I was thinking today about the lyric fragment "looking down on the upside, locked out in the danger zone" that appears first in the Jack of Speed, as sung by WB on the 96 tour:
The second part of this fragment, "Locked out in the danger zone," harkens back to this unreleased WB demo we shared in March of 2019.
The first part of this lyrical fragment, "looking down on the upside" is repurposed and fleshed out on the track "Upside Looking Down" on Circus Money.
D-Mod has talked before about Walter's contextual thesaurus, and the way he filed and refined and reinterpreted his own words over time, but I think this is a good example of how it goes forward and backward, continually reinterpreted until it ends up where it needs to be.
I so love his laidback vocal and soulful phrasing on that version of Jack of Speed. Also absolute fan of how words need to fit the thematic but above all they must fit the groove. Very interesting to see the process of the lyrics evolving.
Endless recycling...and endlessly inventive. "Darkling Down" and a gecko battle? The context in which "God's Eye View" emerged? The CT(TM) was churning all the time
Exactly
"Ends up where it needs to be." Exactly. Well put, Matt. Thanks for the perspective!