"The Lines You Amend" is a song by Canadian rock band Sloan. It was released as the third single from the band's 1996 album, ''

One Chord to Another ''One Chord to Another'' is the third studio album by the Canadian rock band Sloan. The album was released in Canada through Murderecords in 1996 and in the United States through The Enclave in 1997. Like their previous album, ''One Chord to ...

''. The song was written by Jay Ferguson. It is the band's first song written by Ferguson to be released as a single.

Reception

Bassist-vocalist

Chris Murphy Christopher Scott Murphy (born August 3, 1973) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Connecticut since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States Hou ...

described the song as being "about suicide", and said, "We sort of breeze through it like it's a cutesy number, but the lyrics are heavy." One lyric makes reference to

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

's song "

Photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

".Hoskyns, Barney (1997-03-06). "One Chord to Another", ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' 755: 72. The song has been praised by critics for its melodic strength, with one critic describing it as "Beatle-esque pop". ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine's critic suggested it was in the style of

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 2004 ...

. ''

s critic wrote that the song begins sounding like "

The Ballad of John and Yoko "The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in May 1969. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, and chronicles the events surroun ...

", but then becomes "a likable hybrid of T. Rex and

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...

." Portions of the music video were filmed in a

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

lecture hall.Preston, Brian (February 1997). "Girls just wanna", '' Saturday Night'' 112 (1): 14.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lines You Amend, The 1997 singles Sloan (band) songs Songs written by Jay Ferguson (Canadian musician) 1996 songs Songs about suicide