For My Sunday Song #412, we are going to discuss the song “Captain Bring Me Down” by Danger Danger. The song was off their fourth album called ‘Four the Hard Way’ and written by Paul Laine and fellow bandmate, Bruno Ravel. For the song, you had Paul on vocals and on keyboard, Bruno on bass, Tony Bruno on guitar and Steve West on drums. I don’t believe the song was a single, but it might be the best song on the album and the most saddest of stories.

The story behind the song is a little heart wrenching. In an interview Mike Ladano and I did with Paul, I brought up this song and mentioned it was my favorite on the album and Paul graciously told the story of the song despite how personal the song was to him. He was working with a friend of his on his friend’s album and they were sharing stories together of how they were both bullied when they were kids and in school. After working on the album, his friend, Randy, went to visit his brother and ended up doing heroin with his brother and died. Paul was moved by the stories he and Randy had discussed on bullying and turned it in to a song. It is about meeting your bullies years later and they treat you like you are best friends. They were the cool kids and school and now they drown their sorrows in alcohol.

The song opens with Paul’s keyboards and Tony on acoustic guitar. The keyboards are like violins and string orchestration and are so powerful sounding. The vibe is somber and the tempo is slow and the lyrics hit you right in the heart and the stomach. The percussion and drums on the song were used perfectly as emphasis of the sadness. The guitar solo is so tasteful and played for the song as it is not a time to showboat. So well done. Paul delivers one of his best vocal performances on this album with this song as he makes you feel every word and every note. I have never listened to this song the same way after I heard Paul’s story. It was great before, but now it is one of the best songs I think he has ever done.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Were you bullied in school? Did you ever meet your bully later in life? If so, what happened? If you haven’t delved in to the Paul Laine world yet, give him a shot as I don’t think you will be disappointed. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FX7Xbuh8Se0%3Fsi%3DarP0U4NoAQ91e8w2

“Captain Bring Me Down”

Hello captain bring me down
I see you’ve worked your way right through the crowd to me
I couldn’t help but see you fall
You were the one that had it all
And now you’ve come to pay your debts
So we forgive and you forget

The more you live the more you learn
Ain’t it funny how the tables turn on you

Hello captain bring me down
Put your feet back on the ground
Hello captain bring me down

When we were young you were so cool and
All the kids they thought that you were the one to be
But playground heroes never fall
They just drown their youth in alcohol and
Watch it slowly fade away
Live to drink another day

You can’t make right the things you’ve wronged
Your glory days have come and gone away

Hello captain bring me down
Put your feet back on the ground
Hello captain bring me down

You wanna leave it all behind you
But you just won’t let it go
Oh no, oh no

Solo

The more you live the more you learn
Ain’t it funny how the tables turn on you

Hello captain bring me down
Put your feet back on the ground
Hello captain bring me down
Put your feet back on the ground
Hello captain bring me down

Hello captain bring me down
I see you’ve worked your way right through the crowd to me
I couldn’t help but see you fall
You were the one that had it all
And now you’ve come to pay your debts
So we forgive and you forget

Written by Paul Laine and Bruno Ravel