| Scars On Broadway – 3005 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Before I go into my crazy rant on what I feel this song (and the rest of the album) means to me, I'd like to touch on what maxxHEY said about WALL-E. Though, I haven't seen the movie, I understand the reference... and this isn't the first "animated children's movie" to incorporate aliens or space travel or the destruction of the world, just watch Happy Feet... that movie is riddled with the idea that there are "others" out there. Either way, the song starts out with the narrator (the album's main character) sarcastically giving praise to a few key cult of personality figures. The President, first of all, I do not believe to be Bush... rather, President Obama, who's approval rating worldwide has been steadily increasing. 3005 as WoLfunsaken pointed out, could be a reference to November the 5th, which was the day everyone in the world found out who the leader of the free world would be. Next is Jesus Christ, who is probably the one person who is known worldwide as being an all-around great guy (if not messiah, if you are a Christian)... through his death, he rallied billions of people to his cause and sparked a brand-new religion in a time when monotheism wasn't the main form of worship. And Charles Manson, who Daron finds inspiration and believes that some of his ideas eerily made sense. Note how the lyric is "Charlie Manson" as if Daron was personal friends with him. Manson rallied people to his cause and many people believe him to be an evil person for all that he has done. But the part that gets me the most is this whole "spaceship" and the destruction of the planet, which is quite apparent throughout the entire album. Enemy, World Long Gone, and Babylon all place a certain amount of this sense of doom to Earth and or Humanity via alien invasion or obliteration. Personally, I can't tell if this is a warning or just very, very good story-telling... I had always thought Daron was an alien, to be honest. |
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| Scars On Broadway – Babylon Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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While I don't discount any of the "druggie" theories, I have my own personal belief based on the rest of the album and a few key phrases from the song. While reading the book "The 12th Planet" by Zecharia Sitchin, he explains that Babylon was supposedly a sort of resting place for the gods... these gods are in reality a space-faring extraterrestrial race that have genetically manipulated the species of earth in order to create a working class to harvest for them precious minerals, in our case, humanity being create in the image of the gods to do their bidding. Babylon could be one of two things in this instance. First, it's an Earth location in which these "gods" would land and be waited on hand-and-foot until their business would be attended to... much like a hotel. OR Babylon is the name of the ship that took them from their mothership to Earth... the shuttle or "bus" to our planet. In either case, the line "marooned again" which is repeated several times throughout the song is clear and distinct. Marooned, meaning "left behind" or "abandoned" as adombomb suggested, could mean that these "gods" were left on Earth by their people... for what reason, I am unsure at this point, but further investigation of the album may easily tell me this. But the narrator of the story (this "marooned" god) has experienced this abandonment more than once... as he was "marooned AGAIN". I only suggest these off-the-wall ideas because of some of the other overtones throughout the album... such as in the song 3005 or Enemy. "I'll be in my spaceship still alive, shooting up your world." Just a few thoughts. |
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| The Mars Volta – Cavalettas Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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To add to what TheFreeshooter commented on about the lyrics "A salty ring of night fatigue"... personally, when I hear the lyric I think about the salty sweat generated while sleeping/having sex. It more reminds me of what I said earlier, about the cheating spouse. And the lyrics, "What once was laughter, Corrosive I became, Where a scarlet bruise grows, Sprout the fault we own." gives me the impression of a relationship that was once good but became self-destructive... once it was good, but he came to loathe her (which happens with cheating spouses) and then he hit her and it just perpetuated the wrongdoings. Also, the lyric "I am deaf con of angora goats"... Baphomet is often described as being a goat. The Sigil of Baphomet depicts a goat's head in the center of a pentacle/pentagram. |
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| The Mars Volta – Agadez Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I definitely agree with you, 100% grassroots. I think one of the most powerful lines in the song, to me at least is "No fence will hold the sentient, culprit fall about it." And this is a very specific phrase, referring to humanity... mainly denoting that unless we are kept in check, we will consume everything in our path until there is nothing left. We spread and conquer all that we see... "Time is a plague." Also, let's keep in mind the majority of TMV songs that contain very similar lyrics. These are all tying together into one giant puzzle... Mars Volta is prophetic. They are my source of inspiration. |
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| The Mars Volta – Ouroborous Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is by far my favorite song on the album. Before the album was released, the name Ouroboros caught my eye in the track listing and I knew then that I'd enjoy it. Ouroboros is the depiction of a serpent eating it's tail, often a parable to the cyclic nature of time itself... both concepts are everywhere in the album. |
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| The Mars Volta – Askepios Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The lyrics are: "I'll be there waiting with a hook in your neck is the contact you've made deficient and your hand will break if you touch this fence please them till they're blind with cleft lens" "i'll never perish with the albino horns of a thousand young born will you drink from the depths of my sea and your hand will break if you touch this fence please them till they're blind with cleft lens" "i might not make it back again the vervain is on the rise got to open wide you got to open wide might of a serpent swallowing tail cycle recycled and i'm next to nothing" "place your ring finger on this debt am I living or am I dead do what thou wilt tell them what i've found the steps of a ladder from a diamondback mouth" --- The first thing that came to mind for this song was when I heard the lyric "might of a serpent swallowing tail, cycle recycled and I'm next to nothing". It's an obvious reference to the ouroboros and perhaps how humanity seems very little in the scheme of the universe. Of course, this song can easily mean a million different things. But it's definitely a good precursor to Ouroboros and a great ending to Cavalettas and Agadez. |
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| The Mars Volta – Agadez Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"There is blood for every month" Another connection to women that surrounds the album. But the rest of the song leads me to see a bigger picture, one of God... something common in TMV songs. "Heaven’s made a cesspool of us all." So in the end, I think of the story of Adam and Eve, where they eat from the tree and God curses humanity to mortality... the curse of blood and reproduction. Of course, that's definitely not the entire song. I enjoy that so many different things can come from a single song. And I've also noted that this song cleans up from Cavaletta on the notion of "time". Later to close in Ouroboros. |
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| The Mars Volta – Cavalettas Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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A cavaletta is a woman who tries to change her sexual partner into a self-made fantasy. You can clearly see distinct parables throughout the song that I hear about a woman or women in general... in fact, a lot of this album and some of Amputechture seem to make connections to women. I have trouble distinguishing the songs though, because they are so littered with references to God. Day of the Baphomets, for instance, reminds me of a cheating woman who is caught in the act... however, the song is clearly connected somehow to that of a supreme being. Also, the lyric "You've got that guilty smile that culminates in bedlam," the word "bedlam" sounds like it's being sang "Bethlehem" to me. I know it's bedlam, but it's just odd to me that it coincides with the albums utter disdain for God. |
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| The Mars Volta – Tourniquet Man Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song is definitely about the contact the band experienced with "Goliath" or "Tourniquet Man" as the board often wrote to them. "When I hear your fingers, they will spell my name as I trade the faces of the holders." In this lyric I see a mental image of the "Tourniquet Man" communicating with the band, disambiuating amongst them. But this song, like many others on all of their albums, reminds me of Christ... who is sometimes referred to as Tourniquet. "Let me keep you as a favor" reminds me of the reaping of souls. |
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