My Summer Jam
by Alex Danger Stewart
Joey
Joie De Vivre – You Ruined Everything that was Ever Good
With You Ruined Everything that was Ever Good, the titular track of their 2010 tour EP, Joie De Vivre brought something so far unseen to the table: Swagger.
Prior to this song, the band’s lyrical aesthetic could best be described as, Earnest Apathy. That is to say any number of songs in their catalog can be summed up by a scruffy young man yelping, I feel bad about these things, but I don’t know how to change them.” One could easily imagine a girl breaking up with JDV’s lyrical persona. Upon hearing the news, the persona slumps down in his chair and says, Oh ok.” Then the persona drives home and feels bad about himself until his friends come over with a 24 pack of beer and some old Alkaline Trio albums (incidentally it would look like this).
That’s what makes this song so different. Maybe it’s because of the hilarious origins (see their recent appearance on our podcast), but You Ruined Everything that was Ever Good has none of that reluctance or longing usually present in a Joie De Vivre track. Lunging forward at a pace that veers shockingly close to up tempo, the guitars bite instead of chime. One can actually move their hips to this thing. Singer Brandon Lutmer’s usually propensity for stretching words out to bar length is replaced by what amounts to urgency; gnawing at the bit to get all of his words out (relatively speaking).
Staying out all night/ to follow you home convinced me that I was right/ in letting you go. I couldn’t wait to tell you/that things are fine,” he sings to an unnamed party. Basically telling her, It’s cool. I’m better now anyway.” Then the barbs get more venomous, plainly stating, You weren’t missed by anyone,” repeating it before ending the song with the chanted, You ruined/everything that was ever good. You ruined/everything that was ever good.” Ouch. As far as emo bands go, it’s basically a Ludacris song. Everything is delivered with confidence and a smirk. It almost makes you want to strut.
I’m sure that we’ll all go back to Charlie Brown moments soon enough, but it’s nice to have a rallying cry for moving on. Give it six months. This song will be a sing along song.
Visit Joie De Vivre’s myspace page to hear the song: http://www.myspace.com/joiedevivreband
About the Author
Danger Alex Danger Stewart likes to write about music and other things for sockmonkeysound.com. He uses words and sometimes scribbles. Words seem to work best.
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