Nero - a bit about this song.. I had the vision of the Fiddle / Rome burning metaphor in my head for a year or two before I finally felt the spark to sit down and write a full song using that phrase as the chorus. The melody and some of the lyrics came to me in a dream one night about 2 years ago, I woke up and spent the next day writing the song, it took several hours but when it was finished I felt like I had discovered something special. What baffles me is how much more the lyrics resonate today given the current climate in the world. I've included the lyrics and guitar chords below because i receive a good deal of requests from fans askin how to play this song. I hope y'all enjoy it and stay safe ,healthy and happy while doing so. -Matt Verse In the dawn of desperation when the peasants are beheading every emperor with a golden crown First, they’ll stand with one another then they’ll turn against each other under thunder on the battleground. Pre chorus With their torches, tar, and feathers off to round up all the witches on a rail to run ‘em out of town. In a kingdom that’s collapsing I’m relaxing on the ashes playing fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. Verse You can dance around the fire with the hand that holds the power or go cower with the gagged and bound. While the vultures count the profits and the hawks are launching rockets in a garden growing mushroom clouds. Pre chorus You can storm the ivory tower but the knight in shining armor’s days are numbered on the body count. So, I’m laughing up in heaven in the arms of Armageddon playing fiddle watching Rome burn down. Chorus You can find me playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. You can find me playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. Where the tricksters and the grifters and the rich carnival barkers sell their sulphur to a spellbound crowd. Buying tickets to the promise of a better world a-coming left with nothing when their hope runs out. There’s a lifeboat overflowing on a rising violent ocean in the darkness where the sailors drown. But I’m smiling on an island by the tidal wave horizon playing fiddle watching Rome burn down. If you’re screaming in defiance are you David or Goliath when the riot rages all around. Call it vengeance, call it justice, call it progress, call it selfish either way I’m gonna have my doubts. Maybe I’m just causing problems thinking I know how to solve them so for once I’m gonna shut my mouth. Waiting silent in the shadows like a devil in the crossroads playin’ fiddle watching Rome burn down. You can find me playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. You can find me playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. While the charlatans are shouting propaganda on the mountain truth is spoken to an empty house. If you ask for my opinion are you trying to make a difference or find something to complain about. When indulgence and consumption leave a landscape of destruction where it’s far too late to turn back now. I’ll be moving on my own way down the existential highway playin’ fiddle watching Rome burn down. You can find me playin fiddle watchin Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. You can find me playin fiddle watchin Rome burn down, playin’ fiddle watchin’ Rome burn down. Chords Chords! Intro Eb Ab Eb Bb Eb Ab Bb Verse Eb Ab Bb Eb Pre chorus Cm Bb Eb Ab Eb Bb Ab Bb Eb Chorus Cm Ab Eb Ab Bb Eb Cm Ab Eb F7 Bb Eb

@a_doggo

4 жыл бұрын

sweet, thanks!!!!! your performances are the best btw

@lycosa2000

4 жыл бұрын

Matt Pless I love this! Another songwriting masterpiece. Thanks for the words/chords... I’ll probably give this a go tonight... trying to keep busy during quarantine, but too distracted to write myself.

@jamessimmons9379

4 жыл бұрын

Fuck yeah man.

@caseyschoessow8892

4 жыл бұрын

You are a Friggin Legend🔥🔥🔥

@lequotazioniinborsadellafa5867

4 жыл бұрын

thank you bro

I "discovered" this guy on Spotify while listening to Frank Turner Radio. His "Frayed Wind Blows" song came on and I was instantly hooked. Great Dylan references in that song/video and his lyrics are timeless; a unifying voice in the howl of chaos.

So my mom absolutely loves Matt Pless. His music resonates in her soul. She wants to adopt him (I've always wanted an older brother!) and last time he came through LA, he stayed with my folks for most of a week. So of course I invited my mom and dad to the session! That's my mom's voice at 4:47 expressing disappointment in the course language on Matt's shirt, to which he responds "Oh shit!" Freaking adorable.

I've spent countless days listening to music like this on repeat. When people in meatspace ask me what I've been doing I say I've been listening to audiobooks

Matt Pless is a true poet of his age always.

Matt is one of the best song writers of our time and its about time everyone figures that out. Hope to see ya live at the Moonrunners make up show when the world gets a bit less crazy, homie!

@egregiousfilmin4842

Жыл бұрын

His style reminds me of a punk Bob Dylan and I mean that with the utmost respect. When they write a song, it's like they write a whole long emotional essay wrapped up into a couple minutes. Their guitar/harmonica skills are impressive enough but lyrically, it's next level. Matt's voice is more appealing though, IDK how tf he's not on everyone's radar. It genuinely makes me mad that pop stars can be famous and have less verses on their entire album than people like matt has in one song

Matt's live performances on this channel are among the best live performances I've ever seen. That Frayed Wind performance is beyond beautiful. I'd like to say that I could watch that video without getting at least a little teary-eyed, but so far, I haven't been able to control my tear sockets. And I've watched that damn thing at least fifty times. It reminds of a scene in Scorsese's No Direction Home pre-bike wreck Dylan document when Ginsburg is talking about seeing Bob play live for the first time and he says, in effect, that the air that Bob was breathing in and manipulating to sing the words of the song had become a part of Bob Dylan, and Dylan himself had become, in that moment, the physical manifestation of the song. He knew his song well before he started singing because his songs were pure expressions of himself, and he cant not know himself...Something like that anyway. And that's kind of how I feel watching that performance.

This should have 330m+ views, considering we are living through the fall of the US empire...

I really love this song

Matt is such an incredible artist, just recently found his tunes and I’m hooked. Keep up the great work brother hope to see you live someday!

HELL YEAH!!! Love this guy

Finally a good video in which I can see his fretting hand on this one. I've been trying to figure out those little folky flourishes for the last half year. Grazie, you magnificent bastards.

"I got it off his corpse" - that was hilarious! Genius!

@thequixotickid6937

4 жыл бұрын

Nice!

This term gets thrown around ironically a decent amount but Matt Pless is genuinely one of the best songwriters of our generation. Unequivocally.

I love this song so much! You’re a poet.

HE SAID " I GOT IT OFF HIS CORPSE" I fucking love you Matt lmao

I know this dude. He’s a cool guy and amazing songwriter.

How have I not heard of this guy yet? Thank you for having him on so I could discover him!

This is Definitely 🔥🔥🔥

My favorite post in a while. Soon as I saw this promo on your guys's Instagram a few days ago, i just loved something about it and decided to check this guy out. He's quickly becoming a new favorite of mine. Awesome job everyone!

@AFistfulOfVinyl

4 жыл бұрын

I'm so glad you did! Matt is one of a kind. Mostly I'm in it so when he's huge in 5 years I can be like "Yeah I'm old-school Matt Pless, you band-wagoning posers!" so there's that benefit hahaha

Dicovered him this past Friday watching him live. Bought his cd and now can't stop looking his stuff up. Dude will be a legend. Tell your friends about him.

Exactly what I needed today! Absolutely love Matt, he has a way with words like no other ❤

I love this song and many Matt Pless songs. Stuff like this lyrically and style-wise remind me of Phil Ochs

Bless matt pless

@AFistfulOfVinyl

4 жыл бұрын

#BlessThisPless

I clicked the thumbnail bc you looked like Jim morrison... Glad i did. I loved this. Great channel. On it now, honey!

@AFistfulOfVinyl

4 жыл бұрын

Yessss you're among friends

@TheVinylGuru

4 жыл бұрын

A Fistful Of Vinyl right? Clearly. #ImwithYou

Every time I start to panic about our collective futures, this song brings me a kind of peace that I can't quite explain.

Listening to this during riots across America this week

@AFistfulOfVinyl

4 жыл бұрын

🎻🏛️🔥

Very nice

My son loves dancing around to this one. He calls it “that world burn down song” 😂

playing fiddle all night

Powerful lyrics as always. Go Matt! P.S. Matt was correct about the t-shirt!

Got love the homie Matt Pless he’s fuckin great

I needed this 💙

@AFistfulOfVinyl

4 жыл бұрын

We all did, bud

You're so talented, Matt. Keep it up, you bad ass fucking rock star. 🤗

Love this song man

Matt Pless gets politics more than most PhD's.

fuuuuuuck yeaaaah

👍

So freaking good!! How do you do the percussion? I can’t figure it out for the life of me

AN OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT FROM ADULT FILM STAR @KARMA_RX! twitter.com/Karma_Rx/status/1243576457349062657?s=20

😷😊😊😊😷😷🤘☺😷

Matt kinda looks like Pat Contri aka Pat the NES Punk in this vid. I like both them dudes quite a bit so im cool with that.

Here to creep Matt out a bit, so I’ll use two known triggers: “Pitchfork review” & “Sounds like a Pat The Bunny Lyric, but okay” 😈