| Bob Dylan – Changing of the Guards Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I wasn't calling Obama a false idol. I was talking about trust in empires (whether Roman or American) and their way of bringing 'peace' through domination. That said, giving Obama an 'aspirational' Nobel Peace Prize is definitely an example of this kind of trust ... as if our only hope for peace is if the world's biggest bully (again, America, not just Obama) decides to be nice. I wasn't singling out Obama as worse than any other president - he's just the current president. I also agree wholeheartedly with your statement about far-right demonisation of Obama being rooted in racism, paranoia, immaturity etc. Obviously Obama is a huge improvement on Bush or Romney or Reagan, as 90% of the world (50% of Americans) recognises. But opposition to the Republicans doesn't mean support for the Democrats. Most of what is repugnant about the Republican party (hyper-capitalism, uber-militarism, sickening patriotism, naive arrogance, obsession with status, claims to world dominance) is also present in the Democratic party - perhaps to a slightly lesser extent. |
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| Bob Dylan – Changing of the Guards Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I wasn't calling Obama a false idol. I was talking about trust in empires (whether Roman or American) and their way of bringing 'peace' through domination. That said, giving Obama an 'aspirational' Nobel Peace Prize is definitely an example of this kind of trust ... as if our only hope for peace is if the world's biggest bully (again, America, not just Obama) decides to be nice. I wasn't singling out Obama as worse than any other president - he's just the current president. I also agree wholeheartedly with your statement about far-right demonisation of Obama being rooted in racism, paranoia, immaturity etc. Obviously Obama is a huge improvement on Bush or Romney or Reagan, as 90% of the world (50% of Americans) recognises. But opposition to the Republicans doesn't mean support for the Democrats. Most of what is repugnant about the Republican party (hyper-capitalism, uber-militarism, sickening patriotism, naive arrogance, obsession with status, claims to world dominance) is also present in the Democratic party - perhaps to a slightly lesser extent. |
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| Bob Dylan – Changing of the Guards Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I said empires (Roman and American) are the false idols - trusting in them and their violence and domination for peace is the false idol: . Giving Obama, whose main contribution to foreign policy is the drone strike, the Nobel peace prize is an example of trusting in this false idol. I wasn't singling out Obama as worse than any other, nor calling him the false idol - as you put it, the far-right demonisation of Obama (and conspiracy theories about him) is based on racism, ignorance, paranoia, immaturity etc. In most ways, Obama is certainly better than any of the recent (and, I daresay, future) Republican presidents... that much is clear to 90% of the world even if it's only clear to 50% of Americans. But opposition to the Republicans is not the same thing as support for the Democrats. Most of what is repugnant about the Republican party (hyper-capitalism, uber-militarism, sickening patriotism, assumption of the right to world domination) is shared by the Democratic party. We shouldn't refrain from criticising one bad party just because there's an even worse one. |
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| Titus Andronicus – Still Life with Hot Deuce on Silver Platter Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I'm not sure if the last paragraph means much, but I like it it a lot. | |
| Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It could be both. Show me the money ajm11, where are the connections? | |
| Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It could be both. Show me the money ajm11, where are the connections? | |
| Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I like most of your interpretation, though i'm not sure if I agree with you about what's being insinuated by the question to God. Just one note though: Zion, Babylon and America shouldn't be put in the same category. In the Hebrew Bible, Zion and Babylon are opposites... Babylon is the oppressive, dominating empire that is against God (along with Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome etc). Zion is supposed to be an alternative nation/city living differently to the other nations - God set Israel free from slavery in Egypt and they're supposed to live different, to live God's way... But in practice of course, they usually fail... Zion isn't much better at loving God than Babylon is... America on the other hand, well it's actually interesting how he then adds America and leaves it up to the listener to decide whether America is being juxtaposed to Babylon or Zion. Obviously the US is often claimed to be a "Christian nation" - so some would see it as Zion - supposedly serving God, but in practice failing to do so. But in terms of the US' position in the world, it's more the modern-day equivalent of Babylon. |
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| Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I don't hear it quite the same as either of you two Ezra Koenigs. I don't think it's fully 'positive' towards God (but, hey, neither were the Psalms). And I don't intepret "Who could ever live that way?" as a rhetorical question about people being religious, I interpret is as a question directed to God, asking her how she could live that way... what exactly Ezra means by that question to God is another question... |
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| Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| mrkickme they don't need to quote the entire passage in full to reference the whole passage - even Jesus quoted only one verse of psalm 22 | |
| Tom Waits – I Don't Wanna Grow Up Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| and isn't that so very depressing? | |
| Tom Waits – I Don't Wanna Grow Up Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Unlike some other respondents, I don't see this as being about the childhood innocence we all used to have, but now that we've grown up we've seen the light. Quite the opposite. I see it as a man who has grown up, and wishes he could regain the freedom that children have; the freedom not to have to fit into the system and become something nobody ever wanted to be. Part of the beauty of being a child is you can not conform, and people still love you and look after you. When you're an adult, if you don't conform, you suffer. So I see this as a critique of our society and a manifesto for not taking the place we're supposed to sit still in after we "grow out of" our yearning for something better. If in our society growing up is combing your hair, shining your shoes, becoming a good boy scout, and wanting the biggest amount, then, fuck it, I don't wanna grow up. |
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| The White Stripes – Hotel Yorba Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Except that Death Letter is a cover of Son House and One More Cup of Coffee is by Bob Dylan. | |
| Bob Dylan – Changing of the Guards Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Hmmm, the idea that this is about christianity or his impending conversion thereof is interesting. i thought it was about war, including war in opposition to the christian faith that many of the warring nations are supposedly founded upon (Sixteen banners united over the field, Where the good shepherd grieves) The last verse seems to fit even better with this theme, it sounds like it could have come straight from the apostle Paul's apocalyptic writings: Peace will come, with tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire (The famous slogan of the Roman empire was that it offered "peace and security" but its "Pax Romana" was in fact based on domination and violence - see 1 Thessalonians 5:3, or http://www.america.gov/relations/security.html for that matter) But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall (to Paul, trusting in the empire was trusting in a false idol which did not offer real or lasting peace - he certainly would not have supported Obama winning the Nobel peace prize) And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating, between the King and the Queen of Swords. (See 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 - at the end of times all power and authority will be destroyed, and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death. Only when death and violence - "the king and queen of swords" - are destroyed will true peace come) All of the above may be coincidental but it's interesting. it's mostly just the first and last verses that fit my interpretation. |
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