| Augie March – Bottle Baby Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think this is about the hypocrisy of people who judge the destructive behaviour (in this case, alcoholism) of others without showing understanding or demonstrating an ability to think for themselves. "Your parents are raising your children" implies passed down values (from your parents) and ignorance to their origination. These values may be blindly accepted from our parents, the media, the Church etc., even though it's heinous and wrong. "O, I could have told you, the vices wont hold you warm in a coil where you lay" The typical mantra, that drugs and alcohol are not the answer, well everyone knows that. The idea that addicts don't deserve pity or help because they did it to themselves is commonly purported. The author is even saying they have a point. But it seems ignorant to stand on some pre-built high moral spire and judge without acknowledging the reason for the behaviour in the first place. Everyone struggles for power within themselves, so it's no good reason to get angry at someone just because you don't like the particular way they tried to cope. Maybe to some extent we're all obeying some heinous law where we think we are right, but we are really just using some misguided principles to hurt other people and feel better about ourselves. If this cannot be avoided (and I don't think it can), then we should always question what is right and wrong in the hope of finding a more representative and fair standard. Anyway, these lyrics say it much more eloquently. The poetic imagery Glenn uses is always so emotionally and intellectually provocative. I'll stop gushing now. |
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| Jebediah – Jerks Of Attention Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I agree. There is only the slightest hint of regret, the rest of the song is clearly about smoking lots of dope. | |
| Jebediah – Benedict Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| It sounds like a play on words... "Ben Addict". Could be a stretch, but who knows. | |
| Built to Spill – Carry the Zero Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The word is pertinent not impertinent. This thing lacks an edit button? | |
| Built to Spill – Carry the Zero Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I heard that this is another song about Pat Schmaljohn which probably explains why Doug is so emotional when he sings it. Sorry to all you people who think it's about romantic relationships but I must disagree. Now, I don't understand all the metaphors in the song, but I've listed my interpretation that fits with the above statement and hopefully it makes sense. "I'm not knocking your want to carry that home" Probably saying Doug isn't judging Pat's decision/right to die. Some people can be very judgmental when it comes to suicide, unfortunately. Carry that home could be referring to passing on the pain to loved ones after dying. "Found the pieces, we counted them all alone" Sounds like the pieces are reasons and they're alone (which is hauntingly ironic) because Pat's dead. "Didn't add up, forgot to carry a zero" When Pat was around, they were ignorant to the signs preceding the suicide, but afterwards it seemed so obvious. It's similar to the line in the song Pat: "saw you the other night/have to say/something wasn't right/of course" where "of course" is that realisation that it was right in front of their faces but didn't think it was so impertinent until it was too late. "I can't be your apologist very long I'm surprised that you'd want to carry that on" Perhaps this is referring to this burden when you know someone that died, and people keep asking you about it and this looming question around suicide which is "why?" and every time someone brings it up it reopens that wound. Doug is also saying 'you know this is going to affect us badly, and I'm surprised you'd want to carry that hurt on' which is inevitable, really. "Count your blemishes you can't they're all gone" People with low self esteem often dwell on their flaws, and some find solace in the idea of death where all the blemishes go away. I think Doug is insinuating that Pat got what he wanted by erasing all the bad things about him, but he can't live to enjoy the results. "Like they're waiting for your guard to fall So they can see it all And you're so occupied with what other persons are occupied with And vice versa" This possibly describes the paranoia people with low self esteem feel in social situations - "Waiting for your guard to fall" so they can take advantage of you, and the fruitless importance of social image. "I was trying to help But I guess I pushed too hard" I think we all know how that feels... sometimes you can't help someone no matter how hard you try. In the words of Doug: "it doesn't matter if you're good or smart/god dammit things fall apart". And in a way, Doug blames himself, even though he shouldn’t. "And now we can't even touch it Afraid it'll fall apart" Sounds like that circle of friends avoid talking about what happened because it's too emotional. This song may have been a way of getting around that so he could express his true feelings. So, Carry The Zero is a metaphor for multiple things. a) As people mentioned before, carrying the zero has no effect. In the line “didn’t add up/forgot to carry a zero” Doug is saying that it didn’t make sense at the time, despite all the signs being there, but even if they did notice, even if they knew everything they needed to know, it would have NO EFFECT. This is the realisation that someone’s decision to die is theirs alone and you can’t save them, despite really, really wanting to. b) “Carry that home” and “carry that on” refer to carrying on the pain to loved ones after a suicide. Someone who is suicidal may think that the act will eradicate the pain (it will) and stop them from being a burden on other people (it won’t). However, it’s inevitable that the ramifications of this involves hurting your loved ones, hence the pain carries over. This is all conjecture, and I could be completely off the mark to which I apologise for making such personal assumptions. And I know this place is littered with so many interpretations about suicide or relationships but I thought this theory actually makes sense and was worth sharing. In any case, RIP Pat and my thoughts go out to anyone who has had their lives affected by suicide. |
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