in a 2012 interview, The Used bassist Jeph Howard said that "A Box Full of Sharp Objects" is probably his favorite song by the band.
A few years ago, while preparing to send the album art for b-side collection Shallow Believer to his record label, Bert McCracken scrawled the word “Artwork” across its cover in silver ink. The sentiment, which, to Bert and his bandmates in The Used, resonated with both extreme simplicity and indescribable complexity, said everything without really having to say anything. Now, the Utah band has titled their fourth full-length album with that very word: Artwork.
The group started writing the album after finishing the Taste of Chaos International tour in 2007, slowly collecting and jamming out ideas with no concrete intention beyond making the songs as dirty as possible. The Used, whose last album, 2007’s Lies For the Liars, debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200, spent the first half of 2008 in LA exploring and refining these ideas, eventually piecing tangential riffs and melodies into a scattering of songs that contained a surprisingly cohesive sensibility. The band members dubbed the music they were writing “gross pop,” their own new genre of hook-laden numbers that pushed the boundaries of the grotesque. Tracking for the album began in June of 2008 with producer Matt Squire and eventually concluded in February of 2009, primarily at LA studios The Lair and NRG. Between a few sporadic tours, the band spent about three months total recording with Squire where they allowed their creativity to dictate when they worked on something.
“I wouldn’t say it was hard to make any of the record but it definitely was time consuming,” Bert says. “We worked on our time table. The band allowed me to create when I was able to create, which was a good thing. I didn’t feel pressure to force things. There was no specific time I had to do anything. If we were in the studio and I’d been working on lyrics for five hours and nothing came out, we would just try again tomorrow.”
In the studio Squire approached the recording process with a laid-back attitude the band both appreciated and needed. The decision to work with a new producer after establishing a longtime relationship with producer John Feldman, who was at the helm of the band’s past three albums (Lies For the Liars, as well as 2004’s In Love and Death and 2002’s The Used, both of which were certified gold), was derived from a simple desire for change. The Used wanted to see what would happen if they entered the studio with someone different, a process guitarist Quinn Allman compares to “breaking up with your girlfriend not because you don’t love her but because you need to try something new.”
“It wasn’t that we absolutely didn’t want to work with Feldman or that we absolutely wanted to work with Squire,” Bert explains. “It was more that the band needed a change. We wanted to try something different and have it sound a lot different. It took a few weeks for us to get a vibe for each, but once we got used to it, it was really easy. Squire brought in this willingness to try anything and an open mind and a good attitude. I feel like he was really in touch with what the band wanted to do and he was really supportive of our ideas.”
The result is a raw collection of twelve songs that not so delicately teeter the line between being aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single “Blood On My Hands,” which Quinn describes as the song that “sums up everything about The Used,” is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next. “Empty With You,” a track Bert says is “about feeling empty and lonely but as long as you have someone who can feel lonely with you then everything’s okay,” surges with passion and gripping honesty, while “Cut Yourself” balances the album’s predilection for propulsive rage with its quieter, piano-driven exploration of what it means to have someone to lean on.
“This record is more sincere,” Quinn says. “It’s got a sound more reminiscent of the first record. Lyrically, it completely engulfs you and makes you feel safe but it’s all about feeling alone and empty and knowing there’s always a light. If you’re frustrated that much it means you care that much. The lyrics carry you through the record and you’re right with Bert and where he’s at. The music isn’t showing off. It’s just being what it is. I think the fans will appreciate all that.”
“This record is about coming together,” Bert adds. “Whether it’s through positivity or negativity, it’s about coming together through anything.”
Artwork encapsulates the past eight years of a band that’s played tours and festivals like Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Projek Revolution, Give It a Name, Reading and Leeds and SxSW, and sold over two million albums in the States alone, while simultaneously urging them forward. It’s a collaborative effort that drew The Used closer together during its creation. It’s about love and mortality and the basic human emotions we all experience every day. It’s biting and gritty, and it’s melodic and catchy. It’s a new chapter for a band that’s constantly sought to redefine the bounds of pop music—and have always successfully done so. It’s a reminder, as Bert says, “we’re all artists creating our own art just by living it.”
“I Come Alive” is the first single from The Used's fifth album, Vulnerable. It is the first release on the band's own label, Anger Music Group, an imprint of Hopeless Records. The song was released on January 17, 2012. (I Come Alive Songfacts).
The Bird And The Worm
The Used Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
safety pinned to his backpack
His backpack is all that he knows
Shot down by strangers
whose glances can cripple
the heart and devour the soul
All alone he turns to stone
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life he crawls
like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
Out of his mind away
pushes him whispering
must have been out of his mind
mid-day delusions of pushing this out of his head
maybe out of his mind
All alone he turns to stone
while holding his breath half to death
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life he
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm from a bird
All he knows
If he can't relieve it it grows
and so it goes
he crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from the bird
Out of his mind away
pushes him whispering
must have been out of his mind
All alone he turns to stone
while holding his breath half to death
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life
he crawls like a worm from a bird
All alone he
Holding his breath half to death
Terrified to save his life
he crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from a bird
The lyrics of The Used's song The Bird And The Worm describe a boy who wears his heart pinned to his backpack, which is all he knows. He is shot down by strangers who can cripple his heart and devour his soul with just a glance. He is all alone and turns to stone while holding his breath half to death, terrified of what's inside. In order to save his life, he crawls like a worm from a bird, implying that he is escaping from a predator or something that is threatening his survival.
The song seems to be exploring the idea of vulnerability and how it can be a dangerous thing in a world where people can be cruel and heartless. The boy wearing his heart pinned to his backpack is a metaphor for this vulnerability, and the strangers who can hurt him with just a glance represent the harsh world around us. The repetitive chorus of "crawls like a worm from a bird" emphasizes the boy's desperation to escape the danger he feels.
Overall, The Bird And The Worm is a powerful and emotional song that explores themes of vulnerability, fear, and survival.
Line by Line Meaning
He wears his heart
He's vulnerable and wears his emotions on his sleeve
safety pinned to his backpack
He tries to protect his heart by keeping it hidden or attached to something else
His backpack is all that he knows
He's attached to his possessions as they provide him comfort and familiarity
Shot down by strangers
He's been hurt by people he doesn't know
whose glances can cripple
Their looks can inflict emotional pain and leave him feeling helpless
the heart and devour the soul
Their actions and words can damage him both mentally and emotionally
All alone he turns to stone
He distances himself from people to protect himself, and becomes emotionless and unresponsive
while holding his breath half to death
He's anxious and scared of what might happen if he lets his guard down
Terrified of whats inside
He's afraid of his own thoughts and feelings, and doesn't know how to handle them
to save his life he crawls
He has to take drastic measures to survive emotionally
like a worm from a bird
He's trying to escape the pain inflicted by someone who is stronger than him
Out of his mind away
His thoughts and emotions are overwhelming him, causing him to lose touch with reality
pushes him whispering
He's haunted by his own thoughts and is struggling to keep them at bay
must have been out of his mind
He's reflecting on his own behavior and struggles to make sense of it
mid-day delusions of pushing this out of his head
He's trying to distract himself from his own thoughts and emotions, using anything he can to cope
All he knows
He's stuck in a cycle of emotional pain and doesn't know how to break free
If he can't relieve it it grows
His pain will only get worse if he doesn't find a way to address it
and so it goes
He's resigned himself to this cycle, unable to break free
All alone he turns to stone
He's trapped in his own emotional cycle, unable to connect with others
to save his life he crawls like a worm from a bird
He's desperate to escape the pain and will do anything to survive emotionally, even if it means running away
All alone he
He's isolated himself from others
Holding his breath half to death
He's terrified of what might happen if he lets his guard down
Terrified to save his life
He's afraid of the consequences of his own thoughts and feelings
he crawls like a worm
He's using any means necessary to survive emotionally
crawls like a worm from a bird
He's trying to escape the pain inflicted by someone who is stronger than him
Lyrics © THE BEST MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: JEPH HOWARD, QUINN ALLMAN, ROBERT MCCRACKEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@leonipartington9917
He wears his heart
safety pinned to his backpack
His backpack is all that he knows
Shot down by strangers
whose glances can cripple
the heart and devour the soul
All alone he turns to stone
while holding his breath half to death
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life he crawls
like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
Out of his mind away
pushes him whispering
must have been out of his mind
mid-day delusions of pushing this out of his head
maybe out of his mind
All alone he turns to stone
while holding his breath half to death
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life he
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm from a bird
All he knows
If he can't relieve it it grows
and so it goes
he crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from the bird
Out of his mind away
pushes him whispering
must have been out of his mind
All alone he turns to stone
while holding his breath half to death
Terrified of whats inside
to save his life
he crawls like a worm from a bird
All alone he
Holding his breath half to death
Terrified to save his life
he crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm from a bird
crawls like a worm, crawls like a worm
crawls like a worm from a bird
@beths.3556
I suddenly had the urge to hear this song again after years of not listening to it
@kvaniasikic2539
hahah me 2
@NearlyH3adlessNick
Literally just had the same thing!! O.o
@valetudo4802
same feeling today
@mijasenpai5361
Agreed 💯
@wickedzero99
Same
@OnyedikachiNnajiofor-kz8vt
I've been looking for this song for the past 14 years.
Finally found it in Feb 5th 2024
I'm glad
@SethWill07
it sucks when you lost a band and never find it again
@_Txmmy
Here Here
@John-vg8em
You Should have just asked I would have told you