| Colin Meloy – Barbara Allen Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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It was round and about last Martinmas tide When the green leaves were swellin' That young Jimmy Grove of the West Country Fell in love with Barb'ry Allen He sent his men into the town To the place where she was dwellin' "Oh will you come to my master, dear, If your name be Barb'ry Allen?" And slowly, slowly got she up And slowly came she nigh him And all she said when there she came "Young man, I think you're dyin'" "Oh, yes, I'm sick, I'm very sick Indeed I think I'm dyin' But a word from you would revive me again Oh lovely Barb'ry Allen" "Do you recall, young man," she said, "When the red wine you were spillin', How you made the ladies' health go round And you slighted Barb'ry Allen?" And death is printed on his face And all his heart is stealin' And again he cried as she left his side "Hard-hearted Barb'ry Allen!" As she was goin' over the field She heard the death bells tollin' And every sound that death bell gave: "Hard-hearted Barb'ry Allen!" "Oh mother, mother make me a bed Oh make it soft and narrow Since Jimmy died for me today I'll die for him tomorrow" |
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| The Shins – The Gloating Sun Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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it definitely sounds like the fuzzy warmth of summer. so do the three untitleds on 'when you land here' |
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| The Shins – Split Needles Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song has religious undercurrents, because the whole album does. The album questions the meaning and point of life, so it surely should address Mercer's thoughts on faith in an afterlife. The first line, I do not think was intended in any sort of crossdressing way, except that its playing dress up, make believe. Mercer is admitting that the whole feel of the album, including the lyrics couldn't appease the masses, and that he himself has fallen into a dark place where it would be unjust to write out false-hope filled pop. (Justified by many interviews regarding his somber haunting feelings during the time of recording.) But, if the album is received well, and the merits of it show through, (far enough in sight and rhyme), then Mercer can go on another day to wear the garb of musician. I have some more to write but i can't start the next sentence. eh. |
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| The Shins – Sea Legs Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| eh, if you read what i wrote on track 1, phantom limb is the only one that doesnt fit in with the plot of the album. pam berry matches the mood, but i think the shins often play the two songs as one song, so pam berry isn't particularly in the plot either. | |
| The Shins – Pam Berry Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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For now I see, How after all the crap, She rightly came to that. |
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| The Shins – Nothing At All Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I really like the line "Such a danger so we gotta slide, into the depths of the salt mine." Salt is often used to mean wit, so it happens to be a very witty line. | |
| The Shins – A Comet Appears Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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after you have a general idea of what you think the album means, read this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubermensch |
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| The Shins – Sleeping Lessons Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| that was an awful run on sentence. | |
| The Shins – Sleeping Lessons Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Well, the boy in sleeping lessons and australia asks us to throw away religion, or at least the old forms of religion because they no longer have a bearing in daily life. In a comet appears, the boy has finally realized how desolate one can feel if you reject society and hope of an afterlife or a greater power in life, he says that he would make an awful 'uberman,' which is a play on the phrase ubermensch, nietzsche's idea relating to rejecting/re-evaluating old ideals, especially religious ideals in order to gain complete independence and overcoming other powers including yourself. Its hard to reword, wikipedia'ing it may be easier to understand. If you think about that while listening to the album, you can see the themes that are running throughout. I commented on the rest of the songs, to explain what i mean. don't mean to be overbearing. |
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| The Shins – Red Rabbits Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Um, drugs. not communism. communism has been done. | |
| The Shins – Mine's Not A High Horse Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The end: "One finger perilous through the sky." AKA eff off. |
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| The Shins – Mine's Not A High Horse Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The end: "One finger perilous through the sky." AKA eff off. |
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| The Shins – Phantom Limb Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Um, its about two lesbian girls dealing with small town life. I think the shins are even quoted somewhere stating that. They have to keep it quiet because the town/fellow students don't understand. But they feel they are above it, "This town seems hardly worth our time." I think this ones being released on the single because it is the only song that doesnt fit in with the plot of the album. I dunno though, maybe ask the shins. |
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| The Shins – Pam Berry Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Falling down the rabbit hole, perhaps. | |
| The Shins – A Comet Appears Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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So, as our protagonist awakes to a grey morning, complete with birds chirping, he has to reflect on what he has learned from 'wincing the night away.' He has realized what it feels like to fully accept and understand nietzsche's concept of the ubermensch, in this song cleverly written as uber-man. The boy realizes his naivete, and is lost, trying to summon up something good in himself, a forced smile, that will make this bitter dream seem better. He learns that it is naive to try to convince someone else, (in the specific the girl that has been discussed throughout the album) about the lack of an afterlife or faith in humanity, because people are so easily lost and drown by the weight of these thoughts. ("The wind from a wasp could blow them into the sea...") No matter what though, its stuck in his head, in front of him, that religion is man made, "Every post you can hitch your faith on is a pie in the sky, chock full of lies, a tool we devise to make sinking stones fly." He has lost a faith that there is a purpose in life, and a numbness to it all is growing. This album is a description of what happens when we start to think about the realities of life, and the grim thoughts that ensue. There are ways to continue living life, but the boy we have followed throughout this album is unsure what it is he is supposed to do next. The fact that 'the shins' can produce music that addresses things that we hope not to think about is eerily wonderful. We wonder if other people have had these thoughts as well, and here is a springboard to talk about them. It may not be something you wish to think about, but the shins have painted a beautifully dark picture that was only previously addressed in their songs like "your algebra" and "sphagnum esplanade." |
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| The Shins – Girl Sailor Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Our boy is reflecting on what he had with the girl in the albums story, and he realizes that she has taken quite a fall, like he has. The song is not just discussing the loneliness of a lost love, but also the existential realities of which the boy tried to convince the girl. "For there are just so many of, you out there for rent." Before the girl was able to get over these things easily, but this has stricken a deeper chord, and like the album, it leaves a much more lasting effect if you have actually understoof what is being discussed. The boy tries to take some of the guilt off himself, claiming to have only been a passenger and that she is the one truly in command. In reality he learned something heart wrenching from this affair as well, and he can no longer show her back to where they were, because neither of them has the power to go back. He does hope however, that she is able to float on, "sail her don't sink her, this time." Perhaps referring to future relationships or just hoping that she doesn't give up on life. ---One may find this excessive, but not if you take the meaning out of the entire album. The songs really can't be split up. But our 'protagonist' is awakening, "Just a mokent or two from now, not a mind will retain even a trace, of the thoughts that i struggled to tell." The next song, 'a comet appears,' is the storyteller waking up and reflecting on what he has learned. |
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| The Shins – Split Needles Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The beginning of this song, I think is both from the perspective of the boy we've been following since sleeping lessons, and James Mercer. James Mercer has been clever enough to convey ideas that aren't touched on in many albums because of the sheer gravity and grimness they portray. Either way, our main character has fallen to a level where he can no longer assess the world around him in a coherent manner. "This is what you get for pulling pins out of the hole inside the hole you're in." This is what happens when you start questioning life to a point where you cannot find hope for yourself, because it all has become grim and meaningless. But you are pushed along regardless. Some decide to go along with the side of angels and gods, gathering with "all their pearly snapping." Those who choose not to belive are closed inside the basement, a cold and dark place. And though the boy may not have realized what this meant when he started rejecting religion at the beginning of this album, he realizes it now, and now it hardly matters. Regardless he is pushed forward, society asks him to make decisions about life and a career, because the warmth of summer and ignorance is over, and its time to join those who have come before him. |
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| The Shins – Black Wave Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The boy has finished his relationship with the girl. But he expected to feel more release from it than remorse, and he doesn't. The aloneness is sinking in, and he is left cold and dark. He tries to find the brighter side to this, but has ended up digging himself deeper into this rabbit hole. The grimness of the words that he has been preaching all along start to permeate, and the mood of the album reflects his new desolate mindset. | |
| The Shins – Turn On Me Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Our girl starts to resent the guy for infecting her with such a grim outlook on life. Though at first she covers it up, perhaps telling herself that it can work out. Our male character is immature. He may be angered that she doesn't have the same feelings for him as before, but he is passive agressively saying that it is her fault that it can't go on and that he was only fond of her. He may be acting like he has been toying with her as a defense mechanism. Either way, he is chasing her away. He may think that he does not need her, because he is under a very nietzsche-esque mindset where he tries to separate himself from the confines of society completely. By the end of the song, he rids himself of her, and belives that she can make it on her own. "The worst part is over. Now get back on that horse and ride." |
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| The Shins – Red Rabbits Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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So the two of them are finally getting somewhere deeper. They have been, or start to half way through, smoking drugs. Our girl is spacing out, staring at the beauty of nature, 'the trees in the moonshine..." Perhaps the guy does not want to go into why he is so distant, or maybe the girl does not want to talk about the existential things that our male character has on his mind, with "And I can't go into this no more, It puts too many thorns on my mind." But either way, the balloon that could have carried them out of this hole has been deflated, and they cannot arise back to where they were before. He puts the blame partially on her, for her coming to him, he is trying to take off some of the guilt for what he will do to her mentally when she comes to think about some of the life unaffirming things he has has on his mind. Our boy pulls out drugs from a 'gunnysack for red rabbits,' potentially referring to both the idea of Morpheus' red pill, and alice in wonderland. "Into the crucible," into the pipe, "to be rendered an emulsion." She takes a hit, and is coughing with "hollow cries." And now perhaps she is ready, to think of the darker things that our guy has been toying with in his head. Once she starts thinking about life with a much more grim skew, there is no turning back. |
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| The Shins – Sea Legs Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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After phantom limb, this song returns to the narrative between our guy and girl. Their love is blooming, although the boy is distant, because he has a jaded view on all these love and human interaction ideas. "You belong to a simpler time I'm a victim to the impact of these words, And this rhyme." The boy understands that he has a much more grim outlook on life than the girl. "And when the dog slides, open the door and where'd she go? Theres no time no use for searching for the mutts remains." The boy realizes that as soon as he starts to convey his grim view of life to her, there will be no hope for her or for their love, because it will not be the same anymore. |
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| The Shins – Australia Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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In 'Australia,' our ‘hero’ meets a girl and is commenting on her with black humor. "Born to multiply" may be a reference to his mindset that humans just reproduce and die. Although he has the thoughts of Nietzsche and ubermensch, he still is attracted to this girl, and is afraid he may taint her with his bitter realizations about life. "You'd be damned to be one of us girl," is the boy’s observation that this view of life completely agrees with the “Ignorance is bliss,” saying, because it can seriously shake up your idea of how to approach life. Though he cannot completely understand what rejecting every aspect in society is about until the album goes full circle. He will finally realize it in 'A comet appears.' This boy mentions that the lantern has been dimming for him, so perhaps he thinks he can show the girl what life is truly about, however grim, and so they jump out the window together, falling through Pam Berry. I think the title may be a reference to the Shins last tour dates before they starting really “wincing the night away” were in Australia. Even though the lyrics to this album start off darker from the beginning, the album’s feel doesn’t get dark until after Australia. |
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| The Shins – Sleeping Lessons Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This album is a complete album, and no song can be taken out of that context except phantom limb. The album follows a central character, a boy, who has been reading Nietzsche and believes that religion and society have nothing left to offer. I believe it is both the voice of James Mercer telling us that we neither need to swallow the views of this album, and the voice of the male character in the albums plot telling us that the religions of our forefathers can no longer make us feel complete or satisfied with the idea of an afterlife, though you really have to draw from prior shins meanings like your algebra and sphagnum esplanade to get that. I agree that is has an Alice in Wonderland theme as well, where the boy falls asleep in Sleeping lessons, meets a girl in 'Australia,' and they begin their descent down the rabbit hole with Pam Berry. |
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| The Shins – Your Algebra Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Eh. Its not about effing math. Its about when you realize that we are very impermanent on this planet and the times when that actually sinks in your algebra, your basic thought processes and expectations and hopes for daily life, fail. The children at the end signify that life goes on regardless, and at least that is beautiful. | |
| The Shins – A Comet Appears Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| uh, i definitely changed the lyrics to say "some überman i'd make, i'm barely a vapor" and somebody changed it back. i definitely think that's what he's saying, especially since it could be a reference to Friedrich Nietzche's concept of the übermensch, somebody who rejects religion and society in order to create and be governed by his own values. | |
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