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Alien Virus
(total playing time: 2:28) Song Facts: This can be found on shock/denial/anger/acceptance. Rick performed this song in concert before the cd was released. Critic comment - The song that always wrings me out and leaves me thinking "What a great album this is" - Tim Cain, Decatur Herald & Review.
More Reviews
I really like this song (I know I'm in the minority on this one, but, hey, I can't help it, I do!). Maybe it's because I only heard it live once or twice and I've heard it many, many times on the CD, but I really do like how sultry his voice sounds, the definite denial that's going on in his head, and his longing to be someone else. The line "You've been out walking and monkeys are talking to a black monolith" took me a while to digest, but what it says to me is that there's always someone watching and if you think you're fooling anyone, you're not. Also, another one of my favorite lines from this CD is "I'm not waving I'm drowning baby". Love it!
This song is usually a skipper for me for a few reasons: 1. I've heard it live and prefer that version, 2. I don't like the purposeful cracking of his voice, 3. When I put SDAA in the CD player I want loud driving songs not the blues.
That being said over the past couple of weeks I've been making a conscience effort to listen to the words and music of the song and I must admit it is growing on me (not the voice cracking part though!!). Another song about a man watching his woman leave him, obviously the only way that could be possible is if the woman was out of her mind - AKA Alien Virus. I am not a sci-fi person so all the references are beyond me. My fav line is the 'I'm not waving, I'm drowning baby'. Ties in to all the other songs about how things are not what they seem or how people say they are Ok when they are not.
All in all I'd like to hear it live again and as usual the songwriting never ceases to amaze me.
Alien Virus... it's a short song! When I first saw it live I couldn't understand a word he was saying, but I liked the feel of it. Eventually I got some of the lyrics, and like many fans I don't think I really get the monkey/monolith thing. I like the fact that he liked his original demo enough to just leave it, but I would be interested to hear it really developed into a really bluesy song.
My theory on the song as a whole is that maybe someone stood him up or something. Like he was finally going to have her (whoever that is)... the planets are aligned, and finally it seems like the time is right to get together... and she doesn't show. He had other things he *could* have done (hanging out with the aliens calling from the UFO I suppose), but he wanted her. Now he's hurt and angry, so he's getting defensive saying she *used* to be beautiful, and he doesn't recognize her anymore. But in reality he still wants her because he wants to *be* the man that he sees her with... the one she wants.
"You've been out walking and monkeys are talking to a black monolith" Lets see if I can link what I think this might be, to my theory on the song. Religion... this is the religious part of the song (we all know how Rick loves that). Like she's been searching for what she really believes in. And in so doing, stands him up. Is he not good enough in her eyes? Monkeys are talking to a black monolith... most religions have some sort of symbol or image right?
I've always thought the lyrics in this song sounded like one strange dream Rick had one late night flight home from Vegas to LA. "...I waited for hours Up in the sky was a strange light" Right there, in-between hours and up, he dozed off. Comets, UFO's, monkey's talking to a black monolith?? I know I've had some strange dreams after a hard day; nothing has popped up like talking monkeys, but I'm not much of a Sci-Fi nut. So now he's dreaming that aliens have attacked his woman, and she's digging it - so now he wants to be an alien, right? At least that's what I get out of the "I don't want to be in this skin, I want to be in the one he's in" line, I keep picturing those green men from Mars.
I'm also not a fan of the blues. I think I've expressed this opinion before (somewhere around the Beginnings album I believe) but this is just not one type of music I can get into. So it must be the awesome lyrics that have me hanging in on this track, and not skipping it. I hate the way his voice sounds, strained and tired - so if that's what he was going for, I guess that's good. Usually I'm halfway through this song before I realize I'm singing along in the car, then I stop abruptly and look guiltily around to see if anyone caught me enjoying it. :-) It's always right around the "I'm not waving, I'm drowning baby" line --'cause he voice cracks on the 'waving' and I wince. I agree that it's an awesome line, but not so great delivery. I always thought this song slowed this album down too much, but maybe sometimes a breather is good.
The times I've heard it live must not have been memorable, because I'm having a real hard time conjuring up those performances. I mean, I know I've heard it live. It must've been my brain thinking this was the one I really didn't like, so I didn't have to save it to the hard drive. I know -- bad fan! I wonder why it hasn't been done much live (as compared to the other sdaa tracks currently in rotation)? Maybe then I'd have something to remember.
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Fan Reviews As I sit down to write this I find myself feeling the need to defend this song. :o) I have read many posts about this song on various lists and it just seems like the general consensus about this song is that people hate it. Ends up toward the bottom of all the different polls I have seen out there for ranking songs on SDAA. Well, I like it! Now, having said that, I do have to say I do not completely enjoy the voice inflections he used in a couple of areas of the song. I thought the way he vocalized those particular areas was MUCH better in the live version he was playing for a while before the CD came out. First time I heard the song (again live at a show pre CD release) I really couldn't have told you what I thought of the song. I was hung up on the fact that he was singing the words he was singing. What?? "I think maybe some alien virus infected your heart?" WHAT????? I was completely throw off balance (he has a way of doing that doesn't he?) Once I wrapped my brain around the lyrics, I completely fell in love with this song. It's bluesy and quirky. I love the tie in to 2001 A Space Odyssey. Boy were those lyrics a tad challenging to figure out from the live show! Who's brain would even think to go to "monkeys are talking to a black monolith" to try to match what they thought they were hearing anyway?? :o) But we somehow figured it out. Can you imagine if we would have had to wait until we got the lyrics from the liner notes of the CD (or in this case the SDAA website)? Half of us would have been insane. :o) My favorite line? "I'm not waving I'm drowning, baby." Such a simple line, but it's KILLER! I also really like the tie in lines "I don't want to be in
The first time I heard this song, I was a little worried. This was the second preview we had gotten for SDAA, the first being IDWAFY. The first song being very angry, and this one being, well, strange to say the least. It didn't help matters that the version we got really wasn't complete, and wasn't really practiced. The next night, it was actually even worse because Rick was clearly not feeling very well. We got to hear it several more times during the year and it got better and I actually got the point where I really liked it. He's very good at conveying the feeling that he used to be the one, now someone else is the one, and he wants to be that someone else. I still don't quite get the whole Alien Virus thing or the monkey's and the black monolith -( yea, I know, I know, I know, it's 2001 Space Odyssey, but I can't really tie it to the song.) My favorite line is "I'm not waving I'm drowning baby". How brilliant is that? Also love "I don't want to be in this skin....." I love Rick Springfield's voice, too. His singing voice and his speaking voice. There's just something about it. I even love it when he's singing sometimes when I know I probably shouldn't (when he doesn't quite hit the note the way he should or when he loses his falsetto during Inside Silvia). I don't, however, love the vocal performance on parts of this song. I'm sure it came out exactly the way he wanted it to come out, but I hope he never gets the urge to do that again. I remember hearing this song live and it absolutely blew me away!! I love when Rick "sings the blues"....*sigh* That performance was an acoustic version done by Rick alone, no band behind him......*they didn't 'know' the song yet*, and it sent 'chills' down my spine. Not so much the lyrics, but just the way Rick sang the song.....so emotional, such pain and suffering in his voice. He really made me 'feel' the song, rather than 'hear' it. Now that the all the songs from s/d/a/a have "infected my heart", I like the version on the CD just as much, as that first live performance. My favorite line is "I'm not waving, I'm drowning baby".....the way Rick's voice 'cracks' on the word "waving" just sends me 'over the edge'......plus I find the line oddly funny. Rick's sense of humor shines thru, even when he's sad and depressed. The reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey gladdens my heart, since that was the first movie my hubby and I saw together, before we were even and "item". *YIKES!! That was in 1969.......could that really have been 35 years ago??* The monkeys and the black monolith left me scratching my head in confusion back when I was 16 years old. But I've come to understand the analogy to mankind and the alien nature of the universe. Pretty heavy shit!! Leave it to Rick to reference such an obscure, yet classic sci-fi flick. As to the rest of the lyrics.....again DaMan makes you feel his pain thru his words. Coupled with the soul searing music, this blues number is among my favorites from s/d/a/a. It compliments the CD by being so different from the rest of the tracks. As for Rick's voice....singing in this key is a bit of a "strain".....*he always seems to be "reaching" for the notes*, but it suits the nature of the song very well. Another "winner" from a CD full of 'em. The first time I heard him do this live, I absolutely loved it! I love the blues and I love when he does Red House. However, it has taken me a long time to "like" the CD version, much less love it. He said that he recorded it right from the demo, and I wish his perfectionist ways went back to do it better. I don't really like the way his voice cracks and I'm a big lover of the raspy voiced Rick. I love the lines:
I definitely love the "blues" music in this song. Blues have always been one of my favorites and Rick can play with the best of them. The only problem I have is they should have put a live version on the CD. I prefer this song much better live then recorded. I think it lost a lot of the blues feeling on the CD. It seems kind of stuck somewhere between the blues and something else, but I don't know what.
As far as the words, it appears to be written by someone who has been cheated on, but is it Rick or someone he knows, present or past, I guess we will never know. A few of the lines don't seem to belong, but I think that is done intentionally to throw off the listener. My favorite lines: I don't want to be in this skin Baby not tonight I want to be in the one he's in The one you want I think this just might be denial. How could someone be with Rick and then ditch him for someone else? Well, obviously she's been possessed or have some horrible sickness that makes her out of her freakin' mind!!!
"don't want to be in this skin, Baby not tonight, I want to be in the one he's in, The one you want". She dumped him for somebody else and he wished he was that guy. I have no clue what the monkeys talking to a black monolith means. Can't wait to see what somebody else comes up with. I looked up monolith in the dictionary and just means a large block of stone. Maybe he equates that with her heart?? Oh, yeah! I love this song. I couldn't understand a word the first time I heard it live, but I loved the sound. Just the sound of the high hat, and the guitar, puts me in a mental place, sitting in a dark corner of a smoke filled blues bar, drinking a glass of wine. Cheap red wine. Yeah baby. I love the song, I just don't love the cd version of it. Didn't love it the first time I heard it, but it definitely grew on me.
I'm sure there are a lot of people who have only heard the cd version that didn't get a chance to hear the "better" version :-p, so they are at a disadvantage, I believe.
I never have had the privilege of hearing this one live, so I only have the CD version to go by. I have done a complete 180 degree turn on my feelings towards this song, I love it. Before...I was not so fond of it. Remember when we could listen to the tracks in the Listening Lounge before SDAA was released? I heard this one there and thought to myself..."MAN OH MAN....get Rick a cough lozenge before he records this again!" We all know what a perfectionist the man is so I figured he left the cracks and strains in his voice on the CD on purpose....it must have been the sound he was going for. But I could not grasp it.
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