Simplicity Is Beautiful

An excerpt from a now deleted blog post from Juliana on her official site in 2008:

I think “Simplicity Is Beautiful” is beautiful. The whole thing involves only five chords, though neither the vocal arrangement nor the guitar solo — or the overall effect of the recording — is simple, so the song kind of contradicts itself.

The lyrics are so uncomplicated as to be borderline retarded and so I fear telling you all the words. They are not meant to be read but to be part of the whole vibe of the song.

The vocal arrangement, as it builds on itself and the harmonies come in, is a tad complex, and that is why I have only played the song a handful of times ever, live. It’s hard to hold those long low notes at the beginning — the ones that go up a step at the end of each long held phrase — while playing guitar. And I never trusted any of the guys/gals in any of my bands to get the vocal harmonies exactly right. If there had been two or three me’s maybe We could’ve done it justice on the stage. But even then it would have been difficult for Us because the vocals — melody and harmony — had to be *just so *and perfectly tight with each other, like hands in gloves, to work. And the song won’t work without all the parts.