THE VAMPYRE OF TIME AND MEMORY
Queens of the Stone Age
The most blatantly vampiric, this song comes from Queens of the Stone Age’s sixth studio album, …Like Clockwork. With a title referencing other great works of vampiric fiction and album art inspired by Bela Lugosi, “The Vampyre of Time and Memory” is a gothic track which engages with Dracula in closely thematic and tonal ways.
LYRICS
I want God to come and take me home
'Cause I'm all alone in this crowd
Who are you to me? Who am I supposed to be?
Not exactly sure anymore
Where's this going to? Can I follow through?
Or just follow you for a while?
Does anyone ever get this right?
I feel no love
Ain't no confusion here, it is as I feared
The illusion that you feel is real
To be vulnerable is needed most of all
If you intend to truly fall apart
You think the worst of all is far behind
The vampire of time and memories has died
I survived. I speak, I breathe,
I'm incomplete
I'm alive - hooray!
You're wrong again
'Cause I feel no love
Does anyone ever get this right?
Does anyone ever get this right?
I feel no love, I feel no love
As seen in the title and in verse of this song, Queens of the Stone Age is taking this somber rock-ballad to engage with loss at the hands of some outside, vampiric force. Though more metaphorical than Stoker, the shared themes of loss and the othering that may go along with loss undoubtedly present themselves in this song.
In Dracula, loss is represented through loved ones such as Lucy, as well as the fear of loss and presence of othering being represented in instances such as with Mina and her brief descent into near vampirism. The speaker of this song deals with similar issues, seen for instance in his self-described status as “incomplete.” The loneliness haunts the speaker like a supernatural force, even with the immediate threats assumed to be “far behind.”
This perspective—that of those characters such as Harker, Mina, etc. — is an underrepresented one in the world of vampiric mythos. This representation, especially, is unique as it seems to be positioning itself after Dracula has been vanquished, but the effects of it all still linger.
SONICS
The most sonically apt of the three songs detailed in this project, The Vampyre of Time and Memory is an ominous, restrained ballad that breaks free with intentionality and growing emphasis as it goes on. Beginning with only somber piano and the voice of Queens’ frontman Josh Homme, the song creates a barren, vacuous soundscape reminiscent of the intimidating, abandoned, and dangerous landscape of Translyvania on the “eve of St. George’s Day” when “all the evil things in the world… have full sway” (Stoker). Listening to the heavy notes progress, one feels placed into a gothic text.
Additionally, the song communicates a beleaguered tone, a tone of one who has been through the hells of Count Dracula. From the resigned delivery of the vocals to the wailing instrumental backing in the guitar— this can be heard well immediately after the first “I feel no love” — one can extrapolate the hardships and range of emotions which the speaker must have endured at the hands of their foe.
The progression of the instrumentation—from the isolated piano at the outset to the penultimate moments of the songs in which the strong vocals are being bolstered by driving drum fills and the raving guitar solos— shows capability of fight, such as that which Jonathan, Qunicy, Van Helsing, and others endure throughout the story. This is the breaking away in this song, the ability to carene into action when needed, for instance, if one were needed to fight off some supernatural being.
