| Beirut – Goshen Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think he uses the story of Joseph as a parody for a girl he knew who left (though possibly not too far "through the land I own") and found success in what sounds as though it's a stage or performance career "You're on in five...the lights are down...they've paid"). It sound as though he wishes he'd expressed what he found special about her and he thinks it's a shame that she's hiding parts of her that make herself and he can't understand why. (What would you hide from such a glory? If I had only told you so). The duality of the word glory also is almost cutting in its delivery. The glory she's gained (praise and adoration) is covering her own glory (i.e splendour). Really lovely sentence. A slight bitterness as well in the delivery of "You're the face in stone" metaphorically they've built a statue of her, she's been immortalised but symbolically she's betrayed her loved ones and been set in stone (Lot's wife) or maybe she is incapable of being herself anymore because a statue is created through the eyes of the beholder rather than through any part of it's own doing. I might be way off if there is indeed an on but that's what I took from it. Such a gorgeous song and so sad "You never found it home" seems to hint at a disappointment in her for not returning (or staying both in person and in character) and him for playing no part in trying to keep her. So much you could take this song before and so beautifully composed. |
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| Beirut – Goshen Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think he uses the story of Joseph as a parody for a girl he knew who left (though possibly not too far "through the land I own") and found success in what sounds as though it's a stage or performance career "You're on in five...the lights are down...they've paid"). It sound as though he wishes he'd expressed what he found special about her and he thinks it's a shame that she's hiding parts of her that make herself and he can't understand why. (What would you hide from such a glory? If I had only told you so). The duality of the word glory also is almost cutting in its delivery. The glory she's gained (praise and adoration) is covering her own glory (i.e splendour). Really lovely sentence. A slight bitterness as well in the delivery of "You're the face in stone" metaphorically they've built a statue of her, she's been immortalised but symbolically she's betrayed her loved ones and been set in stone (Lot's wife) or maybe she is incapable of being herself anymore because a statue is created through the eyes of the beholder rather than through any part of it's own doing. I might be way off if there is indeed an on but that's what I took from it. Such a gorgeous song and so sad "You never found it home" seems to hint at a disappointment in her for not returning (or staying both in person and in character) and him for playing no part in trying to keep her. So much you could take this song before and so beautifully composed. |
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| A Fine Frenzy – Ashes and Wine Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I take it to mean the closure that comes from deciding nothing can ever happen there again and being left with a box of ashes from photographs burned and an empty bottle of wine from sorrows drowned. She's realised that holding onto the old photos and therefore onto him can't go on forever "I've got no claim on you now". Incidentally the phrase Ashes and wine relates to opposites dry and wet, and can reflect opposite states of esixting and being at odds with wanting someone and believing it will work out but also knowing that you probably should let it go. The line "Reduced to ashes and wine" reflects the shame of all their good times reduced to this one final act of closure and the frivolity of the ending of relationships that at one time meant the world to you. But with any song once the artist releases it it's free for everyone to use to get through what it is they need and see it exactly as they need it. It feels like she's written my life out for the last year in a song, and I think that's the mark of a good song. |
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