JC
Taking Back Sunday return to the UK next month to headline 2000trees. The perfect time, then, to revisit post-hardcore/emo smash ‘Cute Without The E’!
ACTIVITY 1
Read the lyrics to Taking Back Sunday classic, ‘Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team)’
Taking Back Sunday, ‘Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team)’
Your lipstick, his collar
Don’t bother, angel
I know exactly what goes on
When everything you’ll get is
Everything that you’ve wanted, princess
(Well, which would you prefer?)
My finger on the trigger, or
(Me face down, down across your floor?)
Me face down, dead across your floor
(Me face down, down across your floor)
Well, just so long as this thing’s loaded
And will you tell all your friends
You’ve got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends
You’ve got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
Let’s go
Don’t bother trying to explain, angel
I know exactly what goes on when you’re on, and
How ’bout I’m outside of your window?
(Well, how ’bout I’m outside of your window)
Watching him keep the details covered
You’re such a sucker for a sweet talker, yeah (you’re such a sucker)
And will you tell all your friends
You’ve got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends (the only thing)
You’ve got your gun to my head? (I regret)
This all was only wishful thinking (is that I)
This all was only wishful thinking (I never let you hold me back)
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don’t ever tell me
I know you well enough to know you’ll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping, nothing happens (why can’t I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don’t ever, tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know you’ll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens (why can’t I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don’t ever, tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know
And all of this was all your fault
And all of this (it makes things worse)
I stay wrecked and jealous for this
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she’ll destroy us all before she’s through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she’ll destroy us all before she’s through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
ACTIVITY 2
We took the song’s ‘narrative’ and transformed it into a diary entry. Read below to see what we came up with.
Diary Entry: “The Night I Saw It All”
Date: [Undated – torn page]
Location: My room, 2:47 AM
I can’t stop thinking about it—your lipstick on his collar. Like a scarlet warning, screaming what you wouldn’t say. I know exactly what goes on. I saw enough to fill in the rest. You didn’t even try to hide it.
You talk like I’m paranoid, like I’m inventing things—but I’ve heard the rumours. Heard the way your voice changes when you mention him. Felt you slipping, a little more each day. And now, I’m outside your window, watching. Waiting. What’s left for me inside? What part of you is still mine?
You said it wasn’t like that. But the more I believed you, the more I felt the truth rotting underneath. And now it’s all wishful thinking. That’s all this ever was, wasn’t it? Just me hoping. You never meant it the way I did.
I keep asking myself why I can’t feel anything anymore—from anyone other than you. It’s pathetic. I know it. But I’d rather feel something twisted and wrong than feel nothing at all. And now that I’ve seen what you are, I wish I could shut it off.
ACTIVITY 3
Now, write your own diary entry based on the content of whichever text you want to revise. There are a list of ideas you could use to spark off your own writing below. But definitely don’t feel you have to use one of the given prompts. Pick a moment you think is key or feel strongly about. Just aim to show your understanding of a character and how they might think, why they might act they way they do etc. Enjoy!!
‘An Inspector Calls’
Sheila Birling: Reflecting on her growth from naïveté to social awareness.
Eric Birling: Writing after the events of the play, expressing guilt.
Inspector Goole: Reflecting on the family’s responses and what society needs to change.
Mr. Birling: Defending himself, possibly writing in denial.
‘Lord of the Flies’
Ralph: Diary about leadership, fear, and losing control.
Jack: Diary entry rationalising his descent into savagery.
Piggy: His feelings of exclusion, fear, and logic.
‘Animal Farm’
Boxer: A simple, loyal entry showing confusion and dedication.
Napoleon: A Machiavellian justification of power.
Squealer: Reflecting on propaganda techniques.
Clover: Questioning what’s happening but unable to articulate it clearly.
‘A Christmas Carol’
Scrooge: One diary entry pre-ghosts (cold-hearted), and one post-reform.
Bob Cratchit: Gratitude, family love, and hardship.
Fred: Optimism and hope for his uncle.
‘Jekyll and Hyde’
Dr. Jekyll: Before or after transformation – conflict of identity.
Mr. Hyde: Menacing, unchecked id – possibly emotionless or reveling in chaos.
Mr. Utterson: Logical, confused reflections about his friend’s behavior.
‘Frankenstein’
Victor Frankenstein: Tormented by ambition and guilt.
The Creature: Feelings of abandonment and desire for companionship.
Conflict Poetry
‘Ozymandias’: Reflections from the traveller or Ozymandias himself.
‘My Last Duchess’: The Duke writing privately about control and jealousy.
‘The Prelude’: Speaker processing awe and fear of nature.
‘Exposure’: A soldier writing a diary in the trenches.
‘Bayonet Charge’: A stream-of-consciousness entry during or after the charge.
‘Remains’: A soldier dealing with trauma.
‘Poppies’: A mother writing about her son going to war.
‘War Photographer’: Moral conflict about photographing suffering.
‘The Emigrée’: Nostalgia and loss over a homeland.
‘Othello’
Othello: Conflicted feelings of love and betrayal.
Iago: Cold, calculated reflections.
Desdemona: Naïve hope or confusion before her death.
‘King Lear’
Lear: As his madness grows or after reunion with Cordelia.
Edmund: A self-justifying entry.
Cordelia: Quiet dignity, sense of injustice.
‘The Great Gatsby’
Nick Carraway: Reflecting on Gatsby and disillusionment.
Gatsby: Diary about hope and obsession with the past.
Daisy: Torn emotions and materialism.
‘A Doll’s House’
Nora: Before or after her decision to leave – emancipation.
Torvald: Reflecting on loss of control and appearance.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Offred: Secret diary (fits the novel’s form perfectly).
Serena Joy: Bitterness and fading power.
Next, you might want to write some poetry with the help of Nirvana, Jeff Buckley and more!