| Wilco – Ashes of American Flags Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The song reminds of this film called "Seconds". A man deems his life meaningless albeit the money he gains through his successful career. So this man seeks out an organization that fakes his death and gives him a new life by allowing him to inhabit the identity of someone else through plastic surgery, allowing him to have a different background, new friends, a new home. The man has a party and invites all his friends. He gets drunk and speaks of his former life, violating the companies rules. One of his friends is someone from the company observing him, and due his violation, he is faced with a harsh hidden from him about the companies intentions reality . “I'm down on my hands and knees every time the doorbell rings I shake like a toothache when I hear myself sing” Throughout the film, the man realizes that he cannot relive the moments he never had in his former life through a false Identity. It even dawns on him that the things he wanted that he missed out on actually are completely different then what he thought they would be. -“ All my lies are always wishes” He goes back to the company, asking for a new identity. Instead, the company decides to kill him. -“I know I would die if I could come back new” I think the last two lines describe the futility of the “American Dream” and how worthless money, possessions, and pleasures are and how they are constantly filling the void in our lives, but end up doing more harm for our naive minds, especially when faced with a terrifying reality( 9/11) that disillusion us from what we truly value and what makes us happy. But it is too late to scrap up the happiness we pushed aside and lost( death of loved ones). - “I would like to salute the ashes of American flags” When the truly important things are gone due to our absentmindedness, we feel we have nothing more to lose and decide to go back to the shallowness of our consumerist ways, to forget what has happened. “And all the falling leaves filling up shopping bags” Being that Tweedy was an avid Brian Wilson fan, and Brian was obsessed with the film, there is a possibility that the song references the movie. |
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| Wilco – Ashes of American Flags Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
A man deems his life meaningless albeit the money he gains through his successful career. So this man seeks out an organization that fakes his death and gives him a new life by allowing him to inhabit the identity of someone else through plastic surgery, allowing him to have a different background, new friends, a new home. The man has a party and invites all his friends. He gets drunk and speaks of his former life, violating the companies rules. One of his friends is someone from the company observing him, and due his violation, he is faced with a harsh hidden from him about the companies intentions reality . “I'm down on my hands and knees every time the doorbell rings I shake like a toothache when I hear myself sing” Throughout the film, the man realizes that he cannot relive the moments he never had in his former life through a false Identity. It even dawns on him that the things he wanted that he missed out on actually are completely different then what he that the would be. -“ All my lies are always wishes” He goes back to the company, asking for a new identity. Instead, the company decides to kill him. -“I know I would die if I could come back new” I think the last two lines describe the futility of the “American Dream” and how worthless money, possessions, and pleasures are and how they are constantly filling the void in our lives, but end up doing more harm for our naive minds, especially when faced with a terrifying reality( 9/11) that disillusion us from what we truly value and what makes us happy. But it is too late to scrap up the happiness we pushed aside and lost( death of loved ones). - “I would like to salute the ashes of American flags” When the truly important things are gone due to our absentmindedness, we feel we have nothing more to lose and decide to go back to the shallowness of our consumerist ways, to forget what has happened. “And all the falling leaves filling up shopping bags” Being that Tweedy was an avid Brian Wilson fan, and Brian was obsessed with the film, there is a possibility that the song references the movie. |
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