Addendum:
I wrote all this without doing my research and realizing Diamonds and Rust is a Joan Baez song. Fuck. Dammit! Sorry.
I'm not taking the post down. Her version of the song is awesome too. I've gotta give her credit--those lyrics are so awesome, they can be conveyed thru her or Halford.
But in all the parts where I credit the lyrics to Halford's writing ability, just... ugh, aaahh, realize I didn't know what I was talking about.
Okay, on the same day, two friends recently told me they went to see Judas Priest on their Seattle tour stop. It got me thinking, I should immediately start becoming familiar with this band; the time is long past. They won't be around forever.
I discovered the song Diamonds and Rust when Spotifying them. This is now my favorite Priest song. Here it is from YouTube.
When I watched this video and read the lyrics along with it, even though I'd listened to the song three times since last night, I immediately started getting misty. It brought up many memories. I began thinking about the possibility of an old friend calling me up, and me having to turn him away, because our memories together are too painful. They represent a time in my life when I was not proud of myself. A time I'd rather not relive. And of the pain of having to turn away a doe-eyed, old friend.
That's probably not even what he meant when he wrote the song, but that's what it made me feel. It's my unfiltered interpretation of it, one of them anyway. That's what artists want you to do with their art, right? To let it lead to you an immense feeling, whether or not it's strictly their aim when creating and publishing it, is always most attractive to me. It's an approach I leaned from watching Lynch, who explains almost nothing in his massively affecting stories.
In short, Diamonds' lyrical theme is instantly relatable. Halford doesn't sing above you, he sings with you. Yet, somehow, he is elevated to a king's status by his choice of words. By my impression of this song alone (and that badass new one Judas Rising), Halford does exist on a higher plane. He's full of some kind of fantastical energy.
He's is a lyrical genius. A showman. A metal master: metal was not good enough for him, so he had to take it as a lump of clay in his hands, his eyes burning with fire, and shape it, vocally, the way he wanted.
Look what he's become. Respected, globally recognized, gay, evil, wonderful, entertaining millions.
I'm sure he felt nervous when coming out to the world, but god bless him for it. He's made metal into a genre where prejudice doesn't matter. If you're metal, and honest, and brutal, you will be respected. And yes, I see Halford's style as brutal, even though he's not grunting like a barbarian. He rises above all that.
Now here's a version of Diamonds and Rust I found when YouTube searching to see if the song has a music video. (I'm still not sure.) I avoided hits like, "Diamonds and Rust Acoustic."
Though its title lacked the word "live" or "acoustic" in its description, the vid immediately below indeed turned out to be a live, acoustic version. I was hooked anyway, if for nothing else than for the way Rob enters the stage from the side, walking reflectively, his focus within himself and yet totally with the crowd, looking totally metal in his leather coat and studs, singing the tune perfectly, with palpable feeling in his voice, totally at peace with himself. Like a master opera singer.
I love his fuckin shaved, tattooed head and big ass goatee.
One of metal's few ruling kings. Thank god for you, Halford.
Now here's a version that blows both of them away just for sheer excitement and metal capability. The song comes from a live album, recorded in 1979, Tokyo. In their early, rougher days. The album version does not do this live version justice, even without the vocal harmonies.
I wrote all this without doing my research and realizing Diamonds and Rust is a Joan Baez song. Fuck. Dammit! Sorry.
I'm not taking the post down. Her version of the song is awesome too. I've gotta give her credit--those lyrics are so awesome, they can be conveyed thru her or Halford.
But in all the parts where I credit the lyrics to Halford's writing ability, just... ugh, aaahh, realize I didn't know what I was talking about.
Okay, on the same day, two friends recently told me they went to see Judas Priest on their Seattle tour stop. It got me thinking, I should immediately start becoming familiar with this band; the time is long past. They won't be around forever.
I discovered the song Diamonds and Rust when Spotifying them. This is now my favorite Priest song. Here it is from YouTube.
When I watched this video and read the lyrics along with it, even though I'd listened to the song three times since last night, I immediately started getting misty. It brought up many memories. I began thinking about the possibility of an old friend calling me up, and me having to turn him away, because our memories together are too painful. They represent a time in my life when I was not proud of myself. A time I'd rather not relive. And of the pain of having to turn away a doe-eyed, old friend.
That's probably not even what he meant when he wrote the song, but that's what it made me feel. It's my unfiltered interpretation of it, one of them anyway. That's what artists want you to do with their art, right? To let it lead to you an immense feeling, whether or not it's strictly their aim when creating and publishing it, is always most attractive to me. It's an approach I leaned from watching Lynch, who explains almost nothing in his massively affecting stories.
We both know what memories can bring, they bring diamonds and rust. Diamonds, diamonds and rust.
In short, Diamonds' lyrical theme is instantly relatable. Halford doesn't sing above you, he sings with you. Yet, somehow, he is elevated to a king's status by his choice of words. By my impression of this song alone (and that badass new one Judas Rising), Halford does exist on a higher plane. He's full of some kind of fantastical energy.
He's is a lyrical genius. A showman. A metal master: metal was not good enough for him, so he had to take it as a lump of clay in his hands, his eyes burning with fire, and shape it, vocally, the way he wanted.
Look what he's become. Respected, globally recognized, gay, evil, wonderful, entertaining millions.
I'm sure he felt nervous when coming out to the world, but god bless him for it. He's made metal into a genre where prejudice doesn't matter. If you're metal, and honest, and brutal, you will be respected. And yes, I see Halford's style as brutal, even though he's not grunting like a barbarian. He rises above all that.
Now here's a version of Diamonds and Rust I found when YouTube searching to see if the song has a music video. (I'm still not sure.) I avoided hits like, "Diamonds and Rust Acoustic."
Though its title lacked the word "live" or "acoustic" in its description, the vid immediately below indeed turned out to be a live, acoustic version. I was hooked anyway, if for nothing else than for the way Rob enters the stage from the side, walking reflectively, his focus within himself and yet totally with the crowd, looking totally metal in his leather coat and studs, singing the tune perfectly, with palpable feeling in his voice, totally at peace with himself. Like a master opera singer.
I love his fuckin shaved, tattooed head and big ass goatee.
One of metal's few ruling kings. Thank god for you, Halford.
Now here's a version that blows both of them away just for sheer excitement and metal capability. The song comes from a live album, recorded in 1979, Tokyo. In their early, rougher days. The album version does not do this live version justice, even without the vocal harmonies.
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