Bronze Vote: Aphex Twin - Vordhosbn
As for the winner...oh boy. This was a pretty tough decision (although not as agonizing as The River vs. In the Waiting Line or Mr. Kill Myself vs. Giorgio by Moroder), so I figured I would comment on how I feel about each of these songs in a bit more depth.
I'll talk about The River first since it was one of the first songs that really stuck out to me in this tourney. I never actually looked into this song's lyrics or meaning until now, but it's essentially about
a flood that kills everyone on Earth (AKA "The River"), and the people singing are praying that they will be sent to the afterlife. It's pretty grim
, and listening to the song is a VERY different experience when you have this information. Even without knowing that, though, this song stuck out to me right away because of its unique sound and fusion of English and Japanese. It's almost relaxing in a way...and it's also one of the few songs in this tourney that I didn't have to listen to more than once to really get a feel for during the nomination round.
As for Bear's Vision of St. Agnes, my experience with this song was much different. I said this during the nomination round, but this song instantly made me feel nostalgic because the lead singer sounds like Bob Dorough from Schoolhouse Rock, and those videos were a HUGE part of my childhood. Unlike The River, though, this song almost instantly made me feel like something was very wrong, and I looked into the lyrics pretty quickly after hearing it...it's kinda hard to parse since this song appears to be a part of a full story album, but from what I've read it's about
Bear (as in, a literal bear) sacrificing himself to provide food for his friend Fox
. Another pretty grim song, but also kinda hopeful in a way. That said, this is a song that took a while to really grow on me after the initial feelings of nostalgia.
So overall, we have
two incredibly morbid songs
; The River has a catchy and unique sound that got my attention almost instantly, while Bear's Vision of St. Agnes is a lot more emotional and took longer to grow on me. I think that if I were simply voting on which song I enjoy listening to more, I would pick The River; however, I think Bear's Vision of St. Agnes does a much better job at getting its intended message across (even despite me not having listened to the full album it comes from), to the point where it stuck with me for quite a while after hearing it for the first time. As someone earlier in the thread put it, the song is haunting. For that reason, while both of these are great songs, I think
mewithoutYou - Bear's Vision of St. Agnes deserves to win this tourney.
........jeez, this post turned out a lot longer than I expected. Oops : P
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