| The Thermals – Now We Can See Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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i like that. the cave, of course, is there in the song. and things definitely are not as fulfilling one you leave it--even if you are happy to see clearly for once. |
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| The Thermals – Now We Can See Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| American imperialism (and British) is but a blip compared to the history of other conquering nations. Mongols or Romans seem a more likely reference given the desert imagery. | |
| The Thermals – A Pillar of Salt Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| reminds me of Horns by Joe Hill. No apologies for what we are, no regret. it only paralyzes us and turns us as incapable of feeling as Lot's wife (the pillar). | |
| The Thermals – Now We Can See Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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this song is clearly celebratory, folks. it's a discourse on the evolution of both the cultures/civilizations who conquer (those evil imperialists!) and those who are conquered (those lazy, uncivilized savages). both can move on from their 'shameful' pasts (as either violent brutes or loincloth-wearing simpletons) into the knowledge of the present. the point--all of us can rise above our genetic/national/religious pasts. we are blessed to be able to see clearly now. |
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| They Might Be Giants – Cloisonné Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| breaking bad? | |
| They Might Be Giants – Cloisonné Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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energythief As a teacher of literature, I'm always glad to see someone else out there who knows how to interpret the poetry of well written songs...or mindfully written least songs, at least. |
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| Okkervil River – A Stone Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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And, oh my god (!) the first time I heard the last part, starting with "if stones could dream," I got twisted in the chest and teary in the eyes. Such simple and powerful poetry! This is not some novice's direct, dull, black and white, 1-to-1 metaphor...no, this is far more abstract and evocative! It pulls you into the small soul of the tiny stone that had, until this part, no voice at all. I mean--come on!-- what a mind is that (!?) to bring us into the hypothetical dreams of a emotionless stone. A stone that screws things up for our narrator so horribly...yet he's still got a bit of compassion for that unwilling stone and imagines how it might understand its role among the human world, and ultimately, how its emotional landscape is so different from those of humans who feel warmth and love and longing...all unknowable for a stone who wants nothing more that to be laid side-by-side, piece-by-piece with its own kind. Does the stone long for that the way the narrator longs for his princess? Is that beloved stone as lonely and frustrated as the narrator (in his own stone-emotion language that we can't really understand)? |
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| Okkervil River – A Stone Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Many of you have grasped the greater themes I think (though it's not really necessary to nail down whether the "stone" implies a dead lover or not. It might or it might not; it makes no difference whether it is even human, really. It can be *any* lingering one-sided obsession on the part of the unreachable beloved. If you are looking only at this one song, of course.) But do be very careful of how you refer to "he/she" or "the singer." Will Sheff is a poet and a student of literature. This song fits into the greater narrative of the entire "Black Sheep Boy" album and the narrator of this song is no more "the singer" than Shakespeare is the main character of all his plays (!) You belittle this small piece of poetry to simplfy it as such. That said, I'm extremely curious to see how anyone reading this thinks it might fit in to the greater narrative of "Black , especially in Sheep Boy," the album. Especially, in relation to songs like "For Real" ("...sometimes i thirst for real blood, for real knives, for real cries...I want to know this time if you’re really finally mine...") or "A King and a Queen" ("...be hands holding a knife. Be a being on two feet, with his heart trembling, butchering for a king he believes in though he's never seen. Be the princess in that stone tower, crying for that handsome butcher's plight...") The same unreachable beloved shows up but who are these different narrators? Or are they the same character? The recurring motif of the princess in the tower of willing stones...the blood...hot life vs.the cold inanimate...what do you make of it, hey? |
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