SONG OF THE DAY
“Gimme Sympathy” by Metric (Fantasies, Metric Music International, 2009). Written by Emily Haines & Jimmy Shaw.
INTERESTING FACTS (from wikipedia)
– “Gimme Sympathy” is the 3rd single from Canadian rock group Metric’s 4th studio album Fantasies.
– It was one of the first songs written for Fantasies, and was written at Bear Creek Studios just outside of Seattle.
– The band recorded the song as an acoustic version (during the filming of The Rawside Of…Metric), and gave it to fans who pre-ordered any of the packages of for the new album, along with “Help, I’m Alive” and Jimmy Shaw’s Pink Floyd cover of “Nobody Home”.
– The song references The Rolling Stones and The Beatles in the chorus (“Who would you rather be?/The Beatles or the Rolling Stones”); Here Comes The Sun (a Beatles song) is also referenced.
– The lyrical content of the song encourages taking chances in life and not worrying about the effects of our decisions (“you’re gonna make mistakes; you’re young”). The narrator reflects on her life, all the chances she took; and where her decisions have taken her now . She is aware of death, and though most of the time she does not acknowledge it, during hard times she wants to be reminded of something brighter (“play me something like ‘here comes the sun'”).
– The music video for “Gimme Sympathy” was filmed at The Sound Academy in Toronto, Ontario. It is a one-shot style video, very similar to Feist’s music videos for “The Reminder” and Weezer’s “Undone (The Sweater Song)”. It starts off with Haines getting ready for a concert backstage. The camera then follows her as she makes her way to the microphone. The three other band members are playing their instruments and as the video progresses, they all change outfits and instruments off screen and by the end they are all back to their starting positions. The video concludes with several children running into the room dressed as butterflies and pretending to float out of it again, and fades to white.