It's hard to pin down exactly what lead singer Ed Kowalczyk was thinking when he wrote this love song about a strange, one-sided romance, but the subject matter was new territory for the band. "Well, we never really write 'love' love songs," he told The Washington Post in 1995. "There's always something twisted about them. But as far as love songs, women just became way more important to us after we turned 21, as a band in general. Kind of broke up our boyhood solidarity as we started branching out into babes."
Because of the lyrics, "Pay me now, lay me down," many Live fans interpret the song as being about an unfulfilling relationship with a prostitute.
While Throwing Copper was making its slow ascent on the albums chart, eventually reaching #1 in May of 1995, Live played several high-profile gigs that expanded their fanbase, including Woodstock '94. This track didn't make the cut on the setlist, but they did perform it at Woodstock '99.
Like most of Live's songs, this was not released as a single in the US. This forced fans to buy the album, which went to #1. Because the track wasn't available for purchase, it was ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100 (a rule that was changed in 1998), but it did reach #33 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, #4 on the Modern Rock chart, and #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
This is one of many Live songs to feature water imagery, as Kowalczyk sings, "Our love is like water." When asked about the significance of water in his songwriting, he told the audience at the 2006 Max Sessions Unplugged in Sydney, Australia: "I can't come up with another metaphor that better describes the feeling of how I feel when I'm writing a song, which is fluid and it's just a really emotional, kind of open space, but at the same time feels very comforting, like when I think about getting into the ocean where it's warm."
He added: "Water has also been forever a metaphor for spirit in all the religious traditions. It just feels right to me and I can't stop singing about water."
After their previous album, Mental Jewelry, created a buzz, Live wanted to push their sound even bigger to attract more attention. "Throwing Copper is big songs, big feelings, big dynamics," Kowalczyk explained ahead of the album's 25th anniversary. "It was us taking the cart and throwing it way ahead of the horse, and we hoped the horse would eventually catch up. We had a 'let's build it and hope they come' attitude."
Boosting their sonics was also a practical solution considering their venues were expanding beyond small clubs. Bassist Patrick Dahlheimer noted, "While touring for Mental Jewelry, the rooms were getting bigger, and I wanted our new music to fill those places and beyond. With Throwing Copper, I just knew it had to be more grand."
The album was recorded at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, but it was mixed at a former Playboy resort in Wisconsin. The otherwise abandoned hotel housed a small recording studio that was once used by the defunct Playboy Records label. Kowalczyk said the studio was top notch, but it was strange that the band had to make their way through the darkened lobby full of discarded '70s furniture to get to the recording space.
This was used on season 3 of
The X-Files in the episode "Syzygy." It plays during a birthday party for two murderous teen girls. It also appears on the soundtrack of the movie
Love & Sex (2000), starring Famke Janssen and Jon Favreau.
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Suggestion credit:
Live Freak - Beirut, Lebanon
