Resuscitation of a Dead Man

geoff says in an interview in AP that he's slowly adopted the view of humanism. he tells a story about how at the corner of where he lives he saw a guy on a bike get hit by a car and watched the EMTs revive him and he points out "what other animals bring each other back from the dead?"

I take it as someone who was in a very heavy depression who found a means out of it, but understands MORE SO now how valuable & precious things are, while not completely depressed anymore, there is still that feeling that time is running out & eventually he will lose everything in the end...a moment of clarity, one might say...

harpercollins.com/books/9780060934668/Resuscitation_of_a_Hanged_Man/index.aspx

This was a perfect opener for their new album as well as a fantastic first single. As far as I can see I'd suggest three basic interpretations.

The first I think is just a light-hearted quip (if such a thing exists with Thursday): "Let's restart it!" What better line to start a new album, especially an extremely emotional and well put together one? The song is a wake up call, a breath back to life of the listener. It says "come back to life for this album, you'll love it but more than anything you need to FEEL it." You can't take Thursday lightly and they are letting you know it, trying to wake you up. And boy does this song wake me up. That's the first impression.

But of course it goes much deeper than that. The second is what the actual lyrics are directly talking about: death and the fragility of life but also our incredible ability to restart it. This, in my opinion is why Thursday should be considered Gods of rock music. Who else can sound so desperate and torn but simultaneously so hopeful? I think it is the way we ought to be in a screwed up world this where there is as much reason to despair as there is to hope, and the two mix together in one beautiful, heart-rending moment. The song says, yes life is fragile, people are fragile, our bodies are fragile, but we can restart it. We can fix it. We can move on. But sometimes we only realize this once we are at the edge, about to dissolve into the blackness of death.

But I am getting to the third meaning, the broader metaphorical one in which the fragility of our bodies and our ability to resuscitate them is likened to the the fragility of our whole existence, our whole society, and our ability to fix and enliven it. This is why he includes the line "We all stand on a bridge thats been slowly burning." Yes this could indicate the bridge of life, so to speak, but it broader than that. This bridge is our whole existence. This is a very politically charged album. Like every good artist, Geoff's lyrics speak in direct images that work in their direct content and in their metaphor.

In this case, to bring all three meanings together, Geoff's opening song to the Album Common Existence is a plea to all of us to wake up and realize that our existence is fragile, that our world is slowly burning down, but that we have the incredible ability as human beings to revive it, to awaken ourselves and restart our flickering, dying hearts. You could be the breath of air that saves it!

With a drum hit and and a thousand voices (that's you, the listener, screaming along with him), we can utter that single word to this decaying and sputtering planet: live, live, LIVE!

Two more things I forgot to add. There is an element of desire, of wishing to be saved, to be resuscitated and revived from a life that has grown static and dangerous, to be reawakened to the reality of this existence. That is why it starts with the plea of "Ambulance, let me in, Don't let me stay here!" and ends with the very important change in chorus lyrics: When alone You see clearly I would know Now I want to live and love All these fragile things That gives me chills every time--in the course of this resuscitation, we've learned to love this fragile existence.

But this (secondly) is unfortunately found only at the edge, when one is near death, so-to-speak. I say so-to-speak because he's also using it as metaphor to not only say death but also the edge of emotions: the emo kind of despair that people make fun of, where you realize just how screwed up the world is and how blind and horrible the whole structure of our society is. At that point you truly realize the need for a reawakening.

Brilliant job Geoff. Thank you again for your music. You've helped me through some of my worst and best times. Oddly enough, this song and album fits right along with where I've come to.

god they are insanely good at what they do. im with the humanism thing, but i see how this song can be interpreted soo many ways. its almost beautifull. and i love how at the end it gets almost chaotic and sounds so formless, but ends with just a single voice. its such a perfect way to wrap it up. this songs powerfull for sure. Common existence is a perfect thursday album. they returned to their old style a bit, but showed their growth too.

I actually didn't like this song much at first and even now it's just ok. THe concept is great and I really like the part where he claims they're running short on air but I just feel like a lot more could be done to give the song that sense of urgency like in "At This Velocity". Not necessarily more chaotic, but a little more wild and powerful (I guess that kinda is chaotic, but then again chaos has a sense of unpredictability).

As far as interpretation, I heard the humanism thing as well. I doubt the song was just their way of saying "let's restart [our career]", but it does serve that purpose as the album opener. If you think about it, towards the end of the song, it kind of draws the listeners together, only to fall apart during Last Call as Geoff sings about broken unions and marriages. From there, he goes on to sing about the dream that was a result of his waning relationship with his father. Interesting how they link together.

thursdays first single off their new album Common Existence! great song. not sure what it means though.