| Elvis Perkins in Dearland – May day! Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This is a great song. Knowing what Elvis Perkins' life events it's hard not to think that this has something to do with the Sept 11th crashes. | |
| Modest Mouse – Bukowski Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't see the personal commentary on God or religion here that many others seem to. This song seems like an expose on Bukowski's writing more than anything else. It's all very literal. Bukowski's writing is exceptionally crass, mostly about drunkenness and sex. In the first couple lines the speaker is saying that life is becoming more debased by the day, descending into a Bukowski-like state. As the song continues the speaker enters a more exaggerated state where he becomes Charles Bukowski. "Sacrifice the liver" is a reference to Bukowski's alcoholism, and yes, in his writing he was a huge asshole. The lines about God being a control freak and "see what you want to see" refer to Bukowski's penchant for absolute social freedom. His belief that anything in life is fair game so long as you get your fair share of experiences out of the deal. In his writing he often depicted drifters with flexible morals who follow their immediate desires with little sense of loyalty or responsibility. A polar opposite to the gospel of Christianity, a code which is morally controlling and stresses fidelity. The "Evil home stereo" stanza is a reference to Bukowski's poem A Radio With Guts and in context, the line "Evil me, oh yeah I know" would suggest the speaker almost pridefully acknowledging his depraved side. The "better way to fall" and "icing and cake" stanzas extrapolate on Bukowski's interest in bacchanal excess and moral recklessness. The final few lines serve reiterate the message of the first few, bringing things back home to the perspective of the speaker who is noticing his life approaching that of one of Bukowski's characters but isn't quite that bad yet. This song is one of my favorite Modest Mouse numbers. Some of Isaac Brock's best writing comes out when he focuses on literal events and people rather than waxing philosophic on life, death, and religion. He's great at making quick and witty observations, so having something real to weigh him down enough to make those observations results in amazing lyricism. Look at Trailer Trash or Wild Pack of Family Dogs for example. |
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| Modest Mouse – Cowboy Dan Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's worth noting that "Cowboy Dan" is also the title of a very popular old children's book about a little boy named Dan who worked on a ranch and wanted to grow up to be a cowboy. Maybe the idea for this song came from the notion of what Dan would be like as an adult. That would help to drive home the theme of frustration with one's life. |
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| Modest Mouse – People as Places as People Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think that "you are the places I wanted to go" line has something to do with idolizing others a bit too much. | |
| Modest Mouse – March Into the Sea Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Did anyone see the Dashboard video yet? It's got a giant fish living in the Sargasso sea.. if you don't know, the Sargasso sea is a large area in the middle of the Atlantic that's surrounded on all sides by powerful ocean currents. It's extremely salty and considered devoid of life other than a certain breed of seaweed that grows there. Sounds like something that would end up in a modest mouse song. So salty and mean. |
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| Modest Mouse – Teeth Like God's Shoeshine Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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tenserock is on to something... I saw MM five or six years ago in a small club, that part blew me away.. the dead silence right before they went nuts.. a lot of the audience started clapping thinking the song was over and that only made it more beautifully chaotic when the band came in. My take on this song is that it's about the expansion of suburbia into the last vestiges of the Western frontier and the people responsible for it. Suburban expansion is one of the carrying themes of Lonesome Crowded West, and it's also something Isaac has experienced personally.. raised in Issaquah, which was a rapidly developing rural town. Here's some of the lines that give me the impression of impending business-funded concrete oceans swallowing up the old west... "From the top of the ocean - yeah! From the bottom of the sky - Goddamn! Well I get claustrophobic" "Well, a rattlesnake up in Buffalo, Montana He bit the leg of the old sheriff" "Oh, if you could compact your conscience and sell it. Save it for another time. You know you might have to use it" Then it seems like focus changes to the particular experience of aquainting one's' self with the way of life in suburbia.. I love the final lines of this segment... "The malls are the soon to be ghost towns. Well so long, farewell, goodbye" Great song. |
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| Modest Mouse – 3rd Planet Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think the "universe is shaped exactly like the earth, if you go straight along enough you'll end up where you were". Is Isaac's attempt at noodling out the existence of God. Religion and science are constantly at odds and create contradictions galore, "everything that keeps me together is falling apart". The boss (God) quit the job to find a place to hide. There's a lot of hopelessness in this song ... "my only art of fucking people over". I think the whole scene with the girl in the grass is the retelling of a moment so wonderful that it makes you question your religious beliefs again.. (the baby angels line.. "reminding you we used to be three and not two" .. the third being the boss). But back to the "end up where you were line". Thinking too much about whether or not God exists, much like thinking too much about this song, will lead you just where you started. Awesome song.. |
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| Modest Mouse – Little Motel Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Wow, this song is really beautiful. At first I thought it was sappy.. I didn't think I would ever hear the word "darlin'" come out of Isaac with sincerity. I'd like to think that the little motel is a coffin, not to obsess over death or anything, but I was wondering where the anchor was on this bubble. | |
| Modest Mouse – March Into the Sea Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Cool deal.. man, this song is pretty unintelligible. Especially that saxaphone line.. god knows. I'm pretty sure though that "Well, this coffee you bleed" is "carbon you bleed" ... Isaac likes to reuse symbolism, and that one is all over Parting of the Sensory. Also, "Cause you call it all wrong. Move your tune" is probably "Move your tongue" ... get it, head like a gong? Clang Clang? Clang Clang? I get a theme of selfishness out of this song. Comparisons between how folks act when trying to get something out of eachother vs. their underlying intentions (not an uncommon theme for modest mouse). "Our tails wagged and then fell off, But we just turned back, marched into the sea" I get the sea as a metaphor for the "I want more" instinct, tumbling and caustic, ready to crush anything to get what you want. I love the comparisons to environmental destruction too.. kind of drives it home for me. Anyone else? |
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