REVEAL: DISAPPEAR

   Upon first listen, this seemed like a bridge song to the rest of the album but over time it became perhaps my favorite. I love a lot of the imagery and the conviction of the character to have no convictions. Revisiting the song has left me with a simple story that could be a little too slight, maybe some more time with the song while recording could've beefed it up a bit. They played the song for their Unplugged set and then might never have played it again--at least according to setlist.fm, they played it as many times live as 'I Got You Babe.' I think it could've been good amped up arena-style, but hey what do I know. Great lines here, I am partial to the opening of 'dragged my feet across the seat' and the 'comic's perfect timing squeezed.' Michael's lyricism is something not often talked about, but he captures so much with so little and avoids the obvious enough that when he hits derivative lines they stick out. Great tone on this one!




From Unplugged:


DISAPPEAR

I've dragged my feet across the seat
And jumped out the passenger side
The only thing worth looking for is what you find inside
But that had not yet appeared, lost, invisible, here
Tel Aviv and Agadir
Taroudant or Olomouc
Before I learned to see

The vanishing point appear

I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere

There is a calm I haven't come to yet
I spent half my life figuring what comes next
I telescoped in, I'll finally win, I'll finally win the prize
That now my eyes see
A comic's perfect timing squeezed
I'm headfirst fighting everything
The crushing force of memory erasing all I've been
The vanishing point appears

I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear

Look at this face
Can you believe it?
Am I living in a beautiful vacuum?
Because I can't see it
The vanishing point appears

I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear

Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
I came to disappear

   This is a fairly boring song to play and might be why it was only played live the once, I can see Peter getting sick of it quickly--he pretty much strums the guitar in the Unplugged version which is a good choice for those of you trying this at home. But it's inventive in other ways, including the bass and switched up picking rhythms that are subtle but add an ethereal quality--almost as if the song is constantly swirling and never landing. It has a waltz-timing that is jarring on its own, but feels just right with all of the orchestrations.

DISAPPEAR

Verse (Am-Em)

e|--------------|

B|---1------0---|

G|----2------0--|

D|--2------2----|

A|-0---0-2h-----|

E|--------------|

Bridge to Chorus (C-G-Am)

e|-----------------|

B|--1-1-1---3-3-3--|

G|-----------0---0-|

D|-2-2-2-2-0---0---|

A|-----------------|

E|-----------------|

Chorus (G-D-C-Bm-Em)

e|-3--2--0--2-----0-----0---|

B|--3--3--1--3---0-0---0-0--|

G|---0--2--0--4-0---0-0---0-|

D|-------------2-----2------|

A|--------------------------|

E|--------------------------|

Middle 8 (G-F-Em-D-G-F-Em)

e|-3-3---1-1---0-0---2-2---3-3---1-1---0---|

B|-3--3--1--1--0--0--3--3--3--3--1--1--0---|

G|-0---0-2---0-0---0-2---2-0---0-2---0-0---|

D|-0-----3-----2-----0-----0-----3-----2---|

A|-2-----3-----2-----------2-----3-----2---|

E|-3-----1-----0-----------3-----1-----0---|