Ize of the World
Every once in a while you buy a CD and find a great song that for whatever reason never gets played on the radio. For me that song is Ize of the World by the Strokes. Weird new album, great album, but this one song just stands out.
But it ends abruptly and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. At first I thought there was a glitch in the disc. Then I looked at the title of the song “ize…” and the last word of the song is vapor…” so in case you were wondering what’s wrong with your CD, there you go.
Of course music reviews are what brilliant poets do to get exposure instead of cutting off their ears so I’ll leave it to the madman at DarkBlackReviews to spell it out…
And Then, out of absolutely fucking nowhere, arguably the best song on the album and one of the Strokes finest moments is ‘Ize Of The World’. Starting on more catchy lyrics and more great vocal work is the most powerful and influential song on the record. Another slice of magic…
I’m tempted to just upload the mp3 to this blog just to see how good their lawyers are, but I digress…
And a very cool libertarianesque quote from Tolstoy found in the comments of Malcolm Gladwell’s new blog. He has me teetering on the brink of a New Yorker subscription:
“Reasoning led him into doubt and kept him from seeing what he should and should not do. Yet when he did not think, but lived, he constantly felt in his soul the presence of an infallible judge who decided which of two possible actions was better and which was worse; and whenever he did not act as he should, he felt it at once.”
Swap infallible judge with invisible hand and you see where I’m going with this.? And Hayek, agreeing with Tolstoy:
“… it is the individualist who recognizes the limitations of the powers of individual reason and consequently advocates freedom as a means for the fullest development of the powers of the interindividual process. “
Hayek assumes that freedom is freedom from some other individual, a politician, that is trying to assert control. If you interpret Hayek’s work assuming freedom from one’s self instead of the state then the principles of economics start to morph into a victorian era self help guide.
Update: The sun is about to rise but I can’t stop thinking about this. The brain, according to Jeff Hawkins and some other brainiacs, is a pattern recognition computer. It can add, subtract, etc. but it’s not really designed for that. If our experiences burn themselves into our brains and act as decision making algorithms far more complex than our conscious calculators then why would conscious decision making evolve at all if it just gets in the way? Two ideas. a> It’s a side effect, an unintended consequence of the size of our brains or b> It has a purpose, it’s good at figuring things out for which we have no experience. This is a lot like the current state of physics. General Relativity covers the physics of objects moving near the speed of light while Newtonian physics work well enough for everything slow. Except nobody designed our brains. Just goes to show the power of the emergent order we know as darwinian evolution.
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Ize of the world is a great song.
hey i never realized about the vapout…ize thing.
i was alway wondering what Ize meant. good job!
to describe the song, yes its powerful, id describe it as “RIGHTEOUS”
the way he sings it, hes pouring it out! awesome.
Comment by Justin — July 4, 2006 @
You know, for all of those people whom have not yet heard this
thought-provoking song (for some sad reason) all you have to do
is read the lyrics to understand the tittle. As an addition,
look up -ize in the dictionary. It might seem obvious now, but
I, much like many others, did not completely understand the
song’s purpose until my inquisitive nature kicked in. As for
those whom have heard the song, I’d advise the same.
And while you guys are at it, read the other lyrics from The
Strokes as well :)
Comment by Ruby — August 20, 2006 @
There is a moment of musical genius in Ize of the World in the chorus where Julian sings “Children to criticize.” There is a slight chord change from a major to a major 7 and it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.
Comment by Adam — December 29, 2006 @
It’s actually a bend that projects upward from the 3rd of the major 1rst to a 4th spanning the length of one of the arpeggios that he plays for the rest of the chorus. The reason it’s so great sounding I suppose is because it is the highest note at this point in the song and if you’re really riding the arpeggios (which themselves utilize a heavily cinimatic progression akin to that which is popular in alot of scifi movies i.e. the Matrix) that he’s weaving it sort of projects your gut into euphoria for half a second before returning to normalcy which is just moderate enough to make it rock. PS arpeggios are way underrated which is why the Strokes rock + the guitar solo is probably the best thing I’ve heard in pop music to date. Sorry for the overindulgence.
Comment by Ben — August 30, 2007 @
I personally like the end of the song the best, when it goes back into the chorus. The way the lead guitar really pounds that high note while the chords are changing around it, changing from dissonance to a major over and over. All while adding more complexity and crescendoing. It adds so much tension, and then it just cuts off. It’s really shocking.
By the way, I personally don’t think the “Ize” in “Ize of the World” is the “ize” in vaporize. I think it’s because the chorus is all about the things being done, “organize”, “advertise”, “monopolize” etc.
Comment by Martin — October 26, 2008 @
Amazing track. Very good writing piece! :)
I did a research myself on the song. I found the meaning out eventually. I think these guys are masters of what they do the best. They say, the Strokes sort of revived the genre with some meaningful stuff. I certainly rate Ize.. to be one of their best. One of, because they are just too good.
I would also comment on Nick Valensi’s work. As good as it gets.
Thanks, enjoying reading this one. Totally matched up my sentiment for the band.
Comment by Nimesh — June 18, 2009 @