Because I am a pretentious jerk, I've always defined myself as someone
who is drawn to songs steeped in intelligent writing. Of course, I thoroughly
enjoy simplicity of a thrashing punk riff or a straightforward blues, but the
tunes with lyrics that are wrapped in layers of metaphor or that spin unique
and vivid images tend to take precedence in my shuffles. However, if a song
manages to take the basic pieces and push them to their limits, squeezing every
drop of emotion and meaning from each note or word, I cannot but help playing
them incessantly, listening until I am sick and then still again. These songs
prove that significance doesn't require anything complex or even thorough, and
the most recent such tune to overcome my senses is "Red and Blue
Jeans" by The Promise Ring.
From the first time it appeared on my Pandora playlist, my ears were
instantly glued to the speakers, and my obsession with "Red and Blue
Jeans" has only grown since. With nary a second of drum fill, the whole
band launches into the song’s tender, almost self-conscious main riff. Davey
von Bohlen quietly croons his single line of lyrics over gentle chords, while
Jason Gnewikow’s accented lead knits itself into a counterpoint for the vocals.
Scott Beschta's intricate bassline ushers the band out of the first section and
into a spacious prelude to the song's apex, a loud and thrashing reprise of the
main theme. From there the song essentially repeats one more time, except that
instead of rehashing or mimicking his initial verse, von Bohlen eschews
language entirely, favoring punctual, nonlexical vocals which lead "Red
and Blue Jeans" into its driving instrumental coda.
"Red and Blue Jeans" rings in my ears as amazing, sonorous,
and complete, but it is perhaps one of the most structurally unadorned songs
ever written. The Promise Ring utilizes only a few chords and fourteen total
words to assemble "Red and Blue Jeans," yet every second feels like a
sprawling odyssey of energy and emotion, part of which stems from their expert
application of dynamics. From open to close, the band maintains their essential
musical theme defined by the interlocking guitar work of von Bohlen and
Gnewikow, creating variation by alternating the feel and attack of the theme
between a stroll, a saunter, and a sprint. Similarly, von Bohlen's decision to
sing lyrics at the beginning and wordless vocalization towards the end pushes
to the forefront the melody rather than the message, diffusing the spotlight
among the entire band instead of focusing it on the vocal.
The Promise Ring uses some very basic principles of music and
songwriting in their composition of "Red and Blue Jeans," assembling
a modest but poignant foundation in which the listener can cultivate meaning
and significance. The band makes its choices in line with an austere aesthetic,
following a "less is more" ethic and applying it like adepts. Rather
than writing another verse or repeating the opening and only line, von Bohlen
slips into his humble "doo doo"s, leaving his sentiment only as
defined as the first line allows. In the same vein, the band chooses to rely on
dynamics alone for complexity, but never once draws out a riff or progression
too long at one energy level, always giving their theme room to breathe and
evolve without making it redundant.
Despite the plain ambiguity of the lyrics and the subjective feel of the
instrumentation, "Red and Blue Jeans" is a song laden with emotion,
but the straightforward and plain presentation provides a ton of room for the
listener to interpret and evoke that emotion. Davey von Bohlen's simple
statement of "Nothing feels good like you in red and blue jeans and your
white and night things" is simultaneously broad and inclusive; PunkNews
remarks the lyric can be read "as sensual, longing, romantic, desperate;
it can be all these things because of what it implies,” based upon how the
listener connects with it.[1]
On one side, von Bohlen's statement of "nothing feels good like you"
can be seen as a celebration, a declaration so definitive that no other words
can improve it and thus leaving him simply speechless in the second half of the
song. Conversely, his lyric can be viewed as mournful longing, a realization
that "nothing feels good" without the presence of his lover, and that
her absence inevitably leaves him wanting more from his life.[2]
For all its space and simplicity, "Red and Blue Jeans" is
loaded with a quiet significance that is as malleable as the listener needs it
to be, and therein lies its brilliance. With this song, The Promise Ring takes
the idea of repetition and molds it into a tune that is both intricate and
inviting. Because of its sparing shape, there is no limit to the connections
and connotations that "Red and Blue Jeans" can carry, and
effectively, no barrier between song and listener. "Red and Blue
Jeans" is truly unlike any song I've ever heard, and I don't doubt that I
will be uncovering new meanings and moods within these two-and-a-half minutes
for years to come.
