Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

"Whatever You Want" is definitely my least favourite on the album. Musically, it is repetitive and both the verse and the chorus sound undeveloped, as if they just went with the first draft of an idea and decided it was good enough. Lyrically, it seems to be very obviously about a certain former president of a big country between Canada and Mexico. I don't think any Crowded House fans will disagree with the content, but I wish the lyrics had more razor sharp bite to it.
I dread the thought that this song will now be included at every Crowded House concert from now on just because it was a single.
1/5

The first video clip: no band members, but some guy sitting on a toilet and some kind of plot where you need to read subtitles, distracting from the song the clip is supposed to promote. I've read the name of the guy in the clip and understand that he is some sort of indie crowd celebrity and that presumably we should think "wow, he is in the video clip, isn't that cool". Unfortunately for me, it only makes me think (as with the remixes by Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra) that Crowded House seem desperate to ride the coattails of this guy, hoping his hipster credibility will rub off on them.
This first video clip: 0/5

Nick's artwork for the digital single: superb. 5/5 for his artwork.

 

Whatever You Want: all I can say is Thank God this song is obsolete. So glad those 4 years are over. I agree with many, I like the bass sound. Couldn’t get excited about it when it came out. I did look up Mac DeMarco (video guy) and now I love his stuff too. The song is better in the album flow but I’m not really in to it. 2/5

 

I also didn't like Whatever You Want at first, probably because of the video. I agree that musically it works better in the context of the album.

Lyrically, I think the telling of "whatever you want" goes both ways between narcissists and their sycophants.

It probably wasn't pleasant for Neil to write this song, but it strikes me that once he started he couldn't have stopped even if he wanted to.

4/5

 

Am not at all convinced it is only about that country though. There are a number of countries right now with the same type of issues, and have been in the past; doubtlessly will be in the future.

 

Indeed. I was thinking the same. Even New Zealand had a populist named Donald (who Neil also wrote about in “Bound To Rescue”, I think.) The fact that it applies in many countries makes it a better song (even if it makes for a worse world.) My country has one too and is about to re-elect that party purely on promises of cake and ice cream for everyone!

 

Counting will come later, I am in the the busiest two day stretch of the entire year, as our official school year starts next week.

Today's song is "Show Me The Way", written by Neil Finn and produced by Crowded House.

Crowded House – Show Me the Way Lyrics | Genius Lyrics


This song was mistakenly attributed to Liam and Neil Finn in some editions of the CD and LP, but is actually properly credited to Neil Finn alone.

 

Show Me The Way is where the album really starts to get good for me. This is a gorgeous sounding song; lovely sounding warm bass that has reverby, dream-like vocals washing over it, a memorable melody line and evocative lyrics (even if my reading of them could well be wrong). The bit about the smokers coming though the sugar cane with a burning cross makes me think of a nightmare scene with the KKK.

FWIW, a couple of quotations from Neil about Whatever you want I found surfing around. From the Grauniad:

And from the Beeb

But Finn stresses that Trump isn't his only target.

It warms my heart to read him say a**e and not a*s! (I starred them as I'm not sure as whether those words cross the decency boundary on the forum!)

BTW Anyone know how to insert quotations with the text on the yellow background like Lance often does please?

 

You have to have a premium account.

No, not really. You go up ot the "controls"nad there's one that sort of looks like a document, between the little film-stip icon and the floppy disc icon. Click on that, there's a drop-down menu and one of them is "quote".

Or you can just manually type [ Quote ]

at the beginning and [/quote] [ / quote] at the end.

 

Show Me The Way

This to me is a song that could have been on Time on Earth or Intriguer. I'm not sure it would fit on any earlier CH albums, so for me fits very well into the 2007-2010 era.

It's gentle, and subtle, but melodically engage. The lyrics are again very ambiguous, with emotional states described as seeing red or seeing blue. The arrangement is very interesting with the guitar and clavinet sounds, but also mysterious samples that I can't identify but which sound good. The harmony/backing vocals are also very good. Both in performance and also the arrangements. The spoken bits could have been a bit cheesy, but work here. I believe.

The whole thing sounds very good. This is a very good song which has been presented with a very suitable arrangement and performed well.

4.3/5

 

Show Me the Way

This has a nice loping beat, kind of like riding a horse. My favorite part of the song is the harmonies in the chorus, particularly on the last line (“to love you for real”). I think I would like this song much more if I could connect with the lyrics in some way.

3.25/5

 

Show Me the Way is another perfectly pleasant but perfectly forgettable song. There's nothing not to like but also nothing to stir the emotions or call me back for another listen. Having said that, I do like the loping rhythm. I just wish they'd been able to marry it to a better song. 3/5.

 

For those in the US who couldn't see the above link.

 

Show Me the Way - I really like the melody and the almost dream-like quality to the music. It's hard to describe exactly the mood it evokes. I'm with @DiBosco, this is where the album really comes into it's own. There's just so much to like about this song, the layered harmonies, the subtle shifts in mood and the lyrical picture that is being painted.

I actually think this is slightly better than the singles...

4.3/5

 

Musically, Show Me The Way reminds me of waves on a beach and getting away from it all. Although lyrically it starts out pretty dark, it becomes clear in the bridge it's that darkness that is being left behind.

I can't think of very many uses of color in Neil's lyrics, the words "I see red" might be another very subtle hint that he really wants to leave the past behind.

And I think that Liam and Elroy influenced the tone and arrangement of Show Me The Way a great deal.

4.6/5

 

Show Me The Way is one of the few album tracks I've yet to connect with at all. Maybe I need to live with it a while longer, but it's made little impression on me so far.

The verse drifts along nicely enough in a rather nondescript stream of consciousness fashion. Then it all goes a bit 70's lounge in the chorus with those faintly weedy falsetto harmonies. It strongly reminds me (especially the 'love you for real' section) of The Beatles' Because. In fact, I think I'll go and listen to that instead now...

2.75/5

 

To me this sounds a lot more like a sweeter Lightsleeper than Crowded House.

No biggie, though, because I mostly love Lightsleeper. The arrangement meanders a bit more than I think is typical for anything Finn and Froom have done (and I know that Froom is not the producer and only one member of the band contributing ideas and Neil is definitely the one on the Iron Throne here, but let's face it: you got Mitchell Froom in your band, you're going to listen to him.)

There seems to be a some attempt at a narrative here, but other than some allusion to colonization and/or war in the tropics, I don't get it and that bit doesn't doesn't seem to relate to the "show me the way to love you for real", bit. It seems to be about someone who is psychologically troubled: sad and angry and watns to let it go so he can show his love, but then there's this weird burning sugarcane and cross imagery, like it came from a different song. Ultimately I guess it's just kind of stoned. But MAYBE it's about a guy whose been traumatized by war trying to get over his post-traumatic stress syndrome or something. His PTSD(Post Traumatic Stresssyn Drome. -- Rip NOrm MacDonald.)

These are quibbles: I think this is a beautiful, dream-like song with a very nice, lush, relaxing and sweet atmosphere and some good harmonies --another song that, like that first one, sounds like a languid spring breeze.

But dammit, I hate the way the harmonies sound, to me this is the worst offender yet of the weird sound of these harmonies. They are just smooshed over the whole soundscape. But I won't dock the song for it, it can't help that it's been sat on and I feel sad for it.

4.2/5

 

This is kind of how I feel about this entire album. I couldn’t warm up to this album at all until I started thinking of it as an extension of Lightsleeper, rather than the band I used to know as Crowded House.

But it’s a neutered, watered-down extension of Lightsleeper, with most of the the things that made me love Lightsleeper so much sadly missing.

 

“Show Me the Way” has verses that remind me of a couple things: Temple of Low Men, and “Mood Swinging Man”. I certainly love them for that. The chorus, as Lance mentioned, has much more of a Lightsleeper vibe going on, and it’s definitely not as effective. I still like it, though, but it’s a tad underwhelming.

Overall, the track is maybe a bit meandering, but the verses very much have the classic Crowded House sound going on, more so than maybe any other song here.

4.2/5

 

From here on out it is more Lightsleepery, for sure.

I think the singles are plus "Sweet Tooth" have some Crowded House DNA in them, some vestiges of Nick Seymour's funky bass and that rhythm and blues side of Crowded House.

But you'd expect it to sound a bit Lightsleeper, wouldn't you? There's something in the ambient guitar textures and understated drums of this song of this that really remind me Liam's mellower stuff, like that "Lucid Dream" instrumental. It sounds very similar to that for me.

 

"Show Me The Way" is a good, solid album track, very nice to listen to. And it features the title of a well-known Split Enz song in its lyrics too. The song has a kind of dreamy feel to it and I agree with @ToneM that the vocal harmonies are very reminiscent of the Beatles song "Because". I do like this song better though. Very good drumming which adds to the dreamy mood. Overall, I guess I find this song to be pleasant enough, but it doesn't particularly move me in any way.
3,3/5

 

"Show Me The Way" is yet another average song on an average album. The melodies in the verse and chorus are pleasant enough and I enjoy it when it's on but I struggle to remember it afterwards (apart from the 'do do do do' bits which irritate me). I'm probably overrating it because I prefer it to the last 3 songs which are all my least favourites on the album.

4/5

 

I'm sorry I missed yesterday's discussion of "Whatever You Want," because my reaction to that song is in many ways a microcosm of my response to the album as a whole. I approached the release with a combination of anticipation and fear--anticipation because this was Crowded House, at least in its billing, and Neil has seemed to bring something different to Crowded House than to his solo recordings. On the other hand, fear, because I didn't particularly like most of Neil's post-Intriguer output, and because Liam was involved--Liam, whose talent is undeniable and who had shown himself capable of writing some truly affecting music, but whose musical sensibilities seemed so far from my own that I found them hard to take. Under those circumstances, given the combination of expectations and fears, "Whatever You Want" probably had no chance with me, initially something the caliber of "Distant Sun" might not have had a chance. But with repeated listenings, it's grown on me, to the point that I sometimes actively seek it out on its own. As others observed, the lyric is unusually direct for Neil, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. And the music has good forward momentum. It does fall victim to the messy production and mixing that characterizes so much of the album, but I still find a lot to like here.

4/5

I feel like I should like "Show Me the Way" more than I do. The components seem to be in place--quietly ominous music and lyrics in the verses, and some lovely (if badly recorded) harmonies in the chorus. Ultimately, I think that I have problems with the song largely because I can't make sense of it. The chorus is incongruous--the lyrics don't seem to fit with the verses, and they don't even seem to fit well with each other. "Show me the way to hell/Showme the way to love you for real." What am I supposed to make of that? Either the lyric makes no sense or it's extremely dark, resting on either a twisted concept of what love for real is or on a recognition that the "you" to whom the chorus is directed is actually a pretty awful person.

3/5

Lance, good luck with these last hectic days before the semester begins. I can empathize.

 

Show Me the Way: this one is really mysterious and groovy. I liked it even better when Liam did his tutorial on how he plays the guitar and bass line simultaneously. It has a Together Alone (album) feel, I think it would fit in on that album. I love it. 4/5

 

Show Me the Way

I agree that this song is the start of that really strong unified 'whole album' vibe that I really like about the record. I prefer it as a sonic experience than a 'song', but that's totally fine with me.

3/5

 

Honestly.....I cant remember it. Which suggests I'm not much of a fan. I have a feeling the chorus is ok but the verses are awful. I think I usually manage about 30 seconds of tracks 3,4 and 5........Track 6 is a cracker though. Anyway, 2/5....for the chorus, I think.