I started checking out some live Marianas Trench performances in preparation for their Feb. 6 concert in Pittsburgh, and I couldn't be more excited. Those harmonies! Those high notes, that Josh Ramsay is able to scream out without missing the next beat. I couldn't be more obsessed, or impressed.
This song crept up on me as a favorite from "Astoria," but hearing it acoustic creates a new intimacy. The recorded version sounds like it ought to to head up a parade, with a baton-baring Ramsay as grand marshal, but the stripped-down setting reveals a little more self-reflection. I love re-hearing it this way, and I love this as an anthem of reclamation, the underlying theme of "Astoria" that becomes clearer the more you listen between the lines.
"God, it's been so long wide awake that I feel like someone else
I miss the way that you saw me or maybe the way I saw myself
But, I came back to you broken and I've been away too long
I hear the words I've spoken and everything comes out wrong
Just can't get this together, can't get where I belong
Who do you love?
Well, I've been deep in this sleeplessness, I don't know why
Just can't get away from myself
When I get back on my feet, I'll blow this open wide and carry me home in good health
Screaming,
Who do you love? Who do you love?
From fable to fumble, from stable to stumble, nevermore
I'll say goodbye to my demons and all my break-evens, ever yours
I, I won't come back to you broken, I won't stay away too long
Even if words I've spoken seem to still come out wrong
I'll get my shit back together, get right where I belong
Who do you love?
Well, I've been deep in this sleeplessness, I don't know why
Just can't get away from myself
When I get back on my feet,
I'll blow this open wide and carry me home in good health
Screaming,
Who do you love? Who do you love?"
~Who Do You Love,
Marianas Trench, Astoria
