Motives Misunderstood in the Key of C

To love is to let the bird fly fly away.

That’s what me fool said to get through that day.

I let my brain do the work and form the words

Condemning my passion to embarrassment and woe

If I fell

If I needed

If you fell

If you needed

What would we do

What would we do

We talked of distance and indifference

in the midst of diners and holding hands

I helped you make the life decision

that left me fool beside myself and bewildered behind

If I fell

If I needed

If you fell

If you needed

What would we do

What would we do

And what I want to say while this path moves away

I would rather my motives have been misunderstood

Than to have just have been a distance my whole foolish self

you passed on the way to something somewhere else.

If I fell

If I needed you

If you fell

If you needed me. If you needed me. If you need me.

Then My Motives are Misunderstood.

Then My Motives are Misunderstood.

JOHN: There are basically two ways that I write a song. I will start playing a few chords on the guitar, hum along to it and just begin singing. These songs usually take about the exact same amount of time to play them that I spent writing them. This is both good and bad. The song will usually be insanely catchy with a repeating part that people sing along to, and often it will have a raw emotion attached. But the long term meaning seems to dissipate for me. If Leaving Were To Be So Easy and Take All My Cares Away, are two examples of this type of song, and coincidentally If Leaving is one of our most popular songs.
The other way I write is sitting down and purposely writing about something life-altering that I have recently experienced, almost like a journal. I will sit with this writing a few days and clarify and try to squeeze the truth out of it. Then I will grab a guitar and try to make music fit to the words, hopefully not having to change much. This usually leads to songs that I listen to on my own for a longer period of time than the former style. I feel this latter style demands that the song grows on you, that it is trying to say something more substantial and must be viewed in a way beyond it's shear ability to make you sing along. Dear Resonance and Darkest Days are the most obvious songs formed from this approach. Most of my songs about "Love" are usually in the first category:Played quickly, no time to think, get that emotion out there. Motives was approached combining these two approaches. I wrote, recorded and set aside a riff for Fall Of The House Of Even that was never used. It had been forgotten until I realized we needed a few more songs for this new record. I dug through old recordings, found this piece of music and I listened to the riff a few times, let it sink in, and then promptly and purposely forgot about it again. I wanted to write a painfully truthful song about my break-up with a woman I love dearly, a song that didn't take an overtly hurtful subjective side to the incident. I wanted to deal with my anger and hurt in a respectful way. I wanted to state in these words exactly what I felt happened and exactly why I thought the whole experience was deeply painful. I wrote the words down without rhyme. I then listened back to the riff I had created a year earlier, and I bashed the two together until they become one. New and old together. It's a simple song structure with a simple rhythmic pattern combining what I believe to be the most painful lyrics I have written.
PHILLIP: This is one of my favorite songs from the new album! I love the "rock" feel and the super-catchy chorus, along with the heartfelt vocals. The fact that I sing a harmony with Liz through most of the song almost gives a feeling that the lyrics are coming from both the male and female points of view of a failed relationship; both of their "motives" being "misunderstood". This song got stuck in my head for several days after laying down the vocal tracks. That can't be bad! Nice work John.