The Misfits’ “Last Caress” is one of the best punk songs ever. Here’s why.
There are songs we love, and then there are perfect songs. Yes, yes, I know art is subjective! I can’t explain why that Proclaimers song got so popular! But then there are songs that are so perfectly constructed you have to admire it. Look, I took A.P. Music Theory in high school (and got a ‘3’ on the test! Still got me six credits!) so I know what I am talking about.
You know who had the right idea? Punk bands. They only needed a chord progression and lyrics and you’ve got a masterpiece. If music is just chord progressions, why have so much involved? Right, Arcade Fire? What are you up to, twenty members?
No one did simple punk rock like the Misfits in the seventies and eighties. Yes, I also love them for their pageantry, costumes, and the huggable five-foot-tall beefy singer, Glenn Danzig, but when I first listened to “Last Caress” I cried. Really cried. Could have been for something else, but the point it, tears were forming in my eyes at the same time I heard this song. Because It’s perfect. Let’s break it down: [The times I refer to correspond to the video above.]
0:00- 0:07 Singer Glenn Danzig starts right with yelling: “I gotta somethin’ to say.” Yes, tell us. “I killed your baby today.” Well, let’s just get to the chase right? This is gonna be dark. (Not unlike much of their oeuvre of work.) These first two lines are emphasized by no instrumentation behind them, except a hard chord and drum smash to emphasize each one. We know it’s going to be a dark song, probably about killing babies.
0:08–0:14 “Doesn’t matter much to me, as long as it’s dead,” Well, that’s…some information. then the full guitar and drums come in, introducing us to the main chord progression of the song. It’s simply, it’s pleasing to the ear, because the sequence of notes is known to be a pleasing progression.
0:15–0:24 Danizg repeats “I got somethin’ to say-” this time with the full guitar in the back. It’s a repeat of the first lines, now heightened with music and the lyrics: “I raped your mother today, doesn’t matter that much to me, as long as she spread…” It’s getting weirder and louder, and faster. The shocking, violent lyrics are established because in the next line…
0:25–0:35 Suddenly, the mood changes, and the line is sung like a crooner singing a love song: “Sweet lonely death, I am waiting for your breath,” — In the chorus, he’s romanticizing the idea of death, the death he needs from the violent acts he’s committed. This pleasant melody is a stark contrast to the “story of the song,” and that contrast makes it even more of a tickle to the brain. Something about the way that line of music is written, it needs a resolution, it needs once again to hear the chords that are pleasing to our ears: “Oh sweet breath, one last caress…” And there it is.
0:36–0:49 The guitar hook is repeated, without lyrics, showing no slowing down, and getting it into our heads. This is the main hook of the song, and it needs to be heard again before we brace ourselves for the second verse.
1:01–1:14 “Well I’ve got somethin’ to say!” again. This is the “game” of the song. [Sorry to speak in comedy speak.] The narrator once again repeats “I killed your baby today”. In case we missed it the first time. But we know at some point, this will be heightened. The expectation is set. [I’d be amiss to mention the two ascending notes right at the 1:05 mark are one of my favorite details- it cuts through the main hook, almost to make it feel jaunty, to bring it full circle.]
1:14–1:19 The chorus of “Sweet lonely death…” is sung again, and this time you may notice that someone is GODDAMN HARMONIZING the line…you can tell when the word “death” is sung. You could be in a barbershop quartet, an a capella group, a madrigal chorus, but harmonizing always is good and pleasing to the ear, even in a punk song.
1:20–1:24 The second repeat of the line in the chorus is stretched out on “death…..” Even though we are only a little more than a minute in, this has signaled that we are at the refrain: the one difference made of a repeated chorus, sort of a trick to our ear. We think we’re going to hear the same chorus we know and love, but wait, something different happening. What could that be?
1:25- 1:27 Glenn Danzig sings his heart out, on that “One last caress…” signaling the guitar and drums to come back
1:28–1:48 Freestyle time! They keep playing the chords we know and love, but the ending is coming, and we want to hear more, and bigger… and Danizg is really showing off those deep bass pipes.
1:49 And, hold….it’s over? The song is already over? I still have the chords stuck in my head! I am still trying to contemplate how to resolve the major chord with the depressing lyrics. Must go back and listen again….and again and again….
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