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I love a good song when I hear one.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sRTZMMFt4]
Sadly, there has been an empty void of good songs coming from our local artists. Too much commercialization has always proven to be a bane to artists since time immemorial.
But, every now and then you hear good songs coming from out of nowhere nd from the most unlikely sources.
I spent some time following Glaiza’s band a few months ago but I didn’t really listen to their music unless they were onstage. I did get a copy of their CD eventually but wasn’t able to get any of the embers to sign it although I spent a godawful amount of time with them from gigs to the recording studio.
I was able to witness Glaiza’s effect on the crowd. How they seemed to move under a hypnotic spell when she opened her mouth and started to sing.
Country Tree was one of the songs people seemed to respond to the best during those gigs so while listening to this song in the car, I started to try and decipher its lyrics. Kids, it’s a fun thing to do.
Lyrics are fun when they’re crafted masterfully and provide a lot of meaning to the people who listen to the songs. Now, let’s get one thing straight, this is a very subjective matter and your views may be different from mine and the artist may have an entirely different meaning from what we perceive it to be. Or it could just have no meaning at all and was basically made up so that there’d be words accompanying the instruments on the song.
Although I’ve heard this song a hundred times, I had to clear my head and treat it as an entirely new song that I pretended to hear for the first time. Here’s my honest review about the song and what I think it means.
Country Tree starts out with the opening chords and clapping sounds. This immediately tells me that this isn’t the usual run of the mill type of pop song you’d hear on the air.
The opening lines are mysterious and is a basic call to arms as the artist identifies herself with the rest of the crowd as “one of them”.
The night is young, we minions have to wait to fly
Throw your disguise,
We’re (a) million miles away (million miles away)
Out of sight, come alive
I thought the chorus came in abruptly and had a feeling of being disconnected from the verses. The first three lines in the chorus are very predictable and this efficiently reels in the crowd to sing along.
Hold your head up high
Listen to your voice
Rising through the noise
It’s been too long since we’ve locked ourselves in here
Step out of that fear and play again
It’s an effective chorus that slowly gives the listener the strength and courage to take command over one’s own fears and insecurities and put in some effort to stand up and be accepted for who they are as a person.
I wasn’t sold on the second verse but it basically mirrors what the song’s chorus is trying to say about leading double lives. The last line did pique my interest though… is she talking about just accepting the status quo or is she giving those who are hiding a voice? Is she bringing to fore in a song that those who are afraid of being discriminated against just live under a veil and adapt a more tolerant stance on the people who would view them differently? Are they really not that affected?
Shuffled lives selling everything they find
Truth and lies bought to hide the lines
Hoping it would soon disappear
Out of sight, we really do not mind
After the last line which has a feeling of despair and defeat in it, Glaiza brings us back to the chorus which lifts your spirits up again. It is an excellent use of peaks and volleys in a song.
And after that chorus we’re treated to a coda(?) that further gives enigmatic lyrics. What caught my attention again were the last lines
After that we’re treated to a very unique approach to ending a song. I’m normally used to a solo section after the second chorus but they didn’t go into that. Instead what you get is a masterful blending of all the instruments building up and then everything goes quiet. The last part of the song brings us full circle to the intro section with the clap along vibe.
During the live gigs, the crowd actually claps in sync with the rest of the band. And the band shows their solidarity by stopping everything to clap along with the crowd. This type of call and response always gives me goose bumps. And it shows that Glaiza and the rest of the band know what they’re doing.
After thinking about the song over and over for an hour or so, I finally understood why the LGBT crowd seem to love it. This is the song for the people who are discriminated against, are in hiding or just don’t feel like the rest of the world understands them. It brings out inner strength and Glaiza’s voice is the perfect tool to evoke strong emotions as well as soothe frustrated hearts.
I still don’t know why they chose the title Country Tree for this song because there is no mention of any country or tree in it. It’s cryptic and I may never find out why. It’s still a great song though. Easy to sing along with and has some really good meaning in it. I wonder why they haven’t turned it into a national LGBT theme though.
What do you think?
(As I look back on this writing, I realized I was rambling on and on without any thought put into coherence or any sense of structure. I just typed as I went along and I didn’t want to edit anything out or improve upon it. I hope you like it though)