| Between the Buried and Me – Lay Your Ghosts to Rest Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Based on the previous track (Astral Body) and Extremophile Elites (track 5), I believe Prospect 2 is the Space Flight Navigator. He had an out of body experience in Astral Body, during which he says "I slowly start to cut the pieces of flesh from my body...under it all, I know the devastation I have caused upon myself and this world." I feel like Lay Your Ghosts to Rest starts here. In Astral Body, he "digs in and dissects", which he continues here. Under it all first he finds the regret for his devastation, but he keeps going because "Under it all, a new world...a new world make with the hands of madness." His hands of madness are doing the dissecting to find this new world. "Every mirror is a past idea smashed upon recognition." Usually, we see ourselves in mirrors. But he says every mirror is a past idea, like a past idea of himself, reflecting "examples of what the outside world sees" (Astral Body). These past ideas of himself are smashed upon recognizing this outer form. Hence the cutting until he is new. "Smooth out the eyes, smooth out the lips...cut until all that is left is new material." He is remaking himself. The line "These selfish reasons... the letter is all I left for explaining" appears in parenthesis in the booklet, and are not sung. He says this cutting and mirror smashing, the regret, the making of a new self, a new world...these are selfish reasons, and he left only a letter behind before embarking on this journey. "Will it be found? Will the right hands deliver, the heartache I left?" He is talking about his letter of explanation, wondering if the right hands will find it, deliver his words to the right person, bringing heartache. Honestly, it sounds a little like the thoughts of someone about to commit suicide, pondering their suicide note. It's irresistible to draw the parallels with all the talk of cutting flesh and making a new world with hands of madness. Not to mention the book-end tracks, Goodbye to Everything. However, I interpret it as the inevitable death of self on the path to self-enlightenment, and the birth of a new being. The person we were when we begin a journey is never the same as the person who finishes. Somewhere along the way, the old dies and the new is born. "Cut until all that is left is new material, myself. Day in, day out. Deep down I know what I must do." He knows he must go on this journey he has begun. Maybe he has lived with himself for too long, the outward appearance of his matter. "So much happens behind closed doors, so much happens behind our closed doors." This is true. People act very different behind closed doors when they are alone, or with their loved ones. The letter and heartache referenced earlier imply that he has left someone behind who will miss him dearly, maybe a significant other. I think he is still referencing his "devastation" mentioned in Astral body. So much has happened, hidden behind physical doors, and maybe behind the figurative doors of his mind and his thoughts. "This key will open them, expose us all." He his on a journey to dig in and cut away, and make a new world. He knows his devastation, considers all that he has kept hidden behind doors and within himself, and says This Key will lay it all out. Like a cleansing confession. "Crusty-eyed symphony, awakened by my grunts and moans" He awakes in pain and regret, "Why do I do this to myself? I suppose the choice was all mine." This brings us back to this choice he made to embark on a journey. "God, felt so much better before the mirror glimpse" he catches himself in the mirror, sees his matter, the outward appearance he is trying to cut away. "On the surface, I know what I must do." He resolves to follow through. "What I must do" repeats x4. Then we get Folder 502, "the precaution documents," part of ship's autorun protocol. Next to the lyrics in the book, there's an image of a ship's computer screen with the header "Folder 502 Initiative" detailing the current location, with the destination: "Galactic Center" whose course is plotted. The ship is "Awaiting Command." The documents are "the failsafe way back "home"" He asks if he shoul "end it right here and right now?" Maybe here he really is contemplating suicide,or maybe he is referring to taking the failsafe back "home". End the mission, and return to his old life. But then he says "That would be far too selfish," (either ignominous return, or suicide) and carries on. "I shall end what I've begun. The creation of more, More of us: The skin and bones of destruction" He will follow through, create more of "us" which I think may reference the Galactic Drifter and Walking Mirror in Extremophile Elite. "An army of weak souls, weak minds, weak life." References back to the "skin and bones of destruction" There's another aside that appears only in the booklet: "(Written in a language I can understand. My brilliance seems questioned with these instructions. Fairly obvious for precaution documents I suppose. The "Night Owls" always send me back. Seems to be in their DNA) .fade out." The Folder 502 is comprehensible and the instructions are so stupidly simple, it casts doubt on his "brilliance". But he figures that is typical for precaution, fail-safe documents. He references the "Night Owls" which may be depicted in the art for track 7, The Black Box (pg 13). "I wake to my own whimper. Ship is counting down. Must regroup myself." It's happening. Maybe he drifted off, but he awakes again to sounds of his own distress (before, grunts and moans). But the ship is counting down, about to take off toward its destination of the Galactic Center. By the way, at the Galactic Center is a dense cluster of thousands of older stars, around a supermassive black hole. The Navigator seems to know, and is counting on, the fact that this will likely be a one way trip. It cuts to the bass, the sound of the countdown as systems engage and then... "The end starts NOW". "Cut 'til all that is left is new material, Myself." He repeats his mission, to cut away at himself until he is completely new. He is resolved. |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Astral Body Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Alright, before I talk about Astral Body itself, I think it's important to view each song in connection with others. According to the album booklet, there are a couple different voices in this album. In order to discuss Astral Body, we have to look at how and when these voices pop up in other tracks. The first voice specifically referenced is "Prospect 2" in Astral Body (track 2). Prospect can mean "an apparent probability of advancement" or "the outlook for the future" or "anticipation, a looking forward". All of these have to do with forward movement or the future. Later on in Extremophile Elite (track 5) we have Prospect 1 and Prospect 2. In this song, Prospect 1 refers to three individuals, all whirled together and mixed: Space Flight Navigator, Walking Mirror, and Galaxy Drifter. The first line of the song "To see one's self is hard to explain" implies that all three are one in the same. Based on Extremophile Elite and Lay Your Ghosts to Rest (track 3) wherein Prospect 2 is beginning a journey and wakes on a ship counting down to go, I propose that Prospect 2 is the Space Flight Navigator. First of all, this song is fucking amazing, as is the music video. "Analyze my own matter from above." - The Navigator is 'dreaming' or having an out of body experience. He is more than his body, his body is simply his matter. He notes that his blacked out eyes belong to an overgrown existence. "Never fall back down, trapped in myself" He resolves to never fall back to his body, and become trapped in that matter. "Slowly start to cut pieces of flesh...dig in and dissect" He uses his outside perspective to start analyzing himself. "Collecting examples of what the outside world sees" He implies a difference between what he (his astral body) is and what the outside world sees (his matter). "Under it all, I know the devastation I have caused" There is deep, hidden regret underneath, due to the devastation he says he has caused. I think everyone harbors embarrassments and regrets that they have hidden under lies and convenient amnesia of their wrongs. Here in the music video, the island of earth and ice colide, and the astral body takes flight. "Speak to me freely, I am listening" At the end, he opens himself up. In the music video, he takes off soaring. Maybe he is opening himself up to the universe. But as this happens, the world he created begins a crash course with the sun, and he returns to his physical body and awakens. Whether what he accomplished in his astral body was real or not is irrelevant, as the world he created was destroyed by the sun upon his awakening. This then leads into Lay Your Ghosts to Rest, where the Navigator awakes aboard the ship. |
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| Phoenix – Lisztomania Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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No one has really addressed this yet, so I first want to focus on the line "Do let do let do let jugulate do let do let do" (According to their lyrics posted here: http://wearephoenix.com/journal/?page_id=714 ) Jugulate has 2 meanings. 1. to check or suppress (disease) by extreme measures. 2. to cut the throat of; kill. Given the medical and blood related meaning of "jugulate", I believe "Do let" (figuratively) means "Do let blood". To let blood (or bloodletting) used to be a method of medical treatment. People believed you could drain the 'bad' blood or whatever was making you sick out of you. Of course, this would really just weaken a person and probably end up killing them. I can't yet say what it means in the whole context of the song. But it's such an interesting line that I don't think it should be ignored in any overall interpretation. They obviously chose a pretty obscure word (jugulate) with an obscure meaning of a common word (let). I think this song isn't just about one theme. There's a strong argument for it being about dealing with fame. But I also think it is -also- about relationships. At the same time. "So sentimental Not sentimental no ! Romantic not disgusting yet" He starts, then corrects himself. It's romantic, not sentimental. The "yet" implies that it will eventually become disgusting, though. The lyrics start at a point where things are good, and they haven't turned bad...Yet. "Darling I’m down and lonely When with the fortunate only I’ve been looking for something else" I take this as one line. When he's with 'fortunate' and happy people, he feels down and lonely. So he's looking for something else, something better. Also, I think it's important that he says "Darling". It's an endearment, addressing one specific person. "Do let do let do let jugulate do let do let do" Do bleed (to heal), take extreme measures to heal/cut your throat. The implication here is to try to get better, but the process actually hurts and weakens you. (See the beginning of this for the full interpretation of this line) "Let’s go slowly, discouraged Distant from other interests On your favorite weekend ending" The relationship moves slowly and they feel discouraged and distant from other parts of their life. Not sure what "your favorite weekend ending" means, but the end of the weekend is usually Sunday. "This love’s for gentlemen only That’s with the fortunate only No I gotta be someone else" Love is for gentlemen only--only for the fortunate. That is, only the fortunate have love that's for gentlemen only. "No I gotta be someone else" He's saying he's not a gentleman, not the fortunate. This love is for people he's not. "These days it comes it comes it comes it comes it comes and goes" "It" is the Lisztomania, a wild frenzy of obsession with this person. It comes and goes. "Lisztomania Think less but see it grow Like a riot, like a riot, oh !" It's like Lisztomania. Not quite. Less, but it will grow. The whole chorus is the strongest evidence for this song also being about fame. "I’m not easily offended It’s not hard to let it go From a mess to the masses" I feel like he's again addressing "Darling". He's trying to say that he's not easily hurt, and that he can move on from however they ended. "From a mess to the masses". I feel like this is him saying whatever "mess" he feels from their relationship, it makes its way into his songs, which ten goes to the masses. "Follow, misguide, stand still Disgust, discourage" More about how the relationship is moving--or rather, dying. "On this precious weekend ending This love’s for gentlemen only Wealthiest gentlemen only And now that you’re lonely Do let do let do let jugulate do let do let do" Again, he's talking to "Darling" when he says "now that you're lonely." Darling is lonely because "this love is for gentlemen only." So now that their relationship is basically over, and she's lonely too, he says "Do bleed (to heal), take extreme measures/cut your throat (to heal), do let yourself bleed" "Let’s go slowly, discouraged, We’ll burn the pictures instead When it’s all over we can barely discuss For one minute only Not with the fortunate only Thought it could have been something else These days it comes it comes it comes it comes it comes and goes" Burn pictures instead of what? At any rate, they burn pictures to deal. And when it's over, they don't want to talk about it, can't talk about it for more than a moment. And even then, they can't talk about it around the "fortunate"--those in love. They both thought it could have been something more. This time when he says "it comes and goes", I think he means thinking about the obsession in hindsight, rather than the obsession itself (because "thought it could have been something else" is past tense. It's like he's looking back now). "From a mess to the masses" This song is from his mess, his pain. To us, the masses. I didn't really bother going into how it's about their fame since others have already done that. Anyone else feel like there's a strong relationship vibe to this song? |
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