News has been pretty slow in the world of Linkin Park as of late. The band is currently on a tour through Europe and plans to start Projekt Revolution in mid-July. One of the songs the band has been playing live as of late has been "Reading My Eyes" from the band's days as Xero. The song features vocals from the band's former singer, Mark Wakefield, before he was replaced by Chester. Mike wrote this about the song: "i think we wrote the song back in '97 or '98. it was an original demo from when the band was called XERO, which means it was written (and originally performed) by me and my friend mark. this was one of the songs on the demo we would send out to record companies to try and get signed, and it was on some of the demos we passed out to friends and new fans (the blue cassette with the baby on the cover). we decided to put it in the show because a lot of the hardcore fans wanted to hear us play it--the only time we played it with chester before this tour was in tokyo, 2006. looking back at the lyrics, it's crazy; some of it's really dated, some of it's still dope, and some of it makes virtually no sense whatsoever. but i've seen some really bad "interpretations" of the lyrics on so-called "lyric websites" that are WAY OFF...so i figured i'd give you the real lyrics." The lyrics are as follows: the microphone molester / machete undresser "stupid-dope-fresh" type shit resurrector top gun / miramar / best of the best-er the leave-an-MC-peace-in-rest-er skill tester / the flex-the-gunner the make-funner / the adversary make runner make summer cold with rhymes i spit kick gift to lifted delinquent wit I be the prophet / my rhyme--top it? stop it. fly like rocket when I rock it lock it down with this perverse verse every fuckin curse a burst of hurt move crowds: physical fitness rhymes coke heads couldn't do my lines i'm decorated like christmas pines my battalion rocks MCs become silohetes of chalk Chorus: Reading my eyes will say it in many ways Losing my pride will save it in many days hit the dirt because the words I spit will do more than just rip your shirt i'll bitch slap your soul contact the track control you coming at me? you can't hack it though so ridiculous watching my crew get sick of this wickedness pitchin' this lyrical viciousness to crews and cliques made of men and mistresses this is my life the twilight in the fight night and trying to see nothing but the highlights when I write these eyes on horizons die for my song cry rhymes in krylon fire on / move men telekenetically esoterically beat-speaking with clarity feel my verity / heroism of heresy and sever every MC I see with severity Chorus why not what i came (3x) Why not give me what I came to deserve Why not give me what I came to believe (2x) Chorus
It makes me want the official lyrics to all the songs on the Xero tape... Stick N Move, Fuse, all that good shit. Play those songs! (will not happen, probally ever and if it does it will be 7 years from now)
To say this song sucks ass, however juvenile it may be compared to their current music, to me...is disrespecting the band's history. Yes it's not a top 40 hit nor does it sound like one, but without Xero there wouldn't have been a Linkin Park. I love this song purely for it's significance in the the scheme of things. I hope the lyrics to the other songs are released.
disrespecting the band's history? are you serious? it was one of their first songs, of course it's going to blow. so we're supposed to appreciate and not bad mouth any of the Xero stuff because it was the precursor to Linkin Park?
To be honest I've gotta agree with that. I personally don't think Xero was all that bad but in all honesty, while I'm aware the standard of the equipment and recording aren't anywhere near good quality, the songs are a bit hard to take seriously. That's not bad per say because everyone's gotta start out somwhere and we all know what the outcome of this band was but nevertheless if they didn't change their style like they did then there's no way they'd have been successful.
Casey, you deserve credit for not only taking what I said the wrong way, but subsequently also semi overreacting to what I said in the first place. Of course its their first song and of course it was going to suck. That wasn't my point, nor did I think he was supposed to pop a rail over it. I just felt that irregardless of how 'sucky' it was that he should at least appreciate the band's effort and the sound/vision they had in mind. Besides the track isn't THAT bad, I've heard stuff far more laughable by some local bands in my area. Believe me. But hey I'm not going to argue over something so stupid because after all, opinions are like assholes: everybody has one.
I don't think we have to appreciate anything about Xero if we don't like it. Regardless if it was the precursor to Linkin Park, the fact remains that (most) agree that Xero as whole, both production wise and sound wise, flat out sucked. I'm not blowing anything out of proportion. I know this is a Linkin Park fansite, but I mean, c'mon. We don't have to bow down before everything that is Linkin Park/Xero just because of that fact. If it's chopped liver, you don't treat it like ribeye steak. Maybe that's just me, but I don't think saying "Reading My Eyes" sucks is disrespectful. Not trying to start a fight or anything, just giving my $0.2 just like you are.
Errm I am just going to basically take back everything I said in this thread. I feel (maybe due in fact to how I worded my original post) that my meaning behind the post was misconstrued and as a result I am going to just nullify anything I said here in this thread. It takes too much to reply on a blackberry anyways. *edit* Man lol. All this over a simple opinion.
I always liked this song a lot. Mike's lyrics on this one are so quick that it sounds like he's spitting fire. The live version is great also and I love blasting it in my car. Thanks for the lyrics Mike!
I still can't help but wonder when hearing these really old tracks, just how much music the band has saved somewhere that we may never hear, or that they plan to let us hear in the future. I know there's rumors that they "destroyed" all of the Meteora demos, but I haven't heard anything similar to the sort about MTM. Although, seeing as No Roads Left came out and that wasn't on the CD, it kinda gives me hope that we just might (keyword: might) hear more down the road. One can hope, no?
I'm right there with you. I love (and I mean Love) hearing earlier versions of songs and seeing how they evolved. Or hearing songs that didn't make the cut, to see what they were playing around with.
Really? Does nobody like this song? When I saw video of them playing this at the Tokyo show or wherever it was in 06 i thought it kicked ass.
I think Reading My Eyes is better than about 80% of Linkin Park's output on their 3 studio albums. *shrug* And the official Reading My Eyes lyrics have been around for as long as the Xero tape has. They're printed on the insert. The only difference is that the lyrics that came with the tape didn't include the singing parts, just Mike's 2 verses.