See You Dead - Helmet (Song)

The first great work is the third track from Helmet's 2004 LP "Size Matters", titled "See You Dead" (feel free to click on this link for a YouTube video of the song, or look it up on Spotify for a higher quality version).  This song is an interesting mix of quintessential Helmet trademarks such as Hamilton's alternatively calm and aggressive vocals and relentless metal-esque guitar riffs as well as some lesser-heard qualities, such as a very catchy chorus and a build-up that actually leads to a triumphant climax near the end of the song.  Helmet's songs rarely have such a conventionally satisfying hit to them, tending to lean more toward angry and unresolved feelings.

As much as I love the musicality of the song, what really pushes this into the unusual territory of being a truly great work are the lyrics, specifically how they seem to grow organically from a single thought.  Here are the lyrics in their entirety:

I'd like to see you in two pieces.
You won't be walking, barely breathing.
I'd like to see you at my door,
We're together like before.
 
I could miss you more right now or I could slit your throat.
Sometimes I get so down, you're not around and I'd rather see you dead.
Sometimes I get lonely and all I need is just to see you dead.

Tonight you're sleeping by his side,
I tried to see you, but you let him decide.
I'm a threat now, are you scared?
It's just murder, at least you know I care.

I could miss you more right now or I could slit your throat.
Sometimes I get so down, you're not around and I'd rather see you dead.
Sometimes I get lonely and all I need is just to see you dead.

Specifically, pay attention to the line "I'm a threat now, are you scared?"  To me, this song tells the story of a man who would like to be able to at least talk to his ex, but her new boyfriend sees the man as a threat.  The speaker here is angry and a little bit amused to be viewed in this way, when in his mind all he's trying to do is keep up some contact with an ex, being polite and/or friendly.  The violent lyrics are a satirical renouncement of being called dangerous, which is a level of subtlety you don't often see in popular art, for the author will always run the risk of people passing over the irony, and missing the point completely.  He's finding and showing the humor of the boyfriend's overreaction.  In a way "owning up" to the insult gives the speaker power over it. 

But the speaker betrays himself, and we see in the lyrics that he does miss his ex sincerely, and does actually long for her company, which could make him a legitimate threat to a new relationship, an interesting extra layer to add.  I like the admittance of need which seems almost out of place in a very "male" song.

It's an awesome song, successful on so many levels, and much deeper than it at first appears to be.  Raw, yet catchy, a perfect example of Hamilton's prowess behind the mic, with a guitar, and with a pen in his hand.

-MA, 10.8.2012