I'll Fight

[Terrapin Ben]

I absolutely love this song. From the very first time i heard it on W(TA) to the live versions. I love it. I must have listened to it liek 15 times in a row when i first bought the album. And i'm listening to 11-04-09 at work right now and it just came on. I keep listening and relistening and felt compelled to start a thread about it.

 

After reading some reviews from W(TA) i remember a lot of people not really like this song. but i truly think it's one of the best on the album

 

I really like the folky feel of the lyrics and feel that Jeff's delivery of them is perfect. The guitar intro is great, and Nels pedal steel is amazing. Just another great Wilco song.

 

also noting, the handshake drugs, pot kettle black, i'll fight from 11-04-09 is just a steller song placement in the setlist. very awesome. i thin i spent about 45 minutes just listening to those three songs over and over.

 

have a great friday vc!

[Turnips]

yeah it's a good one for sure - reminds me a bit of Dylan

[Guest Ordinary Beehive]

I am not a fan of I'll Fight.

[Terrapin Ben]

Not everyone is Ordinary Beehive.

[The Inside of Outside]

I'll Fight has grown on me. I enjoyed seeing it live last month, though it is not a show stopper live by any means. A good solid pop song, and I agree with you, Terrapin Ben, that Jeff's delivery is perfect.

[Terrapin Ben]

i will also agree with Turnips. the song is a bit dylanesque. the lyrics remind me of desire for some reason.

[junior five]

to my ears, it's by far the best song on the last record.

 

I absolutely love this song. From the very first time i heard it on W(TA) to the live versions. I love it. I must have listened to it liek 15 times in a row when i first bought the album. And i'm listening to 11-04-09 at work right now and it just came on. I keep listening and relistening and felt compelled to start a thread about it.

 

After reading some reviews from W(TA) i remember a lot of people not really like this song. but i truly think it's one of the best on the album

 

I really like the folky feel of the lyrics and feel that Jeff's delivery of them is perfect. The guitar intro is great, and Nels pedal steel is amazing. Just another great Wilco song.

 

also noting, the handshake drugs, pot kettle black, i'll fight from 11-04-09 is just a steller song placement in the setlist. very awesome. i thin i spent about 45 minutes just listening to those three songs over and over.

 

have a great friday vc!

[Fritz]

This song has crept up on me. I like it a lot.

[TCP]

It's a good one!

[smells like flowers]

I get the Wilco Examiner email and last week the topic was "I'll Fight." The blurb mentioned that most people think "I'll Fight" is told from the perspective of a soldier going off to war. And then you have "War on War," which seems to be at its heart an anti-war song. Does anyone else see these songs as contradictory? I guess if you look at "I'll Fight" as a narrative told by a soldier, and not the values/feelings of Jeff/Wilco, it works. Seeing as the US was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq when both YHF and WTA came out, does it seem weird to anyone else, these two different perspectives on war? When listening to "I'll Fight," I imagined it as JT's oath of loyalty to his sons and family. What do y'all think?

[lost highway]

I would say the current lineup has done some pretty great arrangements over the past couple records. 'I'll Fight' stands out to me as the best, air-tight, minimal-playing arrangement where every single instrument in the band is fitting in to a really distinct role. It fits together like a machine (see also the instrumental break on "Bull Black Nova). It's really a tightly woven groove with each instrument working together seamlessly. Sometimes I think it's a rare case where the arrangement is actually better than the song itself (and it's a well written song).

[Theremin]

I get the Wilco Examiner email and last week the topic was "I'll Fight." The blurb mentioned that most people think "I'll Fight" is told from the perspective of a soldier going off to war. And then you have "War on War," which seems to be at its heart an anti-war song. Does anyone else see these songs as contradictory? I guess if you look at "I'll Fight" as a narrative told by a soldier, and not the values/feelings of Jeff/Wilco, it works. Seeing as the US was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq when both YHF and WTA came out, does it seem weird to anyone else, these two different perspectives on war? When listening to "I'll Fight," I imagined it as JT's oath of loyalty to his sons and family. What do y'all think?

I always thought parts of the lyrics are actually pretty ambiguous: the soldier in the song is dying for his country and family etc but at the same time there's a suggestion that he's fighting for the values of wealthier, pious citizens who aren't fysically on the battlefield.

 

Musically, it's one of the least interesting songs on their worst album.

[hwllo]

I always thought parts of the lyrics are actually pretty ambiguous: the soldier in the song is dying for his country and family etc but at the same time there's a suggestion that he's fighting for the values of wealthier, pious citizens who aren't fysically on the battlefield.

 

Musically, it's one of the least interesting songs on their worst album.

 

i don't know exactly, but isn't about something in one of the wars where people could send slaves to fight instead of them and they receive money (possibly freedom?) in exchange. I always thought that's what the song was about, but i could be wrong

[Theremin]

i don't know exactly, but isn't about something in one of the wars where people could send slaves to fight instead of them and they receive money (possibly freedom?) in exchange. I always thought that's what the song was about, but i could be wrong

Yeah, I get the same vibe from this song but it think it could be about a modern war just as well. The majority of soldiers actually fighting on modern battlefields stem from underprivileged backgrounds as well after all. Or maybe I'm trying to read too much in it, I dunno.

It's certainly not the uber-patriotic war-endorsement song some people seem to think it is.

[smells like flowers]

Yeah, I get the same vibe from this song but it think it could be about a modern war just as well. The majority of soldiers actually fighting on modern battlefields stem from underprivileged backgrounds as well after all. Or maybe I'm trying to read too much in it, I dunno.

It's certainly not the uber-patriotic war-endorsement song some people seem to think it is.

Yes, it makes much more sense now. I just couldn't square a gung-ho-go-out-and-fight-a-war song with the Wilco I (think) I know.

[choo-choo-charlie]

I've always thought that "War on War" is about much more than a war or battle. I believe "I'll Fight" was originally titled "Conscript," which leads me to believe it's about a soldier who pays another to fight in his place, and the lyric is sung from the perspective of the individual who takes the solider's place in battle...

[smells like flowers]

I've always thought that "War on War" is about much more than a war or battle.

 

I agree. The line "You've got to learn how to die if you want to be alive" pretty much encapsulates a whole view of life and living and the need to let go to make it fully real. The song seems to be more about the internal war or psychic war that we wage on ourselves.

[Preferred B]

I know there was an interview awhile back where Jeff specifically talked about the song and the fact that it was about a civil war soldier. I couldn't find the actual interview, but I did find a mention of it online (in a discussion of lyrics) from a couple of years ago:

 

"In an interview in the new Relevant Magazine, Jeff Tweedy says that the song is told fromt he point of view of a Civil War soldier who was paid to fight as a substitute for a wealthy man (a common practice.) He's now about to die and is writing to the man who paid him to fight. Tweedy also said this song was written without judgment either on the speaker or the man who paid him."

[choo-choo-charlie]

I agree. The line "You've got to learn how to die if you want to be alive" pretty much encapsulates a whole view of life and living and the need to let go to make it fully real. The song seems to be more about the internal war or psychic war that we wage on ourselves.

 

Exactly. I even saw it as a message to himself about the future of Wilco and his changing approach to what "Wilco" is supposed to be...shedding the old skin, the old music and taking the band in a new direction. When the old Wilco "dies," a "ghost is born" and the group emerges with a new outlook on its future...

 

I know there was an interview awhile back where Jeff specifically talked about the song and the fact that it was about a civil war soldier. I couldn't find the actual interview, but I did find a mention of it online (in a discussion of lyrics) from a couple of years ago:

 

"In an interview in the new Relevant Magazine, Jeff Tweedy says that the song is told fromt he point of view of a Civil War soldier who was paid to fight as a substitute for a wealthy man (a common practice.) He's now about to die and is writing to the man who paid him to fight. Tweedy also said this song was written without judgment either on the speaker or the man who paid him."

 

That's where I read it!

[Magnetized]

Jeff also addresses some elements of the song in an American Songwriter interview from 2009 here. He talks about the device of writing a song from the perspective of the third person narrator. Specifically about I'll Fight, he says:

 

The song “I’ll Fight” has some similarities to “On and On.” Do you agree?

 

Not that I hear, no, I don’t agree. I mean, I don’t doubt that it’s there, I’ve heard someone else say that, but musically, they’re very, very different, and emotionally they’re very, very different, so I don’t hear it. I mean, I hear there’s a repetitiveness in the choruses on the songs that are similar, but beyond that, I don’t think of them as being related. Other than, just as much as any songs I write are inherently related to each other.

 

In the song you sing “I’ll die like Jesus on the Cross,” How do you imagine that will play in different parts of the country?

 

I have no idea. First of all, I don’t know why it would be anything offensive to anybody, if that’s what you’re asking. It would never stop me even if I did think it was something offensive. I think from the character’s perspective, that’s definitely a noble way to die, for a principle. If somebody can’t understand that, they’re offended, interpreting the song with me equating myself with Jesus or whatever, that’s, as most is often is the case, based on their ignorance, and I have no sympathy for them.

 

For what it's worth, I agree that the song is written from the point of view of a specific character, but I don't hear it as being about just that. I like the thought that it addresses some of the relationship between Jeff and Wilco and the evolution of the band.

[Scott Gyrrr]

At some point I realised that Jeffs songs have always been a lot less about himself than I first imagined. 95% of all songs out there are in the first person but I'd say with Jeff it would only be around 60-70%. The fact that it isn't always obvious that he's 'in character' is one of the reasons why he's one of the greatest singers in rock and roll.

[theashtraysays]

Are you saying there's NOT a body in the trunk of his nova?

[Scott Gyrrr]

There was but Jules cleaned that shit up.

[DiamondClaw]

I would say the current lineup has done some pretty great arrangements over the past couple records. 'I'll Fight' stands out to me as the best, air-tight, minimal-playing arrangement where every single instrument in the band is fitting in to a really distinct role. It fits together like a machine (see also the instrumental break on "Bull Black Nova). It's really a tightly woven groove with each instrument working together seamlessly. Sometimes I think it's a rare case where the arrangement is actually better than the song itself (and it's a well written song).

Funny, for me "I'll Fight" is an example of the exact opposite: a case of too MUCH playing, too many cooks in the kitchen. I think this song would benefit from stripping away a layer or two, even if it meant a member or two of the band wasn't on this track. Probably why I like the song better when Jeff plays it solo. The lyric to "I'll Fight" is great.

[Chinese Apple]

 

"In an interview in the new Relevant Magazine, Jeff Tweedy says that the song is told fromt he point of view of a Civil War soldier who was paid to fight as a substitute for a wealthy man (a common practice.) He's now about to die and is writing to the man who paid him to fight. Tweedy also said this song was written without judgment either on the speaker or the man who paid him."

 

We as a nation also send our working class kids into battlefields by promising them a better financial future. The armed forces recruit heavily from among the poor.

 

I didn't like this song as much as the others on the album initially, but it quickly became a favorite. (Clearly not the buxom blonde getting all the attention at the party, but the wallflower who turns out to be much more interesting!). I love the clever rhymes, and love love love the wonderful alliteration in "through war's waters I will wade" -- all those W's in a row makes it almost onomatopoeic, and fits the meaning perfectly!