my favorite line in the song, honestly.
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dbhmr
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Post by dbhmr on Jan 27, 2015 16:25:19 GMT -5
I think drop of a faucet is clever, as it plays off of "drop of a hat," drops coming from faucets, and how regularly that occurs; it also paints a picture of a worn, weak, broken household, all in a line. Simply stated yet conveys a lot, which is a prized feature in songwriting.
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Typo
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Post by Typo on Jan 27, 2015 21:48:59 GMT -5
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_adriano.
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Post by _adriano. on Jan 27, 2015 22:10:55 GMT -5
It's funny to read all these theories about the lyrics. I've always interpreted the "fighting at the drop of a faucet" bit, as if the parents were arguing in the bathroom and they'd open the faucet so that the child couldn't hear them fighting. LOL English is not my mother language, I must clarify, so I'm just throwing it out there for shits and giggles.
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jesster
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Post by jesster on Jan 27, 2015 22:19:59 GMT -5
Not a huge fan of Carrie, though I've liked a few of her songs. For what it's worth, this is much more listenable to me than Something in the Water and other songs where her "power" voice verges on annoying. Nothing in the lyrics of either song bothers me.
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desertfloods
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Post by desertfloods on Jan 27, 2015 22:30:39 GMT -5
It's funny to read all these theories about the lyrics. I've always interpreted the "fighting at the drop of a faucet" bit, as if the parents were arguing in the bathroom and they'd open the faucet so that the child couldn't hear them fighting. LOL English is not my mother language, I must clarify, so I'm just throwing it out there for shits and giggles. LOL I like that! Interesting to read about everyone's different view on a simple line (English is not my first language either). At least the lyrics allow us to have a discussion, can't say the same about many recent country hits!
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ant
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Post by ant on Jan 27, 2015 22:38:03 GMT -5
Love this and I'm so glad it's getting released, but really not feeling that single artwork. I guess single covers don't really matter though.
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kw9461
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Post by kw9461 on Jan 27, 2015 23:07:18 GMT -5
I'm really conflicted on this one. On one hand it's certainly an interesting lyric, and I'm always a sucker for a story song. Unfortunately this is just way too over the top for me. The chorus is horribly overproduced and that forces Carrie to oversing to compensate. And when she holds that long note before the bridge I actually cringed. She has the pipes to be sure, but I fear she's starting to trend towards Martina territory where she feels the need to belt on every song. Much better than SITW though.
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jptexas
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Post by jptexas on Jan 27, 2015 23:38:49 GMT -5
Any ideas for a video, of course she's around 7 months pregnant, so they'll be limitations.
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matty005
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Post by matty005 on Jan 28, 2015 0:23:39 GMT -5
Any ideas for a video, of course she's around 7 months pregnant, so they'll be limitations. My guess is it was filmed already.
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desertfloods
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Post by desertfloods on Jan 28, 2015 0:38:26 GMT -5
Any ideas for a video, of course she's around 7 months pregnant, so they'll be limitations. My guess is it was filmed already. If my memory serves me right, I think one of the Carrie fan sleuths has already found a pic or info about the video being shot some time ago? Was it Typo? I hope I'm not imagining this! SITW trauma can do this to you!
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14887fan
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Post by 14887fan on Jan 28, 2015 0:42:32 GMT -5
My guess is it was filmed already. If my memory serves me right, I think one of the Carrie fan sleuths has already found a pic or info about the video being shot some time ago? Was it Typo? I hope I'm not imagining this! SITW trauma can do this to you! Yep, it's likely already been filmed. Every page in the album booklet for CUX1 has snapshots from each music video from that era's singles. For the Greatest Hits page, they have a picture that's not from any other video that's ever been seen, and it's in the same outfit as one that she did interviews for the album in.
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jptexas
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Post by jptexas on Jan 28, 2015 9:02:00 GMT -5
My guess is it was filmed already. If my memory serves me right, I think one of the Carrie fan sleuths has already found a pic or info about the video being shot some time ago? Was it Typo? I hope I'm not imagining this! SITW trauma can do this to you! SITW trauma, that's funny and true. Lol I hope you're right about the video.
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