| Archers of Loaf – Web in Front Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
anyone pick up on the recurrent metallic and automotive references? Sure "magnet" and "radio" are obvious, but also: "Pin", "Spoke", "slide for a mile", "overdrive", "picking up on the radio", "rust". It seems to me that there is a playful and slight personification of the "you" in the song as a car. this doesn't exclude the lyrics as speaking about a relationship, probably with a woman, but sorta complements it to me. The more I read over it, the more I see it this way--especially in lines like "sampled your rust from a faucet, I know" which seems to me a figurative and beautiful way of talking about an old car that is left in rain and rusts over a long time. Not sure what part corresponds to the "spine" of a car. Thought of maybe a car frame, or along with the radio reference, the dashed increments of the old analog radios that have dials. Oh, and it just occurred to me that the "magnet in my head" lends some meaning to the narrators address of the radio, since a magnet will distort a radio, or isn't there a magnet in the parts of a radio? Actually, its getting clearer to me now that a big part of the song is talking about a radio in a figurative way. "Stuck a pin in your backbone" would be again a really beautiful way of seeing the station indicator against the markings of the various radio stations; further, the "loss your friction and slid for a mile" would be about the inarticulate static of the radio, or possibly the wearing down of the markings on a radio display, and turning that dial a lot to find something that picks up. Ok, so reading it once more, I'm convinced that both the narrator and the you are personified parts of a radio head unit. Hence the "magnet in my head". Now maybe the "web in front" might be seen as having something to do with a chewed up cassette tape. |
|
| Joanna Newsom – '81 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
I kinda see all the interpretations about JN's birth and so on a little bit of a stretch. Might be related, but a secondary valence. My hunch is that the narrator, the "I", is prob. the Christian God. "I found a little plot of land" and 'there was no-one to dispute my claim" imply that pretty directly. The rest of the song tells a story from the narrator's perspective. The fall of man, "the state of things" and the expulsion. I am not at all familiar with the Bible, but the lines "so I laid me... as a trout" could refer to the nakedness of Adam and Eve--but I would look for a reference concerning the time between the fall and the coming of Christ, also. "the wandering eye that I have caught is as hot as a wandering sun. But I will want for nothing more, in my garden: start again, in my hardening to every heart but one. Some good punning: '81, A.D. 1; eye, I; sun, son. If wordplay in a theme in this song, you might read this stanza like this: I, God, 'caught' a version of myself in Christ. The word wander is interesting, maybe 'earthly' maybe slight deviation. "Hot" in this interpretation is probably not about hell, but rather the "passion" maybe. But anyways, here starts a new beginning, in the forgiveness that Christ brings to man. That fits this line well "in my hardening to every heart but one." The "meet me" and "bring a friend" and "garden party" I think refers to the whole forgiveness, returning to God, etc. "Its on me", you know, cuz Christ died for man's sins and stuff. Farewell to loves that I have known. Even muddiest waters run. Tell me, what is meant by sin, or none, in a garden seceded from the union in the year of A.D. 1? These lines I am the most unsure of. "Fareware to loves that I have known" might refer to God's practice prior to Christ. I read the whole section with a gesture like "well, that's done. Even a sinning man isn't so bad, you know? A new garden with Christ--what does sin mean now?" "The unending amends you've made" is probably a reference to the amendments to the Bible in the new testament. "I believe in everyone" probably also a reference to the changes about sin that come from Christ. Would love to talk to a Christian about this stuff. They could probably add a lot to interpretation. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.