| Paul Simon – All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I have often wanted to take a shot at this song so here goes. First off "the Myth of Fingerprints" is actually that no two are alike. It's a myth. With six billion people, fingerprints are often shared but rarely enough that you can still use them as evidence. The talk show host is Dick Cavett. Read the Wikipedia article about him and I think you will agree. Out in the Indian Ocean somewhere There's a former army post Abandoned now just like the war This can only be Diego Garcia since I don't believe there are any other American bases past or present in the IO. The story of how the native peoples were removed wholesale (they were the descendants of slaves that worked the plantations) Since this song was written in the 80's, he may not have known that the base was still in use. Black Pit Town - A pit town is a mining town, usually referring to places in England that mined coal. A Black pit town would be Soweto or other mining towns in South Africa. Watermelon- Like everyone is saying. Racist American humor. My one "out on a limb statement" is "A People's History of the United States" came out in 1980. It was an interesting take on history and probably was a book that Paul Simon was influenced by. So here is my read on the meaning of the song. This is a song about how Capitalism is built upon the backs of a subclass. Look to different capitalist societies and you will see the same fundamental abuse of power hence same fingerprints but different perpetrators - the myth of fingerprints. All around the world. |
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| Sun Kil Moon – Glenn Tipton Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| One post suggested three different perspectives but I get the feeling that they are the same, albeit twisted, perspective. The first stanza talks about indifference to what are usually emotionally provocative topics. The second two reflect a sense of being lost in time (just like my Dad does/did). The next two reflect how unsettling change is. The last two stanzas bring all three ideas together in a shocking and powerful way. I don't think you can go through someones pocket's metaphorically. The second to last stanza is just to explicit to be metaphor in a song that contains no other metaphors. | |
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