Summer In St. Claire

 I first heard of Brandtson when I downloaded this song to go on my "Claire" cd. (I was being self-indulgent and preparing myself a cd full of songs that had my name in the title-I found a lot more than you would expect, and most of them weren't horrible songs, either...try it with your name sometime, I'm sure you'll love it.)  Anyways, I was just doing a random search for my name, and I downloaded this, among other songs.  Now, I had no idea this song was going to be so wonderful.  Since then I have become a big Brandtson fan and I went to see them in concert twice.  
 Anyways, getting back to the song, "Summer In St. Claire" blew me away, initially because it's got a great musical foundation-and then I noticed the intertwining of the lead and background vocals, and it just sounded great.  It wasn't until later that I actually sat down and read the lyrics.  That was when I decided that Brandtson kicks ass.  The music sets the mood and the vocals aren't boring and monotonous like so many popular Emo/Punk bands these days.  They're not just screaming sentences into a microphone, never even considering that one could, conceivably, use more than one note for the vocal melody of a given song.  (Don't get me wrong, I love Emo/Punk music, but I need some variety in my life, I can't handle an entire song consisting of fast guitars, loud drums, and a skinny guy screaming non-stop without even a hint of a change in voice-tone...) These guys can sing well, and they do, plus they sound like they mean it.  
 Anyways, now to the lyrics.  I'm sure no one needs to read what I say here to get the general idea of what the song is about, but I'm gonna say it anyways. This song is about a guy who's afraid to disclose his feelings to a girl who may have felt the same way at some point, but now it's apparent that she may not share them. It's October now, and he hasn't seen her since the summer, but he's still reminded of her, and he wonders what might have happened if he had said what was on his mind.  His memories of her are cold because he still hasn't been able to tell her how he feels, and there's still that hopeful doubt that won't let him move on for some reason, and he starts to think maybe he should just  "let it go."  
 Well, he obviously can't just forget about her (the way she looked at night, and why was she crying that one time?) and he can't ignore his emotions anymore, because they're just getting stronger and stronger the longer he goes on wondering.  
 Now he lies in bed and thinks of the things he should have told her, knowing he's "gotta figure this one out," for his own good and hers, as well, and now might be the time to do sit her down and talk things over until they have the situation figured out. They've both had time to be alone and reflect upon their friendship/relationship and consider the different possible directions it could lead the two of them. They're both had "some time to heal." 
 With a hint of bittersweet pessimism he considers how their discussion "about all that we've loved and lost and what it's cost" will play out. He still entertains idealistic thoughts of how he could go running to her when things go wrong and being there when her run to him, but he doesn't have any real hope left.  
 He knows it's going to hurt no matter how much he tries to prepare himself for that inevitable sinking moment, but he doesn't want her to know what she's doing to him.  He's trying to hang onto what little pride he still had left, and he doesn't want to cause her any guilt, either.    
 But he knows it's useless to try to be strong for her, because she'll see through his act where his wounds will reopen and bleed out everything he's been keeping inside for so long.

well StarClaire....i consider you a very lucky person to have the name claire and to be so self-indulgent (not a bad thing). to live a life without knowing of brandtson....how sad. i'm glad you saw the light.

Hey! Some one finally read my story and responded! That makes me smile. =) And I must agree with you-life before Brandtson simply cannot compare to life after my little discovery-And thank you for forgiving my utter lack of modesty. =)

Omg! Claire! Honestly, thats how you found out about these guys? Same here, except for my name is Shannon, as in "Shannon Said..." :D That's so fripping cool! There's not many songs to my name, but "Shannon Said" makes it all worth it!

that is sweet! i wish i was as lucky as you both seem to be