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Well, hello. I’m still testing this.

Music Notes

A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff

. I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

DLSpiritwriter☯️🦋🌳

Feb 23, 2025 at 12:03pm
In response to "Beautiful Day, by U2"

Very intense and thanks for sharing your insights. It is a very good song and more so now...
Glad y'all made it out safely 🙂.

1 Like

Ms. TerrifyingTuber

Oct 15, 2024 at 12:09pm
In response to "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be) (ID cover)"

That was an amazing performance. Dan certainly has a sense of showmanship..

1 Like

QPdoll

Oct 12, 2024 at 8:00am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

I've only known the Marvin Gaye version. I have to say that CCR did it justice. The drums and that bass. So cool.

Excellent choice!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 12, 2024 at 7:45am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

Great song choice! There is also a version with Gladys Knight and the Pips that may or may not have been the first one. It was the first one that I heard.

1 Like

Dave Ryan

Oct 11, 2024 at 8:19am
In response to "If I Had a Hammer"

Puff the Magic Dragon is a great song for traumatising the kids. There's nothing like a happy ending, and that one is definitely nothing like a happy ending.

1 Like

QPdoll

Oct 10, 2024 at 7:57am
In response to "Fast Car (Jonas Blue cover)"

This is great! I love this song and have heard a couple of different versions, but I've never heard this one. Thank you for sharing.

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 9, 2024 at 9:07am
In response to "Fortunate Son"

Love Centerfield and Have You Ever Seen the Rain, also!

So many wonderful songs!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 8, 2024 at 9:00am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

Great song choice!

1 Like

QPdoll

Oct 8, 2024 at 6:15am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

I like Tom Petty, too. My favorite song is Mary Jane's Last Dance. However, I like the message of I Won't Back Down. It's a fine choice.

1 Like

tracker

Oct 7, 2024 at 12:23pm
In response to "Creeque Alley"

This is when I like AI. The song is a story about when the group was formed. It was released when I had first started college. Where? In California! Good choice of song.

1 Like

February 26, 2025 at 4:26am

#1084393

Polaroid, by ID

My 26th track is yet another deep cut (no music video) from the 2015 Imagine Dragons album Smoke + Mirrors. This is my last one off of it for this year's "Invalid Item"

series.

The cover art which surrealist oil painter Tim Cantor

created for Polaroid shows an infant floating over a cheetah in full speed mode. This is supposed to capture the theme of a life lived recklessly and thoughtlessly.

In Cantor's rough drafts and concept sketches, which were released alongside the S+M demo collection (Reflections), it is revealed the original ideas for the painting included a skeleton in the grave at the base of the image, and the infant was a fetus in the womb. This would have completed the cycle of life in a rather more intense way than it ended up being.

Sound:
Polaroid jumps right into the opening lines, beginning lightly and then bringing in the drums between the opening and the first chorus.

I'm pretty sure it has a glockenspiel, or perhaps a xylophone; some kind of bell notes which add a unique texture. I like how we can hear everyone in the band join in on the second chorus; it adds a folksy, "sing-along" feel. The wall of sound at the end is a bit of a pile-on, but it's typical of the S+M album.

I might add here that Smoke + Mirrors was entirely self-produced by the Dragons, which resulted in a rather over-the-top sound as compared to their next album, Evolve (2017,) which had outside producers overseeing it and recommending a cleaner, more pared-down style.

Theme:
Polaroid lays out emotions disguised in an endless series of folksy, almost playfully opaque metaphors; Dan Reynolds describes himself as everything from a "day-late two face" to a "rolling freight train."

When he started writing and sharing his songs as a teenager, he didn't like to reveal his true feelings of confusion and depression to his parents, so he would hide behind metaphorical language. This habit lingered through several albums, until these days when guitarist Wayne Sermon has expressed admiration for the way Dan's songwriting voice has matured and he can express what he feels with directness and honesty. (Amazon Music Songline performance)

Significance:
I can remember the day I put this on to listen to for the first time. It was New Year's Eve, and we were headed to Naples, Florida for a vacation. I played it once, and proceeded to have it on loop for most of the drive south, enthralled by the simple, catchy melody and the quaint, unique metaphorical lyrics which seemed to describe me as well as the narrator.

The next day was the new year, and I found myself making a digital art piece inspired by Polaroid, with the words "life's a blank canvas, and you are the color of boom!" incorporating the idea of fireworks and a new beginning despite the song's overall gloomy theme.

Polaroid is one of my favorite ID songs to sing to myself, quite easy and memorable like an old-fashioned folk song.

Words: 516.

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