I was 11 or 12 years old when this music video was released. I am a native woman who was adopted by my white family and was at the time living in a small, very white town of 100 people in country flat lands and discovering that I had very little in common with many of the people around me and started embracing it instead of being completely ashamed. The mundane early 2000's country songs were getting old and one day after school I turned Fuse on my TV and saw this. His voice breaking tradition of what I normally heard, his cynical lyrics and the way everyone played a satire of what country was at the time but somehow making it better??? blew my mind. Now I am 27 and every morning I drink my coffee listening to this song and just enjoy the new meanings in his words that I find. It amps me up for the day and doesn't bypass any bullshit and I"m still here for it. Thanks for making timeless music you guys.
Great story Connor Oberst grew up in Omaha Nebraska. He has been a lyrical musical prodigy since he was 12-13 years old even then he was singing about dark stuff
Thank you for sharing your story. I have a daily song too, not this one, but I love it still! Keep getting yourself ready for the day, a new day is a new opportunity for happiness and peace! ❤
The thing is, connor has been putting messages in his songs since he started. Even though many people still don't listen to the messages or like them, he continues playing.
I had a profound moment with an old acquaintance when we sang this song at the top of our lungs while running through a cornfield in middle of no where Michigan in the swell of summer. Complete drunken bliss.
Conner sings to all of us, and through him we learn. My son had a very severe traumatic brain injury, and Conner's life-songs have definitely helped us through some overwhelming rough spots. If you simply LISTEN! He knows what he is talking about. So just listen simply, or simply listen...AWESOME
I had just graduated high school and had no idea Bright Eyes existed. I was lost and had no idea what to do with my life, I heard this record and life seemed a bit more easier to figure out. Bright Eyes legit helped get my legs in the real world.
I love this song and more importantly I love Bright Eyes. Conner is one of those musicians that just has pure talent and appeals to everyone. Hell, I listen to deathcore, death metal and what not. But this music is a great break from everything else. Its so unique and enjoyable. Classic.
Folk Rock has to be one of the best modern music movements of today. Punk and hard rock are my favorite genres with folk coming in second for the warm, nostalgic fuzzies it give me, and most folk rock is a perfect combination of both the two.
I find it amazing how Bright Eyes has a music video that doesn't idealize them or make them look rich and famous, as you see 99% of all other musicians music videos. To me, that takes guts. It shows they're humble. And they're also amazing in real life. Conor sounds exactly the same live as he does on CD's. I kept forgetting I was there it was so amazing.
My dining hall at my college would always play the worst music, never anything aside from pop, then on 4/20; im toasted getting food and this song comes on and i just smiled to myself the whole time.
i love how he shows humility by saying that not everyone will like his music and he is fine with it, he will play through it and leave when the song is done. Genius video and the lyrics are beautiful and poetic.
haha i love how he starts to sing angrily at the crowd! he's so great, and he's so connected with his music and his lyrics that he will NOT stop. he's my hero.
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe There's people always dying, trying to keep them alive There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight In an abandoned building where A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world Four winds blowing through her hair But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed She caves The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute If you burn them all together, you get close to the truth still They are pouring over Sanskrit on the ivy league moons While shadows lengthen in the sun Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines Four winds, cry until it comes And it's the sum of man Slouching towards Bethlehem A heart just can't contain all of that empty space It breaks, it breaks, it breaks Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead They said, 'You'd better look alive.' And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east I buried my ballast, I made my peace Heard four winds leveling the pines But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon She just can't remain with all that outer space She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
Mr. Dylan is obviously the king of writing, but this young fellow seems like a nice guy. No one's ever going to write as good as Bob, but you've got to expect that people are going to try
Love the Joan Didion "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" ref. It's no great surprise he studied English before dropping out of college. While listening to his albums, I was taking a classics course and saw many of the long-unused conventions in his lyrics. Beautiful stuff with a brain.
I live in Chandler az so I get to Sedona often it's one of my favorite places couldn't think of a name for my daughter a couple months before her being born I was a chef in Gilbert I stopped the whole line after hearing this song for the first time went outside to call my wife and tell her I found the perfect name. As a plus she was born a red head to match the red rocks
The Killers are my favorite band, and I just discovered this band & I really love them. I don't know why people have to take sides over a song. The Killers & Brights Eyes are both really amazing and talented bands.
For those who don't understand the concept of the music video.... its based on the lyrics which makes statements about the religious beliefs I pulled this out from the lyrics- " The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute If you burned them all together you'd be close to the truth still"
"For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (Albert Camus, L'Etranger). “I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” (Kurt Cobain) Keep singing. Keep shredding, Conor.
It's a beautiful thing when entertainment can raise our consciousness like his music does. We fight it because we see it right in front of us, as opposed to just lying down with it like we do with television, the radio, and magazines, where we are subliminally being forcefed ideals of society, politics, philosophy. Conor throws his views out to the public, and not only is it brace, but it is increddibly important, because he gives a voice to those who think similar thoughts.
One of my fave Oberst songs and one of the best vids ever. I love the wtf look on the crowd's face at the beginning, and that someone has fuzzy dice to throw at him. Filming this had to suck for him. That's the price you pay for genius though
They recruited hundreds of Bright Eyes fans to be in this video, and gave them trash to throw at the stage. Everyone, including the band, said the video was a lot of fun to make.
there are definate country over tones though, the fiddle and that hammond organ sound. 'like a newly orphaned refugee retracing my steps...' brilliant : ) freddie x
I shared this song with my buddy years ago and he told me that violin part at the beginning had the same melody as 'Santa Clause is Comin' to Town'. And now I can't unhear that shit.
I must say Conor Oberst is a lyrical genius. Sometimes (or most of the time) if you just read the words to a song, you find out it's so lame. But when you read his lyrics, they are just so good and mean so much!
Holy shit he does, especially with his hair like this. "What about mouthwash" is my favourite Trevor Moore skit/song. Particularly because I have drank mouthwash to get drunk before (I'm pathetic, I know)
I don't like it when people hate that artists make songs with only a couple chords. Thats what makes the song all the more better, that he has made an amazing song, with a simple style.
In my opinion, this record is undoubtably one of the best pieces of music put to wax. Up their with The Smiths Strangeways here we come, the Cure Disintegration, Neil Young Harvest Moon, Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas and Fugazi 13 songs
Well a lot of my friends and I grew apart. I hung out with new people. Have experienced some stuff since then and now everytime I listen to this song I remember all of my old friends and they good times we had.
well i think everyone can just agree that conor is bloody good at writing songs . andd i absolutely love this video how they just keep throwing stuff at him and he just keeps playing, so cute haha and does anyone agree like when he plays live and how he taps his foot and like sort of jumps is the most adorable thing haha
what he says about religion is sooooo right... And he has the courage to says it being born in such a religious country like usa. Conor Oberst is the best!
it helps to listen to things you dont agree with so you dont feel so close minded, and understand the way other people think. Plus i cant give up Conor, even if hes kinda close minded himself. HE's just to amazing.
oh my god! I just stumbled upon this song a couple months ago, and its been my favorite song since. then i stumble upon this video and....the same. What a beautiful way of depicting the ugly side of humanity.
That's the whole point of the song, and the video proves it. It's a happy, upbeat song when you first hear it, but once you listen to the words, it's depressing. That's why all the people in the audience are getting increasingly upset and end up booing them off the stage. It's a satire on how we expect to be entertained all the time when there are sad things going on all around us.
I'm liking the song. Good message too...one the world needs to hear no matter how much ignorance tried to silence it. Of course, I'm liking the drummer too. lol
![Bright Eyes - At the Bottom of Everything [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2GHyLhbdzN0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Eminem - Somebody Save Me (feat. Jelly Roll) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Vwa0HenQMi4/mqdefault.jpg)
I was 11 or 12 years old when this music video was released. I am a native woman who was adopted by my white family and was at the time living in a small, very white town of 100 people in country flat lands and discovering that I had very little in common with many of the people around me and started embracing it instead of being completely ashamed.
The mundane early 2000's country songs were getting old and one day after school I turned Fuse on my TV and saw this. His voice breaking tradition of what I normally heard, his cynical lyrics and the way everyone played a satire of what country was at the time but somehow making it better??? blew my mind.
Now I am 27 and every morning I drink my coffee listening to this song and just enjoy the new meanings in his words that I find. It amps me up for the day and doesn't bypass any bullshit and I"m still here for it. Thanks for making timeless music you guys.
Thanks you for sharing this
Thank you for sharing this story.
Great story Connor Oberst grew up in Omaha Nebraska. He has been a lyrical musical prodigy since he was 12-13 years old even then he was singing about dark stuff
Cool....
Thank you for sharing your story. I have a daily song too, not this one, but I love it still! Keep getting yourself ready for the day, a new day is a new opportunity for happiness and peace! ❤
The thing is, connor has been putting messages in his songs since he started. Even though many people still don't listen to the messages or like them, he continues playing.
56 rayed circle. Plasma Penumbra. The dice. It is here. It was there. Age of Leo
@@jweebo1463 I gave the prior commenter the 56th likr
61 st.
this kid's one of the best lyricists i've ever heard. all day.
bob dylan of our time, along with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine.
I was about to say that Conor is in his 40s but i saw this is an old comment.
Okay now listen to kings crossing by Elliott smith and ask yourself why you feel this way
elliott smith
I had a profound moment with an old acquaintance when we sang this song at the top of our lungs while running through a cornfield in middle of no where Michigan in the swell of summer. Complete drunken bliss.
damn...fifteen years and still hits me the same as when i first heard this song.
Conner sings to all of us, and through him we learn. My son had a very severe traumatic brain injury, and Conner's life-songs have definitely helped us through some overwhelming rough spots. If you simply LISTEN! He knows what he is talking about. So just listen simply, or simply listen...AWESOME
Awesome song bright eyes 2024 .❤. !!!
I had just graduated high school and had no idea Bright Eyes existed. I was lost and had no idea what to do with my life, I heard this record and life seemed a bit more easier to figure out. Bright Eyes legit helped get my legs in the real world.
As crazy as this sounds, I think this is one of the best music videos ever made.
Absolutely, would make a great closing theme for an apocalyptic film
It's almost unbelievable that 15 years have gone by.
I still think about this song often.
I was obsessed with this CD back in the day man. A truly formative album for sure.
I love this song and more importantly I love Bright Eyes. Conner is one of those musicians that just has pure talent and appeals to everyone. Hell, I listen to deathcore, death metal and what not. But this music is a great break from everything else. Its so unique and enjoyable. Classic.
Same
Folk Rock has to be one of the best modern music movements of today. Punk and hard rock are my favorite genres with folk coming in second for the warm, nostalgic fuzzies it give me, and most folk rock is a perfect combination of both the two.
now when ever i listen to this i sing "go home!" with it, good video
haha I should start doing that too
This is the album that changed my life and put my soul on a new course. I still get chills when I hear it.
I find it amazing how Bright Eyes has a music video that doesn't idealize them or make them look rich and famous, as you see 99% of all other musicians music videos. To me, that takes guts. It shows they're humble.
And they're also amazing in real life. Conor sounds exactly the same live as he does on CD's. I kept forgetting I was there it was so amazing.
I know this is old and nobody will read this, but that comment is unintentionally hilarious
@@JTD472 How so?
Type O Negative used this concept with The Origin of the Feces in 1992.
My dining hall at my college would always play the worst music, never anything aside from pop, then on 4/20; im toasted getting food and this song comes on and i just smiled to myself the whole time.
I can't imagine starting with no music and a blank page and creating such a fantastic song. Connor is a national treasure.
i love how he shows humility by saying that not everyone will like his music and he is fine with it, he will play through it and leave when the song is done. Genius video and the lyrics are beautiful and poetic.
He is so incredibly gorgeous and talented...
haha i love how he starts to sing angrily at the crowd!
he's so great, and he's so connected with his music and his lyrics that he will NOT stop. he's my hero.
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying, trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together, you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over Sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, 'You'd better look alive.'
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
Mr. Dylan is obviously the king of writing, but this young fellow seems like a nice guy. No one's ever going to write as good as Bob, but you've got to expect that people are going to try
Love the Joan Didion "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" ref. It's no great surprise he studied English before dropping out of college. While listening to his albums, I was taking a classics course and saw many of the long-unused conventions in his lyrics. Beautiful stuff with a brain.
Conor Oberst is a worthy heir to the folk rock legacy. May he carry its flame long after Bob Dylan departs from us all.
Neil Young
The lyrics are so intelligent, I found it pretty hard to understand them at first - now I think I get most of it.
Brilliant song.
I live in Chandler az so I get to Sedona often it's one of my favorite places couldn't think of a name for my daughter a couple months before her being born I was a chef in Gilbert I stopped the whole line after hearing this song for the first time went outside to call my wife and tell her I found the perfect name. As a plus she was born a red head to match the red rocks
WOOO CHICK DRUMMER/BACKUP SINGER!!
i feel less alone in this world :D
love this song. first time i'm listening to Bright Eyes, and i like it.
this was my myspace song 🥲
Literally same bring back MySpace 😓
Mine too! I even hid the player so ppl couldn't turn it off
The Killers are my favorite band, and I just discovered this band & I really love them. I don't know why people have to take sides over a song. The Killers & Brights Eyes are both really amazing and talented bands.
For those who don't understand the concept of the music video.... its based on the lyrics which makes statements about the religious beliefs
I pulled this out from the lyrics-
" The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute
If you burned them all together you'd be close to the truth still"
The lyrics to this song are brilliant.
"For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate." (Albert Camus, L'Etranger).
“I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” (Kurt Cobain)
Keep singing. Keep shredding, Conor.
"GO HOME!"
Still classic...
It's a beautiful thing when entertainment can raise our consciousness like his music does. We fight it because we see it right in front of us, as opposed to just lying down with it like we do with television, the radio, and magazines, where we are subliminally being forcefed ideals of society, politics, philosophy. Conor throws his views out to the public, and not only is it brace, but it is increddibly important, because he gives a voice to those who think similar thoughts.
I love bright eyes they're such a deep band. Now they're real music
One of my fave Oberst songs and one of the best vids ever. I love the wtf look on the crowd's face at the beginning, and that someone has fuzzy dice to throw at him. Filming this had to suck for him. That's the price you pay for genius though
They recruited hundreds of Bright Eyes fans to be in this video, and gave them trash to throw at the stage. Everyone, including the band, said the video was a lot of fun to make.
He puts everything into every song he makes
And the reaction from the crowd is probably what he gets from people that listen to shitty pop
Or religious,
burn them all together and get close to the truth
there are definate country over tones though, the fiddle and that hammond organ sound.
'like a newly orphaned refugee retracing my steps...' brilliant : )
freddie x
I love how they're all booing❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I shared this song with my buddy years ago and he told me that violin part at the beginning had the same melody as 'Santa Clause is Comin' to Town'. And now I can't unhear that shit.
I must say Conor Oberst is a lyrical genius. Sometimes (or most of the time) if you just read the words to a song, you find out it's so lame. But when you read his lyrics, they are just so good and mean so much!
I been listening to this band for years and there music has always been good and steadily getting better.
Started off the show in West Des Moines on 8/8/2011 with this song. Tears. Lots of them.
One day Conor Oberst decided to write the perfect song, so he did.
Not sure about that. It’s good; but ‘the perfect song’? Really?
I want to meet him.
Like so bad.
I love Conor
This was one of the first things I saw on youtube!!!
Amazing song
Drummer girl 😘 its the sum of man. 😍💖🔪💔
He looks like a younger and better looking snape here xD
+zelda heartchu rip
+zelda heartchu google Trevor Moore from "The Whitest Kids You Know" ;-D
+John Morley same i always thought he looked like him lol
Conor Oberst's music is heart breakingly beautiful.
I love this song. I love this music video. ✊
I'm the embarrassed guy singing along at the front.
He always looks like Trevor Moore.
Holy shit he does, especially with his hair like this. "What about mouthwash" is my favourite Trevor Moore skit/song. Particularly because I have drank mouthwash to get drunk before (I'm pathetic, I know)
@@jevinday ain't pathetic, just struggling. You'll get there, wherever there is for you.
This always seems to end up as my favorite music video.
I don't like it when people hate that artists make songs with only a couple chords. Thats what makes the song all the more better, that he has made an amazing song, with a simple style.
Fucking Conor will forever be my spirit animal
he's a person. not an animal. or an object :(
Corey Sutton I could care less what he does. He's not me.
Corey Sutton And yes, mammals are animals. Not that I give a flying fuck about your opinion.
Bishojosenshi Sailor Bambi Right. Keep it classy...
elrolly well you certainly don't.
the drummer should cosplay as lulu from FFX.
I think she looks more like Paine =o
You mean Maria Taylor???
Maria, Maria...
my god that drummer is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!
In my opinion, this record is undoubtably one of the best pieces of music put to wax. Up their with The Smiths Strangeways here we come, the Cure Disintegration, Neil Young Harvest Moon, Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas and Fugazi 13 songs
Santa Clause is Coming to Town
SomethingLame hahaha nice
SomethingLame that's all I could hear the first 50 or so times I heard the song. Finally I can listen past the fiddle part, ha!
Today is the day of the US election, this song seems fitting for the day. Lets hope great satan will be gone.
this is the kind music that should be played on MTV
i think these guys are my new fav band
Well a lot of my friends and I grew apart. I hung out with new people. Have experienced some stuff since then and now everytime I listen to this song I remember all of my old friends and they good times we had.
i think these guys have some of the most original sound and the singers got an amazing voice
Ah, Bright Eyes. What a friggin' poet.
I imagine him as a lovechild made by Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams.
A compliment in all the right ways.
This is one of the best songs ever wrote
well i think everyone can just agree that conor is bloody good at writing songs . andd i absolutely love this video how they just keep throwing stuff at him and he just keeps playing, so cute haha and does anyone agree like when he plays live and how he taps his foot and like sort of jumps is the most adorable thing haha
WHOA?!?!? chick on the drums......i like it this is one original band
this is the deepest song ever, he is definitely the worlds greatest song writer
He may be the greatest song writer, but no where near the greatest singer. Don't ever say that lie again, please.
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an's mute
If you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth still
awesome
what he says about religion is sooooo right...
And he has the courage to says it being born in such a religious country like usa.
Conor Oberst is the best!
Thank you God for Musicians like this guys :)
it helps to listen to things you dont agree with so you dont feel so close minded, and understand the way other people think. Plus i cant give up Conor, even if hes kinda close minded himself. HE's just to amazing.
watching in 2021 as a long time bright eyes fan...never more releveant.
oh my god! I just stumbled upon this song a couple months ago, and its been my favorite song since. then i stumble upon this video and....the same. What a beautiful way of depicting the ugly side of humanity.
It's hard to find bands nowadays that have lyrics with a higher meaning.
Fortunately this is one of those bands.
amazing song all of his song are amazing
This is brilliant! No one can stop the Four Winds. Welcome to the next chapter of the world!
this is a song that never grows old to me :)
Oh my god. Catchiness is embedded in the lyrics of this song. It's kind of crazy potently catchy.
i used to love this song soo much.
I like this song. The lyrics throw me off sometimes but the chorus absolutely makes up for it.
me too!!! it's very cool and i'm gonna lovin' killers version too...thank u brandon for knowing other bands ;)
Such a wonderfull song ! Such totality
This is how I feel on stage at work.
And in life.
stop thinking you "know" this kid and get comfortable because of his music. just enjoy it, holy shit. enjoy it for your own personal strain.
and i love that conor sings about the black hills, its my homeland :)
That's the whole point of the song, and the video proves it. It's a happy, upbeat song when you first hear it, but once you listen to the words, it's depressing. That's why all the people in the audience are getting increasingly upset and end up booing them off the stage. It's a satire on how we expect to be entertained all the time when there are sad things going on all around us.
'She' refers to Israel not the world. If you read the entire lyrics the picture is quite vivid. Great lyrics. Great voice.
i luv this band
“Forever changing me was this singer songwriter of a man. A ripped cd my older brother that milested me gave him, me.”
,dan’
14 years.
it literally feels like a couple of years
I think the song is great! Sounds great.
Great song. There's no other way to put it, just great.
I'm liking the song. Good message too...one the world needs to hear no matter how much ignorance tried to silence it. Of course, I'm liking the drummer too. lol
I flippin ROCK!!!!!! And this song is stu-frikkin-pendous
I can't believe they're booin'em. This is a brilliant song!!!