And doing laundry is not a bad metaphor to use to describe a tumultuous relationship--being cleansed and wrung out and hung up--but I truly admire the degree to which Cold War Kids committed to the gag.
But it's not just that the lyrics are clever, or that the music video is inspired--one of the all-time great fake movie trailers. Clever is one thing--clever and rowdy at the same time is something else.
There's a part in OK Go's "Do What You Want" where someone's just beating the shit out of a cowbell in the background. I imagine the band playing like normal, but behind them there's a dude in unzipped coveralls, covered in dirt and sweat, just going berzerk on a lead pipe with a sledgehammer.
That's kind of what "Hang Me Up to Dry" is like, except instead of one percussion part, it's the entire band. The guitar and piano set the tone with the staggering--both in magnitude and in style--backing instrumentation, and it never stops being ugly and noisy. It sounds like a drunk guy tripping down a flight of stairs and crashing through the drywall. I'm not sure you can play this piano part on a keyboard or a baby grand--you have to find a discarded upright on the street, then take off the cover, disconnect a couple strings, completely detune a couple others and kick it over and over. This is not a song you play on a piano you like.
But it's not just that the lyrics are clever, or that the music video is inspired--one of the all-time great fake movie trailers. Clever is one thing--clever and rowdy at the same time is something else.
There's a part in OK Go's "Do What You Want" where someone's just beating the shit out of a cowbell in the background. I imagine the band playing like normal, but behind them there's a dude in unzipped coveralls, covered in dirt and sweat, just going berzerk on a lead pipe with a sledgehammer.
That's kind of what "Hang Me Up to Dry" is like, except instead of one percussion part, it's the entire band. The guitar and piano set the tone with the staggering--both in magnitude and in style--backing instrumentation, and it never stops being ugly and noisy. It sounds like a drunk guy tripping down a flight of stairs and crashing through the drywall. I'm not sure you can play this piano part on a keyboard or a baby grand--you have to find a discarded upright on the street, then take off the cover, disconnect a couple strings, completely detune a couple others and kick it over and over. This is not a song you play on a piano you like.
