Happy Monday, peeps! Next up in the “Behind the Song” feature is “Dead Men.” What can I say? Unless you’re that man or woman who’s had the pleasure of marrying your high school sweetheart (in which case, the rest of us hate you, LOL!), you’ve been “the rebound.” It seems that when most of us are in this situation, we can only see the good surrounding us and the signs that might be obvious to others? They just fall by the wayside as we blissfully ignore them. By the time we realize we’re the odd man/woman out, it’s too late. We’ve fallen into the black hole of oblivion, gutted and heartbroken, taking one final gaze at something beautiful that’s been lost. There’s your chorus, good people. ;)
The song starts out with BJ providing a great intro on the drums. He’d taken what I’d done on the demos and just improved on it as only he can. The bass line here is something that just fits the song nicely. There are spots on this album where the bass truly carries the song. Here, it provides warmth and groove, pushing it along. Tony’s keys accent the song perfectly, with the keyboard tones conveying sadness and remorse. The guitar pre-chorus gives off a Van Hagar/Sammy Hagar vibe, while the chorus reminds me of something from a Ratt album. As usual, the influences of multiple bands abound. Strangely, I think the song has more of a 70s feel, given the aforementioned artists. Roy’s vocals convey the feeling of heartbreak as if he’d written the lyrics himself. The man can just flat-out sing. Finally, Erik Johnson tricked out the backing vocals a bit by simply moving the “Dead Men” shouts to a different spot in the chorus, which totally changes the vibe. Love it.
Funny backstory? I’m actually great friends with the girl for whom this song was written. And while she “slipped back into her history” for a moment, she was back in town after 4 months of misery with her ex! We never reconnected from a dating standpoint. However, we still share a bond of friendship and are extremely happy that the other has found success, love, and happiness.
Hope you enjoyed the read.
Mike
Hope you enjoyed the read.
Mike