We’re on to the seventh track in our review of Dark Little Ones, the new album by Canadian singer-songwriter and musician Kieran West. We started a week ago with “Staying Home.”
Today’s song, “Start All Over Again,” picks up the tempo with a drum-driven melody anchored by a distorted electric guitar. It’s a story of resilience, perseverance, and maybe a certain amount of resignation: that feeling of making progress toward a goal, in this case, wellness, only to feel discouraged and have to “start all over again.” To me, there’s a determination in the beat, the instrumentation and the vocal. These represent the underlying drive needed to keep trying to make progress, though it’s hard sometimes to keep up the effort when other feelings and factors get in the way.
Here are the lyrics, then we’ll hear from Kieran about the song’s meaning.
“Oh I’m all bark and no bite
And I don’t get anything right
I’ve been waiting here for something to come and blow away this dark cloud
And I can’t shake the feeling that nothing’s going to help me now
And no I can’t sleep
And no I can’t dream
No I’ve got nothing left to believe in
So I’ll start over again
Oh all of my heroes are dead
Sometimes I wish I was sleeping in the same bed
And nothing’s gonna come
Nothing’s gonna come and ease my pain
No matter what I do, no matter what I do I feel the same
Maybe it’s the one who thought he was a man because he liked to hit kids
Maybe I’m still suffering for the things my great-grandfather did
Maybe it’s something I’m born with
And it won’t go away
There’s nothing left to do
And nothing left to say”
Words and music © 2023 by Kieran West.
Personnel:
Kieran West: rhythm guitar, organ, vocal
Matt Filopoulos: bass guitar
Dan Bertnick: drums
Here’s what Kieran says about “Start All Over Again”: “If you know me well, you know I suffer from frequent nightmares. Many of them are too horrible to describe even when people want to hear about them. This leads to a lot of nights where I wake up and feel scared to fall back asleep.
“My nightmares are one of many things in my life that often hold me back from feeling okay. This song is sort of an exploration of those things. The things in my life that knock me down and make it necessary to continually be starting all over again on my journey to wellness.”
Keeping at things can be challenging, but when the rewards come, they help build the stamina needed to start again. You got this!
Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here. Please enjoy the audio from the Kieran West YouTube topic channel:
Two more tracks to go on Dark Little Ones. See you back here tomorrow!
With my best wishes,
Steve
Song of the Day for Today 