Jon Shaw Musical Device Association Close the Loop

The Old Apartment - Analysis

The first observation I had about the song was a musical one: I noticed it was very
loud immediately at the beginning of the performance. There was no quiet intro The
first thing we hear is a big distorted electric guitar accompanied by a cymbal crash and a
bass guitar. They seem to be in full throttle in what I would describe as a heavy rock or
punk groove. This is by no means a subtle entrance. Almost immediately (no
instrumental intro) we hear the first lyrics; Broke into the old apartment. I think these
lyrics explain the heavy musical opening/accompaniment the composer is trying to
create a heavy or angry atmosphere. He achieves this by using the negative lyrics Broke
into the old apartment where he is apparently breaking in somehow (which would imply
he is locked out), accompanied by heavy, abrasive, loud rock instruments and a groove to
match that intensity. This is were we used to live really ties everything together. Now
we know this was not only his old apartment, but his and someone elses. Now I am
wondering who is the we in question? I assume without much evidence this is and old
love interest. The fact that he chose to use the word Apartment also intrigues me. I
believe he is trying to imply that the we in question were young, since young couples
generally dont own houses. Next we hear things like broken glass, broken hearts. The
first provides imagery Now I am imagining a man who just broke into and old, broken
down apartment, dusty, broken glass, graffiti on the walls, like when you see you boarded
up old apartment building in the city. The broken hearts confirms my assumption that
he is talking about some previous love interest the fact that they shared an apartment
implies that this was a serious relationship. Again he says this is where we used to live,
and I wonder: did the apartment look like this when they used to live there, or has this
happened since? All this is still accompanied by the same heavy, angry, and repetitive
rock groove. I believe this is to group all the previous lyrics (Broke into, old apartment,
broken glass, broken hearts, used to live) together under one tone or mood.
After this I noticed a drastic change in music from the heavy rock groove. The
bottom sort of drops out when he says why did you paint the walls. Musically, the
drums are noticeably lighter in volume and intensity, and we lose the punk-rocky
distorted guitar pulsing. It is replaced with some weird guitar spacey noises with
effects. The groove is still there, but it fades from a heavy rock beat in to a much less
grounded, less intense beat, and give an overall feeling of up in the air or vagueness.
There are also some effects on the vocals, making it sound echoey, almost as if he is
yelling from another room, or looking in from the outside. The proverb has also changed
from we to you. One can only assume this means they broke up, or do not live in the
same apartment anymore and the echoey effect is to display the distance between
them. I noticed that although the groove and musical texture has changed, the pitches in
the melody are the same as when he was singing broke into the old apartment.
Musically, this is the only similarity between the section talking about breaking in, and
this more spacey section. I think the composer did this so we know it is still him, he is
still in the same life but that life has changed drastically with the void of this ex love
interest.
When listening further to the song, it becomes apparent that it is a back and forth
between these two sections: an angry or irritated section about breaking into the
apartment and describing things that are broken in it, and the spacey, more introspective
section where he is talking about the other party, and describing things they have fixed.
We are being flung between these two feelings of straight anger/rage, and a sort of
depressed/retrospective feeling. This is happening both musically, and in the lyrics. I
believe this is representative of all human anguish: when anything traumatic in life
happens, we must first go through the stages of frustration, then reflection before we can
arrive at a peaceful state. Furthermore, when the angry parts occur he is always talking
about the past, while lyrics set in the present are accompanied by the reflective and
introspective music. I think the composer is telling us that he is currently in the reflective
state of mourning a lost relationship. In the last spacey section he is saying: why did
they pave the lawn, why did they change the locks. Notice the proverb has again
changed from you to they. This implies now that there is a third party in the picture. Who
is the third party? One would assume that the other person has moved on and this third
party is the new love interest. He finally ends the song with only memories, fading
memories, I want them back. This is a good synopsis for what the song is about. He is
reflecting on a relationship he no longer has but wants back.
My final thought is to wonder whether the apartment is actually an apartment
(imagine him actually standing in the old, decrepit apartment), or is it a metaphor for
their relationship when it existed. I think one could make a case for both, but I think it is
a metaphor. The broken glass and broken bones at the beginning were describing the
things wrong with the relationship when it existed (we used to live here). Then after the
break up, the other person (she) is cleaning the floors and painting the walls and
plastering over the hole he punched in the wall. Finally it morphs into her new
relationship when they pave the lawn and they change the locks. He is reflecting 3
stages of his exs life since they were together, while he is still stuck in the middle
phase, and possibly still trying to get back to the first one (I want them back).