John McCrea did not bomb Korea.
He was just 29 in 1994 when this tune was included on Cake's debut album, and yet the song has been written in the first person. It's the story of a war vet, sitting in a bar and reflecting upon his past.
Red flowers bursting down below us.
Those people didn't even know us.
We didn't know if we would live or die.
We didn't know if it was wrong or right.
I bombed Korea every night.
On paper, these lyrics are soaked with emotional content - compassion, fear, morality, and violence. However, in typical Cake fashion, John is talk-singing every line with a smirk on his face and an attitude that just seems very...1994. How the song's protagonist really feels about the people he knows that he has killed, is pretty much left for the listener to decide.
In this case, the clashing tone of the heavy lyrics and the lighter performance actually works well. The clash has been embraced all around, and is accentuated further by the melodic guitars and the inevitable Cake trumpet appearance.
It's a pretty catchy tune about nightmares and depression. Or maybe it's not that at all. You figure it out.
ON A SIDE NOTE: One thing that makes this song unique is that every verse changes key, transposing every chord one whole step higher. In simpler terms: It's what Kermit the Frog does for the last verse of "The Rainbow Connection." Hope that helps. I believe Phil Collins has done it a handful of times as well, in order to give a little energy boost at the end of a tune. BUT "I Bombed Korea" is the only song I can think of offhand that does this TWICE. The first verse is in G, the second is in A, and the third in B.
"I BOMBED KOREA"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JPULswVojE
and, for good measure,
"THE RAINBOW CONNECTION"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM
-JEZMUND T.F.B.
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Not sure what I think of the song though. I guess I like it almost as much as I am disappointed by it. It feels like a first draft of a great song, prematurely submitted as the final version. The key changes add to a sense of fishing-around; searching for that better song just under the surface. I suppose its brevity and untraditional structure (not that getting away from the verses-chorus-verse hegemony is inheritably a bad thing) add to a feeling of untidiness. ‘Untidy’… Is that really what I mean? Perhaps, ‘disorganized’? Essentially, I want Cake to gather up their instruments, shut the studio door, and check back in a couple of days when they know what they’ve got.
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