The Backwards Pumpkin Song is a 2007 rock song by American Swancore band Dance Gavin Dance, whose lineup at the time consisted of vocalists Jonny Craig and Jon Mess, guitarists Will Swan and Sean O'Sullivan, bassist Eric Lodge, and drummer Matt Mingus. It was released as a single four months before The band's first studio album "Downtown Battle Mountain" which peaked at 46 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.

The song itself is thought to be about three people involved in a marital affair, the wife, the husband (Jonny Craig), and the homewrecker (Jon Mess), although it's incredibly hard to tell, because I'm never too sure what the fuck Jon Mess is talking about.

Lyrics that lead to this conclusion:

For Mess's section, we get lines such as

"Sit down, call off the cavalry" appears to be Jon Mess telling the husband to relax and just watch how easily and smoothly he's taking his wife. Slow motion action replay is sports technology used to replay previously recorded plays, usually to highlight their beauty, difficulty, and occasionally legality.

"Bar fight, I invented chivalry" could suggest that this is a common practice for Mess in this song, furthered by the lyric "Notch in my bedpost". Which leaves us to assume he commonly has sex with married women.

For Craig's section, we get lines such as

All of these lines suggest a husband desperate to keep his marriage together, to rekindle the fire they once had, even if it means believing his wife's lies and deceptions.

Extra Notes: The band released an instrumental album of Downtown Battle Mountain in 2019, including The Backwards Pumpkin Song. It was also featured in their 2021 Live album "Tree City Sessions 2". Where the fuck is my macbook?

Personally, I enjoy this song a lot. It contains one of my favorite Will Swan guitar licks (can be heard from 2:18-2:54), a beautiful trem-picked rhythm line, and some of my favorite Jon Mess screams. It's unfortunate that Jonny Craig is Jonny Craig, but his vocals on this album are the greatest post-hardcore clean vocals I've ever heard. Amazing album and song from one of my favorite bands.

Devastate and Recalibrate is a 2019 rock song by American rock band Hail the Sun. It was released as a standalone single in-between the band's albums Mental Knife and New Age Filth. The band's lineup consists of drummer and vocalist Donovan Melero, guitarists Shane Gann and Aric Garcia, and bassist John Stirrat.

I couldn't find any discussion about the lyrics, so everything from here will be my own interpretation.

The song is about a man with abandonment anxiety requesting that his lover hurt him to an extreme point so he can stop living in constant fear and hope. He wants the certainty of rejection because he can no longer endure the constant fear of waiting for it to happen.

Lyrics that lead to this conclusion:

This is a shorter entry/explanation as this song is far more self explanatory than yesterday's entry, The Backwards Pumpkin Song.

Extra notes: Donovan Melero took a different writing approach for this song, which he spoke about in this Kerrang! interview.

The song was released 8 days before their 2019 fall tour, which ran from September 13th - October 13th.

Donovan Melero is so hot

Personally, I love this song. It's pretty short and sweet but reminiscent of POW! Right in the Kisser! and Wake.