Take It From Me

Album: Egomaniac (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single from Egomaniac, the follow-up album to Kongos' breakthrough set Lunatic. Bassist Dylan Kongos explained to Artist Direct: "It sounds like the band. It's definitely a nice bridge between Lunatic and Egomaniac, it was kind of a frontrunner for the first single that we were gonna pick for a long time because it wasn't too far out. We thought it would connect to our base and at the same time it's a progression forward, and sonically it's starting to do more of what we wanted to work on this new album."
  • The song was written by drummer Jesse Kongos, who also sings lead. Dylan Kongos said: "Lyrically, I think if all you were to hear was the chorus, you may see it as just a bravado song, but I think when you take into context the verses and the bridges, you start to see the irony in the song and the deeper meaning behind it, that basically momentum is difficult to stop, whether it's your ego taking control of you or anything that is out of your control or will that starts to get momentum, you start to recognize that with the chorus, which is, 'nothing can stop me, nothing can hold me back.'"
  • This was penned during the time that Lunatic took off for Kongos in the States. When they played it live the band knew it had potential as the groove got concertgoers moving.

    However, when they came to lay it down for Egomaniac, something about the live version was getting lost. Dylan Kongos explained to Radio.com: "Recording it was a difficult process, because the live version was not coming across as we wanted it to. We changed it up a bit and now it's got a really good mix of something studio-sounding and the live energy.

    The arrangement changed: when we played it live, we had a long slide guitar solo in the middle of the song; it worked live [but not in the studio]. We also added layered drums: Jesse played every African drum and every western drum kit to make a big huge sound."
  • Jesse Kongos sings on the bridge:

    Nothing can stop me
    Nothing holds me back
    Think you could slow me down?
    There ain't no turning back


    He explained the lyric to ABC Radio: "It's not saying 'nothing can stop me,' it's obviously a self-aware lyric. It's about the momentum of an impulse or an ego or a personality where something inside you can kinda take over, and you have no control over it once it starts."

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