#1 The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot -Deja Entendu

Ranking on Guitarasaurus's list: #10

There you have it. My favorite Brand New song. This song makes me speechless. It is IMO the best Brand New song out there, and is pretty much my favorite song out of any band. Now, I have seen Brand New in concert three times. I saw them at the Allstate Arena when they opened for Dashboard Confessional, at Congress Theatre with Thrice and Mewithoutyou, and at Lollapalooza. Out of all those times, they never played this song once. Both times that BN came to the House of Blues Chicago and I couldn't make it, they played this song. Do you know how mad I was? I have never seen this song live and it makes me crazy. I got so excited when Jesse Lacey brought out his acoustic guitar at Congress Theatre, but then he started playing the intro to Play Crack the Sky. I was near tears. I wasn't really expecting them to play this at Lollapalooza because they had a limited set and a drunken raging Rage Against the Machine audiance. I don't blame them for not playing a chilled out acoustic song.

The fact that this song is acoustic and still gets the recognition it does means that Brand New did something right. Whenever I watch the live videos of it on youtube (since I didn't get to see it in person!) it seems as though everyone in the crowd knows the words and they are singing right along. The lyrics of this song are the main focus IMO. Though the guitar and light drum work are fantastic, the lyrics are by far the best that Jesse Lacey has ever written. First hearing this song made Brand New my favorite band all the way back in eighth grade. Then later on I bought a 3 by 4 ft. piece of canvas and wrote these lyrics on it and stuck on the wall of my bedroom. It will come with me to my dorm when I go to college next fall.

The rumor is that this song is titled The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot because that is the nickname Lacey's father used to call him when they would play basketball together. I'm not completely sure if that's true since I'm pretty sure I read it off of wiki, but it makes sense. I kind of thought that it might mean a boy tried to block a bullet for someone else, but the bullet was meant for him to begin with. Take it however you want.

To be honest, no song has gotten me through more crap than this one has. It seems like no matter what I have ever gone through, this song has gotten me out and made me happy again. It has gotten me through every break up, fight with my friends, and everything in between. It probably will get my through all that stuff until the day I die. The song is not just a flavor of the week, it's my favorite for life. Besides all that, it's just a killer song to listen to any time of the day. It will always make you feel better. If you haven't tried listening to it when you're down, I highly recommend it. The first time it came on, I stopped everything I was doing and just listened. I listened to it on repeat for the next three months or so. I was addicted. I had become a Brand New fanatic. I figured that if they could write a song this meaningful, all of their other songs must be pretty bomb too. Guess what? I was right!

The intro is a light, simple rhythim from Jesse Lacey's acoustic guitar. His voice comes in sounding so angelic and more perfectly pitched than any other song. If it makes you less sad, I will die by your hand. I hope you find out what you want, I already know what I am. The first line right there almost has you in tears. You can feel whatever emotion Lacey is trying to express. I'm sensing some major remorse and sorrow. Cue the drums. And if it makes you less sad, we'll start talking again. You can tell me how vile I already know that I am. Lacey knows what he did wrong, he's not trying to hide it. All he wants throughout the whole song is for this girl to be less sad. He knows it's his fault that she's sad in the first place. I'll grow old, start acting my age. I'll be a brand new day in a life that you hate. This shows that Lacey wants to grow up from his high school days (aka Your Favorite Weapon days) and then maybe him and this girl can have another shot. Though at the time of this song's release, Lacey was around 25 years old, he still acted childish. He feels like he needs to grow a lot older in order to be mature. A crown of gold. Heart is harder than stone. And it hurts a whole lot, but it's missed when it's gone. Ahh that last line gets me every time. It hurts when these two are together, but they miss eachother when they're broken up. I know that feeling all too well. Don't we all at some point? The crown of gold belongs to this girl while the heart of stone belongs to Jesse. They are opposites but still manage to love eachother somehow.

The repeated chorus throughout the song is beautiful, pretty much the best one that Brand New possesses. Call me a safe bet. I'm betting I'm not. Glad that you can forgive, only hoping as time goes, you can forget. This shows that Lacey had a reputation of being the "safe guy" to date, but as it turns out, he is far from that title. This girl has forgiven Lacey, sure, but will she forget over time? I certainly would if a beautiful song like this was written for me.
The second verse sends out a different tone. Lacey seems more distant and a tad more defensive. If it makes you less sad, I'll move out of this state. You can keep to yourself, I'll keep out of your way. Lacey is getting ready to forget about this girl and what he did. The first verse has an apologetic tone. This time around he's ready to move on. And if it makes you less sad, I'll take your pictures all down. Every picture you paint, I will paint myself out. Lacey wants to be erased from her radar, kind of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If it makes her less sad, he will stop living in her world completely and start his own anew. It's as cold as a tomb, and it's dark in your room when I sneak to your bed to pour salt in your wounds. Oh boy, maybe this isn't all Jesse Lacey's fault. This girl must have done something bad in first place to make Lacey do something bad in return. What a delicious twist! So call it quits or get a grip. Say you wanted a solution? You just wanted to be missed. So we find out that Jesse was dating an attention whore. The band and the fans and the touring became too much for this girl and sent Lacey packing.

After the second verse, we have another chorus and the lines You can forget are repeated. Honestly, people, do you know how hard it is to come up with the Best quote(s) for this song? Every part of the song is the best. Since it is so hard to choose, I'll just have to pick the entire ending.

Best quote(s): You are calm and reposed. Let your beauty unfold, pale white like the skin stretched over your bones. Spring keeps you ever close. You are second-hand smoke. You are so fragile and thin, standing trial for your sins, holding onto yourself the best you can. You are the smell before rain. You are the blood in my veins. If reading that or listening to that does not make your eyes a little wet or give you chills down your spine, then I don't know what to say. Though the end is not very discriptive, you can still imagine what this girl looks like now. She is small with porcelain skin and a broken spirit. Lacey uses the best rhymes here, as you can tell. It all flows with such ease and perfection. At the very last line, Lacey states that even if he tried, he could not live without this girl because she is the blood running through his veins. Following this is another chorus, slowed down a little. This is by far the best Brand New song there is.

I hope that I could convince you readers a little that this song is number one worthy. It certainly is to me. If you haven't heard this song, please give it a listen. This is the song that made me a die-hard Brand New fan. Perhaps if you give it a listen, you'll become a fan too.