I went and bought Augustana’s new album, Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt, today. I absolutely loved the first single of the album, Sweet and Low.
The first version of this song was called “Heart Shaped Gun.” Lyrics are here, a video is here.
Augustana changed the lyrics. The melody is still the same. The result:
Hey Now
sky black and blue,
blue turned to red,
it’s quiet in the streets now,
it’s screaming in your head,
i ain’t a fool,
i’ve got my doubts,
say it doesn’t hurt,
doesn’t matter anyhow, anyhow…
hey we’re just bleeding for nothing,
it’s hard to breathe when
you’re standing on your own,
we’ll kill ourselves to find freedom,
you’ll kill yourself
to find anything at all…
so lock all the doors,
and put your child to rest,
there’s fire in the streets now,
it’s quiet in your head…
we’re passing the time,
by breaking apart,
we’re damned at the end,
and we’re damned at the start,
blame it on the roses,
blame it on the red,
we’re running out of time,
and i’m running out of breath,
hey now, we’re bleeding for nothing,
it’s hard to breathe when
you’re standing on your own,
we’ll kill ourselves to find freedom,
you’ll kill yourself to find anything,
we say goodbye, everyday and night,
we write it on the walls,
well everybody’s gonna need somebody,
to take our troubles and our worries
and our problems all away,
’cause, hey we’re just bleeding for nothing,
it’s hard to breathe when
you’re standing on your own,
we’ll kill ourselves to find freedom,
you’ll kill yourself
to find anything at all…
hey now, hey now, hey now,
right now…
hey now, hey now, hey now,
right now…
hey now, hey now, hey now,
right now…
hey now, hey now
—
I, for one, didn’t like the lyrics “heart shaped gun.” I don’t really like phrases that seem overly emo. So I like the newer, album version. At any rate, I’m a suckler for the “hey now, hey now, hey now, right now” at the very end. Go Augustana! Now, if only they’ll come to my town. Death Cab is coming later this month! Why not Augustana sometime? 
I wish.
A live performance:
