Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I've been in this town so long that back in the city
I've been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long, long time
Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the Spanish and Indian home
Home of the heroes and villains
Once at night, Catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets
That eventually brought her down
But she's still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude'll do
In a town full of heroes and villains
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Stand or fall
I know there shall be peace in the valley
And it's all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains
My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow, long ago
Head to toe healthy, wealthy and wise
I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff, I'm alright
By the heroes and
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
I've been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long, long time
Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the Spanish and Indian home
Home of the heroes and villains
Once at night, Catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets
That eventually brought her down
But she's still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude'll do
In a town full of heroes and villains
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Stand or fall
I know there shall be peace in the valley
And it's all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains
My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow, long ago
Head to toe healthy, wealthy and wise
I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff, I'm alright
By the heroes and
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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Those aren't the full lyrics! Scandal! What happened to sunny down snuff etc etc...?
Enjoyed reading those interpretations. Agree Dark Mind-its American history but think a little later than you indicate. The spirit that must be kept high is the pioneer spirit.
I don’t think it’s about the Pilgrim fathers, I think the time is later, 1850s-60s-ish, the speaker is one of those pioneer characters like Raphael Pumpelly who went to Arizona to mine / exploit the resources and lived cheek by jowl with the Native Americans, constantly at war, and recording their experiences- 'to write in the rough' Spanish and Indian home seemed to be gesturing at Mexico, again another scene of white settlers arriving from the Great Northern Cities to try and make good and eventually settling. It's one of those settlers looking back on his life with an agreeable feeling of contentment at a life lived well.
I think the line that clarifies things a little is the one from a snippet not used in the final track, ‘Bicycle rider, see what you’ve done to the church of the American Indian’.
My guess is that it’s essentially about the interaction between black culture / white culture, (white exploiting black ) which fits the song but could be alluding to rock n roll itself. Brian once described his music as ‘White spiritual music’. The song is a mish mash of black and white influences - (the la la las are very similar if not stolen from Ben E King’s Spanish Harlem) and whitey’s barbershop close harmony.
‘Heroes & Villains’ is an ambiguous or playful/ironic title. Were the pioneer Natty Bumpo characters Heroes or Villains? Were they bold self reliant characters who forged a path for civilisation, or cruel dead-eyed adventure capitalists etc etc…yawn yawn.
Cotillion could just be a cotton flag , could it not? Blasted with holes by disgruntled natives but still proudly aloft.
God bless us, one and all!
I agree with your interpretation that it's about American pioneers during the 19th century but I'd say cotillion is probably referring to the dance. My guess is that the cotillion part refers to Margarita from the cantina part of the song. "Once a night cotillion squared the fight" means that every night the fighting stopped because everyone would be in the cantina drinking and watcing Margarita dance, but one night a fight broke out and Margarita was killed when she got caught in the crossfire. This is what the line "Heroes and villains/just see what you've done" refers to.<br /> <br /> Perhaps the man from whose perspective the story is told is the one who accidentally killed her? I'm thinking about the line "You're under arrest" and "My children were raised". The second line sure sounds like he didn't raise his children himself, maybe because he was jailed for the murder? The lines "My children were raised/You know they suddenly rise/They started slow long ago" make it could refer to the fact that he's been gone for a long time and did not see his children grow up.<br /> <br /> So basically it's about a man who leaves some city in the north and goes to live in a town near the border. There's a lot of fighting but he knows that there will one day be peace even though he might not live to see it ("Stand or fall/I know there shall be peace in the valley"). He falls in love with Margarita who performs at the cantina. She might also be the girl he has children with. One night a gun fight breaks out in the cantina and he accidentally kills her and is arrested. While in jail he's children are raised by other people, maybe a relative, a friend or complete strangers, and when he's finally free again they're all grown up and living ordinary, peaceful lives ("Head to toe healthy wealthy and wise"), probably up north. Now he's old and writes about his experiences so that people may learn from the mistakes made by the "heroes and villains".<br /> <br /> What do you think?
*his children
This is probably the Smiley Smile version which is shorter than the SMiLE version by a minute.