| Iron & Wine – Cold Town Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I love the imagery in this song (like most Iron & Wine songs). It's such a cliche subject matter, yet he makes it unique. He uses almost random snapshots of a breakup situation to paint a beautiful picture of sorrow. I also love the bass line. It's one of the few early recordings to use a full band. I think most of the early songs are better suited to stand on their own with just strings and vocals, but the melody of this one lends itself to the rolling bass line and the off-beat brush taps on the snare. |
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| Iron & Wine – This Solemn Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I respectfully disagree. I think the whole song is from the perspective of the grandson. In the first stanza, the death of his grandfather has reminded him of his own mortality. He is telling his wife they should appreciate the time they have together because it can slip away like the breeze through the window. I think the second stanza is about bottling up your feelings, or perhaps not wearing your heart on your sleeve. You don't go looking for sympathy. I think it's sort of a traditional male pride thing. I think the second half of the stanza is looking to the future, after the grandson is dead. Perhaps at the funeral his friends get emotional when his widow walks in. I don't know, this part has always sort of confused me. The third stanza is my favorite collection of words in the entire English language, except for when my daughters say "I love you, daddy". My grandfather was a South Carolina farmer. He has been dead for over twenty years and his farm has since fallen into disrepair. This stanza fills me with a sweet, beautiful sorrow I can't begin to describe. Anyway, the third stanza is about the slow healing of grief. Eventually they will forget the sorrow. They will go back to feeling like they will always be young, but the grandson promises to remember his grandfather, and his own mortality, and will cherish his relationship with his wife (or lover, or whatever). That's how I interpret the song. Sam Beam is a master at providing the perfect combination of detail and vagueness so that you can grasp onto something in the song and then fill in the blanks with your own experience to create a more personal interpretation. What does this song mean to you? |
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| Iron & Wine – God Made the Automobile Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I'll be the first to admit that I don't fully comprehend this song, but I've always gotten the impression that it was commentary on Southern culture and racism. It's important to remember that Sam Beam grew up in Columbia, SC. I think so much of his music deals with the conflicted feelings of growing up in the South. He clearly loves the South.His musical stylings are born of a Southern folk tradition. His lyrics carry a very Southern flavor, i.e. "This Solemn Day" and "Calm on the Valley". Yet the things he loves about the South are inseparably coupled with blatant hypocrisy and gross injustice. I think the "borrowed flag" mentioned in the first stanza refers to the Confederate Battle Flag, aka "the rebel flag". The Battle Flag was intended to represent the belief that the states' right of self-determination takes precedence over federal authority, but over time has been misconstrued or "borrowed" to represent racism and "redneckism" (I can't think of a better term). The line "the fear of the Black and the Jew, and blood for the camera crew" also points to racial issues. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. |
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| Iron & Wine – God Made the Automobile Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| KEskimo is correct on the lyric correction. Also in the third stanza, "to pass on the blissfully young" should be "to pass ALL the blissfully young". | |
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