The Lines You Amend

"The Lines You Amend"
Single by Sloan
from the album One Chord to Another
Released1996
GenreAlternative rock
Length2:32
LabelMurderecords, MCA
Songwriter(s)Jay Ferguson, Sloan
Producer(s)Laurence Currie, Sloan
Sloan singles chronology
"Everything You've Done Wrong"
(1996) 		"The Lines You Amend"
(1996) 		"G Turns to D"
(1997)
Music video
"The Lines You Amend" on YouTube

"The Lines You Amend" is a song by Canadian rock band Sloan. It was released as the third single from the band's 1996 album, One Chord to Another. The song was written by Jay Ferguson. It is the band's first song written by Ferguson to be released as a single.

Reception

Bassist-vocalist Chris Murphy described the song as being "about suicide", and said, "We sort of breeze through it like it's a cutesy number, but the lyrics are heavy."[1] One lyric makes reference to Ringo Starr's song "Photograph".[2]

The song has been praised by critics for its melodic strength,[3][4][5] with one critic describing it as "Beatle-esque pop".[6] Billboard magazine's critic suggested it was in the style of Violent Femmes.[7] Rolling Stone's critic wrote that the song begins sounding like "The Ballad of John and Yoko", but then becomes "a likable hybrid of T. Rex and Crowded House."[2]

Portions of the music video were filmed in a York University lecture hall.[8]

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[9] 39
Canada Alternative 30 (RPM)[10] 12

References

  1. ^ Lewis, Nick. "Sloan takes greatest hits for a spin", Calgary Herald, 2005-05-10, p. C2.
  2. ^ a b Hoskyns, Barney (1997-03-06). "One Chord to Another", Rolling Stone 755: 72.
  3. ^ Jenkins, Mark. "Sloan: 'Between the Bridges' Murderecords; Sloan: '4 Nights at Palais Royale' Murderecords", The Washington Post, 1999-11-05, p. N17.
  4. ^ Foster, Patrick. "Pop Music", The Washington Post, 2002-07-29, p. C5.
  5. ^ Farber, Jim. "Halifax Band is a singular sensation", New York Daily News, 2005-05-07, p. 29.
  6. ^ Devlin, Mike. "Sloan plays past old labels", Times-Colonist, 2005-05-05, p. D4.
  7. ^ Verna, Paul (1997-04-12). "One Chord to Another", Billboard 109 (15): 65.
  8. ^ Preston, Brian (February 1997). "Girls just wanna", Saturday Night 112 (1): 14.
  9. ^ "Top Singles - Volume 65, No. 5, April 07 1997". RPM. Archived from the original on 2012-10-18. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  10. ^ "Rock/Alternative - Volume 64, No. 26, March 03 1997". RPM. Retrieved 2010-08-24.