Song of the Day Redux, Day 44: Prize Fighter Inferno: Run, Gunner Recall, Run! The Town Wants You Dead!

The Prize Fighter Inferno: Run, Gunner Recall, Run! The Town Wants You Dead!

The seventh track of Claudio's 2006 PFI album My Brother's Blood Machine. One of my favorite tracks from the album.

The Content: This one's about the schizophrenic meth-addicted mom-killing Bleam father, who names himself Gunner Recall. He's found out for his crime, which is prepared to dish out some good old fashioned Old Western justice with a public hanging. Here we get to see the schizophrenia in him ("the serpent that burns your ear, [and] the coward that sits in [his] head with it").

It might be at this point that he runs into the woods and is captured by his children, who avenge their mother's death by putting him into the Blood Machine. But around now, they're preparing Cecillia and the twins. It's possible that all four of these victims find themselves in the same room, waiting for the Bleam Brothers to do their thing, and wondering where their lives went wrong. I kind of like that idea.

The Music: Claudio has like three guitars and three vocal tracks going on in here, and accomplishes a beat just by clapping. Just like The Fight Of Moses Early & Sir Arthur McCloud, it alternates between an intricately layered acoustic verse and a bare minimalist chord structure for the chorus. The chorus grows and changes with the song - each time he adds a section to it and makes it a little longer. There's an awesome acoustic solo (one of my favorite Claudio solos in general) backed by strange electronic noises. Then we get a version of the chorus that goes into a higher falsetto, possibly reflecting an alternate voice of Gunner Recall's split mind, or Cecillia, or the children. And then we get a harmonica, and it's glorious. I bought a Key of Z harmonica to try to learn to play this, but I can't harmonica for shit. Claudio's pretty damn talented.

The Part: I love this song, so it's tough to single out a favorite part. I love the way Claudio sings, "for from the gallows you'll swing for all the kids to see." So brutal. And the ending of the solo. And also the high falsetto, "I'm so sorry for you, you'll never love again." Mmmmm.

Tell them all the truth, but no secret lies this time.
Once upon a world way before your loss.
So look out I fear that they follow near.
And in the courthouse Kevin sentenced rope to neck.

They don't hear the serpent that burns your ear... baby, look out!

Leaving well enough alone is no choice of yours to make.
Guilty says the proof, this town has no room for you.
So look out I fear that they follow near.
For from the gallows you'll swing for all the kids to see.

They don't hear the serpent that burns your ear
or the coward that sits alone in your head with it

Cause I'm so sorry that you could ever,
I'm so sorry for you, you'll never love again.

Next up: Who Watches the Watchmen?