← more from
Red on Red Records
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Devil You Know

from No Anesthesia by Speedfossil

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This song was the hardest one to do on the album. I personally agonized over it for months throughout 2021. It was the last one we had to finish. Mike wanted me to trash it and start over again from scratch, but I had an acoustic guitar track, drums, an arrangement, a melody and some lyrics. It took me months to work out all the guitar parts and then show them to Dan to play (he’s a technically MUCH more proficient player than I am). Dan then figured out the delay patterns for the rhythm parts and I tracked the middle solo on B-Bender. We had all that, and it still wasn’t working. I added piano, keyboards, percussion, and then re-did/re-wrote the vocal harmonies and did them with Dan. It started to gel, and the last thing we put on was Mike’s bass up at his house. It’s also a complex story, lyrically. The devil we know is everywhere, and sometimes it feels like we’re all trying to escape it’s evil clutches, and often, we just don’t escape. The last verse holds a lot of meaning for me personally, because Aldo is my Dad who passed away in 2017 and I miss him terribly. I can’t bring him back, but I remember when I came up with chords, melody and lyrics for this song at his house, right near the end of his life when he was really sick from Gioblastoma and we had to move him from his house to hospice. I was determined to put this one on the album, even if it we may never play it live.

lyrics

Looking for you, wherever you go…To tell you the truth, it’s the devil you know.

Mary Margaret’s got a story that she’s willing to tell, on the day she’s feeling up to it.
You gotta lean in real close, ‘cause she don’t see so well, and she wants to put a face to it.
See the spark in her eyes. Hear the crack in her voice, as she reaches back to long ago.
Before the drink and the drug, took her house and her home…left her with this so-called life she knows.

Bobby’s out on Mass. Ave., somewhere close to route 2, holding up his tattered cardboard sign.
Just a couple of bucks, is all that he needs. Score some hits; then he can go get high.
Plastic bag full of clothes, it’s all that he owns. Yeah, he says his life is gonna change.
Passes out in the park, where he’ll sleep until dawn. In the morning, things are still the same.

Looking for you, wherever you go…To tell you the truth, it’s the devil you know.

Aldo’s flat on his back, in a hospital bed. It’s where he’s gonna end his days.
Lived a life that was full, filled with sin and regrets, and some magic moments on the way.
But the cancer is strong, and he’s trying to hang on. You know it’s gonna get him in the end.
Hallelujah, Amen! Another death of a friend! There’s no way back, no, we can’t just pretend!

Looking for you, wherever you go…To tell you the truth, it’s the devil you know

credits

from No Anesthesia, track released April 8, 2022

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Speedfossil image

Speedfossil Boston, Massachusetts

Melodic rock from Boston. The band has been hailed by fans and critics alike as a return of great pop songwriting in the vein of The Replacements, The Kinks, The Beatles, The Smithereens, even the Ventures. Catch video premiere today: bigtakeover.com/news/VideoPremiereTheLuckiestManintheWorldbySpeedfossil ... more

contact / help

Contact Speedfossil

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Speedfossil, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now