I suspect I’ll be reading a lot about my next SOTD, and the band releasing it, in the months to come.
Bleachers is a side project by Jack Antonoff the drummer, lead guitarist and backup vocalist of fun. In addition to his high-profile work with that band, Antonoff is the boyfriend of Girls‘ Lena Dunham, so he’s no stranger to publicity.
Antonoff released ‘I Wanna Get Better,’ Bleachers’ first single, out of the blue last month. Only his family members even knew he’d been working on this material for the past year.
The critical response to the song has been through the roof, and I can see why. You can tell Antonoff is one of the principal songwriters for fun. because this track has the same charming verbosity and manic melodicism as their best work.
Bleachers’ full-length debut is due in spring. I’ll keep an ear out for it.
Calling my name and I follow just to find you
I trace the faith to a broken down television and put on the weather
And I’ve trained myself to give up on the past ’cause
I’ve frozen time between hearses and caskets
Lost control when i panicked at the acid test
I wanna get better
While my friends were getting high and chasing girls down parkway lines
I was losing my mind ’cause the love, the love, the love, the love, the love
That I gave wasted on a nice face
In a blaze of fear I put a helmet on a helmet
Counting seconds through the night and got carried away
So now I’m standing on the overpass screaming at the cars,
“Hey, I wanna get better!”
I didn’t know I was lonely ’til I saw your face
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
I didn’t know I was broken ’til I wanted to change
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
I go up to my room and there’s girls on the ceiling
Cut out their pictures and I chase that feeling
Of an eighteen year old who didn’t know what loss was
Now I’m a stranger
And I miss the days of a life still permanent
Mourn the years before I got carried away
So now I’m staring at the interstate screaming at myself,
“Hey, I wanna get better!”
I didn’t know I was lonely ’til I saw your face
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
I didn’t know I was broken ’til I wanted to change
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
‘Cause I’m sleeping in the back of a taxi
I’m screaming from my bedroom window
Even if its gonna kill me
Woke up this morning early before my family
From this dream where she was trying to show me
How a life can move from the darkness
She said to get better
So I put a bullet where I shoulda put a helmet
And I crash my car cause I wanna get carried away
That’s why I’m standing on the overpass screaming at myself,
“Hey, I wanna get better!”
I didn’t know I was lonely ’til I saw your face
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
I didn’t know I was broken ’til I wanted to change
I wanna get better, better, better, better,
I wanna get better
Meet Me In Montauk 
Very catchy and “fun,” I wonder if there is any friction with his fun band mates that he isn’t bringing this material to that band. It’s interesting that, in many other professions, your “employer” would not allow such side projects, often locking down such “competition” with a noncompete. Maybe the next Rolling Stone article will be “Girls’ BF sued for having fun on the side.” 😄
Me likee!