Daddy's Eyes

I heard this song and it made me mad. Daddy's Eyes, by the Killers. Lyrics are here. Its about a father's affair with another woman. He is making excuses to his son as to why he is being unfaithful. The line that got me the most was, "this has nothing to do with you." To me, cheating is one of the most selfish acts a person can commit. Some situations may be hard. You may not love a person anymore. You may have married them for the wrong reasons. But cheating on a person is just selfish. You are only thinking about your own feelings and gratifications without any idea of how your actions affect those around you, those involved in your life, such as your spouse and children. Thus, the line "this has nothing to do with you" is completely off. It has everything to do with the child. It is definitely not the kid's fault, but the situation has everything to do with any family member, simply because they will have to suffer the ramifications of an affair.

I thought about how I could depict what I felt after listening to this song, and came up with an illustration of a broken down tree house. The tree house represents a once trusting relationship between a father and son, which now lies abandoned and broken in the wake of neglect for care. Likewise the heart of a child can be left broken and trust abandoned after being shattered by an unfaithful father.

Daddy's Eyes (c) the Killers
Artwork (c) SwissDutchess

Bones

Bones, by the Killers, is pretty much about making out. Or at least wanting to make out with someone. Sometimes we just need to be close to someone. Sometimes all we need is a good kissing session.


Lyrics
"Bones"(c) the Killers
Artwork (c) SwissDutchess

Spiral Static

This week's drawing is for Spiral Static, by Muse. Its an old one off of Showbiz. When listening to it, I came to think it was about a relationship on edge, like when you have been involved with another person for a while and things have gone wrong. Whether its a mistake either you or the other person made, a secret kept, a lie told, the storm keeps building and building and in the end it'll crack light lightening.

I drew this picture of a girl who is creating a storm to portray what I thought was the meaning of the song.

Spiral Static (c) Muse
Artwork (c) SwissDutchess

Exogenisis: Symphony Part II

Ever comforting during desperate fear and calamity in huge events or quiet pains, they who would be heroes to us go unnoticed by our eyes more often than not because they are someone wholly unexpected. This is the neighbor from a few streets over that returns a lost dog. The stranger that holds the door open for you when your arms are full. Or the anonymous person who left you an envelope of money in a time of great need. These are all heroic acts from people we would never take two glances at.

Because I am a religious person I couldn't help but think of Jesus Christ while listening to Muse's Exogenesis: Symphony Part II when the lyrics sing of someone risking their life for the rest of the world. We all know the Savior did this and that He was a hero unseen and unexpected of most the people in His day. But instead of painting a picture of the Savior I decided to do a piece featuring the unexpected hero represented in a child. Children have a noble innocence that give them the courage to do what is right for the greater good. You see in this painting a little girl stepping to the edge of the world and facing the unknown for those she loves. She knows there is no going back to who she was before. The kind of courage and selfless love it takes to be a true hero can be shown in even the smallest act of kindness.

Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 (c) Muse
Artwork (c) SwissDutchess Art

Human

I really love this interpretation of Human. At first, the suggestion of the word 'dancer' as an adjective feels awkward. But if you listen to the lyrics of the song, you can see the struggles of the courage it takes to change from a follower into a leader. Hence the phrase, "are we human or are we dancer?" Do we think of our own free will, or do we follow a choreographed routine made by someone else? Do we lead our own lives, or do we let others lead it for us?

I decided to draw a marionette. I couldn't help but imagine from the first verse to the second, a marionette being controlled by strings dancing in a theater. At one point she finally breaks free of her strings, jumps off the stage, and runs through the seats to the door opening out to a free world. But since I can't animate my own music videos, I put it down in art. In the image you see the point at which the marionette is running from the stage and snapping free from her strings that hold her back.

I love the idea of being able to let go. We tend to get stuck in a comfortable routine that becomes our familiar stage. It takes courage to 'cut the cord' as it says in the song, and break free. Sometimes you look back, wanting to return to the ease of it all, but it will only take you further away from the open door ahead of you. In the end you will never regret taking the risk because it is worth it.

"Human" (c) the Killers
"Human" Artwork (c) SwissDutchess Art

Spaceman

Last week I started us off with Muse, and today I am following it up with Spaceman by the Killers. I had seen the music video and while it didn't make much sense, I did enjoy the circus dance party in space. I also loved the nod to David Bowie via the Labyrinth with all the feathers cascading off the shoulders of Brandon Flowers.

When it came to the song, I understood it to be the experience of someone leaving something they shouldn't have been involved with in the first place, and then being continually haunted by the experience and wanting to go back to it. I drew a picture following the space concept that the Killers brought; someone searching for evidence of something they once saw or felt. To everyone else he might seem crazy, wanting to return to something that essentially took him and held him from the life he once knew. No one can empathize because they weren't there. And while he is attempting to live life he is hoping his strange memories were something real.

I totally get the metaphor the Killers use to portray this idea through the concept of being abducted. The guy thinks he wants it, experiences it and then returns home, only to find himself a changed man while everything around him is the same, and now he wants nothing more than to go back only he can't find any shred of evidence that it even existed. And then he spends every waking moment searching and obsessing over it. The guy in the picture is plainly looking for some sign of life in the sky. The space helmet he wears and the maps and notes scattered about portray his somewhat crazed state of mind in the moment of obsession.

lyrics

"Spaceman" (c) the Killers
Artwork (c) Swiss Dutchess Art

I Belong To You

Having listed all of the songs by the Killers and Muse, I had my friend guess a number between one and one hundred and something, and the number she picked had "I Belong To You" listed next to it. Excellent way to start since its my favorite song off of Muse's newest album, The Resistance.

The great thing about this song is its basically a message to a girl who was hurt by a guy who is trying to win her back. After changing his heart and his ways, he seeks her across the world to tell her she is the only one for him. What girl doesn't want to hear that? I tried to depict what I thought was a good reflection of this scenario. After searching, he finds her sitting alone sipping lemonade at a cafe in France, so he sits down next to her as she says nothing. He gently pulls her arm toward him and imploringly kisses her hand, a sweet gesture of both humility and endearment that he is using to show he cannot live without her. She, of course, is unsure and still a little hurt from past wrongs. Her sad expression and lack of eye contact depicts her hesitancy to get involved, though she allows him to take her hand which says in her heart she is beginning to yield. The warm colors on him show his hopefulness, while the cool colors on her reflect her sadness.

This image came mainly from the end of the "Mon Coeur S'ouvre À Ta Voix" portion of the song (from the album version, not the New Moon version) where the sincere crooning of Matthew Bellamy can be felt as he belts out, "I belong, I belong to you alone..." After chasing down the girl and pouring out his heart with apologies, and after she resists with some angered resentment, the moment comes where all is dropped to a quiet whisper when he is truthfully broken and lost in the kiss he lays upon her hand. She is lost with him, wondering if she can do it all again.

Lyrics are here.

Pen and watercolor.

"I Belong To You (Mon Coeur S'ouvre À Ta Voix)" (c) Muse
Artwork (c) Swiss Dutchess Art