Q: What song makes you cry?
ML: “The Battle of Hampton Roads” by Titus Andronicus.
Q: When did you first hear this song?
ML: I first heard this song my senior year of high school.
Q: Which lyric hits you the hardest and why?
ML: “I’m sorry dad but I’m not making this upÛ
A lot of the lyrics of this song are directed towards the singer’s dad. The song says stuff that i could never say to my dad but thoughts that I’ve had before.
Q: Why do you think this song makes you cry?
ML: I’m from New Jersey, and the song has a lot of references to the state. The song is at once a lament for home and the idea that you can never go back. A rejection of home is necessary for growth but what if you don’t ever grow then what did you accomplish?
A lot of the song is about the loss of innocence and the fear of failure. The song is about the idea that a person has come as far as they have and still fail. The only path left for the individual is one of self destruction, which is something I am very afraid of.
This album, The Monitor, by Titus Andronicus was released in 2010. The conceptual framework for this album centered itself around the Civil War, perhaps the most intense example of an entity turned against itself, but an odd choice for an indie-rock band’s sophomore album release. I’m usually not a fan of songs that go on longer than 6 minutes, but I’m going to have to make an exception for this song. Even though the singer name drops Bruce Springsteen, the New Jersey god who I hear too much about from my cousins, I genuinely enjoyed listening to the entirety of this song. The tortured screaming of the lead singer and the eventual decomposition of the song itself reminded me a lot of Conor Oberst’s vocals for Bright Eyes. It’s an uncomfortably honest and sometimes vulgar song. Titus Andronicus gives the listener a terrified reflection of the disconcerting loss of values and certainty of the individual self that happens when you leave your hometown. Patrick Stickles also warns of the eventual bomb of self destruction that will detonate once you have to return home with nothing to show but your failures.
Here is the album version of the song and here is another live version that is filled with beards.