It might be obvious from the title, but “Be Calm” is a song about trying to calm down when times get difficult; however, it is impossible to feel the true meaning of the song by simply reading the lyrics. The song opens with harsh, alarming chords that contrast the soothing string tune. After a few seconds, these sounds get sucked up into what I can only describe as a tunnel or vacuum. Just from the introduction, it is clear that this is not going to be the relaxing ballad one may have expected from reading the title (or even the lyrics). The general idea of the song is that Nate Ruess is having a mental battle with himself. He is thinking about everything that has ever gone wrong or could ever go wrong in his life, and he tells himself to calm down. What can only be illustrated through the performance, however, is that he is not succeeding in calming himself down. In fact, as the song goes on he gets more and more riled up. While he sings the lines “The moment I was baptized or / when I found out one day I’m gonna die…” the music accelerates until the chorus, which is an explosion of excitement. He is telling himself to be calm, yet he is the complete opposite of calm. During the stanza about the panhandler, a poor musician on a street corner who tells Nate to relax (“be calm”), he screams the words, “And I can’t remember the man.” The screaming emphasizes his point that nothing matters besides the few words they exchanged with each other. Finally, the song concludes with what seems like a peaceful exit, until the music spirals out of control and doubles the discomfort felt from the intro. This descent suggests that it is not possible to truly “be calm” and just forget about your worries.

Here is the professional recording:

And here is a live recording. It has pretty awful sound quality and a loud audience, but I thought the emotion in his performance was worth it.