| Joanna Newsom – '81 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| joanna was born in 82, but i think people are trying to say that she was conceived in 81, and that's why that interpretation makes sense to them. the "union in the year of 81" would have been the event of her conception? although that's not how i view the song, it's an interesting note. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Ribbon Bows Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I believe that “ribbon bows” is pretty straightforward. our narrator is lounging at a spring, thinking about her failed relationship: “you want your love, love? come and get your love. I only took it back because I thought you didn't.” I think that she knows he does not, in fact, want it. next, we have a scene in which she goes to a municipal pound, or animal shelter. she sees a lowly, unlovable looking dog, and bonds with it right away. I am willing to bet that a good deal of people can relate to looking into their dog's face and wondering what it was thinking. the narrator has been questioning god lately, and his plans for her if he does exist. after all, she's been through a lot. she is looking into that dog's sweet, loving face, and asking it questions about god. she knows that she is unlike her mother, and even a probable source of shame. the old song by karen dalton is referenced here: she goes out, gets drunk, and starts singing it. the song is tragic, and she starts feeling down, but no matter how depressed she gets she “reckon[s she's] felt worse and still held fast.” when she gets home, she continues questioning god. I believe that “kingfisher” is continuation of this line of questioning. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Autumn Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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this song could just as easily be narrated by joanna herself. it's incredibly beautiful, although I think that, as one of the more understated songs on the album, it will tend to go unnoticed on the first few listens. once the song sets in and you really begin to appreciate it, however, it is incredibly haunting and lovely. i'm going to stick with the interpretation of the album as one whole story, and assume that it's the same narrator telling this one, and not joanna. her description of her hometown shows that she perceives it as both a dismal ghost-town and strangely beautiful at once. she reminisces about her relationship: “would I could tie your lying tongue...” this is also one of two songs in the album in which the narrator stresses how unlike her mother she is. perhaps this is why being home makes her uncomfortable. as seen in “ribbon bows”, her mother does not approve of her and her life choices. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Esme Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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“esme” is about a friend's newborn child. the birth of the child hits the narrator hard (“and i do not know if you know just what you have done”), presumably because of the child that she lost. I think that the birth of esme has allowed her to feel some peace and happiness. she feels that she is now growing as a person. this is clearly a song written for the child, as if it were a letter. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Soft as Chalk Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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according to my song-by-song interpretation of the album as a whole narrative, this track picks up right where "occident" left off. our narrator has known the relationship was ending for some time, and this song is an after-the-fact reflection of the relationship's slow unravel. she reflects on when the relationship was young and things were good. she then asks her lover whether his heart was ever really in it, whether he ever really belonged to her in the first place. a repeated theme in this song is the "lawlessness" of love. when she knows it is over, she sleeps, "like a solider, without rest-- but there is no treason where there is only lawlessness." this means that she can't blame him, she can't blame anyone. with a lawless thing like love, in which there are no set rules, it's really impossible to place blame. the "terror" that she speaks of is, i think, the fear that she experiences while waiting for something to happen. will it end, as she knows it will? when? waiting can be terrifying. the thought of losing love after it has been pushed too far can be terrifying. however, she probably blames herself more than anything, as sonikyouth has said. she says that when she leaves, she will bear her former lover no ill will: that she will, in fact, be thinking of him and wishing him well. then comes the last verse: "we land, i stand, but i wait for the sound of the bell. i have to catch a cab, and my bags are at the carousel. and then-- lord, just then-- time alone will only tell." she leaves to go back to her hometown, but has not yet taken her things from her lover's home or officially ended things between them. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Occident Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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i agree with skyling's comment. the title of the song definitely indicates where the couple stands in the progress of their relationship. this goes along with my belief that, in "go long", the relationship resumes briefly for a little more than "one last hurrah." "occident" takes the form of a song (or letter) written to the narrator's lover. she knows that the relationship is basically over, but wonders whether it would be easier not knowing, and simply carrying on as if everything were fine. an argument could be made for either side. the lines: "something is moving, just out of frame [...] breaching slowly across the sea, one mast-- flash, like the stinger of a bee-- to take you away, a swarming fleet is gonna take you from me" signify that she knows what's left of the relationship is facing an imminent end. she waits for that end, while she decries the wait. this is in keeping with her previous question: it's harder for her knowing when she is done, because then it's just time spent waiting. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Go Long Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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i don't think "go long" is about bill callahan, because i look at the album as a narrative told by a narrator (not joanna). i believe that, in several songs, she takes some of what she knows of relationships in her own life (bill callahan), and uses that knowledge as inspiration for characters in the story. that said, the song is (to me) about the lover that the narrator is no longer with. perhaps, after she tried to give him her love in "jackrabbits," he denied her. she dreams of him, still. this is where the fantastic imagery of india, princes and princesses, bluebeard, etc, comes in. but then, after describing her dreams, she questions him: "who made you this way? who made you this way? who is going to bear your beautiful children? do you think you can just stop, when you're ready for a change? who will take care of you when you're old and dying?" i think she probably goes on to describe confused (in her own mind) blends of dream and reality. after the trauma that she has suffered throughout the course of the album, it makes perfect sense that she would have some sort of trouble discerning: "if this tale is tall, forgive my scrambling." she can't quite let go yet. she still feels the urge to give him one last call. perhaps when she calls him again, which is not described, they see each other and resume their relationship. it is the only thing that makes sense to me, as there are clearly scenes yet to come in which the relationship, again, ends. she (still the narrator, not joanna herself) is definitely comparing her old love to bluebeard in terms of being a "ladykiller": her heart is broken, and everyone who has had a broken heart knows that it's not hard to feel like they are dying of it. the references to will oldham in the last verse are especially interesting. it is clear that the last verse speaks of a second man, and not the main subject of the song. perhaps joanna is once again drawing influence from someone she knows in real life, and turning it around/spinning it into her tale. this man the narrator speaks of is very different from the former lover. while the ex is "palming along the wall," this second man is "backing.. down the road." if this is not opposite enough, she goes on to imply that he is trying to "master everything that such men may know, about loving and then letting go." her former lover is clearly not the type of man that can master those things. i love everything about this album. this song is one of my favorites. the kora and harp together paired with the poignant imagery of joanna's lyrics move me so much. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Jackrabbits Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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in "jackrabbits", i believe that our narrator leaves california, and goes crawling back to her lover's doorstep, pleading him to let her love him again. she is "tired of being drunk," and wants meaning back in her life: meaning that she felt a relationship would give her. in my opinion,"i shaped up overnight, you know, the day after she died-- when i saw my heart, and i tell you, darling, it was open wide" is the narrator speaking to her former lover. the "she" being referred to is the miscarried child. i think that the narrator does not tell him about how when she left she started drinking-- i think that, instead, she wants him to believe that she left and thought about her ways so that he will take her back. she wants him to think that the miscarriage and fact that he left her caused her to see that she was an emotional mess and helped her to grow and change. she seems to know that he was bringing her down. she also knows that she is not without flaws. but, as seen in "easy," she wants so badly to be with him, that she is willing to take the blame for everything, so long as he will have her and hold her in his arms. i'm sure almost everyone has had a somewhat similar experience: being in a bad or unsuccessful relationship, wanting to fix things and be happy so badly that it's almost easier to put the entire burden on oneself. i don't think that she really still can love him at this point. she just feels empty after having been with him, losing a child, and then running away from her problems and turning to drinking in her depressed state. i don't think she really "shaped up" at all. it is unclear whether he accepts her offer of love, but i think that he does not, because of what happens in "go long." |
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| Joanna Newsom – In California Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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now we arrive at the next "chapter": this beautiful piece. the narrator seems to be from milk lake originally, but there is evidence to suggest that she left much earlier, (see: "good intentions paving company," in which she and her lover take a trip back to her "old country" and it completely freaks her out, for lack of better words). she has left her lover, and gone back to california. joanna's from nevada city, as we know, so she does have personal ties to the state. the narrator, however, probably decided to go someplace rural, and does not seem to be familiar with so many things as shown in this verse: "when i came into my land, i did not understand neither dry rot, nor the burn pile, nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well, nor the black bear." in other songs she mentions all her "finery", etc. she's clearly not quite cut out for this life: she is not afraid of anything, "save the life that here awaits." i think she fled to a new place not only because she and her lover (temporarily) ended things, but also because she had some things to deal and work through on her own. she wanted to face the issues in her past that made her hesitant to go back to her home. i believe that she does not end up really facing them, as a life in california is the only thing that scares her now. in this part of the narrative, she turns to drinking in her sorrowful state. although she knows that her former lover was the one that chose to take separate paths, she wants him to come see her in california. in her heart, however, i believe that she knows he does not plan to, and she justifies this by saying that he "cannot come and see [her]." later, she realizes how much she still wants to love him, and she "wait[s] all night" for him to show, even though she knows that he will not. |
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| Joanna Newsom – You and Me, Bess Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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this song is clearly about dick turpin and black bess, but i think (as in so much of her other work) that joanna is relating this story to the narrator's own in a way. she (the narrator) feels as if she has lost herself, that a part of her has died with the previous tragic events. given her penchant for dreaming, i think that perhaps this song could actually be about a dream that our narrator has in which she is turpin. i'm sure everyone knows how dreams can sometimes feel more vivid and real than waking life, and also, how in dreams, a person can experience being someone else entirely. that could be what's going on here, but again, that's just my two cents. to me, this is by far one of the most poignant songs on the album. the imagery is so strong: one can completely picture the pair standing on a lonesome beach, looking out at a looming, unfriendly sea in which the waves "[drag] out of [their] reach, tangling tails, like a sodden sheet, dangling entrails from the gut of the sea." the line, "my heart made the sound of snow falling from eaves" strikes me as particularly sad. i feel like, once again, that's the sort of sentiment or occurrence that would make plenty of sense when one is dreaming, but seem sort of "off" when that person is awake. the thought of turpin being in prison and in such a fragile mental state that he can't remember exactly why is very hard-hitting. i picture him there, with a vague memory of a friend with whom he was as "thick as thieves," unable to recall details or remember anything more. then, when bess intuitively shows up for his hanging, he recognizes her, but can't remember her name. he realizes, in the last moment of his life, that her name doesn't matter: what matters is the strong feelings of warmth and kindness that her presence evokes in him. the song is truly touching. |
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| Joanna Newsom – On A Good Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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in "on a good day," the narrator seems like she is trying to deal with the emotional aftermath that she experienced in the previous "chapter". she tells of how she saw the life inside her "drawn so sweet and fine," and how she had "begun to fill in all the lines, right down to what [they'd] name her." perhaps it is due to her fragile emotional state and her own behavior that her lover wants to leave. obviously it's not all the narrator's fault, and she's not the only one with flaws, however: what kind of a man would end a relationship while a woman was mourning a miscarriage? they are both very imperfect people, and the relationship was, thus, a very unhealthy one. but, as our narrator knows all too well, "our nature does not change by will." we are who we are, and sometimes we just have to learn to live with it and stop trying to change things. even though the water in the creek has frozen into ice, it's still water. her lover decided to end things, but apparently won't leave her alone to get over him, as referenced in the lines: "will you leave me be, so that we can stay true to the path that you have chosen?" this is a short song, so there's not really much else to say about it. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Baby Birch Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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i agree with a previous contributor's statement that "baby birch" is about the narrator going through the emotional aftermath of her miscarriage. she wishes that she could have taken every path: would having the baby have kept her relationship from falling apart? would the child have brought her true happiness even if the relationship had still ended? would she have been an unfit mother anyway, as she seems to imagine in the river scene ("hear the goose cussin' at me over her eggs. you poor little cousin, i don't want your dregs: a little baby fussin' all over my legs.)? the poor woman is so distraught, here, that she begins to distort reality and confuse it with her wild imagination. perhaps she is dreaming. she attempts to imagine what the child would have looked like: "your eyes are green, your hair is gold. your hair is black, your eyes are blue." once again, i don't think that the narrator of the story is actually joanna, but perhaps joanna could be using herself and bill callahan as inspiration for the appearances of the two lovers in the story. would the child have looked like mother or father? but it's not as simple as just imagining appearances: the narrator imagines that she is with the child ("mercy me, i'll be goddamned, it's been a long long time since i last saw you."). imagining a walk around the "dirty lake" with her offspring takes a bitter turn for the narrator, and she begins to imagine herself skinning a rabbit, and it having been easy for her. to me, the grotesque imagery of the voluntary skinning indicates the fact that many women who miscarry (including the narrator herself) ultimately blame themselves for it. the bunny that should be dead after it is skinned then runs away in her imagination or dream, i suppose that this signifies some sort of escape even after death. she tells the baby to “be at peace […] and begone.” she wants the ordeal to be over with, doesn't want it to haunt her anymore. |
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| Joanna Newsom – No Provenance Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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once again, this is part of my play-by-play interpretation of every song as one complete story. i don't think it's fair to assume that the narrator is joanna herself, as she's a gifted storyteller and storytellers usually make up characters. i believe that this is completely fictional, but of course peppered with inspiration joanna has drawn from her own life. this is only my interpretation-- i'm not saying that i'm "right," by any means. i've joined the forum specifically to do this, so i'd greatly appreciate any input as this is the first album for which i have provided commentary. in the previous song, "good intentions paving company," the narrator tells of taking a trip to her hometown with her lover. the mere idea of the trip was enough to make her want to shout out for him to stop and turn around. however, she knew it was important for their relationship. the song ended with the lines "...when i only want for you to pull over and hold me 'til i can't remember my own name." i feel that this is an important lead-in to "no provenance," as the main idea of the song is the narrator's wanting to feel "safe and warm" while held in her lover's arms. it is clear by now that our narrator tends toward dream-like descriptions. later, in "go long", she says "last night, AGAIN, you were in my dreams." i place emphasis on "again" because perhaps all these hard-to-make-sense-of verses are really descriptions of her vivid and strange dreams about the man. in keeping with my interpretation, it makes perfect sense that this song would be about a sequence of dreams the narrator has had about her lover. no matter what strange situation they find themselves in, she feels safe in his arms and longs to remain there. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Good Intentions Paving Company Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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this song is a description of the narrator's relationship progressing, developing, and becoming stronger daily. the relationship is not, however, without its problems. after a period of peaceful, happy romance (see "'81"), the woman and her lover run into some trouble. she goes on to tell her lover that she regrets how she told him to open his heart (in "easy"), "when [she's] got trouble even opening a honey jar." when she says, "and that right there is where we are..." she is explaining that the problem at hand is one of her lover having finally let her in, only to find her unable to reciprocate fully. maybe this is why she's decided to take him home to meet the folks and see where she grew up? this indicates that he is, perhaps, not the one making the relationship difficult. here, in this song, we begin to see a picture of the narrator's unreliable emotional state unfolding: she may be someone that is simply hard to be in a relationship with, someone who is not easy to love because of her emotional fluctuations. anyhow, we now have our current scene: the two lovers taking a trip to the narrator's "old country," which she has presumably moved away from quite some time ago. she feels like she does not recognize the place that she once called home, probably because she has changed so much over the years. feelings of nervousness and anxiety begin to overwhelm her : "i did not mean to shout 'just drive! just get us out, dead or alive!'" now that she has taken this "leap" in an attempt to make him feel as if she's truly letting him in, she states that "for the time being all is well," and asks him to simply accept that and love her for a while. she convinces him that she fell for him "as easy as falling asleep." she knows that no amount of talking is going to make things better once they start to go bad (presumably she knows that they will because she knows his character and also her own), but for now she's going to try to make it work and enjoy the quiet, loving period of their romance. the mere idea of the trip is, for lack of better words, really freaking the narrator out. she knows that she's "at the top of [her] game" right now, taking him to her family and her hometown was a great idea for the relationship, but she doesn't want to go. perhaps it's a bad memory there, or perhaps she just isn't ready to take the relationship to that next level. she doesn't want to fold and turn around, and is trying with her "whole heart and soul to stay right here in the right lane." she ends this segment by stating that all she really wants is for her lover to pull over and hold her-- for a very, very long time, "'til [she] can't remember [her] own name." please remember that this is only my attempt to interpret the whole album, "chapter" by "chapter". i'm trying to not only make sense of each piece as an individual song, but fit them together to form the cohesive narrative that miss newsom intended them to be. i'm not saying my interpretation is as she intended it, but i figured i'd go ahead and share it with you lovely people since i've read your comments for so long without ever adding my own. |
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| Joanna Newsom – '81 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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track three on the album is, according to my interpretation, about the narrator's relationship in its happiest stage. she found a "plot of land in the garden of eden" to me, this speaks symbolically of finding happiness. a relationship in its new stages could go anywhere at all, hence "it was dirt, and dirt is all the same." it (love, the relationship) doesn't become truly unique or her own until she tends it, and "tills" it, and nurtures it. this is supported by the lines: "but I will want for nothing more, in my garden: start again, in my hardening to every heart but one." she had a wandering eye before. she felt that she was never satisfied. now that she has found her place in paradise, she has hardened her heart to all but her lover's. she is putting all of her faith in him-- she views the relationship as almost holy, it's so important to her. the rest of the song is about forgiveness, and starting again. she's happy. she feels as if she could throw a party, inviting both friends and those who have wronged her. she believes in innocence now that she has found some sort of meaning and "salvation". after all, if the man who would not let her love him two "chapters" ago is now contributing to her happy, and temporarily healthy, relationship, anything can happen. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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in my track-by-track interpretation, this song is pretty hard to be thorough or accurate. obviously it's about lola montes, i think all of you have made that connection. however, as the album is a pretty solid narrative, i believe it is also closely related to the story. perhaps the narrator retells montes' tale, or perhaps she is simply hearing it herself and relating to it: it is sort of confused here, because obviously many parts of the story are told in the first person (by lola herself): "at night i walk in the park with a whip between the lines of the whispering jesuits," etc, while many are told in third person. however, later in the song, the parts about feeling at once helpless and loved in a lover's arms tie in with "no provenance," as janeaparis has stated already. i think that everyone's commentary about the meaning of this song are spot-on. i just wanted to add my input on the significance of it as relates to the rest of the album, which i believe stands as one story. if this were only a song about lola, it wouldn't fit. i think that our narrator is simply relating parts of lola's story to her own-- she probably feels that she can relate to lola's famous stubbornness and perhaps other parts of her character (like an appreciation for the "finer things in life"?), and is imagining how certain things would have felt to her. joanna's incredible. that is all. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Easy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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first off, i don't think that the narrator is joanna at all. she states in an interview that this album is not just a collection of songs, but a narrative-- a story that is intended to be listened to all the way through. to paraphrase joanna in the interview (with time, i think): why would you skip from chapter to chapter in a book? i am going to be contributing my interpretations on each song on the album, in sort of a play-by-play, as i don't believe anyone has done it yet. despite occasional offshoots in which joanna sings of characters such as lola montes and dick turpin, i believe this album is highly cohesive. Even these "offshoots," i think, relate well to the story that unfolds. that said, i think that this first song is about a new relationship. maybe not brand new, but new in the grand scheme of things. i agree with previous contributors that it is about a woman who loves a man that doesn't really want to be loved. there are definitely fertility references, which make perfect sense, given the theme of the album. the "life-giver" lines, however, also imply that she loves this man so much she would give her life for him. the narrator wants the relationship to be easy. she says that love comes easily to her, and implies that it does not for her lover, but i believe it's just as difficult for both of them. she wants to be able to love someone easily, unconditionally, but it's a difficult thing to do, and obviously this is not the right person for her. she is desperately trying to make it work: all this trying completely negates the idea of it being "easy" at all. when the relationship ends for the last time, later on in "does not suffice," she speaks of taking all her things and moving out-- "everything that could remind [him] of how easy [she] was not." these pieces sort of serve as bookends for the album. they wrap it up into a beautiful package, telling a story as intertwined and emotionally involved as any. the narrator is not only at conflict with her lover, but with herself. it's not just him that isn't easy-- it's her. "we are tested and pained by what's beyond our bed" indicates that the narrator and her lover, who is obviously either difficult or just uninterested, have troubles in their relationship (and in life) daily. The narrator views this as a test-- and wants to believe that they both do-- however, her lover probably only thinks of it as a pain. "we are blessed and sustained by what is not said," according to my interpretation, is the narrator's attempt to believe that her boyfriend's lack of loving words means little, if anything at all. she wants to believe that he loves her, and she is sustained by this belief even though he says nothing to indicate that it might be true. in this song, she struggles with the fact that he doesn't want to let her in. later, in "good intentions paving company," the line "...how i said to you, 'honey, just open your heart'" relates back to this song. she wants him to open his heart, here, and let her love him the way that she longs to. |
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