Collective Soul, "Crown"

Lots of other people have been posting lyrics so I'll start doing the same.
Verse:
Who's gonna be my savior, now that I've learned to believe
Who's gonna be the answer, To all of my questioning
Well I hope I'm not lost, But I think that hope is now distancing
And the words that secure a thought, Are now faint whisperings
Chorus:
Who's gonna wear my crown
I don't know I just might alone
Who's gonna wear my crown
I don't know I've just got to go my way
Verse 2:
Who's gonna be my partner, Now that I stand here alone
Who's gonna be the shepherd, To lead this poor boy back home
Well I hope I'm not lost, But I think that hope is now distanceing
And the words that secure a thought, Are now faint whisperings
Chorus
Guitar Solo
Chorus (sans "my way")

The main thing that I'm going to discuss about the song is how the music reflects the mood of the lyrics. The main feeling of the song is isolation with a degree of depression and resignation. The mood is created by the effects in the introduction. The song begins with a suspended cymbal crash and the main melody is done by a synthesizer with an effect that sounds like pitched wind on top of soft rhythm guitar and upbeat hi hat helps drive the rhythmically simple melody. This use of wind goes along with the cultural metaphor of wind being associated with isolation.

The transition between the intro and the verse is pretty sudden with just a crecendo, and despite totally changing instrumentation other than the rhythm guitar it keeps a similar mood. The accompaniment for the verses and chorus consists of a loud bass drum doing eighth notes on beat one and three with the hi hat eighth notes and snare on two and four. The bass drum is very prominent and gives the feeling of a heartbeat, which is something a person would most likely only hear when alone. Unlike most rock songs, there is no pure bass line, but rather each measure has just one bass note (might be synthesizer) that echoes throughout the measure. This prominence of lower pitched music also expresses the mood of depression and the only high pitched part in this is an occasional synthesizer effect like the bass but in a higher pitch but it is very soft and sounds extremely distant. It's hard to hear unless you're trying to hear it. It is showing that the hope is almost unattainable. The chorus doesn't really change much except the drum part is slightly elaborated (meaning a little eighth note displacement) and the voice gets echoed but rather than using an echo effect, it is a seperate voice that does the echo which makes it seem more life like but still just an echo.

There are also a couple of solo sections that feature higher voices. The first one between the chorus and second verse is done by the high synthesizer but lacks any climax. There is a full guitar solo later, but doesn't stray from the rhythmic feeling of the guitar part, and the second half consists of a sequenced rhythmic pattern that goes right into the chorus, taking away most of the feeling of resolution with the return of the chorus because the pattern just keeps going.

The use of timbres to create moods and feeling and masking resolutions give this song a feel of isolation and despair that connect well to the lyrics.