Thrill 4-7: Painting by Numbers {General Joy}

Sigh.

I really do quite like this song, or at least elements of it. It's got a nice use of really deep growling piano notes. I really like the way the guitar imitates the piano.

It's just that General Joy seems so... general.

This probably isn't in any way true to the genesis of the song, but I can't shake my personal impression that this song is a case of deciding to make a Statement. It sounds like someone decided "I'm going to write a song about war" and went off and did it rather than waiting for inspiration to come and to write about whatever happened to turn up.

The lyrics lack interest and they're not distinctive Tori. There's a one track allegory where characteristics like Joy and Sorrow and Happiness are personified. Which might work if they were fleshed out a bit, but the same lines come around several times far too quickly and the thrust of them was pretty obvious the first time. And the reference to "hawks" changes in a fairly predictable way that is oddly reminiscent of my own attempts at songwriting. Given my general lack of platinum albums, this is not a good comparison.

I've noticed that I like the song better when it's not immediately after "Sleeps With Butterflies", so to some extent it's the old problem of crashing after a high point. Nevertheless, even when I play the song on its own I find my attention wandering after a while. It just doesn't grab me.