'...Is A Real Boy' by Say Anything (Album Review) Part 2 "Woe"

Released: August 3, 2004

Genre: Emo, Indie Rock, Pop Punk, Punk Rock, Post-Hardcore

Run Length: 57:55

Label: Doghouse

Producers: Max Bemis, Tim O'Heir, Stephen Trask

2. "Woe"

The second song on the album has been a long time favorite of mine. The upbeat music doesn't quite mask all the deprecating lyrics and depressive sensibilities displayed in the song, and creates a precarious song that feels just on the brink of losing itself, but still manages to keep it together. The first verse starts with almost no music, Max's vocals ringing through a choppy guitar and drum beat.

All the words in my mouthThat the scene deemed unworthy of letting outBanded together to form a makeshift militiaAnd burrowed bloodily through my tongue and my teethSo I stood proud in the galleryWith my open socket of a mouth for them to seeThey just laughed and said "That boy, heThat boy's got woe, whoaHe lives with woe, whoa

As always, I'm analyzing these lyrics from my own personal bias. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression myself, the fear of saying the wrong thing, and the reality of following through comes through strongly in this first verse. Try as he might, he can't stop the emotion (whether awkwardness, woe, or what it may be) and it burst forth. The audience laughs at him and his state.

And this girl who I metWhose pride makes her hard to forgetShe took pity on me horizontallyBut most likely because of my bandAnd that's all I can get when I'm lonelyAnd these visions of death seem to own meIn the quiet of the classroomsAll across the stacked United States of Woe, whoaWe live with woe, oh, oh, oh, oh

It feels like the tone of the song shifts in the second verse. First he says that a love interest may have entertained him through "pity" (perhaps for his depressive state), but then changes his mind, saying it's due to his band, almost downplaying both his own success and failures to that of team. The second half of the verse gets a little more abstract, but for me it shows a disconnect where the artist is judged for their "Woe" when it's simply a more realistic view of the world.

She said "I can't get laid in this townWithout these pointy fucking shoesMy feet are so black and blueAnd so are you"

This bridge sets up a transition to the second part of the song, that takes off in a lofty idealistic thoughtscape, but the comparison of "getting laid," "pointy fucking shoes," and comparing the black and blueness to the singer shows how he is "used" or "beaten down" by the woe of the society.

Please take meOut of my body up through the palm treesTo smell California in sweet hypocrisyFloating, my senses surround my bodyI wake my nose to smell that ocean burnHah, hah!Ba da da, ba da da, ba da da, da da daBa da da, ba da da, ba da da, da da daBa da da, ba da da, ba da da, da da daBa da da, la da da, la da da

The singer is now asking to be delivered from the woe that he sees and experiences. Even going as far as to acknowledge that should he achieve that, it would be "hypocrisy" because it takes an amount of ignorance or indifference that he can't bear to muster. Essentially, the world is woe, and enjoying it in this way isn't acceptable for the singer, yet he longs for it.

So now I'm forging aheadPassed all the plutocrats who sold me outGo sob in your bedIf life is twice as pretty once you're deadThen send me a cardI'm still the optimistThough it is hardWhen all you want to be is in a dreamA dreamBa da da, ba da da, ba da da, da da daLa da da, la da da, la da da, da da

The final verse carries with it all the weight and momentum that has been building from the previous verses. Here we see the final shift, as the curtain is pulled away and no longer casts the singer in the woeful and sorry light as the beginning. In the first two lines, he's declaring a process of moving forward, despite money hungry businessmen. The next two lines can have several meanings, but what I've settled on is that seizing the day is vital. While you are alive, you have potential to accomplish anything, but somehow the day still seems mundane. It's twice as pretty when you're dead, because then it's permanent and that much more desirable. The final lines reveal the ultimate position of the singer. An optimist who hopes for the best, but acknowledges that the ideal world he has created exists in his head, in a dream, and that try as he might, those two worlds may never be bridged.