Alt Rock Autumn Day Eleven: Quiet Little Voices By We Were Promised Jetpacks

Day Eleven.

Yesterday for day ten, I covered the Foo Fighters hit song Everlong that has trended on music charts from the day it dropped and even this year. Today for day eleven, I’ll be looking at a smaller band and one of my favorite songs from them.

Today, I’m covering Quiet Little Voices by We Were Promised Jetpacks.

Quiet Little Voices came out as the seventh song off of We Were Promised Jetpacks’ first studio album, These Four Walls on June 15, 2009. The first time I heard this post punk revival jam was when it appeared in the 2011 comedy Hall Pass.

When I heard it in Hall Pass after rewatching the film about a year ago, I had to seek it out. The upbeat rhythm of the guitar, coupled with the drums, and a somewhat somber sound made it so I needed to have this song in my playlist. Since then, it’s become a staple in my daily playlist.

Lyrically, the song isn’t tremendously deep or thought provoking in the way that This Charming Man or Everlong is, but it’s a fun listen overall and We Were Promised Jetpacks does some interesting things in the way that they sing their repetitive lyrics.

Eight of the songs ten lyrics begin with “Quiet little…”, and is followed by something that these voices or monsters does. And eight of the ten verses also include repetition. Verse one opens with “Quiet little voices creep into my head, I'm young again, I'm young again, I'm young again, I'm young again.” I interpret this as the quiet little voices are creeping into someones head telling them that they’re given a new opportunity. While the person may be a bit older, they are given a fresh start at life and get to feel young again.

When it comes to verse two, I have a tougher time interpreting the meaning. “Quiet little monsters creep into my bedroom wall, I'll fall for you, I'll fall for you, I'll fall for you.” I don’t know what the intent is of these monsters for crawling into our protagonists walls, and I don’t see the correlation between them being in the walls and him falling for some. The third verse gives me cultish vibes. “Quiet words of wisdom creep into your victim's ears, I'll die for you, I'll die for you, I'll die for you.” When you hear victims, you immediately think of something sinister in the realm of murder or sexual assault, but I feel it to be on the cult side because the victims in this song are say “I’ll die for you”. I could be way in left field pulling this elucidation, but that’s what I gather from it.

The fourth verse doesn’t incorporate a “Quiet little…” intro, but goes more towards falling for someone like in verse two. “In any which direction, call me, I will run for you, I'll come for you, I'll die for you, I'll come for you.” This lyric is clear as day about someone who is in love with someone and will be there for them at any moment. They’ll even die for them. Verse five reverts back to the “Quiet little…” intro. “Quiet little voices creep into my head, I'm young again, I'm young again, I'm young again, I'm young again.” It’s a repeat of verse one.

For the sixth verse, it’s a repeat of the second verse. Verses seven and eight are a bit different as it doesn’t follow the past format. “Quiet little voices, Quiet little voi-, Quiet little monsters, Quiet little mo-, Quiet little voices, Quiet little voi-, Quiet little monsters, Quiet little mo-”. It’s very repetitive, but I do like how they’ll cut voices and monsters off and sing “voi- oh, oh, oh, oh, oh”. It adds a subtle and pleasant twist to the song.

Overall, not a tremendously deep song, but it’s so satisfying to throw on and listen to when you’re in the mood to hear some alt rock/punk music.