| The Tallest Man on Earth – Like the Wheel Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Here's goes The wheel is representative of the terror and the joy of life, and the burden of recurring punishment mythologically this is like- Ixion strapped to a wheel by Zeus and hurled across the sky forever Prometheus tied to a rock to have his liver eaten by a vulture every day Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders so with this pain-bearing symbolism of 'the wheel' in mind let's get to work interpreting this song Oh I wish I was the sparrow in your kid's eyes That could fly above this summer all day long On an island in the heart he has to carry Past the many you have let into your song first thing's first mattson is an improvisational lyricist, so in any case, it takes two to make meanings out of his work. Here the narrator is wishing, 'I wish I could fly above this summer all day long on an Island in the heart he has to carry' he wishes he could be free inside the world, but can't fly while he's bearing the whole weight of the wheel of his heart, or the wheel of the heart of this mysterious 'he' past the many you have let into your song- implies he wants to fly free past the past of what is likely a lover, far away from all the other men she's let into her heart at one time or another. - Another weight added to this wheel of life's burden -And I said oh my lord why am i not strong Like the wheel that keeps travelers traveling on Like the wheel that will take you home- Now this is the heart of this song, this chorus Here he's wishing he was as strong as the wheel he has to carry the same wheel that keeps traveler's travellin' on, he wishes he was strong as punishment, as great as life itself, but he is humbled by his predicament no less, and doomed to find the joy in his pain Like the wheel that will take you home- the wheel that changes us, that makes us new, that kills us to give us new life, after the trials are over, we find our home inside ourselves. 1.And in the forest someone is whispering to a tree now 2.This is all I am so please don't follow me 3.And it's your brother in the shaft that I'm swinging 4.Please let the kindness of forgetting set me free 1. The tree represents the wheel, (still point of the wheel) The narrator is declaring he's nothing, to worthless to wear the world's weight 2. So he tells the wheel not to follow him, he's telling the world off, and even more deeply, he's telling god off, tree- think buddha, - think christ, both who were crucified at the wheel's still point, the tree, the world axis. 3. just some meaningful nonsense, not to clear on this one 4. He's obviously committed a crime for being sentenced to bear the wheel, he wishes someone could forget so he could be set free from his pain. 1.And on this Sunday someone's sititng down to wonder 2.Where the hell among these mountains will I be? 3.There's a cloud behind the cloud to which I'm yelling 4.I could hear you sneak around so easily this is my favourite verse, now we know he's not bieng sentenced for any crime like 'stealing' he's sentenced to bear the weight because he's human 1. Sunday (religious) someone's sitting down to think ( all these somebody's are the narrator, don't be fooled!) 2 Where the hell he's going to be located in the world, who he is essentially 3. He's yelling at god here, the cloud behind the cloud, the ultimate mystery, the one who made him bear the wheel for his metaphysical crimes 4. he can hear the mystery all around him -And I said oh my lord why am I not strong Like the branch that keeps the hangman hanging on Like the branch that will take me home- Here he's wishing once more for the strength he doesn't believe he has except the branch symbolism is referring to the world axis now, hangman= christ buddha, all of humanity- etc And since this weight will transform him, kill him, and ressurect him, it will take him home= heaven, (something like that) it's a very spiritual song in my opinion of coarse it could also be about his girlfriend's car, who knows! |
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| The Tallest Man on Earth – Honey Won't You Let Me In Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Mattson's lyrics are driven by feeling, pure chaotic emotion, its oxymoronic that these lines formed out of chaos actually do make sense then, also it his highly interpretive based on the listener's own experience (Which is a good thing!) Winter has come and it sets the narrator adrift: Now the snow will fall and the lover's call will be drenched out by the shattering of birds: (Wintertime is break up time, and love finding time) Something interesting is going on in this piece as well, the narrator is trying to let himself into his lover's heart, but he's already inside it, 'As I knock your door from inside once more' which leads me to believe, he doesn't want to be let into her, but out, back into the world she occupies but that she has exiled him from with her love. |
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