Very, very few songs start on a half-diminished chord. They are rarely used outside of jazz because of their inherently dissonant and unstable nature. Ondleton, from The Double Headed Seagulls, seemed to need it, listenership be damned.
In context, through the development of the story of this song, the dissonance can be rather pleasing: The hardest-hitting chord ends at 31 seconds. From there the song gradually becomes more and more pleasant to listen to. If you can make it 31 seconds, you will be continually rewarded with ever more pleasant harmonies.
Ondleton wasn't designed to be an asshole at first. It just ended up being that way. It was a process to get to where this song could be shared. On behalf of all the dozens of people involved with Fire, Fire, Red Star Down record label (ha!), we sincerely apologize for this gross inconvenience of harmony. We (ha!) extort you to remember that though Ondleton first punches you in the face, it will proceed to send sweeter and sweeter kisses to make up for it.
