The High Road by Broken Bells

Album: Broken Bells (2009)

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Songfacts®:

This bluesy number is the lead single from the self-titled debut album of indie rock twosome Broken Bells. The duo comprises James Mercer of The Shins and Brian Burton (a.k.a. Danger Mouse), who is one half of Gnarls Barkley. Mercer and Burton first met face-to-face backstage at the 2004 Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen and in May 2008 took the opportunity to collaborate on original music. One of their first fruits was the track, "Insane Lullaby," a song, which features on the 2009 Dark Night of the Soul Danger Mouse and Sparklehouse collaboration with David Lynch.
The record features Mercer on vocals, guitars and bass while Burton plays organ, drums, piano, synths and bass. The pair play all the instruments on the album with the exception of a full string section arranged by Daniele Luppi.
The Quietus commented to Mercer that the song's melody sounds Shins-like, whilst other tracks on Broken Bells show the influence of his indie rock band. Mercer replied: "There are probably elements that are similar. But it's also probably different in that Brian wrote some of it, so it doesn't all come from me. There are things that happen chord wise, and in the mathematics of song writing, that wouldn't have come up if it was just me writing on the song."
Danger Mouse added: "I don't think anything I ever did was trying to sound deliberate from The Shins. I think there's moments that sound like they could have come from The Shins, but that's because James' style and voice are very unique. And like James said, normally I would try something and come up with my own things musically, but knowing I was doing it with James I wasn't so worried because I knew once we worked together it would sound completely different. A lot of times when I was doing Gnarls it would just be myself in the studio and I would send a bunch of stuff out to see what was good, what did Ceelo like. This time, I was there crafting it with James so if there was I part I was stuck on or wasn't so sure about, or you know, he had an idea like 'Maybe you should do it this way'… it was much more of a collaboration. And it was good to put a bunch of ideas out there and have someone you respect in the studio say 'yay' or 'nay'."
The song juxtaposes an uplifting melodic chorus with a depressing lyric about not knowing if the dead can talk, or even not knowing if you're alive. The duo likes it that way. "I gravitate towards darker, minor sounds. That's where I feel comfortable," Burton told The London Times.
"The High Road is a lament," Mercer added. "Is this person happy? I'm in hell now. Sometimes you just repeat it over in your head - I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed."
In the video, directed by Sophie Muller (Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, Kings of Leon), the guys happen upon a series of strange events as they wander a dark road at night.

Comments: 9

Matt from New HampshireI believe he's talking about seeking enlightenment, the high road is hard to find.
Bound to wait all night, he's referring to a dark night of the soul.
He was hoping that this relationship with this woman would be the dawn to end all nights, to end his depression and negative perceptions.
The garden sorting out, it's the garden of eden. That's this process of awakening to a new life.
A break from the warfare in your house, it seems he's left his home situation out of frustration and found someone more like him. To each his own. A soldier is bailing out.
He seems to be saying that he knows he should do the hard thing and face the issues with his loved ones, but his depression is so extreme he doubles down and tries to move on, leaving his soul behind.
He thought he was taking the high road. But really he was curling his lips around the barrel, about to forget everything loves and cares for.

But he's taken a detour to that new life, probably in his love with this woman, who was questioning the same things and trying to end her depression. They worked at it together, using each other for self awareness.
But it doesn't sound like she made it through.
The recognition that it wasn't real love, that it was a trauma bond, an escape from reality, may have come too late.
And at a certain point, it's too late to change your mind. Your loved ones will move on.
And when loss has become your guide, always expecting it, that's all you're gonna get.
I think the point was to recognize that the depression and the strominess in thier minds was thier own doing, always being stressed and not taking care of themselves.

Thats why he says get your loving up, collect it at the borderline, before you open up your eyes.
Without that love, when he opens his eyes he sees his family as having abandoned him, never trying to understand him.
But with it, he realizes that he never understood himself, so how could they? If he's always stressed all the time he's not being himself.
The borderline is the place between sleeping and waking, the hypnagogic state.
When we reach this state, it blends our thoughts and our feelings, it balances our bipolarness, brings clarity.
Around 33 years old our "third eye" tries to awaken if not already. It sees deeper into things. But without having balance, it sees destruction without a counter balance, which does exist naturally.
With love the third eye will see thay balance and guide us through the middle of life, away from the extremes, and into our purpose and true nature.
That road is indeed, hard to find. Yet we were made for it.
Vt Vegan from VermontI'm obsessed with this song. While I know it was not intended to be about this... I can't stop thinking about how perfectly it relates to the jab. "Come on and get the minimum, BEFORE you open up your eyes." You had a choice to give up your personal health to the multi-headed army that wants "to get up in your head". You let loss & fear be your guide, and its too late to change your mind. Your body doesn't need an assortment of gene therapy & toxic garbage to fight off a "virus" you have never seen nor proven to exist. All the vaxxed people I know are constantly getting sick now and we see so many dying from heart attacks & cancers. But the beauty of these lyrics is the poetry is so good it transcends a specific meaning like I am giving it now and can be applied to so many situations and thoughts. Perfect song, love it!
Chip from High PointTo me, this song evokes mental imagery of lost souls drowning in addiction...So much of the lyrics make perfect sense to me when viewed in this light...even the name of the song conjures up drug usage taken to the extreme... When a person starts using recreational drugs it might be experimentally at first, but at some point it usually crosses over from being a fun experience to a "comforting" one...where the usage covers over emotional pain or distracts the user from what is "wrong" in their life and is no longer a "recreational" experience, but a "needed" one that helps them deal with unpleasant aspects of their life they wish to avoid... "Tell all of your friends goodbye..." a more perfect lyric can not be found to express the usual consequence of becoming an addict when describing the self imposed isolation the addict experiences in their now "normal" daily routine of "using" their drug(s) of choice...perhaps I'm biased because of my past, but nearly everthing lyrically, in this song, speaks to me as different aspects a drug addict encounters regularly during their time of "darkness"... when the emotionally "dead" walk... or even when those that OD'd and "crossed over" to the other side of life and are now really D.E.A.D. do they, as ghosts, hear us? Do they try and communicate? Once you become an addict, isn’t it a foregone conclusion that you won't be changing your mind about whether to "use" or not? So, taken in it's entirety, I see and feel like this is a lament about watching a friend or lover change from who you knew at one time into something almost unrecognizable at their worst depths of living hell they've voluntarily chosen to immerse themselves and everyone they know in...
Royal from Misplaced On The East CoastBetter late than never! 2020 & I'm hearing this for the 1st time...THANK YOU SPOTIFY!!! I'm trying to dissect the lyrics, but I'm not winning this one. O-well, this makes me listen more & love it deeper!
Mike from MiamiI agree with Peri. I'm pretty sure its "loss" not "laws". Which goes along with the 'fear based decision making' principals.
Peri The Blue Fairy from The AshesI thought it was, "It's too late to change your mind...You let LOSS be your guide"...To me THAT actually makes more sense if this is a lament -- and I believe it is...
Ginger from MarsThis song is about whatever we want it to be about. It's a haunting melody with cryptic words, which stir my hidden emotions from deep within the four corners of my soul.
Bill from Schererville, InI really enjoy this song and its melody. I could listen to it over and over. I am not quite sure what the song is about though.
Zane from Chippewa Falls, WiThis is a good song to listen to if you are not doing anything and just sitting back

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