hey everybody this is episode three of
my series called ixypix and today I'm
gonna be breaking down a song called
gold guns Girls by Metric it's off of
their album fantasies that came out in
2009 and I discovered them on Pandora
I'm pretty sure
they're a band from Toronto I don't know
a lot about them but the members are
Emily Haynes she does vocals synths
guitar tambourine harmonica piano James
Shaw he plays guitar since theremin
backing vocals Joshua Winstead bass
synths backing vocals and Jules Scott
Key drums and percussion yes I was
reading off of Wikipedia oh well uh
this is just one of my favorite songs
and I really enjoyed listening to the
album it's maybe not the the kind of
album I would normally get attached to
but I was just like this is really good
songwriting
and I say that because I really like
like dark Moody music typically and this
has a little bit more of an uplifting or
driving feeling
and uh this song is just so cool so what
I'd like to do is just listen to it with
you and then uh we'll kind of stop and
start it and break it down
all right gold guns Girls by Metric
[Music]
s
[Music]
I don't know
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
everybody else
[Music]
it's never gonna be
enough
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
you said everybody
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
have a coffee
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
oh
I think that's a perfect song that last
section with all the layering is so
great
so I think it's pretty easy to hear what
she's saying but just in case uh here
are the lyrics
all the gold and the guns in the world
couldn't get you off all the gold and
the guns and the girls couldn't get you
off all the boys all the choices in the
world I remember when we were gambling
to win everybody else said better luck
next time I don't want to bend like the
bad girls bend I just want to be your
friend is it ever going to be enough and
in that chorus there's like vocal
tripling I don't know there's like three
of her uh singing get off get off get
off in this minor chord I'd love that
and then second verse is all the lace
and the skin in the shop couldn't get
you off all the toys and the tools in
the Box couldn't get you off all the
noise all the voices never stop
and then the second like pre-chorus is
so cool she kind of starts the same way
and then ends it with uh I just want to
be your friend why are you giving me a
hard time I remember when we were
gambling to win everybody else said uh
uh uh uh okay we'll figure out the
Rhythm
and then the kind of outro she has more
and more and more and more and more and
I was just reading a little bit about
the song and uh she said
Emily said uh when Jimmy sent me this
song as a rough sketch I listened to it
over and over while watching Scarface
dreaming up ideas the lyrics I wrote
look at greed in all its forms and the
fact that we seem programmed to be
insatiable if we could do a million
dollar video for this song it would be a
remake of that Montage scene from
Scarface including the Tiger
Okay so
lots of things about the song
um that I want to talk about let's look
at just the kind of the chords because
the chords have a lot to do with why the
song works so well and if you know me
then you know I'm obsessed with a
certain functional chord called a flat
six growing up I just knew it as that
one chord but now I know it has a name
and it kind of centers I think around
that chord there are three chords in the
song so it's an A Minor
so the first chord IS F major and
there's the flat six
all the gold and then it moves to G
major which is called a flat seven it's
just the next one up
all the gold and then it finally gets to
a minor and stays there
twice
so you have
[Music]
couldn't get you off
and then the um the chorus same three
chords but just reorganize a little bit
so it starts on the a minor
get off get off
is it ever gonna be enough there's our
flat six F major
is it ever gonna be enough to the G is
it ever gonna be enough this is a nice
little tip if you uh have some chords in
your song Try to sort of re-prioritizing
them and kind of reordering them for the
for the chorus or verse because it can
kind of give things like a really
cohesive flavor but also it's new and
different
so this is responsible for a lot of the
beautiful Harmony in the song
um
starting on flat six is like the best I
think because it's so tense
she goes all the all the and there's all
this tension in uh in the harmony there
um
seventh of the ninth
resolution and the guns resolution and
the girls and I love how she sort of
changes the quality of her voice a bit
or her tone between these two like
voices
her main verse all the gold is sounds
very much like her normal delivery and
then when she sings couldn't get you off
she
um sounds like she's I don't know it
sounds a little more full and like
it's double tracked for one but it's
also just a little bit couldn't get you
off instead of all the gold which has a
like almost like a younger sound anyway
I just little details I really
appreciate like she kind of gave the the
most uh appropriate or like tasteful
delivery for those two lines just using
the tone of her voice a bit
and then I also want to talk about
though even before she starts singing
Just this intro and for the longest time
I experienced rhythmic displacement so
that's when you hear the beat in the
wrong place so if I start over again
[Music]
correctly which is
[Music]
but uh for years I thought it was like
or something
I thought it was like on the offbeat so
anyway if you were sort of disoriented
you're not alone I had to like practice
with myself like here's the Down Beat
and then this sort of like machine gun
kind of kick comes in
okay sorry actually before that
listen to how it's just like this guitar
doing the a
H
sounds so much better in guitar
but then on the um the second chord
which is the flat six
[Music]
super distorted buzzy
guitar bass I'm not sure
um goes
[Music]
yeah it does it's in fifths
and it creates this nice tension
especially on that flat seven chord if
you have this
[Music]
I just love that it feels like it's
creeping up on you and it's gonna like
clench down
and then
what a great like driving group right
listen how it's it there wasn't like
some big transition to her singing she
just kind of like arrives
[Music]
I'm just in love with that line it's so
freaking great
um the first time she says um all the
guns and the girls
oh sorry all the gold and the guns in
the world couldn't get you off second
time all the gold and the guns and the
girls couldn't get you off
uh really pretty you know fast tempo
really Straight Ahead kind of drum beat
like I said it's very driving definitely
is fun to listen to the song in the car
and then the pre-chorus
[Music]
okay so before the pre-course I forgot
this is sort of like a you could think
of this as like an extended musical
phrase or like a truncated musical
phrase
uh all the gold and the guns all the
guns and the second time and then the
third time sorry that probably didn't
make sense the third time uh she just
goes all the boys all the choices in the
world and it's just like the third time
and then it the pre-chorus starts from
there so it's like an uneven phrase
three repetitions of something instead
of two or four which is more even in
what we kind of expect I really like
that and I love the variation going up
this scale what is that is it pentatonic
yeah but it's so beautiful the way she
sings that high note and then this
pre-chorus knocks my socks off
[Music]
I really like the uh the arrangement
here that I like that it's I don't know
is is it an acoustic guitar it sounds
more like
full bodied somehow but it still has
that really metallic clicky sound of the
acoustic I'm not a guitarist so you guys
can tell me
but uh these really these beautiful
strums right just kind of filling
everything in and it's alternating I
forgot to mention just between that flat
six and flat seven chord only so it's
avoiding our home chord which is the a
minor where Everything feels settled and
at home and finished it's just going
and I'm pretty sure the guitarist is
voicing that second chord as what's
called a sus chord so it doesn't have
the major quality anymore it has
this more angular sound more ambiguous
kind of more open
[Music]
is it ever gonna be enough and then you
get that payoff of finally going to a
minor and she starts singing get off get
off and I mentioned this before it's on
the a minor chord
like this
and that persists no matter what the
chords are doing in the guitar
I tried to earlier like play the get off
on the offbeats the way it is and play
that and it just my brain was like no
thanks
um but speaking of that while she's
singing get off there's an accent on the
offbeats it's just like a fun little
nerdy coincidence
but it's it it makes it feel like this
this line which has lyrical content and
meaning is also very rhythmic and it's
almost like less harmonic even though it
is like a minor chord it just feels like
this sort of stab get off get off get up
get up on the offbeats this is just
really I think creative
one of many really beautiful and
interesting vocal layers in this song
all right let's keep going
[Music]
great chorus I'm so in love with her
Melody writing like all of the songs
I've heard by Metric I'm just like damn
that's a melody
so
um
great use of like repetition it's so
hooky it's so interesting it's beautiful
it flows so nicely couldn't get you oh
it's kind of like this Blues run down
and then the course is no exception
um it's uh kind of it comes in really
late so you're kind of left with this
like you know
yeah is it ever gonna be right so it's
just like there's this waiting period
it's so exciting
um is it ever gonna be enough
is it ever gonna be enough okay so I
don't know if there's a term to
summarize this mechanism but it's
something I really love about music it's
when you have a Melody uh or a riff and
you can repeat it but the second or
third time whatever you change just like
one note and it's usually done to add
little interest maybe the the note goes
higher this time so it like uh lifts
things up or it gives them momentum but
sometimes it's just a product of fitting
into whatever chord is happening at the
time so she goes is it ever gonna be
enough and that note is the fifth of
this chord
second time is it ever gonna be enough
she could have kept the note the same
what would that sound like there's never
gonna be it never gonna be enough it's
never gonna be enough
well you feel like there's this sort of
uh uncomfortable tension there so it
feels really natural to just go never
gonna be enough to fit into this chord
is it ever gonna be enough and then kind
of slots into that a minor chord so it
just feels like they are really um in
sync with each other it's really nice
but you still get the hook and the
repetition
and I love these kind of descending
lines
[Music]
the second time nice little variation
never gonna be enough is it ever gonna
be enough is it ever gonna be enough
this time she goes up higher and she
does that throughout the song kind of at
the end of those repetitions I really
like
this time she's kind of left by herself
up there
uh second verse is awesome I would say
that the arrangement of the second verse
and yeah especially the second verse and
the first verse are very similar so
we're going to move to the second chorus
which has a variation that I really love
I love variations I think they did such
a good job with these so the second
chorus starts out sounding very similar
never stop
[Music]
whoa okay did you hear that bass
this is great I've listened to the song
probably hundreds of times and I'm still
hearing new things that's how you know
the layering's real good but listen to
this
the base that is fun all right this time
we'll listen to the chorus
wait a second I okay I could be wrong
but I think maybe the second time
uh on this pre-chorus the guitar is
doing this seventh chord
and then doing the full Major G major so
F Major Seventh and then G major so it
could be different from the beginning or
the first pre-chorus
but this video is already getting pretty
long so we're going to keep going
okay so now she's got this
thing isn't that brilliant
she's using her voice so creatively
so I always interpreted interpreted this
as like uh
but in a really rhythmic way
it also kind of sounds like a gun
um
so she layers the uh over one of the
lyrics
be giving me a hard time over the uh and
then she extends this phrase last time
she this is where they would go into the
course but this time there's like an
extra one which goes
I just that's so great what a great
choice we're left with the machine gun
uh Us by themselves and you know if you
think of it as uh-uh then it completes
the lyric perfectly everybody else said
uh
uh okay and then we get uh the next
chorus
[Music]
I forgot I forgot to talk about her
vocal Harmony so she's got a really nice
subtle vocal Harmony under her main
Melody is it ever gonna be enough
and I think it's in parallel thirds
underneath her so
[Music]
ever gonna be enough I think
[Music]
you hear the machine gun the
kick kind of there at the beginning of
that phrase
[Music]
all right Bridge
[Applause]
[Music]
okay so the guitar
there's that beautiful seventh chord
F major seventh
[Music]
Straight up G major and then what sounds
to me like an A Minor add nine which has
this beautiful crunch in it
hear that
crunch crunch crunch
it's really just a minor chord with a
ninth added or you could think of it as
a whole step above the root it adds that
right in between there I love that so
great chords and maybe this is what
they're doing the entire time and it
just doesn't stand out to me until this
part
but I love what she's doing with her
oohs here
[Music]
I forgot to mention something nice
arrangement choice for the second verse
instead of
the Buzzy kind of um the
that I think it's just like a Rhodes
piano that she's playing just like
anyway
I don't think very linearly so this is
tough for me
okay but we're talking about the Ooze
okay so before the more and more is come
in
[Applause]
okay so we gotta
on the bottom in the middle we got
so those are in parallel thirds
and on top we have
[Music]
I think
or maybe it's just two voices maybe it's
just
it's probably that which is a beautiful
set of parallel sixths
sixths are like the sad sort of
disconnected
um groupings of thirds
they're just reversed
so they're further apart and they feel
like this feels like people being like
uh can't reach
so it's just more emotional sounding and
it brings in different timbres because
one note is much higher than the other
so it's like a bigger space between
so that's really beautiful
um
and I like to sing along with the
harmony of my own I add a third part so
[Music]
okay but now the more and More's come in
and um I have to admit something I
sometimes get teary-eyed when the more
and more is come in it's not that I feel
sad it's that it's just so good that I
get like overwhelmed and I'm just like
this is a good song uh I Didn't Do
It on camera though but I can't
guarantee what's gonna happen in just a
second so the more and more has come in
I feel like early like they always felt
like
there all these elements that are sort
of being added in and layered for this
big outro or like Mega chorus I guess
is uh they are coming in when you don't
expect and I love that feeling because
this song can have a very like grid like
a structure right you know it's very
calculated uh and and you know the drum
beat is programmed right so it's very
exact so it's really neat to hear things
sort of entering in a more organic
timing I think they did a great job with
that so listen we got
[Applause]
[Music]
bigger drums here
right here's the middle of the phrase
[Music]
and
at the same time as the more and more
this um
fades in so nice
[Music]
God such a great Melody how do you do it
Emily she's probably gonna be like I
don't know just do it
so um
I can't there's a note that she's
emphasizing here that's at the ninth
it's that tense sad note again
[Music]
love that
but check what happens when it goes to
the flat six chord
oh
more and more more and more more and
more and more and more okay I think
there's a tritone in there and tritones
are like a musical cilantro it's very
distinctive sound
um it's like that
and that can sound really funky they can
sound sassy metal music uses them a lot
uh they can sound really like demented
like evil
um awkward they can sound awkward but
they can also sound like really
beautiful and here's a good example
so um
foreign
[Music]
and then she adds a vocal Harmony on top
of that
[Applause]
[Music]
oh
I love that guitar comes in right there
so then she's got um more more and more
more and more that's hard to do more and
more more and more so this one kind of
has a little flip up at the end but it's
sort of roughly in parallel thirds again
which is a really nice Harmony Style
uh and then
this guitar or this
just started the song it comes in also
like on the third measure or something
of the phrase so it's kind of like in
the middle and I just freaking love that
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
all the layers start going right
thank you
[Music]
and then
I start peeling the layers away slowly
[Music]
great track so if you enjoyed this we're
going to be doing a listening party of
their album art of doubt this month on
my patreon
so feel free to check that out if you
like album listening parties live
streams hopefully you can watch the
replay sometimes they do get blocked
when I listen to whole albums and that's
the pits but it is YouTube so what are
you gonna do
awesome have you heard of metric have
you heard the song Have you listened to
this album I'd love to hear from you uh
I definitely want to listen to more of
their music I I find myself you know
thinking a lot about like their choices
and why they're doing things the way
they do and I just think there's a lot
of gold and guns and girls to get out of
sort of dissecting what they're doing
but also just enjoy it right just enjoy
it because it's it's really great music
with killer Melody writing Emily
yeah all right y'all thanks so much for
joining me uh stay tuned for the next
episode and for my Okay computer series
which is continuing on my channel thanks
so much see you next time