"9 Crimes" - Damien Rice

Kermit The Frog Here

When I was ten my most prized possession was my Kermit the Frog Keyboard. It was blue, and only about 2ft long. The keys were itty bitty as to accommodate tiny little fingers. I fell in love with my keyboard and was promptly enrolled in weekly piano lessons. Kermit the Frog was replaced with a proper keyboard, and instead of "Row Your Boat", I began playing Beethoven's Symphonies. Eventually I became a deadbeat and "dropped out" out of the Royal Conservatory. Beethoven's Symphonies gave way to ballads from Aerosmith and Sarah McLachlan. I decided to play piano only for my own pleasure, not certification purposes. 



My hands looks like this



You can tell I'm a pianist by looking at my hands. In the telltale-way that you can identify a guitar player's hands through their calluses and short nails (Unfortunately for my hands I play guitar also), you can tell a piano players hands by their long, skinny fingers. I'd like to say they are graceful, but to be honest they look like "skeletor" as some of my friends (term used loosely..) have so kindly commented. I'm a fairly small chick and my hands are pretty out of proportion with my size. Sacrificing my hands is a small price to pay for being able to produce music. Being able to sit down with an instrument and play a song is a feeling like none other. I haven't played piano as much as I'd like to lately because I've wrecked my old keyboard. I do know though, (from peeking in the Christmas Room at my parents’ house) that I am getting a new one for Christmas. I will be renewing my love affair with the piano once again. I chose this song to blog about because i've decided that it's the first song I'm going to learn on my new keyboard.

Damien Rice

I'm unsure where I found this song. I think I was randomly downloading soundtracks for "True Blood", and I happened to grab it. Although he has had success on the UK and Irish Charts I don't think Damien Rice has managed to go mainstream in North America yet. I've never heard any of his songs on the radio which is surprising because "9 Crimes" has been featured on many popular shows such as "Grey's Anatomy", "True Blood", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "Jericho" and the third "Shrek" movie.

Despite the beautiful piano melody and the addition of Lisa Hannigan's sweet vocals, the song comes off as very dark. Reading through comments about the song there is one word continuously used to describe this song; haunting. I can't figure out exactly what "9 Crimes" is about, but it appears to be about cheating. The song describes cheating as a crime. The person cheating has the morals of a criminal because they know what they are doing is wrong and choose to do it anyways, "It's a small crime, and I've got no excuse." It seems to be a situation where the relationship is on the rocks and one person begins an affair. The "Gun" that is "Loaded" refers to the potential that person has to cause harm.

The cheater is questioning how they are supposed to hold on to the relationship if their partner doesn't want to do their part, "If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it". You hear the struggle the cheater is having because he obviously still cares alot about his partner but he wants to be with his affair, "It's the wrong kind of place to be thinking of you," , "It's the wrong time she's pulling me through." It always seems easier to move on to something new and shiny rather than fix something that's broken. What people forget is that if you care about something and succeed in fixing it, it will always be more valuable to you than anything new you could replace it with.



Leave me out with the waste, this is not what I do

It's the wrong kind of place to be thinking of you
It's the wrong time for somebody new
It's a small crime and I got no excuse
And is that all right, yeah?


I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right, yeah?
If you don't shoot it how am I supposed to hold it?
Is that all right, yeah?

I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right, yeah, with you?
Leave me out with the waste, this is not what I do


It's the wrong kind of place to be cheating on you
It's the wrong time she's pulling me through
It's a small crime and I got no excuse
And is that all right, yeah?


If I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right, yeah?
If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it?
Is that all right, yeah?


I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right?
Is that all right with you?
Is that all right, yeah?


If I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right, yeah?
If you don't shoot it, how am I supposed to hold it?
Is that all right, yeah?

I give my gun away when it's loaded
Is that all right?
Is that all right with you?
And is that all right, yeah?

Is that all right?
Is that all right?
Is that all right with you?
No?