| They Might Be Giants – Particle Man Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Person man = Clearly talking about humanity "hit on the head with a frying pan" -our heads are round, hinting what the author is talking about "lives his life in a garbage can" -we live our lives in our own trash "is he depressed or is he a mess? does he feel totally worthless?" -welcome to the feelings experienced by almost every human. "feeling worthless" is particularly relevant to the song as it is focusing on all the perspectives of the universe. It's easy to feel worthless when we compare ourselves to universe man. "who came up with person man? degraded man, person man" -once again looking at humanity's perspective on the universe. Asking who came up with person man is clearly our questioning of where we came from (ie. God) Particle Man = represents particles, atoms, etc...kind of feel this represents science. Triangle man = The church, religion. Putting down science. Putting down and controlling and subjugating the average person. Religion, our own construct, beats science and also beats humanity. Universe man = The universe. Its the formulation of all time, from minutes to eons. "He's got a watch with a minute hand millennium hand and an eon hand when they meet it's a happy land" -When all of these hands meet, it will be the end of time. |
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| Modest Mouse – Space Travel Is Boring Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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People brought up good points but, like a lot of mm songs (ie. styrofoam boots, ionizes/atomizes), the beauty is that the metaphor has multiple meanings. Not all MM songs are about drugs but a lot of them compare drug use to other things through metaphor. Interestingly comparable to the themes on the last song on LCW, I think this is a metaphor for both drug use and the afterlife. This is the metaphor for drug use: "Won herself a pass to some far off moon It was second class but what's to lose?" Going to some far off moon is the state while on drugs, yes its a low class lifestyle but the subject has nothing to lose, or this could be just an aesthetic perspective that there's literally nothing to lose. "you can't see air or time" When you're on drugs your perception of time is extremely skewed. "She's the only rocketeer in the whole damn place They gave her a mirror so she could talk to a face She still got plenty lonely but that's just the case With time, time, time" This lifestyle makes the subject feel lonely and isolated. In this isolation she does a lot of thinking to herself, but this doesn't make up for the lack of conventional social interaction. And that's just the case with being in this state. "Started hearing voices sometime in June She knew she could go crazy but didn't think that soon Now she doesn't feel lonely but she'd just as soon Try, try, try, try" The subject goes deeper down the rabbit hole of isolation and paranoia, she realizes what's happening but its too late to do anything about it. She's lost all feeling, and no longer even cares about her isolation. "Man shot to the moon I bought a paperback and want to go real soon I'm shot to the moon Been there a half an hour, I want to come home soon" Shot is wordplay for shooting up. When you are sober you want the drug badly, you're prepared (just like buying a paperback before a long trip). From personal experience, 30 minutes into a drug trip a lot of people hate the feeling and just want it to end, you don't know why you wanted it and just want to come down. |
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