I'm looking for a sign that I can't see
The good, the bad, is somewhere in between
These warning signs and this urban grinds me down
The kids are building fires by their homes
The smoke is sending signals out in code
These safety suits and these parachutes
I don't know
I'm gonna stop, drop, roll
When all these walls come down they'll shake us
We fight not to be, not to be weightless
Oh, when all these stars hit ground they'll wake us
we fight not to be, not to be weightless
I'm choking on the words that I can't say
My lungs are full but everything's misplaced
These junkyard dogs and these cherry bombs go off
The sun, the sky, the moon will fall apart
Come tumbling down just like a house of cards
These fire escapes and this lush landscape
It fades
When all these walls come down they'll shake us
We fight not to be, not to be weightless
Oh, when all these stars hit ground they'll wake us
we fight not to be, not to be weightless
I can feel this heavy weight hanging around my neck
I can feel your heartbeat bringing me back, back again
When all these walls come down they'll shake us
We fight not to be, not to be weightless
Oh, when all these stars hit ground they'll wake us
we fight not to be, not to be weightless
Be weightless, be weightless...
Our Lady Peace
Heavyweight
Released on December 20, 2011 as the first single to Our Lady Peace's 8th album Curve.
"The main guitar riff to Heavyweight is something that Steve brought in in a very raw demo form. Just guitar, bass, and drums. We spent a little bit of time tweaking that riff and the groove to make it feel tense and to compartmentalize that tension so it was kind of boxed-in and it became this kind of train-like tension. What I love about that is, once we got that down, it really inspired me to go the opposite way. We had this contained aggression, and then the melody is more beautiful kind of falsetto descending melody in the verse. So I really got inspired by that great juxtaposition.
"The interesting thing about this break right before the chorus, this, 'stop, drop, and roll.' It's actually the drums from Steve's demo that I slipped in there when no one was looking. I just love the low-fi sound of that and no one said anything so there it is, it made the record.
"The key phrase in the chorus for me was, 'we fight not to be weightless,' and once I had that the metaphors all started popping for me. The song definitely became about the struggle with human ego, the struggle to feel grounded, to feel alive, to feel relevant. It really turned into this thing: the ego vs the sacred self.
"The bridge of this song is the sacred self part. You know... we talk about the healing powers of the sacred self. And so musically it was meant to be that. And so it's this breakdown -- it's this expulsion of air out of your lungs, and then you take another breath, and you have this new oxygen cleaning your blood and you feel kind of alive again. The bridge was meant to be that musically as well.
"The guitar solo in this song is wild, in the sense of... I wasn't buying into it for the first couple days after Steve recorded it. The fact that it was a slide guitar, I just couldn't get over that. And Jason, our producer, and Jeremy definitely... they loved it right off the bat because it really reminded them of George Harrison. But I'm glad I finally gave in, because it's a very vital part of the song.
"I think about Heavyweight, and where the lyric ended up, and the fact that George Chuvalo's on the cover of this record, and the friendship that was developed with George. If you don't know, he's a heavyweight Canadian icon, just a great boxer from the 60's and 70's. Having George be a part of this record, and the parallels that between what this song's talking about and George's life, both in and out of the ring, there's a great synergy there. I think we're just all very grateful for George's generosity and his graciousness. He's an amazing man, and I think this song and the record is a lot better because of that friendship." -Raine, Heavyweight: in-studio commentary for AOL Music