Kanchana Sutharshan

Sutharshan 1

EWC4U
Mrs. Sobiera
November 3rd 2015

THE LIFE OF CITY AND COLOUR

From the explosive post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, to the indie soloproject, City and Colour, Canadian singer-songwriter Dallas Green, has
definitely left his mark on the world of music. Green was born in Saint.
Catharines, Ontario on September 29 th, 1980, beginning his music career in
the band Helicon Blue, before ultimately co-founding Alexisonfire in 2001. He
served as the bands lead singer and guitarist for over ten years, and
released four albums, all receiving a platinum certification in Canada. The
five-piece band earned worldwide success, and a dedicated wide-spanning
fan base, and embarked on multiple world tours. (Billboard)
Soon, rumors began swirling of their break-up in 2008. But these
rumors were destroyed by guitarist of Alexisonfire, Wade McNeil, saying in a
radio interview, Alexisonfire IS NOT breaking up. We are currently writing
new material for our next record and we are all deeply in love with each
other. (Team Distort) But, soon after the release of their fifth studio album,
Old Crows/Young Cardinals, the band announced in 2011 that the band was
breaking up for multiple personal reasons, mainly Greens desire to focus
on his solo project, City and Colour. Also, he Dallas later admitted that being
in the band was killing him. In an 2012 interview he stated I don't think

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they really understood that I was literally never home When people would
ask me when I'd make the decision, I'd joke, 'when I have a nervous
breakdown. (Exclaim) During their farewell period, they released the E.P.
Death Letter, and went on a worldwide farewell tour.
Their music, written by Dallas Green, mainly represented themes of
isolation, being a misfit and the struggle to fit into the perfect society. Green
has stated in multiple interviews that the side of him that writes for
Alexisonfire is the angrier side of him, and he writes about who he is, and
the struggles he deals with mentally. He has not explicitly stated that he
suffers from mental illness, rather alludes to the fact that he can be very
anti-social and has suffered from depression while on the road. Also, he has
said multiple times that growing up, he never felt like he fit in in school,
and it inspired a lot of music created by him. (CBC Music)
During the success of Alexisonfire, Green was also simultaneously
working on his solo-project, City and Colour. He began in 2005, by releasing
his first solo full-length, gold-certified album, Sometimes. While creating the
record, Green stated that he "loves music to sort of escape to," and he
frequently wrote sad music, writing about personal experiences. (Toronto
Sun) The album contained themes of depression and love, mirroring Greens
personal life. He had begun dating T.V personality Leah Miller during this
time, and the constant touring created a large impact on his personal life. He
said that he and Miller had never been together for more than two months,
and, the road took a toll on me, I loved what I did, but sometimes I just

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wanted to go home. His music continues to be inspired by his love for Miller,
and the trials and tribulations of having what he describes as a great love.
(Paste Magazine)
His second studio album, Bring Me Your Love, released in 2008, was
incredibly successful, and propelled Greens solo work into stardom. He
promoted the album by embarking on a full American tour supporting fellow
Canadians, Tegan and Sara. He then proceeded to release his most
successful album to date, Little Hell in 2011. He has said that this album is
probably one of his most honest, personal works. In the album, he writes
about the concept of undying love, and his fear of death, self-deprecation,
and loving someone past their flaws. He has said in interviews that the
possibility of death fuels his anxiety, and is the root of a lot of the sadness he
feels. (Exclaim)
Although a private person, he has said that certain events in his life
have created serious emotional damage within him, and that instead of
using words to communicate his sadness, he channels the pain into his
music. Although the events that are rooted in his music is not known, he has
stated that certain events in his life have shaped him as a songwriter and a
person. (Exclaim)
After Little Hell, he released two studio albums, The Hurry and the
Harm, and If I Should Go Before You, in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Both
were smash hits, and The Hurry and the Harm being his second album to go

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platinum. When speaking about The Hurry and the Harm, he said a constant
theme throughout the album, is his love/hate relationship with touring and
being away from his wife. He has said that his time on the road, and make
him feel lost in a sense, saying I dont think I will ever find my direction
home. Ill always be searching for something else. (Nothing But Hope and
Passion)
In 2014, he released an album with the famous American pop singer
P!nk, creating the duo, You+Me. Together they produced the album Rose
Avenue., which was released in late 2014. The album, completely written by
the duo, had a melancholy feel, and both stated that it was a personal
album,

and

they

drew

inspiration

from

their

real

life

tumultuous

relationships. (City and Colour)

Dallas Green has forever changed the lives of his fans, and continues
to inspire his fans and help them cope with lifes battles. His music is
personal, and captivating and will forever have its place in the folk/indie
world, and music that changed the world.

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Waiting by City and Colour

A coma might feel better than this,

attempting to discover where to begin.
You're weighed down, you're full of something.
Of sickness, and desertion.
You're weighed down, you're full of something,
you're underneath it all.

So say goodbye to love,

and hold your head up high.
There's no need to rush

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we're all just waiting, waiting to die.

Hoping a better place is all I need,

with moments of innocence and mystery.
Oh, it's the little things you miss.
Like waking up all alone.
Oh, it's the little things you miss,
when you're underneath it all.

So say goodbye to love,

and hold your head up high.
There's no need to rush
we're all just waiting, waiting to die.

All your friends seem like enemies

when you're broken down and empty.
All your friends seem like enemies
when you're broken down and empty.

So say goodbye to love,

and hold your head up high.
There's no need to rush
we're all just waiting, waiting to die.

Sutharshan 7

Sinking by Kanchana Sutharshan

Maybe eternal sleep would fix the way I feel,
help me find a way back home.
Your mind is filled with unnecessary worry.
You are lost, isolated.
Your mind is filled with unnecessary worry,
sinking deeper and deeper.

Forget about love,

find a way to live.
We are living on deaths clock,
we dont need to hasten the inevitable.

I dream that Ill be happy in a new home,

with a brand new heart and no expectations.

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But, there are moments that I yearn for.
Like the feeling of perfect loneliness.
But, there are moments I yearn for.
Sinking deeper and deeper.

Forget about love,

find a way to live.
We are living on deaths clock,
we dont need to hasten the inevitable.

The ones you love morph into those you hate before your eyes.
When the light from your eyes fade.
The ones you love morph into those you hate before your eyes.
When the light from your eyes fade.

Forget about love,

find a way to live.
We are living on deaths clock,
we dont need to hasten the inevitable.

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Skeleton Key
The poem I wrote, Sinking mimics the style of writing used by
Dallas Green in his song, Waiting by using the same poetic devices,
structure, concepts and ideas. Firstly, I followed the same structure Dallas
Green used, by using the same line length to some degree, comma/period
placement, and number of stanzas.
I used my personal experiences to create the poem my own, but also
weave concepts Green used within his song. My interpretation of the song
Waiting, is that the time we spend alive is so limited, and some
relationships are not worth the emotional damage, and time. Also, that love
can be an overrated concept, and sometimes all you need is yourself. In
many of Greens previous songs, he writes about the pain of heartbreak, and
in Waiting it seems that he is overcoming the pain, and learning to live a
life by himself.

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I used my previous experiences in friendships similar to Greens

apparent relationships, to make my recreation of the song more personal. In
the past, I have been in friendships that have felt emotionally draining,
because I felt as if they were not helping me grow as a person. In the poem, I
refer to this feeling as wanting to go into an eternal sleep, because
relationships of this nature drained the light out of my life. Some friendships
made me feel lonely, and I loathed that feeling. These experiences made me
realize that once friends, or significant others dont make you feel good
about yourself anymore, they are not worth the effort or time. In the second
stanza, I communicate this by saying that love is sometimes not worth the
heartbreak, and that we live a limited lifetime, that cannot be wasted on the
constant disappointed over one relationship, and that we must learn to move
on. I repeat this between stanzas, like Green, to emphasize the final
message; that I am worth more than staying in a toxic/one-sided relationship.
Also, I used the fact that some of my experiences with loneliness were not
negative, and that they helped me change and become better with people,
and try harder in relationships that mean something to me, by referring to it
as perfect loneliness, in the third stanza. Also in the third stanza, I write
about my hope that one day, I will be perfectly content with the relationships
in my life. I mimic Greens wish of a better place, by saying a new home.
This new home symbolizes me letting go of the toxic relationships in my
life, and finding those who truly care for me.

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In terms of style, Green uses similar poetic devices in all his pieces,
shown in his song Waiting In the song, he uses repetition, by repeating
the same stanzas throughout the song. I mimicked this by reiterating my
version of the repeated stanza the same number of times, and in the same
place as the original song. This is effective within the piece, because it
stresses the importance of the stanza in the wider meaning of the poem.
Also, his poems are free verse, and have no specific line length or rhyming,
which I recreated as well.
Also, Greens writing has a darker air to it, which gives the poem a
melancholy feel. He achieves this by mentioning death, and the concept of
friends turning into enemies. I tried to evoke the same feelings in the reader,
so I used similar themes of death and loneliness.

The Match
I broke my legs protecting you from the fall,
I lost my soul keeping yours intact.

But when it was me, when I was drowning,

when sadness infected my veins,
you stood and watched as the tides dragged

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me under, staring at your feet.

Somewhere, somehow the spark

died, the match limp in your hand
still burning bright in mine.

I awoke every morning, only to go back to bed

to sleep away the slow days.
But you went on with your day, because you were fine,
while I was frozen in time.

I wanted to jump only to watch you from above,

to see if you would shed a tear, if any of you would.

Somewhere, somehow the spark

died, the match limp in your hand
still burning bright in mine.

You made me feel like a forgotten memory

when I was still alive.
And at the end of it all, you ripped my heart out of my chest,
but why was apologizing to you for bleeding on your shirt?

Perfect Nightmare
I was never built to live this life alone,
so, when I had you I had it all.
Knowing you existed gave me hope for a better life.
Suddenly, it was as if my cheeks were never
stained with a single tear, my heart intact and beating
at full force.

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I was never built to live this life alone,

so when I had you, I had it all.
It was strange, I couldnt sleep because
somehow what appeared in the best of my dreams
did not match what I had with you in my waking moments.

I didnt need coffee to pump my veins to life,

I wasnt dragging my feet against the pavement.

I was never built to live this life alone.

So, when I lost you, it was like shards of glass
spilling from between my fingertips.
Suddenly, I couldnt sleep because nightmares of a lonely
life infected by subconscious.

I dissected our moments, I studied you under a microscope

driving myself crazy, analyzing every moment I spent
in your presence.

So now Im left to wonder. Do I miss the way you

filled the lonely space, or if I truly cared for you, the perfect nightmare?

Skeleton Key

The poems Broken Bones and Perfect Nightmare, present themes

of depression and heartbreak, frequently used in the works of Dallas Green.
In majority of his songs, he uses the concept of depression and loneliness,
and the effect it can have on different types of relationships, and the strain

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depression places on relationships. He also frequently writes of heartbreak.

So, I used the general concept of sadness and relationships, and related it to
my personal life.
The personal message I communicated in both poems, is the toxicity of
living for another person who does not care for you the way you care for
them. When you are in a relationship of this nature, it consumes you, and
you begin apologizing for all the times that the other person hurt you. I have
had to live in multiple platonic relationships, where I felt like I wasnt being
cared for the way I was caring for them. I felt as if no matter what I did to
please them, I was never do enough. I didnt know if it was my personality,
so I apologized for their actions, and for when they made me feel alone. But,
as time went on I realized that I was scared of losing their presence, not
losing them. This is emphasized in the poem, Perfect Nightmare. I related
this love to the existing depression I had, and how it made me fall deeper
into the sadness I felt.
To make the pieces thought-provoking, I used repetition to show
progression, as the line that is repeated is presented in a different context in
following stanzas. This progression represents the degradation of personality,
which happens when a person suffers from depression is put in a relationship
like the ones I describe. I also used parallels within the same poem. In
Perfect Nightmare, I presented a person who is perfect and loving, and as the
poem progresses the same person is viewed as a nightmare. Also, I posed a
question in the last stanza of each poem, to leave it open ended, like a cliff-

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hanger, for the reader to assume what the meaning behind the poem truly is.
I also italicized the words you and me in the first poem, to stress the parallels
of the relationship, that I was working to please them and they were doing
nothing for me.
Both poems are free verse, so they follow no specific line length,
parameters and there is no rhyming. The reason why the poem is in this
format is because I wanted to tell the poem in a story creatively, and did not
want to focus on a specific technique of poetry, rather freely write.

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Works Cited

Adams, Gregory. "Dallas Green Sounds Off on Alexisonfire Breakup."

Dallas Green Sounds Off on Alexisonfire Breakup. Exclaim, 17 Sept.
2015. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
"Alexisonfire." Distort. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
"City and Colour." Billboard. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
"City and Colour." City and Colour. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.

"City and Colour: Embracing the Negative." Pastemagazine.com. Web.

3 Nov. 2015.
Daniell, Mark. "City and Colour's Dallas Green Expands Folk Sound on
'If I Should Go Before You'" Toronto Sun. 8 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
Hengst, Michelle "Interview: Dallas Green / City and Colour - "I Struggle
to Find Hope" NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION. 22 June 2013. Web. 3
Nov. 2015.
Warner, Andrea. "I Have a Giant Canadian Chip on My Shoulder:
Dallas Green Discusses Nashville, Neil Young and His New City and
Colour Record." CBC Music. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.