![]() I always liked the Native American vibe of ‘Leave the land better than you found it.’ So that’s where that line came from. The ancestors’ ashes theme was inspired by the Chief Seattle speech. So I did have those lyrics and I stole ‘em from that one and made it into this song, and I think this song’s better. When we first started playing it, we didn’t have enough songs to fill out a whole night, so we added in a couple new ones. There’s probably a recording of it on YouTube because we played it it had a lot of energy. “It sounded like a Green Day song or something just didn’t fit who we are. Having seen comments about that track in the fan group, my next question was about its familiar reference to “ancestors’ ashes.” “That lyric, I actually stole from this song called, ‘This Town,’ which we tried to record like three times and we just couldn’t make it happen,” Angell explained humorously. ![]() One instance of that scissors line happens during “ Money Isn’t Everything ,” a dark song built upon a striking beat by Will Andrews. I like the idea of cutting the past, or certain things that aren’t healthy for you just severing that and moving on from it. And over the umbrella person, it said, ‘me,’ and over the no-umbrella person, it said, ‘you.’ So when I thought about the scissors and the string, I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to be the string.’ It’s like the ‘ What Did You Expect? ’ song. One stick person had an umbrella with rain coming down, and the other person was standing there with no umbrella, with rain coming down on them. And I used to have this t-shirt with two stick figures on it – one of my favorite t-shirts. I also thought that scissors are kind of like the hands of a clock the visual of scissors is cool. ![]() They had the string of life and they would cut it like in the Hercules children’s movie. But I actually saw a friend of mine’s play, and they were talking about the Fates – the three Fates of Greek mythology. “Well that’s an eighty dollar pair of scissors right there,” Angell said in a funny hushed tone, as if that was the biggest secret of all. Its cover art, showing a hand using a pair of scissors, echoes a line that recurs in two songs: “I’m the scissors, you’re the string” – so of course, we talked about the symbolism. There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding The Light Below – the powerful and suspenseful rock journey from Angell, Benjamin Anderson, Will Andrews, and Gregor Lothian. I chew up your shoes and I once in a while relieve myself on the carpet, but I’m loyal.’” The song is trying to say, ‘What’s the big problem here? Come on, man,’” he said playfully. The song’s basically straight to my wife. ![]() Other parts are trying to explain why people are intense or difficult sometimes. So I think some part of the song is trying to be sweet and loyal. I had this whole thing: ‘The feeling found roots at a difficult age / And the fruit it produced soured with rage.’ That’s what got me going, and that’s based on people in their adolescent years, when so much damage is done, and how those things live with them through their life. “That song was pretty special and came pretty fast. I replied, “I know you’re still talking about drinking poison, but at least you’re choosing not to.” “I do think that song’s trying to be a positive sweet song,” he conceded warmly. “I mean, it’s positive, but there’s some fuckin’ negativity in there, don’t try to…” he trailed off laughing. “I think there’s parts of it that are happy,” Angell said amusedly. Now, a little over two years later, Walking Papers’ cinematic third LP, The Light Below, contains a reassuring hymn called “ Going Nowhere.” A little bit of happiness seems evident in its moving melody, and in moments like “…I’ll do what I can for the feeling I get when you call me your man.” So I started our call with my happy song theory. I haven’t nailed it yet, but I’m working on it,” he told me backstage at NYC’s Mercury Lounge in 2018. “I’ve tried and failed a couple of times. Jeff Angell once mused that he’s never written a happy song.
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