2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood

The song begins with guitar strumming reminiscent of Trini Lopez’s If I Had a Hammer. The tempo even matches the live version some of us from Manila must have heard from one of those made in Indonesia cassette tapes when CDs were still a luxury in the late 80s.

It only becomes clear that this song is not a cover when the delay/rotating leslie guitar effect is heard in the background. In a few more bars, a David Byrne-sounding Alec Ounsworth begins singing:

Now that everybody’s here
Could we please have your attention?
There is nothing left to fear
No now that bigfoot is captured
But are the children really right
Alright alright

Hailing from Brooklyn and Philadelphia, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are one of alternative music’s phenoms. Their meteoric rise stems from their effective use of the new media using DIY philosophy. They produced and promoted and sold their first album online and was hailed then as the best unsigned band. They continue to promote themselves virally via the web.

Critics have been divided about CYHSY precisely because their sound is a liberal lift from the better qualities of the music of The Talking Heads, Joy Division, The Fall, New Order, even the Velvet Underground. If these critics brand CYHSY plagiarists, some see the attempt at paying tribute.

I tend to side with the latter. A flattering imitation, more like. Who can claim originality anyway these days? CSHSY merely capitalize on their music’s familiarity.

Some of their songs (and more facts about the band) are available for download here.

This song (Upon a Tidal..) from their eponymous debut album seems to focus on teenage lifestyles with a hint of an affected concern towards the plight of Lindsays and Britneys as ‘child stars’ continue to make a joke of their young lives. This ode to youth goes perfectly with the upbeat tempo that’s infectiously danceable (in a rock and roll way, that is).

Here’s the rest of the lyrics and a spec video (for lack of a real music video) of the song:

There is danger in the night
There are things we can’t control but
Will we give ourselves a fright
When we become less than human?
There are people who say why oh why oh why?
Now there are other ways to die
Oh why oh why?

But upon this tidal wave
Oh god oh god
But upon this tidal wave
Oh god oh god
Young Blood (8x)

We are men who stay alive
Who send your children away now
We are calling from a tower
Expressing what must be
Everyone’s opinion
“They are going out to bars
and they are getting into cars
I have seen them with my own eyes.”
“AMERICA PLEASE HELP THEM!”

They are child stars . . .

With their sex
and their drugs
and their rock
a-rock-a-rock-a-rock n roll