For My Sunday Song #441, we are talking “Wrecking Ball”. And it is not to be confused with the Miley Cyrus song. This is its own animal. “Wrecking Ball” that I want to talk about is by the band Lifehouse and off their 2010 album ‘Smoke & Mirrors’. This was not a single, but it was my favorite song on the album. The one song that grabbed hold from the get go and I still can’t stop listening to it some 15 years later. The album went to #6 on the Billboard charts which is really great and it was produced by Jude Cole, whose solo work I really love so I found it really cool to know he produced the album, but Jude is a whole other discussion we can have.
If you are a fan of the band, you know Jason Wade is the lead singer…but not on every song. This is one of the rare instances where the bass player, Bryce Soderberg handles the lead vocals. And what a job he does. Jason originally sang it, but it didn’t work so they were going to scrap it and so Bryce gave it a shot and Wow!! The song is about a relationship that sounds like it is a little destructive. It has its good moments and its bad ones…a lot of ups & downs. But the singer can’t get enough of her. She builds him up and breaks down his walls, but then turns around a tears him down. He feels he’s riding a wrecking ball as it swings like a pendulum.
The song opens with a cool bass run and a great, yet simple guitar riff. When the verse comes in it is only the bass and drum driving the rhythm. That guitar riff comes back and then the full band is all there on the chorus. And what a great big chorus it is. Great harmonies, I mean how could it not with Jason there to handle those since he wasn’t singing. Bryce’s vocals are so smooth, and very much like Jason’s. He captures the emotion and feel of the song and you can’t help but get lost in his voice. A song that is mid-tempo song that is close to a power ballad and a straight up pop rock song. This should’ve been a single in my opinion.
Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Lifehouse was a very underrated pop band that should’ve been bigger than they were, in my opinion. If you’ve never checked them out, do so as I think you’ll find stuff you’ll like. Heck this album had a song with Chris Daughtry and their next one had Natasha Bedingfield and some guitar guy named Peter Frampton. These guys were legit!!
“Wrecking Ball”
I’m alone, wandering in your space
Waiting for a sign of life
Looking so out of place
And then you whisper to me
It doesn’t matter what you say
I feel the weight against the wind
The demolition of me caving in
And I’m always swinging on this wrecking ball
While you’re building up and breaking down my wall
You push and pull and give and take
And through it all, I gravitate to you
And I’m a fool, a mechanical tool for you
‘Cause you’ve got all the switches and
Levers to blow my cool
And when you know I’m broken
That’s when you come shining through
You set me up to knock me down
And leave my shattered pieces on the ground
And I’m always swinging on this wrecking ball
While you’re building up and breaking down my wall
(I’m not ready to break)
You push and pull and give and take
And through it all, I gravitate to you
You set me up to knock me down
And leave my shattered pieces on the ground
And I’m always swinging on this wrecking ball
While you’re building up and breaking down my wall
(I’m not ready to break)
You push and pull and give and take
And through it all, I gravitate to you
Writer(s): Jason Wade, Jude Cole, Ricky Woolstenhulme, Bryce Soderberg
