This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Rag weed tall better hope that his ladder don't crack
Or he'll hit the ground low, hard and out of his back
At the battle at the bottom of the ocean, well the dead
Do rise
You need proof I got proof at the surface you can watch
'Em float by
Way in back of the room, there sits a cage
Inside it's a clock that you can win if you can guess its age
Which you never can do 'cause the time it constantly changes
For luck or lack
I guess that is the saying
On the first page of the book of blue it read
"If you read this page, than that'll be your death"
By then it was too late
And you wound up on an island of shells and bones that
Bodies had left
And the one thing you taught me
'bout human beings was this
They ain't made of nothin' but water and shit
Or he'll hit the ground low, hard and out of his back
At the battle at the bottom of the ocean, well the dead
Do rise
You need proof I got proof at the surface you can watch
'Em float by
Way in back of the room, there sits a cage
Inside it's a clock that you can win if you can guess its age
Which you never can do 'cause the time it constantly changes
For luck or lack
I guess that is the saying
On the first page of the book of blue it read
"If you read this page, than that'll be your death"
By then it was too late
And you wound up on an island of shells and bones that
Bodies had left
And the one thing you taught me
'bout human beings was this
They ain't made of nothin' but water and shit
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
"On the first page of the book of blue it read 'If you read this page, than that'll be your death' By then it was too late"
The book of blue is the rules of living on Earth: once you are born (open the book and read the page) then you're bound to the rules (that you'll one day die).
"And you wound up on an island of shells and bones that bodies had left"
This is not a metaphor at all. Land is dirt and rocks, which are from dead organic matter from millions of years ago. We are all bound to an island of the old shells and bones of all living things.
"And the one thing you taught me 'bout human beings was this They ain't made of nothin' but water and shit"
Again, this is not a metaphor. Literally, what is all life made of? We are essentially just matter recycled from what's already here. The land is literally made of the excrement of bugs and worms that have processed the mass of things once living.
Of course, when it's screamed out and with Issac Brock's attitude, this final sentence manages to be both empathetic to our biological-determinist earth-bound nature, and also scathingly harsh and pissed. Genius.
I swear I commented on this song before, so it must have gotten deleted. But anyway, I love the part where he talks about the clock. I get this image of a crowded room of people and they all turn to look at the clock as the guy tells them about it. Then its a mad race to see who can guess the age first.
Anyway.
The beginning is awesome too when he says, "What's up? Make love?" I love how he says that!
Firstly: Script Kiddie, what the hell? I don't know what's worse, if you meant that as analysis or as a cheap shot at MM. Sorry.
Anyways.
'Rag Weed Tall' I think that's a reference to 'Life like weeds', a person who thinks too much of themselves, and they better hope that the pedestal they put themselves up on doesn't break or the reality is really gonna hurt 'em, they're just a weed like the rest of us.
Similarly, I think 'The Battle at the Bottom of the Ocean' is a reference to '3rd Planet', the ocean symbolises something special in our blood, and way deep down in the roots of our existence the land (or shit, darkness, inevitablity of death at the seabed ---see later) is fighting with the 'water' and it's killing us , 'well the dead do rise'
I think the 'clock in the cage' is reality, time passing by for an eternity but trapped within the limits of itself, you can't win it or hope to understand it because it is un-understandable 'constantly changes'
The 'book of blue' I think is another image of the reality of everything, the book of blue is maybe the book of the ocean, the book of humans. And to be a human being is to die, and by the time you are human it's too late to escape your fate and it's unfair 'by then it was too late'
'The island of shells and bones that bodies had left' is any place on the earth, and like 'Tiny Cities Made of Ashes' everything we live on or create is made out of something else that's already dead.
So, when he says 'human beings ain't made of nothing but water and shit' it's actually not so depressing, IMO, the 'shit' is the dead stuff on land but the 'water' is something else outside the island we're stuck on, something maybe better?
Anyway, a soaring finish to possibly my favourite MM album. I love it.
The clock is a reference to quantum mechanics and/or chaos theory: when you look at a subatomic particle, you are unsure of its exact location and state because the very act of looking at it changes its location and state; and with chaos theory, things are just too complicated to figure everything in the universe out, because we are a part of this universe.
these beats are fresh. they're "spank," if you will
The water motif is plentiful here, and its interesting to see that Brock continues that with many of his songs as well as with his latest album. So what does water signify? Probably, in accordance with his existentialist beliefs, the source of all life and the source of our lives. And it connects back with the very start where he mentions that we were all animals swimming the ocean before we came to land. The very last line hits hard because while we come from water, that's all we are made of. As significant as we are to be alive, it's equally insignificant. And that fits right into the idea of the entire album. The Moon and Antarctica is so full of existentialist meaning and interpretations of life, but it is equally insignificant bullshit in the end. This song completely reverses the cathartic ending of Life Like Weeds just like an ending to a book that punches you in the face at the very end and laughs at you for believing all the bullshit you just read. That's really what makes M&A so perfect. It creates a ethereal world view and feeling within you and throws you back into the dirty reality at the very end, leaving you stranded and reviewing what you just listened to.
Love this song, especially the last line. THEY! AIN'T! MADE! OF! NOTHING! BUT! WATER! AND! SHIT!
;)
i love the last line, because it's way too true.
i love this song. it's so pumped up and it's damn awesome. i wish there was a guitar tab for this damn song.
Oh man is this a cool song or what. I love the music in this song and how it's just so "pumped up" like def linus said.