| Porcupine Tree – I Drive the Hearse Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I believe this is the story of a man on the other side of a major emotional upheaval that he is trying to come to terms with. Whatever there was - love, anger, betrayal, loss - is in the past. He acknowledges there is nothing he can do about it, all he can do is accept it, and that's what he's trying to do. And "driving the hearse" helps it. In the context of the album - The Incident - I think it may mean the narrator is responsible for a death (literal or figurative), perhaps a loved one's, perhaps a lover's. A traffic accident ("The Incident"), or something else. It reminds me of another album closer, "Collapse The Light Into Earth", or actually any of a number of PT album closers. The past is there, you cannot change it, you'd better accept it. |
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| John Lennon – Crippled Inside Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Geez, can't believe such a great song generated only a handful comments. I think the song is about hypocrisy, like many other Lennon's songs. In particular, politicians (but also other Lennon's "enemies" like businessmen) may appear fun, normal, lively people but inside they're rotten, and they can't hide that. After the hype of the election, there are just too many characters to mention who fit the bill. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Don't Hate Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Atmospherically and lyrically, this song has always reminded me of The Cure's 10:15 on a Saturday Night. | |
| Porcupine Tree – Way Out of Here Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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FOABP took a long time to really sink in, including this song. I mean I liked it from the start but only now do I realize what a masterpiece it is, and Way Out Of Here is my favorite. Lasse Hoyle's video may provide some clues for the meaning: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=19021974 Unfortunately, it's a short version. I saw the full version again last Saturday at the Beacon Theater show, and the video is also my favorite, although Anesthesize is also very good. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Sleep Together Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Interesting. I've just listened to Steve Wilson's interview on BBC Radio 6 (Bruce Dickinson's program; it might still be available for streaming - the interview starts at 21:15). Sleep Together is played there, and SW says that he conceived the song as a "slightly happy ending". He goes on to say that the song was meant to say that an escape was after all possible, but he was deliberately vague. So it's possible that it's suicide after all, although in this context I can hardly see it as a happy ending. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Mother and Child Divided Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| With hindsight, Revenant and Mother And Child Divided were clues as to what the next album would look like. Both were outtakes on Deadwing but would feel right at home on Fear of A Blank Planet. | |
| Porcupine Tree – My Ashes Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The whole album is great, but this track stands out. I think this is one of the best ballads the band ever wrote, which is saying something. I believe on My Ashes the hero tells us how he was alienated from his parents, who rejected him. This caused him to withdraw into his inner world that no-one can penetrate to save him. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Way Out of Here Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Compared to this one, The Cure's Pornography sounds like light entertainment. I think while this song contemplates suicide, the closer Sleep Together is about actually committing it. On this one, there's anger and hatred and maybe the last remnants of hope. On the last track the hero is past that and only wants to carry out his plan. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Sleep Together Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I agree with SwiftSloth - it's clearly suicide. "Switch off the future", it's pretty obvious. But it's not just about US. "Clockwork Orange", after all, was British. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Arriving Somewhere But Not Here Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The album is based on a ghost story. As far as I know, a ghost is only supposed to appear when the person dies a violent, unnatural death. I believe the song is the ghost recollecting the circumstances of his death. The third verse may mean that the person who dies did not expect his death nor that he would become a ghost. Also, it may be that during, or upon, his death, a treachery is revealed to him. Maybe he is betrayed by his own mother ("never look for the truth in your mother's eyes", then "all you knew was wrong"). I think the last verse almost certainly refers to a (failed) resuscitation attempt. "Sons of mothers tearing you apart" are a team of ER surgeons, and "cutting a way to your heart" is done to perform direct heart massage. Like blacksheep55, I initially I thought the song was about unnatural causes of death, which leads to the person becoming a ghost. I still think it's possible that this is interspersed with the story of the ghost's own death. |
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| Porcupine Tree – A Smart Kid Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think this one is actually pretty straightforward: a global nuclear war happened, and the song is sung by the only survivor on the planet ("There was a war but I must have won"). It used to be well known and widely discussed in the 80s that a large nuclear war would be followed by so-called 'nuclear winter'. Clouds of dust raised by nuclear explosions would envelop the planet and create a shield that deflects sunshine, leading to a permanent winter. So the guy, left alone on the planet, has nothing to do but wait for the blue sky that may never come back, and for extra-terrestrials. |
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| Porcupine Tree – Blackest Eyes Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I believe that the song is the tale of a boy who grows up and discovers that there's something unusual about him. Blackest Eyes is the most upbeat song on the entire album In Absentia. I agree that there are several hints that might be taken that the song is about rape or murder, but I really don't think that Steve Wilson is so cynical that he could package this kind of content in such a joyful wrapper! The song is positively bursting out with energy. I've always thought that the story is told by a boy or young man whose whole life is ahead of him, but who starts finding unusual things about him, and strange desires are coming out. He tries to understand himself and recognizes that something is wrong ("I got wiring loose inside my head"), but he is still optimistic and full of energy and believes that eventually everything will be all right. So what is told in the second and third verse is actually what he is imagining, not something that's already happened. Also, it might not be rape or murder per se, but the boy is beginning to realize what he is prepared to do to satisfy his desires. It's clouds on the horizon and a glimpse of the future, but the boy is still young, innocent, and optimistic. I believe the songs on the album are sequenced to give an impression of a man who is sinking deeper as he grows older. It would then be logical to assume that the first song is also related to the earliest period in life. |
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