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According to one music critic, the alternative rock band Madder Rose “suggests the druggy languor of a heroin high.” Maybe that explains why the group’s lyrics are so vague.

Madder Rose toured and recorded through the 90s, ebbed for a while, and resurfaced in 2019 with a new digital album, “To Be Beautiful.” Regrettably, the new songs don’t measure up.

But plenty of their earlier tunes do. “What Holly Sees” from 1994 is a pretty good example. It has a great melody and arrangement, fuzzy lyrics (who the heck is Holly?), and, yes, the druggy languor of a heroin high.

What Holly Sees

By Madder Rose, 1994
Written by William Cote

Maybe you can sleep at night.
Anger in the wind —
It comes and goes.
The voice of reason rears its head,
And sings its little song
So soft and low.
So soft and low.
But I can tell by the way you walk,
And I can tell by the way you talk,
Yes, I can see by the way you smile,
That you’ll be gone in a little while.
Oh, I can see what Holly sees,
But it’s just not real to me.

Walking by the laundromat.
Here it comes —
That old familiar sound.
And if you try to get away,
It’s something they can use
To keep you down.
To keep you down.

But I can tell by the way you walk,
And I can tell by the way you talk,
Yes, I can see by the way you smile
That you’ll be gone in a little while.
Oh, I can see what Holly sees,
But it’s just not real to me.

‘Cause I can tell by the way you walk,
And I can tell by the way you talk,
Yes, I can see by the way you smile,
That you’ll be gone in a little while.
Oh, I can see what Holly sees,
But it’s just not real to me.

https://rockysmith.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/what-holly-sees.mp3