| Snow and Lights – A Cloud and a Rainbow Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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@[RobertRobSlater:53940] First time I listened to this album, without following all of the lyrics, that line jumped out of the speakers at me...I heard Mother as Mother F'er too. You can hear it in his voice. Didn't speak for a week...she just kind of mumbled. That's a trauma response folks. Sorry. This is not a song about a loving Father. Nor is it a song about a horse (Tom was messing with the interviewer). |
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| Phish – If I Could Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| I think if people paid more attention to the last line of this song, they wouldn't play it at their weddings so much. She's a narcissist. He's doing his best to meet her impossible expectations. In the end he loses complete sense of self. This is not a love song. It's a tragedy. | |
| Wilco – Impossible Germany Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. It has been interesting to hear your thoughts about this. The first time I heard this song, I thought "That was an awesome jam, but I am sure I will get tired of it after I listen to it 100 times in the next 5 days." It's been a couple of years now and I am still not tired of it at all. It is always my go to jam on the treadmill and when I have any kind of setback. Like the jam, the lyrics can take on a fresh meaning depending on when you read them. Before reading your comments, I always thought of it as less of a focus on the alliance between the two countries and more of a parallel analysis of them as separate but similar entities. After WWII, Japan had to swallow the pride of the emperor in defeat and admit that the rise of their nation was indeed NOT God's/the emperor's mandate as they had been told by their political and military leaders. They realized that the great sacrifice they made - loss of sons, famine, illness - in the name of the "rising" empire, were all in vein. Germany had to swallow the fact that they, also in the name of an "unquestionably" all powerful figure - Hitler - committed unspeakable crimes in the name of domination and supremacy. They too lost sons for a cause that in reality, many of them did not believe in. More than the political alliance, I think this spiritual, or despiritualized, connection is what links these two countries more than their "alliance", which, as you all say, is awkward at best. But the "impossible" and "unlikely" part speaks to their ability to pull themselves out of the rubble and reconstruct powerful global economic forces. So far, as far as the meaning of the song goes anyway, I think this is all background. Given this historical backdrop, I think we can interpret the song this way: "Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan" Describes the problem. "Wherever you go Wherever you land" =Your future is yet unknown... "I'll say what this means to me I'll do what I can" ...but here is my two cents, from a personal level Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan "Fundamental problem All need to face" The fundamental problem that needs to be faced is admitting when you were misguided into doing shit in a way that, in the end, wound up being something that you CAN'T face. "This is important But I know you're not listening No I know you're not listening" Self explanatory - they still haven't changed. (Having lived in Japan for several years, I can attest to this in the Japanese case, but have no idea, admittedly, about Germany.) "This was still new to me I wouldn't understand Impossible Germany Unlikely Japan" I have always wondered if the first line here was supposed to have an "if" at the beginning. It works with "wouldn't". (If x, I wouldn't y). Without the "If" there seems to be no clear antecedent to 'this'. Curious what you all think. "This is what love is for To be out of place Gorgeous and alone Face to face" A take on the irony of love. "If you don't try to dominate, you can find love, even if you feel out of place". Gorgeous and alone, Face to Face could reference their economic rise "gorgeous", but continued isolation. Face to face, reinforcing their commonalities. "With no larger problems That need to be erased Nothing more important Than to know someone's listening Now I know you'll be listening" When you get rid of not only Hitler and the Emperor-as-God ideology, but also the underlying cultural norms (larger problems) that you want to forget about (erase) you'll see what you really wanted in the end, is just to know that someone loves and appreciates you and you are not an outsider...and then you can listen to "reason". Anyway, just my two cents. Could be totally off, but as a life-long student of all things Japanese, this is what I took from it. |
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