| Guster – Long Way Down Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The song is about an altered state experience in which the speaker's awareness splits away from his sense of self or ego, rises up, and comes to see how small his ego really is. The song refers to an "I" and a "You" as if to two different people, but it's really about self knowledge. In the altered state one's awareness seems to split from one's sense of self or ego. One recognizes that one's ego, which one had previously identified with completely, is but a limited and largely illusory construct. That's why the speaker can address that construct as "You". "Miniature" and "almost disappeared" refer to the limited and largely illusory nature of the ego. "Everything is turned around" refers to the complete change of viewpoint brought about by the altered state and the revolutionary self-knowledge gained in it. Where once the speaker had identified himself completely with his ego, he now has a wider understanding of himself, one that includes the experiences typical of the altered state. "It's a long way down" refers to the period after the knowledge about the limited and illusory nature of the ego has been gained. The altered state experience will come to an end, and the speaker will return to his normal state of perception and egoic functioning. This is a common experience in the altered state. Look up references to these sensations in the altered state: dreaming that one is dead, flying up to a height or being lifted up, looking down, hearing the angels, self-discovery and self-knowledge, ego death, meta-perception, perceiving the working of one's own mind, the illusory ego, pure awareness. |
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| Arcade Fire – My Body Is a Cage Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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My interpretation is based on Michael Hoffman's Ego Death theory (www.egodeath.com) and his theory of Mystic State Allusions in Rock Lyrics (http://www.egodeath.com/#mysticstaterockallusions). I include a number of terms used by Hoffman that may be unfamiliar. Read through Hoffman's main article and enough of his theory of lyrical allusion to grasp how it works. My interpretation can be said to encompass other interpretations presented here, especially the religious and the self-esteem/willpower themes, as well as stray comments made by other interpreters. Read through the other interpretations presented here, then read through mine and see if you agree that my interpretation achieves this synthesis. http://cyberdisciple.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/the-arcade-fire-my-body-is-a-cage/ |
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