So, I am finally back from the outer space of anesthesia and I have walked in here just to see that wierd look on all of your faces. Okay that was stupid I will just shut my trap. Anyway, time for the lyricist of the day #99. WOOHOO. Let’s see here are you people ready for the pick? Well here we go. Let’s take a look what digitaldreamdoor picked.
Digital Dream Door’s #99: Matt Bellamy of Muse
My Pick: Ray LaMontagne
Okay, don’t hit me I tried. I really tried agreeing on this one. While I was easy to shoo away Axl Rose in the last one because face it people he is not good, this decision was tougher. I have a lot of respect for Muse and their music. I even profiled one of their lines in the lyric of the day from “Knight’s of Cydonia.” But, this is the problem. One of their lines. Most of Bellamy’s other lyrics are not that great. They tend to be predictable and not tremendously engaging. He is definitely good, one of the better ones today. But, in the list of top 100 he falls short. I’d give him like 105, but this is top 100, the cream of the crop, the best of the best. If you don’t impress me I ain’t giving you the call. So, without further ado, I shall give my reasoning for picking Ray LaMontagne, the soft-spoken musician from Nashua, New Hampshire, who now lives in Maine. He has picked some fun places to live.
Okay, here is why I picked him and it is not because I like him because I like Muse too. Stupid conspiracists out there who think I am biased. It’s funny how paranoid I come off on the blog. People must think I’m at home with tin foil on my head because the googooplacans from Cybornian are attempting to feed my mind with anti-Matt Bellamy ideas. Well, that may have been the dumbest thing I have ever written but I obviously digress. Here are some lyrics that will change your mind too.
“Such the lazy Jackstraw,
Always late for tea
Never bothers to ring lately
Says the silly Sparrow,
‘There’s gossip in the grain,
Have you heard the…Oh you don’t say.’
‘Someday,
Someday,
A snow shall fill the trees
You’d best make warm the eves.’
Grown callous is the old Crow,
He’d mock even the sun,
Eyes as black as blood
Bone crack in the craw
He’d say,
He’d say,
Always a ‘Never mind’
Always a ‘Never mind’
Truth be:
The Beggar that holds his tongue,
Dines on none but air alone”
– “Gossip in the Grain,” by Ray LaMontagne released as his third studio album in October of 2008
This is the entire song from the raspy musician whose voice really is grainy. The song itself is beautiful, a true rustic beauty. The lyrics also propel him to the perfect #99 spot for him. In future years he does have room to move up, but now he fits this role well. Let’s break down the song. Their is wonderful symbolism throughout this song, mainly with the silly sparrow and the old crow. The silly sparrow who seems optimistic and the old crow whose grown callous and always says “Never Mind.” To me this sounds like a delicate admission from LaMontagne. What if the Sparrow is LaMontagne and the old crow is everyone who brought him down. His abusive, musician father who prevented LaMontagne from starting to play music at an earlier age because he was turned off to the concept. School, which proved to be a breeding ground for fights and a longing to leave. He, the Sparrow, has finally received that snow and realized that beggar’s can catch more then air looking up at the sky. You see why I like him better?
The Music Court 
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