Goodbye, My Son - Reported Failure
The new single off of the platinum selling My Name is freedom/My Name is William EP
Available for purchase 11/25/11
Streaming NOW
Formats: Digital download, autographed vinyl (Only the first 1000 will be autographed)
Tracklisting
1. Goodbye, My Son
2. My Name is Freedom (live from London)1. Goodbye, My Son
Lyrics: Beckett/Peters/Collins
Producer: Vin Peters
Recorded: Ocean Way Recordings - September 2011Music/Background:The second single from Reported Failure's new EP is a very moody ballad. It opens with KC strumming an acoustic guitar. Bass joins in playing every root note at a rather slow pace along with subtle drumming and a violin and piano playing the same notes. This sets the general tone for the song. Billie sings passionately in the soft register of his voice that he is very comfortable with. The song is all about melody which is one of the more beautiful that Reported Failure have ever managed to create. All the instruments on the verse work to compliment eachother and mostly Billie's vocals. The chorus shows exemplary vocal harmonizing from Billie, Matt, and KC who all stay in a soft vocal tone. Vin plays the same chords as KC on his electric guitar using a chorus effect to keep the tone very soft. He continues through the second verse. The bridge finds the violin and piano steadily getting more epic while Billie sings a couple of lines. Then the climax of the song begins with symbol crashes from Robert and the choir begins to sing the chorus. All the instruments get slightly faster but not so fast that they become the focal point of the song. Meanwhile Billie shows off his vocal range while the choir sings and Matt supplies a subtle repeat of Billie's lines that began the bridge. Billie sings to the heavens in the epic climax of the song before everyone sings the chorus as the song fades out.
Billie: This song is intense. Lyrically I don't hide behind any metaphors I just come out and tell people exactly what I think. This song was probably the most obvious choice for a single. It is more artsy and generally slower than most of our other singles, but when we looked at all of the songs that we had on the EP this one stood out lyrically and musically. People who don't follow us will probably be like "what the hell? tHat punk band has violins pianos and a choir in one of their songs", but true fans know we've done it beofre on b-sides and such.
Vin: Yeah. I think it is risky to make this song our single just because at this point people mostly know Manufactured Radio and now they know My Name is William. Both of those songs are completely different from this, but we love this song so much and it's melody that nothing else really would be the single for us to release.
Lyrics:Normal - Billie Beckett
Underlined - Matt CollinsGreen - KC, Billie, and MattRed - ChoirBlue - AllWhen I was young
Innocent and smiling
I wasn't alone
I had friends
I had family
Lived in the suburbs
Near Sac-Town
With my parents and my sister
We were like fairy tales
At the end when it's happy ever after
I remember my old house
Biking around
And causing trouble
Until dad pulled up
In the brand new car i was in love with
And so it went
For years and years
'Til one day
He left
He had but one thing to say
"Goodbye my son
We've had good times
Now they're done
Don't cry my son
I'm still with you
When I'm gone, gone, gone, gone, gone"I grow up
Towers of pain crush my family
I dealt alright
Joined a good band
Started a new life
I met this girl
Beautiful Sarah
I loved her
Made her a promise
"I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you"
We just made love for days
Never wondered
Where the world was
Til the news came
Baby's on the way
The news came just too late
Just after reality
That we couldn't make it
So I grabbed my keys
All I said was
"Goodbye my son
We would've had good times
Now it's done
Don't cry my son
I'm still with you
When I'm gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
And goodbye my love
We've had good times
Now they're done
I'm not over you, love
You're still with me
When you're gone, gone, gone, gone, gone"So maybe it's for the best
Whatever happens happens
But I think it's worthless
To feel like this
"Goodbye my son
We would've had good times
Now it's done
Don't cry my son
I'm still with you
When I'm gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
And goodbye my love
We've had good times
Now they're done
I'm not over you, love
You're still with me
When you're gone, gone, gone, gone, gone"Goodbye my son
Goodbye my love
Goodbye my son
Goodbye my love
So maybe it's for the best
Whatever happens happens
But I think it's worthless
To feel like this"Goodbye my son
We would've had good times
Now it's done
Don't cry my son
I'm still with you
When I'm gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
And goodbye my love
We've had good times
Now they're done
I'm not over you, love
You're still with me
When you're gone, gone, gone, gone, gone"2. My Name is Freedom (Live from London)
lyrics: Beckett/Peters
Recorded: London, England - opening night of the No Venues TourMusic/Background:[/b]
Suspense builds steadily. The crowd is cheering. In the distance someone is chainting "RF, RF, RF...". Then more people start chanting so that the entire crowd has joined the chant. An epic symphonic intro begins and the crowd goes completely nuts.The song starts immediately with Billie's vocals and loud, dominant drumming from Robert. The drumming goes along with boosted to the max bass from Matt and power chords also from Billie. The crowd can faintly be heard singing along. The loud start doesn't foreshadow the entire song though, because the prechorus gets quiet. Billie sings the prechorus with the confidence power and emotion. he lets the crowd help him sing the prechorus by sticking the mic out to them a couple of times. Meanwhile the drumming stops along with the bass and KC plays open chords with melodic lead guitar from Vin to back him up. Before the chorus Billie shouts a loud "Let's go London!" before passionately throwing down an awe inspiring vocal performance. The chorus comes with Vin playing classic rock inspired fills and Robert playing rather heavy drumming while Matt picks up where he left off.
Reported Failure perform the next verse and chorus with the same high level of energy with the crowd still singing every word. Then in the bridge Billie holds the mic out to the crowd who sing beautifully accompanied by more subtle instrumentals from the band. Then things build to as mid level and slowly get more passionate and intense with Billie taking over his place as singer and the rest of the band starting to get fired up again. By the end Robert, Vin, Matt, KC, and Billie are going full throttle plus something extra in a powerful climax to the song. The last few lines of the bridge are sung by Billie, KC, Matt and of course the crowd while everything else momentarily stops before the last powerful chorus.
Billie: What a fun night! It was just recently. This is the song we've been opening up with on the tour. So this is a recording of the first song we ever played on the No Venues Tour.
Matt: Look this up on youtube or something! You can't tell because this is just audio, but we all broke out our best stage moves, and people were getting pretty insane in the crowd.
Lyrics: My name is freedom
And I am the smoking gun
I start revolutions
I built America
I am misunderstood
I'm power's rebellious son
I've heard I will overcome
I've heard I will overcome
But now it's all collapsing
And I can't...
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this family
Or beat back all the demons
That try to take me
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this nation
Or take on the adversity
So you can still believe in me
My name is freedom
And I answer to no one
I was born in your hearts
Then I infected your minds
I fight oppression
I'm power's rebellious son
I've heard I will overcome
I've heard give it a few months and the war will be won
But now it's all collapsing
And I can't...
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this family
Or beat back all the demons
That try to take me
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this nation
Or take on the adversity
So you can still believe in me
I wish I could be stitched back up
That my wounds would be gone
I've had a hell of a fight
Maybe it's finally won
Through a troubled childhood, I still exist
I'm still being pissed on in adolescents
Are all these mountaintops just a mirage
Am I climbing to my death from a fall
Oh, can I...
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this family
Or beat back all the demons
That try to take me
Tie the knot on the ropes that
Hold together this nation
Or take on the adversity
So you can still believe in me