– Fenton Wright, Web Services Coordinator
“You only live once.” That phrase fully encapsulates everything that “Lucy” by Mt. Joy is all about. It is a painfully beautiful ballad about living life to the fullest and the reasons why we need to live like any moment could be our last, because that is the truth.
Live Fast, Die Young
“Lucy” by Mt. Joy is a tribute to a friend of the band named Lucy. After her diagnosis with multiple brain tumors, she began to live life how she wanted, and this song is about that. From the beginning, Mt. Joy does not make you guess as to what the song is about. From the first couple of lines it is obvious. It opens with, “I wanna live life like Lucy did. Living wire to wire.” It tells us the fast kind of life that this girl began to live from the beginning.
The singer then begins to question himself, because of the courage that Lucy had. He wonders if he’ll, “ever be man enough,” to be the person that she was before her death. He comes to the conclusion that Lucy is right about the way she lives life. He is hoping that this song reaches her after Lucy’s death so that she knows how much she was loved in life.
Learning How To Live
One of the main messages of this song is: Learning how to live life like there is no tomorrow. The narrator learns that lesson through Lucy and he wishes that he could be like her. To me, I also think that there is a hint of fear from the narrator. While he does want to live life as much as possible, he also is scared of what is at the end of life.
He says, “I’ll see you at the end of the time. Go solve the mystery of humankind.” The narrator doesn’t understand how Lucy is seemingly not afraid but he is. Throughout the song, he is saying that she is not fighting her death, but doing everything she wants before the inevitable. That kind of freedom is something that we all want, but we are too scared to do.
Lucy Was Right
The instrumentals on this song are simple yet fantastic. The guitar sounds amazing and steadies the song so that everything feels like it is in the right place. The drums do the same. The real standout on this song is the emotion-filled vocals of Matt Quinn. On the bridge of the song he hits this note at the end that releases a flood of emotion and elevates the song to another level.
Hope You Listen To More
That is all I have to say about “Lucy” by Mt. Joy. However, there is a whole album of theirs that you can go listen to. Hope We Have Fun is an amazing album, and one that I recommend everyone go listen to! Mt. Joy is always a fun listen and there is so much more to explore with this band.
