| Rogue Wave – Christians in Black Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
I listened to XTC's sacrificial bonfire, and the melody/timing is very similar, but the rhythm, chord progression, and tone all sound very different. I agree these lyrics come off very cryptic because of their sparsity, but there may be enough to spindle together a bit of insight. The most tangible clue to its meaning may be the image of Christians in black, which make me think they're at some kind of funeral event. From this we may presume the subject of the song has passed away. When each stanza is broken down, we have a fragmented mosaic: the first shows a selfish mother, the second shows tension (perhaps from visiting divorced parents?) that inevitably lead to alcoholism for comfort, and the finally we are shown a death-like isolation, a meaningless and banal existence that does not resemble life, we are told it ought to be. I think this song is about a suicide. |
|
| Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
DrPanda mentioned the loss of innocence and holden caulfield. i also think this song is about losing innocence, insofar as gaining experience--or to put it another way, aquiring a history--is concerned. perhaps this song has root somewhere in the first published story by J.D. Salinger (the creator of holden caulfield) which was called 'the young folks'. its interesting if you read that story, because it takes place at a party (a crowded one just like the video) and is largely a dialogue between a boy and a girl who is trying to explain who she is/her past experiences with him, but the main concern of the boy and the other young folks is simply who everyone else is going around with. i see the parallels, and if PBJ didnt craft this song from the story, i think they are certainly aware enough of it to throw a slight lyrical/video nod in the direction of Holden's father. |
|
| Cold War Kids – The Wedding Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| cold feet, second guesses, doubts, fear of a mundane unionized 9-5 life and the consequences that it brings, and fear that he isnt worth his word. im young and have my life ahead, i love everyone, i cant keep myself promised to you--and the tension that that brings. im not sure if its the narrator's wedding or not. but the thoughts are as if it is. | |
| Elliott Smith – Clementine Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
i think this song is about watching love drown--and being incapable of rescuing it. its no coincidence im sure that the folk character of clemintine (who is seen drowning by her aquatically challenged lover) is parelleled against a man 'drinking (him)self into slo-mo'--an act often referred to as 'drowning in a glass'. its also not so uncommon to hit a bar and get shitty after ending a relationship. so perhaps the narrator feels broke a girls heart and feels the relationship went under because he is inept, and is feeling the remose into the stormy closing hours of a bar, with that guilt-ridden reassurance stuck in his head, "dreadful sorry, clemintine." |
|
| Cold War Kids – Sermons vs. the Gospel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
and the last of Franny and Zooey references i want to mention occurs on p. 113, where it says "you can be busy robbing the goddamn poor box, but you're to be saying the prayer while you rob it". (i believe this may be the basis for their other song 'passing the hat') and that prayer is found in thessalonians, "lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," which franny has been incessantly repeating as a cant in an attempt to "move it from the lips and the head down to a center in the heart" in order to change her perspective on the universe; as CWK put it "words can change the heart" and this is all just a literal connection between the lyrics and the text, empty of the additional meanings/layers that arise in the cold war kids arrangement of the passages. im sure they are saying much more, instead of just quoting |
|
| Cold War Kids – Sermons vs. the Gospel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
and this was already mentioned, but for specificity sake: p. 200, "Seymour'd told me to shine my shoes...he said to shine them for the Fat Lady" and on 202, "dont you know who the Fat Lady really is? ..Ah, buddy...Its Christ Himself. Christ Himself, buddy." |
|
| Cold War Kids – Sermons vs. the Gospel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
...additionally, p. 146 "i got the idea in my head--and i could not get it out--that college was just one more dopey, inane place in the world dedicated to piling up treasure on earth and everything...whats the difference whether treasure is money, or propert, or even culture, or even just plain knowledge?...sometimes i think that knowledge--when its knowledge for knowledge's sake, anyway--is the worst of all" |
|
| Cold War Kids – Passing the Hat Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| ..also... (since sermon vs the gospel is near vatim to passages in franny and zooey) there is a section in the little brown edition on p. 113 that says "you can be busy robbing the goddamn poor box, but you're to say the prayer while you rob it." | |
| Cold War Kids – Sermons vs. the Gospel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
on the JD salinger note. pg. 108 in little brown edition of franny and zooey: "...call in some psychoanalyst who's experienced in adjusting people to the joys of television, and life magazine every wednesday, and european travel, and the H-bomb, and presidential elections, and the front page of the Times..." |
|
| Cold War Kids – Passing the Hat Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
i agree with the immigrant explanation. the guy is definitely not rich, at least the ragged coat sleeve wouldn't suggest so. i think the question this song brings up isn't about justifying stealing, but moreso about the nature of charity. it raises the question, shouldn't the goal of chuch charity to help people in the vagrant's exact position--people desperate enough to break moral values to get by. so therefore, i believe cwk are saying, the money served a good purpose and was used as it should be intented. it just sucks that the church design is so ineffecient that the ragged sleeve man had to steal to get it. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.