| The Flaming Lips – The Ego's Last Stand Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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@Montyandtimmon: your certainly right about the ego death trip. Saw them last week in Orlando, and his speeches before and after this song (as well as Sagittarius Silver Announcement) reflected this. I feel, however, that there's another layer, keeping in line with one of the themes of the album: evil. Radicals, liberals, conspiracy theorists, and generally most young people speak of a controlling force. Some believe its more organized than others, but the general idea is that there are people, evil people, guiding the world's movements for their own personal gain. This is absolutely true, at least on some level. Take corporations, for instance, the biggest of which have more power and influence than most nations. Wayne suggests that we are no different from these people, just in a different position. We were born who we are, as we are, and they were born who and where they are. Just as a sparrow is a born a sparrow, and an eagle an eagle, our situation, outlook, even values are handed down by our families, our communities, our culture. However, an eagle is not evil for killing smaller animals. It's just part of nature. The final lines, "A man holds a gun, there's no explanation, Oh, he shoots at the sun," seem to refer to another common theme for the Lips: the fact that the world and life simply is the way it is. There's no cosmic explanation, no great plan. When I met him last week, one thing he said that really stuck out to me was, "I don't fucking believe in destiny." He touches on similar ideas in "Do You Realize?" spurred in part, no doubt, by the death of his father. The "invisible cloud" (those people that are allegedly in control) do what they do, and it's natural. Aren't we, after all, just another part of nature? Can an eagle be evil? How, then, can we? It is our ego that makes us feel that we are better than anyone else, even if our intentions our noble. Our ego is a part of us, and, thus, part of nature. There's no way out... Just some thoughts hehe. I'm sure there's other layers and interpretations as well. One could make a convincing case that this song, and much of the album, refers to our dependence on God, but I won't go into that one haha... |
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