Nell wrote:

Hahhhahhahha Man I laughed soooo hard! 250 bananas!...Christ! That's the best answer I've ever heard....Has Sarah read it yet? Hahhahhhahahhaaaa


Hahha let's hope the economic crisis holds on a bit longer...so the flight won't be more then 250 bananans :p

It'd be fucking awesome: To go: See Travis playing here, and then our play (where Leti could play Sarah..(as already said..right?))...and have a nice trip through Switzerland..or whichever town you like (hahha...did you get that?)....

haha anyway: Youse could sleep here for free, also free food and free transport system for you ;) YOU JUST HAVE TO COME HERE! YOU'RE MORE THAN WELCOME HERE :)

Just one fee: 1 Dulce de Leche please..and this sticky candy kinda thing, Ana I think, showed me once..or was showed in this "neglecting UK" thread....

So I'm working through all those comments on this site now...

or tomorrow?...it's sooo late...then I'm gonna work out the chords, riffs, piano lines, guitar lines, bass lines etc. etc.....Men I LOVE HOLIDAY :)

leticia wrote:

JUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! LOL!!! I'm still laughing!!!!

That's an amazing idea! I mean, flying to Switzerland, eating churros con dulce de leche, seeing Travis, the play. But not me playing Sarah. Wait, if it's a comedy, perhaps I will do well... ahahahaha!

Free food, free accomodation, free transport system... plain ticket at the attractive price of 250 bananas... that's heaven!

Mmmmm... I have to finish my career and get my European citizenship asap!

Turtleneck wrote:

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I was just wondering if you would need to get permission from the band to write a musical based on Ode to J. Smith? Especially if people have to pay to see it. Copyrights and all that fun stuff.

fenchurch wrote:

I thought she said she did in her first post?

Nell wrote:

Well I'm gonna go with Nikis version here: I'm gonna analyse it tomorrow and then see how and where the B-sides and those extra songs fit in. Talk it through with my friends and post it then here...

If you wanna read Nikis version once again (thanks very much Niki!)

Here:

Ok folks. I've spent one wonderful weekend with Ode To J. Smith and have not listened to anything else but this album, lol. First of all, I just want to say I think this album is brilliant, from the songwriting to the rockin' new sound, it's simply amazing and I'm so in love with it! Now, I'm sure everyone is going to have very different interpretations and storylines, but this is my song order and reasoning...(and thanks to the many boardies who helped contribute and work out these ideas along the way).

1.) Chinese Blues: As Fran said, this is the first Chapter in the Ode To J. Smith story. When I hear this song, I think of it as a grand introduction or overture to the opera, in which a narrator tells the story of a lonely town with millions of people, just struggling to get by "waiting on somebody just to give them a hand," one of which is J. Smith. The song foreshadows what is to come for J. The line “It’s the gun in your back, it’s the heart attack, it’s the way you look back before you step out in time to see the number of the bus that’s running you down” is very important to the overall theme of the album, one of having a lack of control over your own existence. A gun in your back and a heart attack aren't things you can control, just as we'll find out that J. is unable to control his fate. Also, seeing the number of the bus that’s running you down is a metaphor for J.’s death. Death ran him down…it wasn't self-inflicted, even though he has suicidal thoughts. This is first revealed in the last line of Chinese Blues - "There was nobody keeping him here."

On a side note, Fran mentioned that these songs can be listened to individually and still make sense and this is why the album isn't considered a full on "concept" album. I think Chinese Blues may have another more politically-driven meaning aside from it's importance to the J. Smith story. I think that it has to do with the state of China's government and rule over it's people and I'll leave it at that. I could be wrong.

2.) Quite Free: In this song we learn a little more about J. and find out that he really has some problems. Some people took the line "he hides inside his padded cell" literally, like he was in a mental institution. To me, the padded cell is his mind. We also find out that he has a girlfriend (let's call her Sarah). The reason I put this song second is not just because it introduces the characters, but also because it's sort of has a naive tone about being "free to chose your own fate"...when in reality, J. finds out the hard way later in the story that he doesn't get that opportunity.

3.) Something Anything: This song is all about J. trying to find "something, anything just to keep believing" and "just to keep him breathing for a moment longer." Pretty straight forward. He's feeling suicidal and he's just trying to grasp on to anything he can in his life that's good, but can't really find anything. He even feels distant from Sarah - "In my memory there's a part of you that's gone away."

4.) Get Up: This song is similar to "Something Anything" in that it's an attempt by J. to hold on to his life and not give up when he really feels he has nothing to live for. He sings "I wish someone would write me a song," which is his way of saying he needs someone in his life. In "Song To Self"...he obviously feels there is no one there for him and he has to sing his own song. Another important line in "Get Up" is when J. says "I wish someone would answer the phone, stop leaving me hanging on." I picture J. calling Sarah over and over and she's not picking up.

5.) Song To Self: Here J. is feeling at his loneliest and remembering all the memories he had with Sarah, although they're just distorted pictures in his mind now - "out of focus and unkind." He's calling Sarah over and over and she's not picking up the phone. So, he decides to leave a goodbye message and says "bye the time you hear this I'll be gone." This song is like his suicide note to Sarah. He's finally decided he wants to kill himself because the feeling is "strong and getting stronger" and he can almost "see the light" on the other side.

6.) Broken Mirror: Here J. is about to kill himself. He steps in the bathroom to get one last look at himself before he commits suicide. He's so disgusted that he smashes the mirror out with his fist and sees "a hundred shattered eyes in the looking glass staring back" at him. He also says "inside tolls the bell"...in his mind the time has come for him to finally end it all and he ends it by saying "this I know for sure."

7. & 8.) I totally agree with what Fer Fer said about this part of the storyline. It get's a little tricky because if this were a movie, "J. Smith" and "Long Way Down" would almost play out like a quick flash back and flash forward sequence. In "J. Smith," J. starts out by looking out of the window and has suicidal thoughts about jumping, but then he gets his "new plan" and decides he won't kill himself, but then he accidentally dies from the radio falling into his bath. This is fate taking over. The choir signifies that J. has entered heaven, but he's not wanted there and is sent back to Earth, I think, as a ghost/ spirit.

In "Long Way Down," like Fer Fer, I thought it was J. traveling back down to Earth as a ghost, but I like her idea of "Long Way Down" being like a chapter placed within the song "J. Smith." This is what Fer Fer said: First J.'s at the window, and he's looking out into the city and seeing it's a 'long way down'. It also works with the seagull swooping past the steeple, because then he would be at the same eye-line. And it's there that he changes his mind about killing himself and runs back to his hole in the ground. So he says they're never taking him alive (his new plan, will to live) and decides he's too young to die. -- cut back to "J. Smith" and it's too late because the radio's in the bath.

9.) Friends: This song is sung by Sarah. She hasn't been able to get a hold of J. and doesn't realize what's happened to him. She thinks he's ignoring her and has left her, so she's singing about all of the good things that she's done for him and how sad she is that he's not around.

10.) Last Words: After wondering what's happened to J. in the song "Friends," Sarah finally decides to listen to her answering machine and discovers the suicide message ("Song To Self"). She's playing his last words to her over and over on her phone. She's so upset, she feels like giving up, maybe even killing herself, but "in the nick of time," before she does it, she finds out she's pregnant with J.'s baby...and so she tries the best she can to pick herself up and carry on...even though she's standing on her own.

11.) Before You Were Young: This is the grand finale of the story in which J., as a ghost, finds out Sarah was pregnant and had their baby. He sings to his baby about the days before it was young and how much better things used to be back then. He knows "he'll never get a second change" at life, but tries to tell his child that he'll always watch over him/her and tells Sarah and baby how very sorry he is and that he loves them. :*(

THE END!

Nell wrote:

7. & 8.) I totally agree with what Fer Fer said about this part of the storyline. It get's a little tricky because if this were a movie, "J. Smith" and "Long Way Down" would almost play out like a quick flash back and flash forward sequence. In "J. Smith," J. starts out by looking out of the window and has suicidal thoughts about jumping, but then he gets his "new plan" and decides he won't kill himself, but then he accidentally dies from the radio falling into his bath. This is fate taking over. The choir signifies that J. has entered heaven, but he's not wanted there and is sent back to Earth, I think, as a ghost/ spirit.

In "Long Way Down," like Fer Fer, I thought it was J. traveling back down to Earth as a ghost, but I like her idea of "Long Way Down" being like a chapter placed within the song "J. Smith." This is what Fer Fer said: First J.'s at the window, and he's looking out into the city and seeing it's a 'long way down'. It also works with the seagull swooping past the steeple, because then he would be at the same eye-line. And it's there that he changes his mind about killing himself and runs back to his hole in the ground. So he says they're never taking him alive (his new plan, will to live) and decides he's too young to die. -- cut back to "J. Smith" and it's too late because the radio's in the bath.