Hello again Corey. You're doing a public service. I've been listening "hard" to this and a couple other songs, largely because of our discussion(s) earlier in the week. It actually got me writing, you could say it "inspired" me. This is really the only band that does that, and while I already had some things to write about (before they fucking consume me alive), this particular song put me in a specific frame of mind, thinking about a few specific people. I ended up with 3 pages, and even if I try to speed it up, there's no way to make it less than a 5 minute song without speeding it up to the point that it sounds forced. It's not a tribute, though it is directly "inspired" by this song, it's more like my own personal take on the ultimate frailty and impermanence of life, with references to a handful of people; my dad, mom, sister, my drummer, a girl I knew in a town called Willimantic CT (the place that 60 Minutes called "Heroin Town"), and my ex. I'm actually *scared* to sit down and record it. I wish this shit was just a little easier, or even a little easier for a little while so I could catch my breath.

Adam Rainstopper Heya man. So sorry it took me so long to reply to this! Anyhow, that's really badass stuff. I don't know if i've mentioned this to you before, but I come from a city in Maine which is basically known as the drug capital of the state, more or less (Lewiston). I'm a recovering heroin/opioid/crack addict actually haha. Anyhow, never been to that particular place in CT, but I can certainly imagine what it is/was like. Hey, this might be a weird question, buuuuut... Is there some way we can exchange private messages on YT? Or some other medium, whatever it may be? I'd like to talk to you about some things and it doesn't make sense to do so through YT comments, so.

Adam Rainstopper Also, i'm curious: what other songs have you been analyzing (for lack of a better term)?

Yeah, there should be a private message link on youtube, toward the top of any user's profile page, but there's facebook links there too, and I use the same name on gmail, no punctuation. So send me a message wherever.

For ALL MY friends that chased that BOOZE AND FENNY instead of FREEDOM

Nefarias Bredd Yes.

Unfortunately understood...

3:18

“The squeezing hands of fate.”

Gustavo Bitencourt I can relate to you bro. propagandhi has saved my life countless of times. when my dad died, the rod himself wrote me back with the most heart felled message. now we are friends through Facebook. are u Argentine or Uruguayan? asking because of your name. Saludos amigo!

longliveavalon wow, that's awesome man!! He does seem like a genuinely nice guy. John K Samson is my favorite songwriter in the world, but he fits so well with the weakerthans and his solo stuff that i think him leaving was the best thing to happen to propagandhi, so Todd could join. Many of his songs are, to me, underrated gems on their albums, and, at this point, are what i look foremost, with this sense of curiosity, like "what is he bringing to the table this time?" Ahaha. As you said in another comment, my only disappointment with Victory Lap was that there's only two of them this time. I'm from Brazil, my friend :)

lol

Gustavo Bitencourt I don't know what's going on in your life, but I hope all is well.

If this song saved your life then you must be having a bad time..

carlos de la torre Same.

Yeah i agree. But that's just the truth hey, it is depressing sometimes. Everyone loses an unfathomably bad amount of friends and family where I live. so this song instantly meant a lot to me. The fact the riffs are off the dog just broadens the greatness of the song, and the whole release, every song is deep and totally af as fuck

I heard it's about Todd's father

longliveavalon Yeah, that was the sort of genesis of this song, but to say it's "about Todd's father" isn't quite accurate, since it's pretty obvious the lyrics are meant to transcend that one thing (I mean, look at the final verse where he includes the listener in the despair).

@@longliveavalon It was inspired by the death of Todd's father. Todd has said his father and him were estranged due to his father's alcoholism, but that Todd tried reaching out to his father right before he died during the recording of Victory Lap, and that's where Todd got the inspiration for this song.

The song is actually about addiction, but that's plenty applicable. The song was inspired by the childhood of Todd Kowalski (the singer on this song), whose estranged father was an alcoholic throughout much of his life. He died during the recording of Victory Lap and Todd has said he regrets that he never got that emotionally close to his father, especially in his last days.

We need more ROD!

Erik B Maybe he simply decided he didn't want to sing as many songs this time around? This song alone though makes up for the lack of Todd vocals elsewhere. Amazing stuff -- really cool to hear him actualy sing, y'know, with clean(ish) vocals. Works well for this song, I think he emotes really well.

This guy's an idiot.