I don't know if any of you have seen that German interview that Jared did. But, it's one of my favorites. I bring it up because Jared mentions that whenever they have a song with particularly deep (or even disturbing) lyrics, they try to come up with a happy melody to go along with it -- because it results in an unexpected, bittersweet effect. The opposite is true if they have happy lyrics etc. etc. I think The Bucket is a pretty good example of that technique. The lyrics are clearly serious, but the melody -- while maybe melancholy -- isn't as serious.
I don't know if any of you have seen that German interview that Jared did. But, it's one of my favorites. I bring it up because Jared mentions that whenever they have a song with particularly deep (or even disturbing) lyrics, they try to come up with a happy melody to go along with it -- because it results in an unexpected, bittersweet effect. The opposite is true if they have happy lyrics etc. etc. I think The Bucket is a pretty good example of that technique. The lyrics are clearly serious, but the melody -- while maybe melancholy -- isn't as serious.