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Originally Posted by Macfan4life
OMG Yes. Its so rare to find someone else that appreciates Illume. Its all Lindsey. How do turn a poem about a horrific tragedy into music and song. How could you even begin to put it to music? I would use anger instead of paranoia but it has that vibe. It could fit on Law and Order or Tusk. The criticisms of the song on this board over the years make me go insane......"you cant sing to it" "It has no chorus" "It makes no sense"
Not all music is supposed to be fun pop verse, chorus, repeat. Sometimes like album covers music is made to make you think. Stevie was so masterful in describing her personal experience at a NYC hotel during 9/11. Like all poetry there are metaphors and indirect words, phrases, etc. I really appreciate Lindsey's craft of this song. The song puts you at unease and takes you down a path of uncertainty. That's the entire point of the song. I think the unease and uncertainty the song projects turns people off. When the band went on stage in NYC on the SYW tour they should have played it. People really expected a sing along chorus to 9/11 or a get up and dance number? I don't get it.
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Since english is not my native language, sometimes I have a hard time understanding the lyrics. So the music it's the first thing I like in a song. There are singers easy to understand their lyrics. Christine is one of them. Some songs of Lindsey. Of all, Carpenters are the easiest to understand. But MJ and Elton are very difficult to me. Usually soft slow songs are easier but it is not an exact rule.
So as with other songs, the melody was the first thing I paid attention with "Illume (9-11)". It's not of a fave of mine, but yes after learning the lyrics, I liked more. I didn't like it that much probably because Stevie's voice at that time, and too much percussion for the song topic, IMHO. I thought then, what if she had sung it and the arrangements were more like Landslide, I think it would be more emotional. And if she had her 1975 voice, well, much more so.
If they had sung it live, I would have liked it to be more like when Lindsey played Say Goodbye at his Soundstage concert. It is much more moving.