Cliff´s Notes For Nice Guy

by Thomas Stamp


Here is a short synopsis of ONE possible interpretation of Kevin Cryderman's songs:

The general theme of the album is the effect that loss of innocence has on one´s sense of identity.

"Joe Dimaggio"

An exploration of the ramifications of mental illness for one´s sense of identity.

"Riff"

Centering on the theme of entrapment, "Riff" follows the story of a policeman becoming more aware of the "big picture" while caught in deep undercover.

"Home"

The central figure of the song is a woman who is embedded in the materialistic mental-egoic world of the modern era yet she longs for a spiritual transformation and higher transcendence. At first, she makes a pre/trans fallacy as she attempt to find spiritual unity in an earlier stage of the Earth Mother rather than transcend to the Earth Goddess. She later realizes what higher innocence means: it is not a regression to an earlier, pre-rational, childhood-like state, but rather a transcendence which includes and yet surpasses earlier states of consciousness. "Home" means the spiritual centering within oneself.

"Never Mind"

Inspired by the death (murder?) of Kurt Cobain in 1994, the song is written from his perspective and follows the self-isolation of a desperate and depressed individual who disengages from the world and ultimately commits suicide.

"Crawling After You"

An examination of the self-inflicted subservient position that one may go into while pursuing an (illusory) ideal love. The song utilizes fairy tale iconography, such as the knight on the white horse, as well as romantic cliches (such as "I would do anything for you) in order to self-consciously comment on them.

"Daddy"

This song is not just an overblown attempt for empathy of child abuse victims but, more importantly, centers on the ambivalence of the victim towards her father abuser.

"Girl Like You (quixotic pop delusions)"

This is a self-reflexive pop song (commenting on itself, self-aware) examination of the tendency for love songs to have romantic idealizations. The protagonist in the song believes that each new woman he meets will be his true love, hence the repetition of the cliché in the chorus "girl like you" which can be found occurring often in popular music. The protagonist has not yet learned to engage realistically with women yet and he remains in a passive, fantasy-driven mode, such as in the lines "I´m not sure what to do...It´s all up to you, etc.." The protagonist views himself as a tormented romantic in pursuit of unrequited love; he´s "waiting breathlessly" amidst "heartless angels" as "tangerine kisses" burn his skin. Ultimately, he would rather have the fantasy of love rather than the real life interactions of a relationship. He resigns himself to "It´s only a dream but I don´t mind" and he stays in the cliched mode of pop songs, with phrases such as "I´ll wait for you."

"Lost"

This song deals with a person who is so wrapped up with his own darkness and personal strife that he spends much of his time contemplating suicide. Inadvertently, he is actually killing himself a little each day, "dying along the way," burying himself in his own negativity, and thus "leaving out today."

"Falling Down"

With images inspired by William Shakespeare´s King Lear, the protagonist of the song examines how other people deal with existential angst and the apparent entropy of civilization, such as by religion, repression, or blindly following others. The protagonist´s solution is to keep moving from place to place. However, s/he eventually realizes that the problems that need resolution are within himself, the "storm is within." Each person has to find their own path to freedom, such as a court clown/Fool who is owned by the King, yet the Fool find freedom ion being given license to speak his mind and even criticize the King as long as it is funny. Today, comics are given much more attention and license to criticize the government in the name of comedy than a ranting political rebel who may be ignored by the public. Finally, the protagonist questions how truly free any of us can be amongst all the historical, social, psychological, economic, etc. factors pulling at "the strings" of us, the marionettes, and placing limits upon our free will.

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