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Matthew Ryan — Dulce Et Decorum Est
Album: Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State
Avg rating:
6.4

Your rating:
Total ratings: 621









Released: 2008
Length: 6:57
Plays (last 30 days): 0
I'm riding on a train, well you know
Cute girl in an English hat
Why'd it have to rain like that?
And in pulling off her scarf I let go
It floated like a wounded bird
Her mouth the shape of Spanish words

Well, you know I think I can
Vanish with the evening rust
Join the ghost that haunted us
Well, you know I think I am
Heroic in a failing way
For some of us it goes that way

And in another place while I slept
Nothing gave and nothing changed
Every day was more the same
Once upon that hill we came to
We stretched and leaned and threw some chairs
The moonlight in your dark black hair

Well, you know I think I can
Vanish with the evening rust
Join the ghost that haunted us
Well, you know I think I am
Heroic in a failing way
For some of us it goes that way

Dulce et decorum est, my dear
It's sweet it's right, there's nothing for you here here

When someone lets you down you free fall
To that bigger hand around your wrist
You'll swear you never wanted this

Well, you know I think I can
Vanish with the evening rust
Join the ghost that haunted us
Well, you know I think I am
Heroic in a failing way
For some of us it goes that way

Dulce et decorum est, my dear
It's sweet it's right, there's nothing for you here here

Now I'm pouring something cold down my throat
And I'm thinking about you and me
Once we had a drink or two or three
But those cold and autumn stars refused
We were swimming in that frozen lake
Our eyes the sound that sirens make
Comments (78)add comment
 md1ncb wrote:

-and you don’t need the Oxford comma after Horace. 

You do.  The rhythm of the sentence requires it.
 Cynaera wrote:

It's official -  you've gone round the Western Slopes. How can you call this song "cliched"?  Did you read the explanation of the lyrics?

Please feel free to submit YOUR amazingly-erudite lyrics for approval.  *taps foot impatiently*  I'm waiting...


Sic 'em Cynaera!
I never got the chance to meet you... but we shared a lot of the same interest in our musical taste.
Extremely strong similarity to Drunken Angel, off Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels album. I like this song, but it's almost beat for beat similar in large measure.
Classy, melodic, upbeat, original. Very Likeable Syncopation. 8/10
 md1ncb wrote:

Well, yes that’s correct but the translation means something like ‘it’s good and honourable to die for your country’ which Owen went on to call that ‘old lie’ and goes against the ‘yeeehaaa’ feel of this song ( which I quiet like).
 
That old lie has killed so many of us
That great intro -!Gets me every time ! Great work guys and gals !!🎶🐾🎶🐾🎶🐾🎶🐾🎶🐾👀
Like the Waterboys !! 👍
 rosestefan wrote:
 boober wrote:
Sounds like................Wilco!
 Thought so, too! Quite a similar voice.

 
I thought it was a Replacements song I'd never heard before. 
 boober wrote:
Sounds like................Wilco!
 Thought so, too! Quite a similar voice.

 md1ncb wrote:

Well, yes that’s correct but the translation means something like ‘it’s good and honourable to die for your country’ which Owen went on to call that ‘old lie’ and goes against the ‘yeeehaaa’ feel of this song ( which I quiet like).
 
-and you don’t need the Oxford comma after Horace. 
 Proclivities wrote:

That Latin phrase ("Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori") long preceded Wilfred Owen's poem.  It's from the Roman poet Horace, and is about 2,100 years old.
 
Well, yes that’s correct but the translation means something like ‘it’s good and honourable to die for your country’ which Owen went on to call that ‘old lie’ and goes against the ‘yeeehaaa’ feel of this song ( which I quiet like).
 bjrubble wrote:
I like the song, but never noticed the title before.  I'd heard the story of Wilfred Owen, but this was new to me:
On 4th November he was shot and killed near the village of Ors. The news of his death reached his parents home as the Armistice bells were ringing on 11 November.  It actually makes me kind of angry at the song now.  It's a nice ditty, but it doesn't justify the title it appropriated.


 
Don't be angry; this guy didn't "appropriate" the phrase.  That Latin phrase ("Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori") long preceded Wilfred Owen's poem.  It's from the Roman poet Horace, and is about 2,100 years old.
acceptable, nothing more and nothing less
Mediocre 
 
 voicers wrote:
Reminds me of Steve Forbert. Remember Steve Forbert? Can you play some Steve Forbert, Bill. :)
 
Yes, I was thinkin' the same thing. I loved that first(?) album, Alive on Arrival; almost every track was great.
This song also reminds me of Josh Ritter.
.well written, good song...I may always skip away to the psd, but well done...not for your lack of skill I leave, but my lack of nerve in listening.
sit amet adipiscing et
See pianocomposer's comment below ...

Note 11: When a candle flame is blown by the wind, the sound it makes is called "guttering."
Sounds like................Wilco!
 4merdj wrote:
Wonderfully crafted lyrics, moi dixit! {#Sunny}
 
You actually hear the lyrics? He's got a sock in his mouth.
Well initially I didn't think I liked it.
Then I noticed I was tapping my foot and smiling, while intrigued by the lyrics.
Suppose I must like it, then
 crockydile wrote:
An amazingly cliche song. Just look at the comments!!
 
It's official -  you've gone round the Western Slopes. How can you call this song "cliched"?  Did you read the explanation of the lyrics?

Please feel free to submit YOUR amazingly-erudite lyrics for approval.  *taps foot impatiently*  I'm waiting...

 voicers wrote:
Reminds me of Steve Forbert. Remember Steve Forbert? Can you play some Steve Forbert, Bill. :)
 
Me too!

woot :)
Wonderfully crafted lyrics, moi dixit! {#Sunny}
 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:


It sounds like Matthew Ryan against Nevada to me.{#Cheesygrin}
 
Um, why Nevada?  I must've missed something somewhere...  Oh, wait.  The Silver State.  Geez, is that US? I always figured we were the gold state.  Go figure.   (My mom once drew a map of the United States, with the various states' boundaries. She left out Nevada, blending California into Utah.  No one who looked at the map noticed anything wrong.) 

pianocomposer's post is startling and revelatory for me. The poem itself breaks my heart, but the explanations of the numbered terms even more so.

An amazingly cliche song. Just look at the comments!! <In the voice of Tim the Enchanter>
 jlind wrote:
This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who
 

The song itself sounds like "Don't Get Me Wrong" by the Pretenders. Thought that's who it was since it was turned way way down to avoid offending the others in the room.
Don't know 'Drunken' but would love for RP to play it. {#Wink} Hint Hint Bill & Rebecca

 
bam23 wrote:
OK. Again: Does anyone hear Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams? The parallels are so strong that it's all I hear during this song (although the words he is singing tend to sit uneasily next to hers).
 


 michaelgmitchell wrote:
 'Sactly. Can everybody just shut up about who/what it sounds like? Who cares?
 

It sounds like Matthew Ryan against Nevada to me.{#Cheesygrin}


 Dog_Ear wrote:
THis reminds me of, sounds like, maybe its, a rip off sorta like . . . um?! Can you play something like it?
  'Sactly. Can everybody just shut up about who/what it sounds like? Who cares?


I like the song, but never noticed the title before.  I'd heard the story of Wilfred Owen, but this was new to me:
On 4th November he was shot and killed near the village of Ors. The news of his death reached his parents home as the Armistice bells were ringing on 11 November.  
It actually makes me kind of angry at the song now.  It's a nice ditty, but it doesn't justify the title it appropriated.

Singer 1
THis reminds me of, sounds like, maybe its, a rip off sorta like . . . um?! Can you play something like it?
 voicers wrote:
Reminds me of Steve Forbert. Remember Steve Forbert? Can you play some Steve Forbert, Bill. :)
 
Here! Here!  {#Yes}


Thought I heard a bit of the Waterboys in this one...
OK. Again: Does anyone hear Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams? The parallels are so strong that it's all I hear during this song (although the words he is singing tend to sit uneasily next to hers).
Sounds a lot like a Petterson Hood (of Drive By Truckers) solo tune. Pretty good song.
Who is this singing backup?
Reminds me of Steve Forbert. Remember Steve Forbert? Can you play some Steve Forbert, Bill. :)
 casey1024 wrote:

Lyric is Latin - meaning "how sweet & fitting it is"
 
This is related to the most famous poem from World War I. (source: link). The translation could also be "It is sweet and right." The song sounds derivative but the lyrics are advanced. We have a similar saying in English: How sweet it is. I gave the song an 8 because it got my attention. The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country


Dulce Et Decorum Est


Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
 midreaming wrote:
voice sounds a little like whiskey and cigarettes to me. 'Like the fiddle work too. gotta admit those two seem a little out of place with the french lyrics, unless you're in New Orleans I guess.. ? hmm
 
Lyric is Latin - meaning "how sweet & fitting it is"


way 2 long
The Thrills

 
oawhoo wrote:


Sounds just like Blue October with the exception of their hit Hate Me. Kinda weak sauce you just keep waiting for it to drive. But it just stays "safe."

 


This reminds me of Ryan Adams!


Nice!
This song is OK, but this guy has a pretty weak set of pipes IMHO, but he'd still mop up the floor with me. {#Biggrin}

jlind wrote:
This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who


Sounds just like Blue October with the exception of their hit Hate Me. Kinda weak sauce you just keep waiting for it to drive. But it just stays "safe."

Upbeat, toe-tappin goodness.
 sonofpick wrote:
Thought it was Wilco.
 
And I thought it was Stephan Eicher... ...anybody know that guy as well?

Oh, all right.  It really is an "8."
This song is better than pretty good, but not quite excellent.  So, a 7.  Matthew Ryan does an incredible version of a song called "Return to Me," which I think RP listeners would really enjoy.  That song I would rate a 9.  It appears to be from an album called "These Are Field Recordings."  Does anyone have an upload available?
There is a lot of Irish in that part of Pennsylvania...
 sonofpick wrote:
Thought it was Wilco.
 
+1

Grows on me everytime I hear it.  7 -> 8
 jlind wrote:
This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who
  Anybody remember Steve Forbert? 


The melody seems to owe a lot to Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams.
Anyway, I like it.
fine tune, suits me
 fuh2 wrote:
Wow,  this is good shit.
 

Was just going to say the same thing. 

(But we seem to be in a minority!)
A nod to Paul Westerberg...
Wow,  this is good shit.
I think I prefer this guy in his day job as QB for the Falcons...
AUUUGH!  Enough County / alt-cunt-ry / whatever you want to call this Dylan-wannabe and the last 3 songs too. ugh
Kinda makes me think of The Waterboys.
More Matthew Ryan please!

I need to figure out how to upload, because I see RP needs more of his songs.
 jlind wrote:
This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who
 
Sounds like a pretty straight-forward, "traditional" style to me.

Thought it was Wilco.
Focus on the bass line and the banality of this song is revealed.
 fredriley wrote:
Definitely not dulce to these ears. More like nausea. An immediate 2 from the Nottingham jury as soon as yer man's voice croaked in.
 
One man's croaking is another listener's croon.

 fuh2 wrote:
9 thumbs up!
 
'kin 'ell! What are you, an octopus? ;)

9 thumbs up!
but i am tapping my feet...
and the waterboys without the energia.......
 jlind wrote:
This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who
 

Kinda a cross between Ryan Adams and Tom Waits. But who likes comparisons here on Radio Paradise.

It upsets some here, right folks?

This sounds really familar, like he's stealing the whole style from someone but I can't place who
Definitely not dulce to these ears. More like nausea. An immediate 2 from the Nottingham jury as soon as yer man's voice croaked in.