| Propagandhi – A Speculative Fiction Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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zmodem, I think I can clarify the "United We Stand" thing for you. West Broadway is a real neighborhood in Winnipeg (where the band is based). David Nygard, the Winnipeg-based designer and fashionista, owns a building in West Broadway where he had a huge mural made after 9/11 with Canadian and American flags and the phrase "United We Stand." As the song is lampooning Canadian nationalism, I think the implication is that by Canadians hating the pro-USA mural we are directing our patriotism at token or symbolic images when we could be using our energies at making real and positive changes. |
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| Jawbreaker – Ashtray Monument Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The best line of this song is "I count disasters on my free hand now." It has so many different interpretations and connotations: 1. Why is his hand free? Because he's no longer clasping somebody else's hand. He's alone. 2. Why counting disasters? Because when you're depressed, the slightest negative can feel monumental. For most a disaster is a singular event, like filing bankruptcy, a loved one dying. His disasters are multiple; everything is going wrong and everything is an overwhelming burden. The fact that he is counting disasters, rather than just accepting them, emphasizes the fact that he is not simply reflecting, but also dwelling, analyzing himself. He is obsessed. 3. Why his hand? Because the hands are primary sensory organs of the body. His empty hand is numb, without feeling, useless. The hand is also the manipulatory organ of the body, used to control the environment, and his loneliness leaves him impotent, weak, and useless. 4. Why just one hand? Because an idle hand is the devil's playground and can get you into trouble. He's already referenced drinking/drugs in the third line of the song, and clearly his other hand is busy self-medicating. This single line is what I like to quote when people ask why I like Jawbreaker so much. |
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| Jawbreaker – Basilica Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song is clearly open enough that it could be about several different things, but my own interpretation is that this is Blake having a conversation with himself, or a fraction of his own personality. His optimistic and hopeful side is describing his depressed and suicidal side, and this song is about him attempting to accept himself. I particularly like this lines "I'm consumed by your eyes. Keep them open and full." The eyes are the windows to the soul, and he is truly soul-searching. He wants to makes a decision (to die or not to die) and the only way is to have a frank discussion about himself and his own life. He decides in the end not to die. "Walk alone in gardens of loss. You can't have a flower of stone. Never let this soil come between us. I'm asking you on a date for the rest of your life." A garden of loss is a cemetary; an organic place that is carefully plotted and "planted" with stone flowers (tombstones). He says to his depressed, dead, burried side that he will never let soil come between us. This is an image of the conscious narrating version of himself speaking to the suicidal version of himself burried beneath his own feet, divided by 6 feet of earth. He essentially says he will never let this happen; he will not kill himself. By deciding not to kill himself, he is accepting a lifelong relationship with his other half. He can't become one person, but he can at least form a working coalition with himself, as in a marriage. |
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