Glass Apple Bonzai’s song, “Suicide, You, and I” has been a frequent play for me. It doesn’t matter how suicidal I feel – completely, somewhat or not at all. It’s an absurd, camp, and entirely over the top staring into the eye of the subject. It’s everything that’s good about synthwave.
Sure, it’s about a couple of people carrying out a suicide pact, but the synthwave sound and tongue in cheek sampling and lyrics invert the subject into an absurd caricature of the situation, mocking the way society views suicide – it’s a coping mechanism. I think CBT therapists would approve of dealing with such thoughts by creating a work like this. I certainly do, and even just listening to it has help hose down suicidal thoughts.
I don’t think it’s meant to be making fun of suicide, or at least, not in a belittling way. It’s more like an acknowledgement of those feelings and saying, well what can I do with this? And thus the song was born. The Artist also has a song titled “A Synthwave Song About Suicide”, so it’s a topic that has some meaning for the artist, but really in this age, who hasn’t considered ending it all.
I couldn’t find the lyrics anywhere, so decided to attempt to transcribe.
And so the end is near
I see it all so clear
We hear the darkness call
It’s time to end it all
Your blood a sacrifice
The holy gift of life
Walk in defiled light
And give it all tonight
Last time we knew it was two of us
And we just have to believe (we just have to believe)
Breakdown a suicide, you and I
Envision how it should be
Forced hands and you and I do it right
With the knife on the floor (with the knife on the floor)
Breakdown a suicide, you and I
And We can’t take any more
On the darkest night
We’re paralysied with fright
But when I take your hand
I know you’ll understand
Our blood a sacrifice
The holy gift of life
Into the fire light
Until the end of time
Last time we knew it was two of us
And we just had to believe (we just had to believe)
Break a down suicide, you and I
Envision how it should be
Forced hands and you and I and we do it right
With the knife on the floor (with the knife on the floor)
Breakdown a suicide, you and I
And we can’t take any more
Last time we knew it was two of us
And we just had to believe (we just had to believe)
Break down a suicide, you and I
Envision how it should be
Forced hands and you and I do it right
With the knife on the floor (with the knife on the floor)
Breakdown a suicide, you and I
And we can’t take any more
We just had to believe
We Just had to believe
END SONG LYRICS
Anyway, I’m sure the joke isn’t for everyone and some will see it as crass, tasteless, or exploitative, but I for one, love the shit out of the song and reject any negative analysis of it.