I really cannot compare those two songs, because to me "watch and learn" is not a proper release, so you can listen to a song and this live footage we have is only a document to me. it lacks of such a good sound, that i would feel comfortable to compare it to the studio recorded version of "end of days".
You have an extremely valid and important point there, Cthulhu.
Still, I think we as listeners, pretty much get the overall gist, vibe, or essence of the song "
Watch and Learn", just the same. I honestly don't think that the recorded version, for example, is going to contain anything particularly or drastically different, musically speaking, than the way NMA performed the song, that very day. It's just a gut feeling I have... I could very well end up being wrong in the end.
And that's also why i listened only once to "watch and learn", liked the performance and the document of that concert, always wishing that i could have been there, and it made me look forward to the release of "from here". when the lyrics were posted the song grew a bit more in my head, this has always been the main part and connection for me to nma songs.
Lyrics are the very first thing I take in or connect with when it comes to NMA songs, especially. For me, when I purchase an album of theirs, take it home and listen to it, the very first thing I do after removing the shrink-wrap
is read through all of the lyrics first. This isn't a new ritual for me, I've done this ever since I can remember. Mr. Sullivan is such a remarkably great lyricist, that I just automatically jump to read what he has to say, share or tell first. I think I do this also because I hate miss-hearing a lyric. The worst thing is listening to a song, convinced I've heard the lyrics correctly, then realise decades later, that I actually heard / got the line(s) or word(s) to the song SO incredibly wrong, all that time. Often times just miss-hearing one single word, can alter the over all meaning of a line, or even the entire song altogether.
So, for me, I like to get the lyrics understood, sorted, mentally absorbed or digested, first. After a couple of read throughs, I'm ready for the music. I don't know... right or wrong, this is just the way I go about it.
i think the release of the single "winter" was the first release of a new song or album which i instantly liked. and so was "end of days". all the others i just had to let it grow a bit more, give them time to fully get into them. there were always little things, a chorus, a strange change of the melody or whatever which kind of got my head going instead of pure emotions, which came later when i could make sense of it.
Interesting, I actually liked "
End of Days"
so much more, and quite instantly / immediately did too, than when I first heard the song "
Winter". I love the song "
Winter", yes, though "
End of Days" will get more plays from my end, than "
Winter" ever did / does, which is still quite often, compared to a lot of the much older NMA material.
you mentioned the "whatever it's properly termed" part of the song;-) and that it was lacking something for you. i do think otherwise. i found the last part of that part to be fantastically noisy and a big boost, which i didn't expect. i think the word "brutal" came up here and i think it fits good. i like that part a lot the building up and the soft guitar...now my capabilities of expressing musical terms is limited but i say it's fantastic!;-)
We have a slight misunderstanding here, Cthulhu. I too,
love that same part of the song that you're speaking of. What I was specifically referring to was
only the extremely brief, few bars from 2:30 to 3:07 minute mark of the song, "
End of Days". Just that 37 second stretch of the song, feels like it's missing something on the musical end of things, from the actual acoustic guitar itself, that's all. I'm not a musician, therefore do not know the exact or proper terminology for that precise segment of the song, so am having a lot trouble articulating it, here. The only helpful thing I can say, is to note the time frame of
2:30 to 3:07 minute mark. More than that, I cannot do because quite frankly, I am too thick, stupid, to know how... sorry.
Perhaps someone else here can say it better or magically understands what I am trying to relate, express. embarrassed soft lol, wish I could say what I'm trying to express to you, Cthulhu, in German, but sadly, google translate would fcuk it up even further for me.
Thank you for expressing your thoughts and views, Klaus.
"End of days" is rather effective, first listen i was like: "Meh...ok song". Now after 4/5 more playing i think it's a pretty good song...maybe not great NMA but still pretty good.
"Watch and learn"...2/3 playings of it on the not so good Youtube link...i'm not a fan of it...the chorus and music falls a bit flat, contrived...but wait and see when the album version will be released.
Fair point, Guillaume.
Yes, the youtube clip's sound quality, for "
Watch and Learn" isn't great at all, so I suppose that's going to be a big hinderance in people's preference between the two songs. I was hoping people could hear past the sound quality, but it must be more difficult than I had first thought it would be, for others.
I hope that "From here" will bring lots of inspired catchy melodies and choruses as usual with NMA...the passion is always there on each new album but inspiration can be slightly more uneven at times, i wouldn't like NMA to repeat/rehash themselves too heavily...in all cases there are always 3 or 4 very good moments/songs on each one of their last albums so what i am saying here? 
Say what, Guillaume?
Surely
way more than just
'3 or 4 very good moments / songs', especially on their more recent recordings. Wow! We're all so very different! lol, how the band manages to satiate us, in terms of their music, is a complete and utter mystery!
Interesting...English is not my native language so when i listen to NMA's songs for the first time i'm mostly reacting to the melodies, choruses, rhythms, how the words sound...before translating the words.
That's exactly what I do too, with non-English and non-Italian
(the languages I speak more easily) songs. I haven't gone so far as to translate any of the foreign language songs that I do love, thus far. I should though, because lyrics do matter to me... however, I have found that sometimes, things get completely lost in translation.
Guillaume, thank you for sharing your point of view and findings, also.
