Every once in a while, there’s a song that comes along that resonates so deeply with me. Oftentimes, it’s something as obvious as a line that exactly represents what I’m feeling at the time. In some cases though, it evokes something that’s harder to explain.
I consider myself a very nostalgic and melancholic person. It’s not a surprise that I find myself gravitating towards works of art that elicit those kinds of emotions. The most recent song that made me feel that way was Roy’s Tune by the Irish band Fontaines D.C.
I admit that I’ve been putting off listening to the band’s discography for so long. Having heard the buzz around the band after the critically acclaimed debut album “Dogrel”, and the solid follow-up “A Hero’s Death”. It simply just wasn’t the type of music that I listened to at the time. 2 years later I stumbled upon a live performance of them covering The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”, which tempted me to give their music another chance. I don’t subscribe to the idea that something always happens for a reason, but the effects that Fontaines D.C. has had on my life these last couple of weeks can’t be understated. Had I even tried to listen to their music thoroughly in 2020, I sincerely doubt it’d evoke the same response.
As I implied before, it’s hard to pinpoint the reason why I feel a deep connection with Roy’s Tune. The lyrics itself doesn’t scream anything obvious, or at least that’s what I felt while trying to analyze it. One thing that jumps out at me is the “storytelling”-like delivery of Grian’s vocals. It’s as if we’re hearing the abstract thoughts of a person, and we have yet to figure out how it relates to each other.
Having listened to the song non-stop these last few days, there are a couple of lines that I feel try to imply a certain dissatisfaction towards life.
“The breeze in the nighttime would kill you stone dead.”
“There’s no warning and there is no future.”
“Hey love, are you hanging on?”
The line “There’s no warning and there is no future.” describes the bleakness of everyday life that can make you feel aimless, like you’re not the one who’s actually in control of your life. The outro, “Are you hanging on?” is chanted like a mantra over and over, as if the singer is trying to convince themselves to push through, however hard it may be.
It is human nature to find something to dissociate themselves from their struggles. In this song’s case, it looks towards nostalgia as the source of escapism.
And my hair was red
And my eyes weren’t dead
I was a cool cool kid on the curbstone scene
And the lights in my eyes they were evergreen
Like you never seen
If we consider the music video while dissecting the song’s lyrics, it became more obvious. We follow a farmer who’s seemingly content with raising his young family, but still you can’t deny that there’s sadness in his eyes. Despite his happiness while seeing his wife and daughter you can still see there’s something he’s struggling with. It became apparent in the next scene where he went on a night out with his friends. He looked happier, at least for just one night we can see that the lights in his eyes are evergreen again.
Nostalgia can be a double-edged sword. Despite the comfort we get from reminiscing about days gone by, there’s a certain amount of sadness to it when we realize that we can’t go back. “We didn’t know how good we had it”, and that’s when the regrets started to kick in.
At the end of the video, the man does what everyone should do after reliving the past. Move forward and return to reality. For me, Roy’s Tune perfectly threads the line between romanticizing nostalgia and being content with the present. It acknowledges the beauty of the past and why we hold those memories so dearly, but also remembers the importance of living in the present and facing your problems. The video ends with the man returning home to his family, ready to face his responsibilities, along with the joy and struggles that come with it.
Another person may have a completely different take on Roy’s Tune’s lyrics. I consider the possibility of me projecting my current struggles towards the meaning of the song, and to be honest, it may as well be the case.
At the end of the day, that’s one of the reasons why I find art so wonderful, art can be whatever you want it to be. We find solace in art, and if Roy’s Tune can keep me “hanging on” for just another day, I guess it makes it worthwhile.
