Luca

 Sleeping with the Fishes: Exploring the mindfulness of a Brand New Song

                                                   By: Brittany Hall

          Music flows in the air and sweetly satisfies the left and right hemisphere of a human brain. Touching your right hemisphere so lightly are timbre and melody; while the left hemisphere receives the taste of rhythm and pitch. Music helps stimulate all various parts of the mind and can alter your mood or even transport you into a realm of imagination. Lyrics can attach themselves around our brain cells like a disease and can be trapped for several hours or even longer inside our heads. These earworms become catchy verbal lines that can hold some truth and meaningfulness in their words. Lyrics are an essential part of songs; that lets the artists express themselves and put their personal stories and meaning into them. The band Brand New wrote a song called Luca; in which they tie together personal experiences and religious beliefs into their lyrics that can be interpreted in several different ways. I believe that the song called Luca is a personal story that was written by Jesse Lacey (lead singer of Brand New); in which is intertwined with Christian beliefs.

              The first verse of Luca goes like this: “When I disappear, do you fear for the sister I took? When I disappear, it is clear I am up to no good. I am drearily blunt, letting this bed wetting cosmonaut. Son, the last thing you'll realize you need is what you've already got.” Viewing this verse religiously; it appears that Jesse Lacey is talking to God. He is thinking of all the frivolous, meaningless sex he has had with women and how it must disappoint God. Then God responds that all this pointless sex will never fill the desire that is in his heart... probably suggesting only the love of God or a woman can fill that. The sister could possibly be referring to that we are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God.

          Looking at the second verse of the song, “So touch me or don't. Just let me know, where you've been.” Here God is Lacey asking where he has been after having sex. This mirrors the questions he asks Adam and Eve after their original Sin of eating the fruit of knowledge before they were banished from Eden. Lacey refuses to "touch" Him because he feels ashamed in His presence (the same way Adam feels ashamed of his nakedness in God's eyes).

            The third verse goes like this: “So drop me a line with a hook and some raw bleeding bait (one, two, three, four). For I am uncaught and still swimming alone in the lake (five, six, seven, eight). Shimmering under a moon made in anger and angst. Shimmering like a penny out of reach in the subway grate (Shimmering like a coin kept safe away, you'll never listen to anything).” Lacey views himself as a hopeless case, living out of touch with God ("swimming alone in a lake"). He pleads with God to help him to return to the righteous path, though Lacey sees little hope in his redemption, because he "never listens to anything."

            Fourth verse is very similar to the second verse and goes like this: "We could leave it alone, I'm sure there's someone who knows where you've been." Obviously, in God's omnipotence knows the truth of every sin we all commit. He is someone who always knows "where you've been." 

           The last main verse goes like this: "You never worked well with our group. Not with the faults we found. So we fixed you with cement galoshes. No one can save you now. Unless you have friends among fish. There'll still be no air to breathe. You could drink up the entire ocean. I'll still find someone to be everything we know that you'll never be.” In this line Lacey imagines his judgment at the gates of Heaven. His life of Sin is dissected and he is found unworthy. He is cast out of heaven down into the hopelessness of Hell.

            The title could also be interpreted personally on how both of the bands; TBS and Brand New were formed in New York and were inspired by the Godfather. Lacey uses the metaphor of Luca Brasi in the Godfather. In the book he is found to be a spy of sorts working for the Corleone family, and when Sollozzo finds out, Sollozzo murders Luca. Luca's body is dropped into the ocean with a pair of cement boots so he will sink. Then a dead fish is sent to the Corleone's as a message that he sleeps with the fishes ("The Godfather (1972).").  Luca derives from lux; in which means light in Latin ("Lux."). Jesse could have used the title of his song as being symbolism, as in he saw the light after leaving his first band TBS.

            The personal interpretation of this song could be about how Jesse Lacey was a part of a band called Taking Back Sunday (TBS). The lines, "When I disappear do you fear for the sister I took" is talking about how the lead singer of TBS slept with Lacey's sister. Also the bedwetting cosmonaut line is a reference to how much Brand New has matured since Lacey was with TBS. The cosmonaut part could come from Lacey’s fascination of becoming an astronaut at a young age. The lines you never worked well with our group is talking about how when Lacey was a member of TBS and how they never worked well together.

Lyrics can be interpreted in so many different ways and can connect to us personally. Some songs have more meaning to us than others and can affect our mood. Luca by Brand New, I believe tells a story of a painful betrayal that dips with melancholy but has the underlying message of rising from failure and beginning a new life. Jesse Lacey was deeply hurt by the betrayal of a friend and band member and was casted out of the band; in which he arose to the occasion and formed his own band. Lyrics are what make songs memorable but how they are interpreted depends on the individual.