| Regina Spektor – Human of the Year Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song had me baffled for a bit. I don't think it's about something very religious and holy like baptism or going to heaven, but the tonality makes me feel like the song is a sincere sentiment, not just a sarcastic jab. I don't find it haunting... powerful, memorable, but not haunting. Anyway, the way I appeased my musings was imagining this song as a sort of right of passage into Secular Humanism. It's not exactly a religion--humanists don't really believe in a god, but a common soul among humans. Obviously, the award she's giving Carl is called the Human of the Year award, which could easily be a nod to humanism. He's the Human of the Year, not because he's the best or newest, but he just happens to be a guy who has found some sort of connection to humanism. When he's "shaking in the pew", I feel like he's a little afraid to be considered a humanist, someone who has decided to believe in his fellow man rather than a god. But Regina reminds him that the religious figures he fears will scorn him are also his fellow man and therefore nothing to worry about. Then the cars are beeping in my favorite verse. He leaves the cathedral and suddenly something as everyday as traffic honks is a song for him. All these random people in the city are now connected to him. The lines, "And thus the cathedral had spoken, wishing well to all the (I think it may be "us" instead of "the") sinners / And with a sigh grew silent" seem to indicate that the church has declared that Carl is no longer a part of their religion. They wish the humanists well, as good religious folk do, but don't really protest, but just sigh and stay silent. It's not their choice, it's Carl's to choose where he belongs. But that's just me... Obviously I'm biased, being an atheist who puts a lot of faith in other people instead of some higher being. But I like my interpretation. :) |
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| Regina Spektor – The Calculation Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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To me the song is supposed to be a reminder that, despite all the advances in technology and mathematics and science, some things will always be natural like love and emotion. I think the couple is trying to rationalize a lot of the feelings they face in the first verse by approaching things a bit clinically. They treat their time and feelings like things they can divide by numbers. They memorize the faces of their friends instead of recognizing them. They separate their thinking and their living with their macaroni computer. But despite all that "this fire it's burnin', burnin' us up" meaning that with all their rationalizing and calculating they still feel passion for one another that can't be quantified. That bothers them, so they cut out their hearts to inspect them. They realize that because they're always trying to justify their feelings, they're not feeling them to their full extent. So they mash their hearts together which I guess was how it was supposed to be. And then they still feel that spark with since the second chorus is still there. Love this song. It and Eet are my favorites off of Far. |
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