Welcome to Tally Hall (Intro to Concord)

“WELCOME TO CHONNY'S CHARMING CHAOS COMPENDIUM. A SAD AND LONELY FOLK'S MISANTHROPIC HOAX.

...WELCOME.”

CONCORD: An agreement or harmony between people or groups.

We’ve made it through the main chunk of the story and reached the conclusion. This chapter consists of miscellaneous covers, and songs that don’t fit into the chronological order of Cacophony’s events. This isn’t to say they aren’t entirely devoid of any mention of HMS, but any context from before can likely be relaxed here.

More importantly, an outro is nowhere to be seen...?

This song serves as a self-aware, yet cynical take on the original Welcome to Tally Hall, whereas instead of highlighting the five main members of the old band, Jash takes the time to highlight the nature and process of his work, and how he feels about it when describing its identity.

“Butchering others' songs is my passion.”

Noting he’s aware of how ungraceful he sees his lyrical changes being at times, and the way he’s (jokingly) tarnishing TH’s original intents with their discography.

“So kids, turn up your headphones. Un-set the set stones. Liquify, dry and bastardize their best songs. Rend them apart and pour your heart into the cracks. On cover duty like your name was Chonny Jash.”

The headphones quip mostly references how they days of Tally Hall were primarily dominated by the presence of gigs and shows, and how they were the main method of seeing their content, rather than having a digital backlog of their songs. On the flipside, Chonny’s work is exclusively on sites like Soundcloud, Youtube, Spotify and most streaming services, where you can also infinitely download all of his tracks for free (More on that in a bit).

“I dropped out of college and failed university. But I refuse to fall to complacency. So instead I weaponize the entropy. So dig up a colourful and lovable band long gone. Dig up a shovelful of adjustable songs unsung. And then all of a sudden it's 2006 and you hear them playin' on and on.”

This verse fully highlights how his main work came to be. Touching on the origin of picking a specific band on indefinite hiatus, with the intent of reviving it to some capacity through concentrated and consistent fan work and sparking new community interest. Elaborated further in his QnA, he had originally planned to stay his entire sound engineering course at college, but fell through when he soon lost passion for that more streamlined line of work. With a stronger passion for composition and online presence as a creator, he switched to Youtube as his main source of payment.

The verse after retains the lyrics of the original, as to preserve the legacy of the band members, and reinstate where his motivation and content came from.

“Singin' songs y'already know. To stroke my own ego. Don't you know I'm only halfway there?”

The halfway remark fully reveals his intent to make a Vol. 2, which would probably explain the lack of a Calamity intro, and a Concord outro. This Vol. 2 would most likely fully cover TH’s only other album, Good & Evil.

“So I might make a couple cover albums. Hundreds of hours of work, with no intention to sell them. You didn't think I had the gall? Well bloody welcome to Tally Hall!”

This line shows his dedication to the band, and his passion for this work, where he isn’t setting a distinct paywall for any of it, and relying solely on passive monetization income online. By making it accessible as possible, despite the incredible work that goes into a project of that size, he’s cementing himself as one of the core contributors to the community.

“I'm stereosonic. I'm animatronic. I'm ****ing with the chords. Heteroharmonic.”

Messing with the composition of the original songs is Chonny’s main calling card to make an identity for himself amongst everyone else. Making changes in the instrumental, chord progressions, and pacing/energy of the songs gives his work a distinct sound and concept.

Banana Man

“Do you see Banana Man? Hopping over on the white hot sand.”

This track highlights its main subject in the video’s description, with a disclaimer that it consists of a comical exaggeration of Jash’s old detestment of the song against his current acceptance of it. Despite this, he still chooses to highlight that the original song has topical problems, yet it shouldn’t entirely define it.

“You're the cattle, I'm the free. It's about whatever you want it to be. And if you dare to disagree, surely you're the one resembling sheep.”

This verse depicts the side of the argument that defends the song, but in a counter-intuitive way. Instead of keeping a critical overview of it positively, they choose to ignore its problematic nature, and plugs its ears in attempt to invalidate anyone else’s points by automatically assuming their outlook is correct in every category.

“So I say "what's this, f**king 1959? With the painted face and googly eyes? And the accent of the Caribbean? And the imitation simian? Weren't you born and raised in Michigan? This banana's gotta stop.””

On the other hand, this verse takes place with the opposite view of the track, where people would constantly diminish and resent it for its distasteful undertones. Along with that, they also point out how the original band members are white americans, possessing no justification for tarnishing a culture like this.

“Forget all your morals and go with the flow. Forget about the bad, the good is all you know. And forget about the voice that's lying deep inside, the one that's screaming and screeching proclaiming wrong and right.”

Now, this verse deviates from the clear black and white sides of the argument, touching up on forgetting about the bad aspects, and moving along, on top of ignoring your subconscious when it comes to trying to filter everything into a prominently ‘wrong or right’ sorting system. This one’s in favour of enjoying it for its surface level content, and not treating it as if it’s deserved deep consequences.

After all of this hypothetical debate, one final verse lays it to rest.

“The moral of this story is, it's perfectly fine to wear rose-tinted lenses, but don't neglect your other senses, lest you finally face the consequences.”

This line perfectly encapsulates what Chonny was trying to convey, where praising and enjoying the song is perfectly fine, but refusing to acknowledge the issues tied to it isn’t productive to keeping a healthy and mind able to discern what it needs to.

Haiku

“I have been trying to write a haiku for you. Some things I just can't do.”

This song could be interpreted as a continuation of exterior events and escapades in Jash’s life, shown in songs such as Spring and a Storm. This could even be summed up as an ‘Attempt 2’ of sorts when trying to connect with others, as he spends the whole song trying to properly encupsulate something, or someone, through poetry, fearing he’ll get it wrong.

Carried on from the original, each verse almost resembles a haiku, but off by one syllable ironically. This keeps up until the turning point of the song, where they’d actually get one down, but with Chonny’s version, it only prolongs the song’s story, providing more obstacles.

“Maybe you're beyond ancient asian poetry, or maybe it's just me.”

This line shows the start of his detrimental doubt within, where he overthinks how his attempts could fall on deaf ears when it comes to expressing his feelings, despite trying to catch himself when spiralling into those ideas and possibilities.

“Kind, sweet and charming. Voluptuously endowed. Hair a darkened brown.”

Here, Jash thought that he had achieved what he wanted, someone to love.

“But then suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain resounds. Vision starts to cloud.”

But alas, it takes a turn for the worst, where realisation sets in, and pain is felt, whether metaphorical, spiritual, or real.

“I wanted to see the hand in which it was held, before the knife fell.

I thought you'd stabbed me. I swore that I smelled your smell, but I stabbed myself.

I finally did it, yet it hasn't helped at all. (I WROTE A HAIKU FOR YOU) I still feel so small.”

After all of this, he still feels as if he hasn’t fulfilled his goal, and feels dissatisfied, through a twisted turn of events, leaving it to feel different, and unsure.

After all his effort, he finally calls it quits, and throws in the towel. He can’t seem to salvage a potential relationship.

Hidden in the Sand

“We were playing in the sand. And you found a little band. You said that you fell in love with it, hadn't gone as I planned.”

This version of Hidden in the Sand is highly extended compared to the lyrical length of the original, leaving a lot of room for a custom story courtesy of Jash.

“I remember you that day. I couldn't bear to look away. I sat there entranced, entangled in every word that you'd say.”

This line sets the song in past tense, possibly serving as a lamentation of the previous sub-plots going on in this album, where he goes into more detail as to how he believes he could’ve messed up.

“But every night must have a dawn. And friend, these nights aren't very long. And so when I finally blinked and I realized you were gone. Instead of finding you, I went home to write you a song.”

Once realising he had no more time with them, he forges a new goal of spending a longer term trying to earn love through gifts of creation, seeing as he wasn’t going to get any further with a single moment.

“It was sorrowful and stark. But it always seemed to miss the mark. Every goddamn lyric seemed to be twisted, creepy and dark.”

The instrumental change-up reveals the issues in his plans and motives, showing the general nature of his musical style and tendencies, which are working against him for once, getting in the way of coming off as flattering. He believed that at this rate, he wouldn’t be able to ever make something passable enough to himself, let alone someone else, in his mindset.

“And once resentment settled down, I thought I'd finally fucking settled on a sound. But each and every melody that I heard would make my head pound. Oh I can't seem to separate the confusing from the profound.”

Here, we see a continuation of the ideas from the previous lines, where he hits dead end after dead end, feeling as if every step of the process spells disaster for each attempt. He then goes on to believe that his issues stem from his inability to discern certain emotions, or even how to take things that are explained to him. His thought process could very well be a straight black and white division with how he describes the polar opposites in this verse.

“We were playing in the sand. And I extended you a hand. You said that you'd rather die than be seen with me as your man.

At least that's what I was convinced. And the pain's resounded ever since. But maybe it's simply that when I took my shot I missed.

You know what they say, at the end of the day indifference is bliss.”

This shows more of Chonny’s doubtful tendencies, where he seems to have constantly assumed the worst in any social situation, and even if he functioned perfectly fine in public areas and around people, he’ll always have that voice in the back of his head that translates any experience into a failure.

This is, however, only in his mind. Perhaps, things aren’t so bad in reality.

Greener

“Here's that part again where your neighbour starts to mend their fence and clean up all their woes and ugly things.”

This track starts with a scenario painted for you in a more explicit nature than usual. It depicts Jash describing how he can’t seemingly keep to himself, and as subtly as possible, judge himself and compare his results to those around him.

“And so you look on over, trying not to meet their gaze.

But before you get a good view, they're staring right back at you trying just as hard to see your own hue of green and blues.”

Here, we see a commentary on how others will likely be doing just the same as you, as the creative industry is full of this phenomenon of perpetual comparison.

"Wherever this goes, I want you to notice. I want you to hear. I want you to know this song as a ringing in your ear.

These thoughts sing a sad, sad melody. But then, even the manic can live happily.”

He tries his best here to convey how he feels about exposure and his audience reception to his music, or even rather the lack of it, when it comes to underperforming numbers. He really wants people to be coming back to this music with something new to think about each time, being able to ponder on it long after they've finished checking it out. He acknowledges the pessimistic nature of his back catalogue, but then refutes with how if even the manic can find joy, that doesn’t give him any reason to not.

“Misconceptions of intent will get me down. Oh, the truth is that I'm actually quite well.”

This line can potentially be poking fun at how since the emotional state of the music really only covers one side of the coin in the spectrum, most listeners would get the impression from this consistent sadness that this reflects his personal feelings and state, despite the fact that it’s been proven to be more so the opposite.

“I'll tape a message to a stone and throw it through your window just so you can finally see that I'm not the one you should be envying.”

Here, Chonny states that he’s extremely willing to get people to realise that he isn’t anything near resembling an idol, and that envying him could very well just be the same as envying the entire collective output of the internet itself.

"Wherever this goes, whatever ensues.

These songs are my own. These songs aren't for you.

But still, I'm so glad you're listening.”

One last time, he instils that his music is done as self-fulfilment, and isn’t done to pander to anyone, or please the masses. But despite him possibly coming off as instinctually hostile and defensive, Jash wants to emphasise that he still truly appreciates the love and reception that his listeners have given him.

Special

“Generally, I'm a modest guy. I've eaten my share of humble pie. Sometimes that's delicious, but I do have wishes to swim with the biggest of bigger fishes.”

This line, whilst retaining the original lyrics, fits in with Chonny quite well, since he is coming from a considerably small audience, and is pretty much forced to remain humble in this area, while also having greater goals and aspirations for when he breaks out of this mould.

“What would be the point if we were all the same? Life would be an abject, hackneyed game. No frame of reference for pleasure when there's no pain.”

Fairly self-explanatory, this line gives Jash’s clear distaste towards the idea of conformity and familiarity, where without low points to fully measure out the spectrum, highs would lose their true value and weight.

“I'm not afraid to be cast aside. Invisible guys don't need to hide.”

Here we get more emphasis on his popularity and influence level/state, showing that he doesn’t have much to lose in the public eye at this stage, so he’s willing to experiment with anything. He also acknowledges how others feel when trying to climb up the ranks in this industry, however he doesn’t fully understand the obsessive stress when it comes to coming out on top and being as recognisable and accessible as possible.

“I remember practicing most weekends at the expense of spending joyful time with friends, imagining that it would yield the best rewards, not four repeating hip-hop, doo-wop chords.”

Chonny has had a skewed view of a work-life balance, and regrets his choice of committing all his childhood time and energy towards performance development, when it really didn’t benefit him in an immediately visible and clear-cut way. On top of this, he takes a jab at how most successful music on the radio and such usually consists of surface-level compositions, sometimes only containing tried and tested 4-chord progressions.

“Mom always told me that I was one of a kind. But as I got older and wise, that sentiment began to weigh on my mind. What makes me different from all of the others dreaming? I can't seem to recall the reason that I'm worth redeeming.”

This verse focuses on family motivation, and how these early claims can feel start feeling hollow when you add in factors such as competing with everyone else in your field, and feeling as if everything that you have going for you doesn’t fare up to others. If you aren’t supernatural, you’re pretty much in the same boat as everyone else when comes to standing out. Execution of your passions is the only gate standing between you and true success.

“But I'm not stupid. I know when it's lies that I tell. If there's one person in this world that I can't trick then it's myself. I suppose it's just the problem with trying to be self-aware: you don't need a mirror to see the misery in your stare.”

This verse focuses more on the previous statements correlating to coping methods, such as keeping standards low, and expecting failure and wallowing in your insecurities in order to dull any forthcoming pain. However, it focuses more on the criticism of his own words, claiming he is self-aware to these subconscious actions, and that he can’t rewire his own brain to fit his own methods and processes. He also admits to how he doesn’t need other’s purviews of him to know that he gives off a miserable aura; he can feel it in himself.

“And anyway, who am I to fret like this? Maybe a key change can pull me out of this abyss.”

After this spiralling rap verse of the song, he light-heartedly dismisses it, joking about key changes to keep on trucking.

“Sooner or later I shall find myself and make amends with the me left on the shelf in a jam session and lesson taught of love and sin, until we finally find that great, resounding din. So maybe I'm unique and maybe not, but I might as well deliver all I've got.”

Here, Jash is willing to reconcile with his old, suspended thoughts, and fulfil his original wishes through going back to his roots, and keep going until he hits a brick wall and can’t find anything more left for him. He finally admits that there’s no reason for him to hold himself back through self-doubt and dismisses the fact that he might not have any leverage against anyone else, deciding to put all of himself out there.

The final chorus contains multiple leitmotifs and lyrical references to songs like Time Machine, Ruler of Everything, and Variations on a Cloud, showing the ‘absolute’ nature of the song, rounding up all of his remaining fears, and stamping them out in order to persevere. It brings together all these reoccurring elements, and forges them into an encore, giving one last go with a positive outlook, with nothing to hold Chonny back.

And as we finish this track, we move onto the final, most personal song of the album. Cutting through the guise of HMS, we touch on Jash’s true inner feelings and qualms alike, in...

Taken for a Ride

“Marvin walked into a helpless land and wondered lightly

“Am I happy?”

“Is this happy?””

“Following the footsteps left by man, he stepped to reprimand the mystic, so sadistic.”

This phrase could be interpreted as Chonny walking in the footsteps of Tally Hall, whilst trying to rend and abolish the clouded nature of the band’s disbanding, and make the answers he needs clear to himself and perhaps others in the community space).

“Better half a century passed on later, thought I’d be the next curator of this story. Fifteen months, not faltered once. Victorian dunce turned pico-luminary. This is scary.”

The ‘better half a century’ could be directed at the time, but more so how much it felt like since Tally Hall passing on, or it could be referencing Tally Hall, the food court in Michigan, which inspired the name of the band by housing Marvin’s Museum, the former of which shut down many decades ago. The next phrases could be his fear of biting off more than he could chew when embarking on this project, considering the sheer size of it in attempt to make his mark in the fan space.

“Listening to painted whispers.

Pastel wailings. Matte disquiet.”

Using various words and terms acquainted with soft and dulled qualities, contrasted with un-resting entropy, it gives the idea that he has gradual thoughts or voices that are directed towards him, but even if dulled through various mental exercises, they can’t be fully blocked out in their nature.

“Next, the stranded cynic sits and toils, his fits and foils written slowly.”

This line most likely reflects on how this cover album project came to be, where the story was fuelled by Jash’s own inner turmoil. His tendency to let things simmer in his head like this fully powered the ability to let out so much information and emotion in a big-scale project like this.

“Emotion vs. Cognition,

trial the pathos/logos fission,”

The ‘Emotion vs. Cognition’ encapsulates what pathos and logos means. Pathos tries to reach the audience through pre-existing emotion and persuasion, whereas logos encourages and initiates discussion and debate through logic. Fission would mean splitting these two, meaning this line fully represents and references Heart and Mind.

“Lonely, sulking halves that wanted just a taste of closure to implore them to start living.”

This line continues commentary on the two characters, by showing their desperation for an ending, and always having it dangled above their heads in order to make content surrounding it, before letting them reconcile and rest inside.

“Thirty hours each, with minimal outreach. Not for sale; for fun. It’s free, friend. Come to the deep end.”

Thirty hours each most likely refers to how long it takes for the production of each song, throughout all its stages of creation, and then getting put out in public for a very small amount of people to actually come across it, and an even smaller amount of people actively waiting for it. Chonny then reinstates how he’s choosing to do this out of selflessness, and charging nought for any of it, encouraging others to join in and see where things take them.

“Actor with his trident, crown and blindfold smiled and counted three-by-ninefold. Is it over? Or is he just a cycle now interned?”

Actor with his trident may refer to Soul’s official visual representation, along with the two objects corresponding to the other guys. The cycle interning confirms how the events of the three chapters loop around indefinitely at some point, most likely cut off for now due to the lack of an intro and outro.

“A bridled foreword; the beginning of an era.”

This most likely refers to the anger-fuelled nature of the character dynamics seen throughout the album, and the ‘beginning of an era’ refers to how HMS had completely taken over Chonny’s discography and has remained his most popular project to date, cementing the future of further instalments in the story.

“Study, write, practice, record, program, mix, master, film and edit. Then publish to the ether. Rinse, repeat, sir. When questioned, simply smile and wave, look on your pile and say “Well I’m no lightweight.” Jesus Christ, mate.”

A clear concise list of the order used when making his music, with ‘rise, repeat’ shrugging it all off as if it’s nothing, and even possibly Jash joking at himself resembling a machine with his constant stream of effort and work. Others are probably taken aback, or weirded out by this unusual amount of dedication to something like this, and the final line is probably his own awareness for how much he over-extends just to make a point or satisfy himself.

“One solitary smile to goad these woes and wiles. To help me see the day, I’ll happily throw away,”

This line shows his tenacity and how he can ward off his own negativity and pessimism through repeated actions not too dissimilar from cognitive behavioural therapy. All of this, of course, in order to keep himself going as long as possible, where he postpones, or even completely discards ‘the day’ of unknown yet ominous meaning.

“There are no secrets anymore. I’ve laid them all out on the floor. {([They’re all for you.])} You want something? You know more about me than my family.”

This section focuses on the transparency of the album, and how nothing is left out when it comes to expressing himself clearly, and admitting his feelings and flaws. He does this even to the point where family members – who wouldn’t frequent his online presence – end up knowing less than his audience through his content.

“Haptic feedback, half-baked blasphemies. Twenty-seven songs are yours; my blood, my sweat, my open doors. I’ve hurt, reviled and reconciled.

Five hundred ****ing hours, and I’m finally getting bored.”

The first line might be a representation of the audience potentially butchering, missing the point, or analysing the content of CCCC inaccurately. He then one more time reinstates how much time and work has gone into these songs, and he’s opened all his doors to those who take the time to listen to his thoughts, through all his ups and downs, seen with ‘reviling and reconciling’.

“This story isn’t over. I’m not sure that it’s begun. But I’d just like to spend some more time enjoying being one.”

This confirms his intention to make a Vol. 2, however it might not be a continuation, but rather filling in the gaps left by Vol. 1, seen by his uncertainty of when it starts and stops. Regardless, Chonny’s grateful for how therapeutic this experience has been for him, and appreciates how he can feel more at peace now that this is out there for the world to see, along with wanting to keep this streak going for as long as possible.

“My quill is dry. My flat-line, nigh. My tears, arranged and poured.”

But alas, he’s at the end for now, and Jash has no more to show. He’s poured his heart out, and it needs refilling.

So, even with audience expectation for more, we’ve come to a close.

“And yet still you want for more?”