| The Mountain Goats – This Year Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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So... I would like to (humbly) point out my thoughts on the most important part of this song (that to me seems to maybe go overlooked). "there will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year". This line changes the entire perspective on the song when coupled with the hook "I am going to make it through this year, if it kills me". Without the Jerusalem line, it reads exactly as it should. With the Jerusalem line, however, we now must take into account the reference to biblical Jesus (more specifically the death and re-birth of Christ). I believe (again humbly) that John is literally saying that he will only carry on with this year if he continues down the current path of body and mind destruction that he is certain will ultimately lead to his death (Jesus being aware that he needs to die in order to save others, but continuing on regardless without fear) before he turns 18. He literally and figuratively wants to die here to be (again both literally and figuratively) 're-born' as a new person. Whether he fancies himself a deity, a burden to others, or he wants to leave everything he knows about his childhood behind and start completely new when he reaches the age of majority... I believe that this is his lyrical intention. words are neat. |
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| The Mountain Goats – Elijah Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is focused on the tradition of the Jewish Passover and the symbolism within (interestingly enough it seems from a specific latter-day saints point of view). When John said "this song is about jail...kinda"... I believe he is telling the story of him being released from jail (one of the times). This makes sense because passover is at the same time both the celebration of the freedom of the Israelites shortly following the (biblical) plagues (the literal part), as well as a symbolic celebration of redemption via God (the figurative part). As for the lyrics (I'll just cover a few)... The first part of the song seems to refer to cooking a Kosher meal. Coconut oil is a very common ingredient when cooking Kosher. The second part of the song refers to idols and finally eating the food cooked in the first part because now he is starving (from fasting/lent/etc). This again is direct reference to passover. "set the table, those three extra places one for you, one for your doubts, one for god" : this refers to the order in which the return of the messiah will occur: Elias, Elijah, God. In that way it may also be seen as a symbolism of time. "feel the fulness (yes one 'L") of time, in the empty tomb" : The term "fulness of time" in the biblical sense refers to the idea of all time had between start (in this case the start of passover) and end (the return of the messiah). This is a clear reference to the tomb of the risen Christ. This could go a million different ways with analysis ... whether you place the character in this song in jail, finally home, home but thinking about jail, or just in a bad relationship and thinking about the end of the world... etc. Do with it however it relates to you best. "Feel the future, kicking in your womb" : I find this possibly the most interesting part of the song. This I actually had to research a bit and the best I can come up with is from the King James version of the Bible, Luke 1:44 which states ":For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy". This is the story of Elizabeth visiting Mary to tell her that she is the mother of god. Mary basically tells her that as soon as Elizabeth began speaking baby Jesus started kicking inside her womb. * Just an FYI that I am actually agnostic. I didn't want to leave the impression that I am a crazed theist with too much time on his hands. I guess I'm an agnostic with too much time on his hands... and a general interest in things that I don't subscribe to. **I've never written here (or anywhere) before, nor have I ever really gone into detail with anyone about my opinion behind the meaning of John's songs. I hope that this wasn't too horrible and boring and drawn out for people that just want to enjoy the damn song. If so, I apologize. |
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