Charles Connelly’s artist page is HERE
My usual standard to gauge if a song is good is what I call “the Street Hummability Factor”; in other words: how often do I find myself humming a song while I’m walking down the street.
When talking about NAS songs, there are quite a few songs that meet this criteria: mentioning them one by one would make this review unnecesarily long. But there is one that has been UNDOUBTEDLY the most Street-Hummable song on NAS.
Charles Connolly’s “Come The End”
The virtues of the song speak for themselves. There’s no need of me mentioning the brilliant arranging, the great mix or the beautiful sonic palette; it would be much easier for me to just dwelve into the technical side of things, but this would bore most readers who aren’t audio-oriented.
I wanna focus on two things really, and the main reasons why I love this song. The first one being Charles’ vocals and how they mutate along the piece. For those of us who are really familiar with his catalog, Charles hangs in the “light tenor” range for most of his song. But this song hits differenty: “CTE” is sung with a solemn feel to it. While not exceptionally low for him, he goes low enough for the lyrics to hit deep (no pun intended). And when the drums come in, the solemnity is replaced with sheer determination. But still retaining that “X factor” that makes his vocals so appealing to me.
The second motive are the lyrics, and how they strongly resonate with me. The fear of insignificance.
I was once asked by my sister, as part of a public exercise, along with 50 other people, to write down our greatest fears on a piece of paper and then put it in a box. After a long time and serious consideration, I added my own piece of paper to the box.
OBLIVION.
Being forgotten. Not being remembered. Not making enough of a mark on the world, or on the people closest to me. Having my name fade away shortly after death. It’s not a fear of dying; it’s perhaps… a fear of dying in vain.
Come the end, I just wanna feel your pride
More than I do at this present time
Come the end, I just wanna make you proud
You’re allowed to shed a tear now
At its core, “Come The End” is a heartfelt self-examination about life, death, and how we are remembered. It is not just about the fear of death, but more about wanting to live in a way that brings pride, meaning, and connection with others.
There are two songs on NAS that I love but did not write myself. One of them is JHM’s “Into The Wilderness.” “Come The End” is the other. And when you combine a brilliant song with great vocals, strong arrangements, and a beautiful overall presentation, you get a truly street-hummable tune.
And that is why I love this song.
This review was submitted by fellow NAS artist: Andres Guazzelli
Their artist page can be found HERE
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