Sunday Music: The Devil In His Youth

Revisiting those “you listened to x way to much last year” playlists made me remember a prior year when I listened to Protomartyr way to much, which made me feel like listening to them way too much again. 

I’ve never highlighted “The Devil In His Youth” here somehow. It’s one of my favorite songs by the band, and I think highlights both their proto-punk aesthetic, with their cascading walls of guitar + bass noise, and pounding drums (even if this is a pretty regular drum beat. But if you like it, stick around on the album for “Cowards Starve” and it gets good-weird fast). 

The talky vocals aren’t for everyone, but they are for me. And with lyrics like this, I can’t resist. We’re imagining the devil as a young man, like a modern-day Omen tinged looking glass. It’s a bit on the nose, but it’s somehow poetic too. 

Here are the lyrics and track below. 

Ps. if you like this, their Tiny Desk is so deliciously weird – check it out.  

Before recorded timeIn some suburban room, seeThe devil in his youth

He grew up pale and healthyWith the blessings of his fatherThe devil in his youth

His privilege came before himThe promise of adoringThe devil in his youth

But it all changed when he came of ageIt was nothing like the simulated gameThe women didn’t love himThe races all ignored himHis proclamations failedSo he screamed“Now you bend!”

The devil in his youth

I will make them feel the way I doI’ll corrupt them till they think the way I doThe devil in his youth

You will feel the way I doYou’ll hurt the way I do

He was easily abusedThe devil in his youth