Song of the Day Redux, Day 24: The Crowing (Original Acoustic Demo)

The Crowing - Original Acoustic Demo

There are two videos of this on Youtube. The other one stopped working for me, so something might be wrong. This one has three minutes of silence at the end but it seems reliable (the demo isn't ten minutes long - but how sick would that be?)

The Content: Not many lyrics are different in here. The significant changes are the lesser development of the outro part. We get the "Dear Ambellina" segment, but no verse after that, and no "I will call you out" section. It feels like an evolution of Everything Evil, which I've always seen The Crowing as, anyway, but it's more clear in the demo to me. Without the extended outro, it feels a lot more like he's trying to recapture the magic of the "Claudio, dear Claudio" section. It worked, but I think he did a good job at making it more different in the studio version, too.

The Music: Seems Claudio's take on the lead riffs didn't stick on this one. We have a little Claudio lead on the whole song. The intro and verse lead doesn't really work, so I'm glad they went with the heavier distortion and no lead. No lead riff over "you were my favorite." That was a brilliant addition by Travis in the studio version. There's a riff over "would I walk through the door" and "pray you're not the only one" but it's just texture, not a lead like Travis' later riffs would be. And I don't think it's nearly as good. The riff Travis does in the studio version over the "pray you're not the only one" section is one of my all time Coheed riffs, so it's interesting to see that it wasn't in this version.

Listen to the screaming over "pray you're not the only one"! It's like the Crowing scream, only doing LYRICS. How do you do that, Claudio? There's another little riff over the guitar solo part, which doesn't work at all, I think. Lastly, there is a synth over the "Dear Ambellina" outro. I'm really glad they didn't keep this part in, because the synth line is pretty cheesy. It sounds like he wanted it as a violin part. It reminds me of how Welcome Home fades out into the violin line, which gradually becomes more obvious as they strip all of the other instrumentation down. I don't think the music was ready for this at this time, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say that it's great what he did with the song on the studio track.

The Differences:

• Intro / verse has lead riff
• "Onto the light of your life"; "And you wondered if, or"
• Bridge after "would I come as before" has a different lead riff
• Crowing screamed lyrics "Pray you're not the only"
• Vocalizations ("yeah") and lead riff over the solo-ish part of the bridge
• "Did you ever really know before, my heart I gave you?" / "Did you come clean with my only heart?"
• Synth over "Dear Ambellina"
• No "I will kill you all" verse in outro
• No "I will call you out from shelter"
• Song fades out to synth / violins

The Part: Crowing screaming on the LYRICS, "Pray you're not the only one." I repeat myself, but holy damn, that's a neat trick.

I fed the clues of a lost day killed in motion.
But I thought of it so like there's no other way it could've been done.
Will they size my fit for a puzzle I wish not to play a part in it?
A heart stained in hate, a feeling of fear will play circles. 

But you, you were my favorite. 
But you, you know, you were my favorite. 

I severed my ties to shroud this body under the streets of this city. 
And wait for the day when I am summoned to walk across the face. 
Well, slowly but clearer now, in visions that play and plague memories. 
I love them with all as the son should to mother and father. 

But you, you were my favorite. 
But you, you know, you were my favorite. 

Would I walk through the door, onto the light of your life?
And you wondered if, or, would I come as before?

Pray you're not the only one 
Pray you're not the only... 

If given mistakes, would I take them back?
If erasing them could, if erasing them would? 
But would they be the words that I would say? 
Your face and a door between. 
I've parted three ways, 
For you, the Newo that I love...Love....

Did you ever really know before my heart I gave you
Did you ever really know before my mind I [???] 
Did you ever really know before my name son of these?
Did you, did you, did you come clean with my only heart?

Dear Ambellina, the Prise wishes you to watch over me.

Next up: Al the Killer (Original Acoustic Demo)