i think the lines "we keep on burying our dead. we keep on planting their bones in the ground, but they won't grow..." is a reference to t.s. eliot's poem "The Wasteland." this would be very fitting since 1) regina is a very literary songwriter (you've heard her song about Ezra Pound i am sure and if she has read Pound, i am 100% certain she has read Eliot) and 2) The Wasteland has similar themes to this song--futility, fall of humanity and the question of whether culture can redeem it, etc.
eliot (in section 1: The Burial of the Dead) writes:
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
O keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!"
i think the lines "we keep on burying our dead. we keep on planting their bones in the ground, but they won't grow..." is a reference to t.s. eliot's poem "The Wasteland." this would be very fitting since 1) regina is a very literary songwriter (you've heard her song about Ezra Pound i am sure and if she has read Pound, i am 100% certain she has read Eliot) and 2) The Wasteland has similar themes to this song--futility, fall of humanity and the question of whether culture can redeem it, etc.
eliot (in section 1: The Burial of the Dead) writes:
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? O keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men, Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!"
great poem, great song. check it out here: bartleby.com/201/1.html
Good catch. That's fantastic.
Good catch. That's fantastic.