Watch the Shadows
| "Watch the Shadows" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Shriners | |||||
| Album | Lover of All That Exists | ||||
| Released | May 11, 2012 | ||||
| Format | 7", digital, Picture Disc | ||||
| Length | 5:12 | ||||
| Label | Rare Bird Books, Erika Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Scott Shriner | ||||
| Status | Officially released | ||||
| Live debut | May 11, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA | ||||
| Lover of All That Exists track listing | |||||
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"Watch the Shadows", also known as "Pretty (Watch the Shadows)", is a song by Scott Shriner released under the moniker Shriners. Initially conceived of as the lead single for a larger solo project by Shriner[1], the track remains his sole officially-released song as of 2022. It was released in May of 2012 on a multi-artist single entitled Lover of All That Exists.
Overview
"Watch the Shadows" owes its existence to two distinct novels: Pretty by Shriner's wife Jillian Lauren, and Johnny Future, a 2009 book by Steve Abee[2]. Lauren asked her husband to compose an instrumental piece for use in the promotional campaign for Pretty, but he elected to write a fuller song, drawing inspiration from the events depicted in the novel. The lyrics include allusions to the main character's skepticism around Christianity, her boyfriend's recent death in a car accident, and her fondness for acrylic nails, among other details.[3][4].
Unrelated to Pretty, first published in August of 2011, Shriner was approached by Abee, who was readying the first paperback edition of Johnny Future, set to be published on April 10, 2012.[5] Abee was preparing a three-track "soundtrack" to accompany the new release of his novel and asked Shriner to contribute[2]. Shriner was in the process of composing and recording what he termed "a small batch of songs," and he offered Abee the song he'd started for his wife, then titled "Pretty (Watch the Shadow)." The song would become the A-side for Abee's project, which would eventually be titled Lover of All that Exists and released on May 11, 2012[6] The three-song collection was sold on a 7" picture disc single with two tracks on the b-side: "Bad Ghosts" by Christian Martucci and "Stage is a Box of Night" by Ghost of the Record. The day of Lovers's release, Shriner and others performed a show at the Last Book Store in Los Angeles, CA.
Future "Shriners" release
Shriner initially promoted "Watch the Shadows" as a precursor to a larger EP release entitled Shiners, also to be released under the Shriners name[7]. In a 2014 interview with Scott Heisel for Alternative Press, however, Shriner explained why this EP never materialized:
I got cold feet. You only get one chance to say, 'This is my album, and this is what I want to sound like.' I happened to be going through therapy at the time, working on some heavy shit from when I was a kid, so I wrote it all out. One of the songs is really brutal. It's not the whole picture of me.
Shriner went on in that same interview that he planned to eventually release more music, and reported to be be working with drummer Joey Castillo of Queens of the Stone Age and guitarist Dave Kushner of Velvet Revolver. None of this music has been released as of 2022. He performed one other song - "Dead to Me Now" - at the record release show for Lover of All that Exists.
Music Video
The video was directed by DJ Mendel and features Anais Borck.
Personnel
Personnel per YouTube description of the music video[4].
- Scott Shriner – lead vocals, bass guitar
- Chad Bamford - engineer
- Greg Suran - guitar
- Victor Indrizzo - drums
Lyrics
You'll know about her poison
You'll know about her red hair
You'll know her cuz she's floatin
The only one who got there
Ripped from your hands like a new-born baby
Life flashes forward with a blink of your eye
And drop to your knees, you think "I need a drink"
Feel the hand of God as he smacks you down
Face on straight, getting sideways stares
And dressed too tight to kneel and pray
She said:
Jesus I can feel you in my fingernails
You live in the glass that I pick from my hand
Now I can see it in the shine
From the blood on your face and now it's been so long
Watch the shadow
Watch the shadow
You watch the shadow
In my eye
You'll know about her poison
You'll know about her red hair
You'll know her cuz she's floatin
The only one who got there
And hands are the shade
Of the setting sun
Now your face is so pretty
Watching Jesus run
And slide down the hallway
Of the yellow light
I hear them screaming in there
I know he's screaming in there
Face on straight, getting sideways stares
And dressed too tight to kneel and pray
She said:
Jesus I can feel you in my fingernails
You live in the glass that I pick from my hand
Now in the cracks of the windshield and the lines on my palms
And in the siren song
Watch the shadow
Watch the shadow
You watch the shadow
In my eye
In my eye
In my eye
Go on give her a new name
Go on and give her a new bed
Go on and give her a new face
A new nose
A new hand
A new leg
A new place
Some girls are born
To bend on their knees
And some girls are born
Just to grab that spike
Between ruin and relief
Between the truth and the light
Between the hate and the lies
You cross your heart
And die
See also
References
- ↑ [1]. Scott Shriner tweet, May 8, 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 [2] "Ten Years to Get to “Pretty”." thenervousbreakdown.com. By Joe Daly. Published May 11, 2012.
- ↑ [3] GoodReads.com entry for Pretty
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Scott Shriner "Watch The Shadows" YouTube. 4 February 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbGrdYDk9-8
- ↑ [4] GoodReads.com entry for paperback edition of Johnny Future.
- ↑ [5] Discogs entry for Lover of All that Exists.
- ↑ Karl's Corner - 05/09/2012#Scott Shriner concert: 05/11/2012
- ↑ Alternative Press article - October 2014 by Scott Heisel.