Blown To Smithereens Song

[Ilario Grijalva]

Hereis my submission to FORM's All Nighter Volume 8, unchanged from when I submitted it. This will also be my last solo song for the foreseeable future as I plan to take a step back from this alias and figure out what the next step in my music journey will be.I hope you enjoy.Lyrics:You know it's never not enoughThe gap between your heart and mineNo they can't combineBut when we're atomised to dustMaybe then we'll truly intertwineTil the end of timeYeah you always saw the quiet in the loudAlways got the smile out of the frownFound the silver linings in every mushroom cloudSo when we're atomised to dustForever changing His designI think we'll be just fineI'm not giving upCoz what we gotIs more than enoughSo when we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were hereWe said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as our firstYour hands are coldWarm them up with my failing breath(Yeah)Our tales been toldGod knows how much longer we've got left, yeahI'm not giving upCoz what we gotIs more than enoughAnd if it's you and meFor eternityThen it's worked out perfectlyAnd if we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were here, yeahWe said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as ourLove for each otherOne anotherCan't believe I gottaFight for my right To survive this 'alternative life'Will you see me on the news?Showing off my black and blueI'm not giving upCause what we gotIs more than enoughAnd as we're blown to smithereens I'll shed a tearCoz I hope we left enough to show we were here(To show we were here)We said a million words without a soundAs the bullets rain downAnd as we slip the surly bonds of earthLet our last breath be as pure as our first

Probably because the term has been associated to terms like blow or smash since its origin. Its usage can also be found outside military contexts as suggested in the extract from the MacMillan Dictionary below:

The notion of things being 'broken/smashed/blown to smithereens' dates from at least the turn of the 19th century. Francis Plowden, in The History of Ireland, 1801, records a threat made against a Mr. Pounden by a group of Orangemen:

means tiny bits, shattered fragments. The word smithereens is often seen in the phrases blow, blew, blowing or blown to smithereens, and smash, smashes, smashing or smashed to smithereens.

The word smithereens can be traced back to the Irish Gaelic word smidirin, which is a diminutive of the word smiodar, which means piece or fragment. The suffix -een was tacked on as an additional diminutive.

Although "smashing to smithereens" sounds like an inherently violent process, Green is correct that the expression may be used figuratively to refer to such things as emotional tumults that involve no real-world violence. One such early example is from "The Can-Can," in The Book of Comic Songs and Recitations (1874):

With regard to the Phrase Finder date of 1801 for smithereens in Francis Plowden, The History of Ireland, the quoted text actually appears in Plowden's The History of Ireland, From Its Union with Great Britain, in January 1801, to October 1810, volume 3 (1811), which reports that the word was used in a threatening anonymous note left near the hall door of a magistrate named Pounden in the summer of 1810:

It thus appears that the notice cited in The History of Ireland was written by night marauders in the summer of 1810 and reprinted in Plowden's history in 1811. The 1795 instance from Macready's play is 15 years older.

The year was 1999, my friends and peers were listening to the following: Korn, Insane Clown Posse, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Orgy and Rammstein, among others. Clearly, I needed to hear something better. Around this time, I was watching a lot of VH1 because I was different. It was around this era I was also perusing the cassette collection of my public library and through this, I discovered Sugar, Violent Femmes and The Dead Milkmen. But I was also watching "Where are They Now?" on VH1 and one day, there was a piece about this band called the Smithereens. I was 13 or so and wasn't very familiar with them but I liked what I heard in the brief snippets of various songs that were played. Cut to a few weeks later and I was visiting Echoes, the closest record store to home and lo and behold I found Blown to Smithereens, a best of compilation their label Capitol had put out around 1995. I took it home and put it on. Right away from the opening bass riff of "Blood and Roses," I was blown away. Simply put, Mike Mesaros' lick is one of the most identifiable bass riffs of the alternative, 'new wave' era. From that 1985 track, the band only got better, heavier and more eclectic. From the bossa nova "In a Lonely Place," inspired by the Humphrey Bogart classic and featuring a duet with Suzanne Vega to the crunching rock of "House We Used to Live In" and "Only A Memory" to the full on rock assault of "Top of the Pops" and the pop songcraft of "Yesterday Girl" and the top 40 hit "Too Much Passion," they proved time and time again that they were in this music thing for keeps. I listened to this disc religiously all throughout high school and when I started buying vinyl, one of the first records I was able to find was Especially for You, a landmark record if there ever was one. Once I moved on to college, I sort of put the band aside and moved on to other bands but I always kept "Blood and Roses" very close by. By this time, the band had been out of the record racks for some time but came back with a complete re-recording of Meet the Beatles! in 2006. I remember liking "This Boy" but had really lost interest in the band by this point. I had already moved into a punk and hardcore movement that had swept me up but over the years if I was in a thrift store or used CD emporium, if I came across a Smithereens disc, I would pick it up. Cut to a few years ago, I was in some thrift store and came across a copy of Blow Up and picked it up. I had forgotten how good "Top of the Pops" was with its powerful drumming and undeniable chorus. There's also a fantastic little pop song "Anywhere You Are" that just encapsulates all that was great about the band and DiNizio's songwriting. Then just about two months ago, I finally found Attack of the Smithereens, a long out of print B-sides and rarities compilation Capitol put out the same time as the best of. Kicking off with a recording from their first EP, "Girls About Town," the record shows off all the band's influences including covers of The Kinks, Beau Brummels and many others. One of the cool takeaways is an acoustic take on "Maria Elena" a track from 1989's 11 that serves as a dedication to the late Buddy Holly's widow. Just amazingly beautiful and stunning all at once. In recent years, DiNizio had had some health concerns but the band persisted and kept playing. Not too long ago, I went back to my greatest hits CD and began listening to "Beauty and Sadness," one of the band's earliest recordings and without a doubt, one of their best tracks. All it did was prove to me how interesting this band was and how fascinating it is that I can still find great things from them. By 2017, I was working on a book about alternative rock in the '80s and '90s and was trying to get in touch with the band to get their insight on sometimes being labeled as 'alternative rock.' But unfortunately, none of my communications got through to the band so I decided to move on without them. Then I got the news that DiNizio had passed away. I, like a lot of other fans was completely shocked, he had just posted on Facebook three days earlier about getting better and wanting to get back on stage and see the fans again. It's still hard to believe that he's gone and while we don't yet know what the future holds for the Smithereens, their legacy is secure in the hearts of those who like plain, ol' fashioned rock and/or roll. I just wanted to express how discovering and listening to the Smithereens when I was still a pimply middle schooler in 1999 helped expand my musical horizons and start my path towards musical enlightenment. Without their help, I don't think I would've wound up where I currently find myself musically. Thank You Pat DiNizio for your incredible songwriting and vocal ability, you helped me see what was possible in the world outside of "I did it all for the nookie."

Newsweek Magazine - February 22, 1999

Author: Boz Scaggs On December 31st, 1998, I lost my son Oscar to an accidental heroin overdose. And my world is blown to smithereens. My son – this fine, beautiful, sweet young man – my Oscar is gone from this world. Twenty-one years old. Hooked on the high, the release, that place of no worry about pressures from family or school, or jobs not yet found. And I am trying to put together the pieces of my own life and of his. There are so many unanswered questions when one so young dies suddenly. So many parts of his life were in transition and unresolved. I hardly know how to begin.

Following training at HMS "Ganges", and "St George", (stone frigates), in August 1941 I joined my first ship, HMS "Barham" as a Boy Seaman Class II (the lowest form of animal life). The ship's company comprised of approximately 1275 officers and ratings. During the first three months aboard this vessel, I gleaned the whereabouts of my mess (where we dined and slung our hammocks), where I worked daily from 06.30 hours, the locations of my action and defence stations, the canteen and the 'Heads' (ship's lavatories).

In late November 1941, the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, comprising the battleships HMS "Queen Elizabeth", HMS "Barham" and HMS "Valiant", accompanied by cruisers and destroyers (two of the latter being "Hotspur" and "Nizam") set sail from the Egyptian port of Alexandria to support the army in its North African desert push westwards.

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