Euthanasia

Something happened when I listened to this song again last Wednesday. I had listened to “In case I make it,” the week prior, and while I loved this song already, I wasn’t prepared for what happened when I watched the music video. I don’t usually cry much, to music, or anything. Maybe it was just the song itself combined with things going on in my actual world, but I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I am still utterly shocked and confused, and I’m not just saying that to be all tough-guy, I am just absolutely floored that a song could do that to me. In this review, I’ll try to figure out why that is.

Will Wood is not an artist I talk about much, but I’ve recently revisited most of his discography, and I really do love this dude. I hope he comes back from his indefinite hiatus, because this song is… just devastating. The song, if you couldn’t tell by the music video or title of the song, is about a narrator putting his pet rats down and lamenting the fact. This on its own is already enough to hurt my throat a bit, I have two cats that I couldn’t imagine not being with me now. The first five lines of the song, for example, are some of the utterly devastating lyrics I think I’ve ever heard;

“I was right there, where you fought tooth and nail
Gasping in the gas mask, thrashing ‘til you disappeared
Say you’re not scared
And you know it’s because I cared and
Say you know I love you, and that hope was just not there.”

I’m already tearing up just typing this review. The rest of the song is Will lamenting about how once they’re gone, they’re gone, and that he can’t see them again in this life. The last third of the song is his acceptance and belief that he will see his pets again sometime.

Instrumentally, this song is remarkably simple, but it does just enough to hammer down that somber, bittersweet feeling the song’s lyricism brings. The subtle ambience, the acoustic guitars, the light choral elements in the latter part of the song, all of it is so good. Will’s performance is also heartbreaking, he sounds on the edge of putting his guitar down and crying after every line, it’s just so well done and expertly crafted.

I could write a few paragraphs more, but I plan to go through Will’s stuff again at some other time, so I’ll leave this review at that. Please, listen to this song, and go hug whatever pet you may have.