submissions
| Steven Wilson – Happy Returns Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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@[jpdwebb:2583] - Yes, definitely an unfinished letter to her brother - the Deluxe book edition actually contains an envelope with a handwritten letter which has the lyrics to the song. Here is the relevant "blog post" from handcannoterase.com: "I barely know my brother. I know he has a wife and 2 children, but I have no idea if he’s happy or what is important to him, I never did, he never gave anything away. Maybe he learnt that from me. I met his family once, the last time I went home for Christmas, 4 years ago, the children were too young to understand who I was, and I’m sure my brother and his wife probably figured their Aunt was always going to be largely absent from their lives anyway, so no point letting them get close to me. But still every year I get a Christmas card from them and an invitation to visit, whether out of duty or genuine concern I couldn’t say. It arrived today and for some reason this time it made me cry. I realised there’s no point now." |
submissions
| Steven Wilson – Routine Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I didn't really get this one until I received and looked through the deluxe book edition of the album, but it's a "story within the story" song, depicting a mother struggling to keep it together after her family is mass murdered in a school shooting (the album's character is obsessed with collecting newspaper clippings of stories about people who just went missing unexplainably, this mother later becomes one of the "disappeared"). Such a sad but powerfully beautiful song . . . |
submissions
| Steven Wilson – Perfect Life Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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SW has stated in several interviews that although this album was highly inspired by the Joyce Vincent story, the female character in the album is fictional and not meant to directly biographical of her per se.
SW created a faux blog for the character in the album at http://handcannoterase.com, "Perfect Life" is the character's recollection of her short but special time with a foster sister her parents adopted, but then the foster sister moved away to another place as the character's parents marriage fell apart . . . |
submissions
| Steven Wilson – The Watchmaker Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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After further thought, I think "Melt the Silver Down" is juxtaposed to the earlier line "While I waited for Gold". The watchmaker was always waiting for someone better to come along ("gold"), his wife was just "silver", so I think "Melt that Silver Down" may be her reference to when he murdered her.
This is my favorite song on the album - very reminiscent of "The Musical Box" from Genesis. Similar sounding guitar, both songs about a ghost of someone murdered come back to haunt the living, both very much an "adventure" with multiple musical movements, and a climactic ending! |
submissions
| Steven Wilson – The Watchmaker Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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In the last part of the song when the wife's ghost comes back to take the Watchmaker, the only thing that isn't clear to me is what the line "Melt the Silver Down" at the end of the song refers to. Any ideas? |
submissions
| Porcupine Tree – Time Flies Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think the "cigar" lyric is another allusion to Pink Floyd ("Have a Cigar"). SW has admitted this song was heavily influenced by the PF "Animals" album, but the song reminds me of music from other Pink Floyd albums as well (the guitar solo in the middle sounds more like it would fit in "The Wall" than Animals to me). |
submissions
| Porcupine Tree – Kneel and Disconnect Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This song is definitely about SW's decision to leave the IT world to become a full-time musician.
"kneel and disconnect" - kneeling down to work on the computers themselves (disconnecting wires/cables)?
"Fill the application" - programming/installing the applications on the computers? |
submissions
| Porcupine Tree – I Drive the Hearse Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This is a tough one to figure out - I think this song is much more personal for SW. It does have the recurring themes of reflecting on a love that had gone bad (like in a number of his other songs). This song is the closer to the 14-song cycle where SW has shown us all these traumatic "incidents" both personal and otherwise. I see "Drive the Hearse" as a metaphor for SW's songwriting - when he's feeling down, he writes these songs about these twisted things he sees, and he "Drives the Hearse" - with these stories about death and tragedy in tow (also ties into the song "the Incident", where "dead souls . . . hitch a ride a while"). Maybe stretching a bit, but it fits for me . . .
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