| Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
iDrum: in communism, you have to work. Like Marx said, "from each according to his ability". So a communist would have to give it his all in his work. Regarding the orchard verse, from what I understand, in a Capitalist society, the worker doesn't own the orchard, it's owned by the capitalist class, and the actual worker is treated as a wage slave. That's why, at least from what I thought, our hero said "If I had an orchard". He's dreaming about the orchard being in the hands of the workers, and "I''ll work till I'm sore/raw", he's talking about living up to Marx's maxim of "from each according to his ability". snaggerpuss: I don't really know how to explain this, but Marx saw that capitalism "alienates" the worker from his human essence, and one of the way this happens is that the worker is robbed from his ability to manifest his individuality through his work. So the "unique snowflake" verse reminded me of this. Once again, I don't think I can explain it that good, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. I'm not a commie or anything, and I don't really know whether this interpretation was really what the writer had in mind when he wrote the song, but I think it could really fit the song. |
|
| Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I think the song talks about communism, or some sort of socialism. "I was raised up believing I was somehow unique Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes Unique in each way you can see" In a capitalist society, humans are alienated. We initially feel uniqueness, humanness, but later we're degraded into dispensible labors and consumers. "And now after some thinking I'd say I'd rather be A functioning cog in some great machinery Serving something beyond me" The protagonist then rejects capitalist values such as the stressing upon individual gain, greed, etc and wishes to be part of a more collective, communal society. "What's my name, what's my station Oh just tell me what I should do I don't need to be kind to the armies of night That would do such injustice to you Or bow down and be grateful And say "Sure take all that you see" To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls And determine my future for me" So the protagonist is ready to fight against the capitalists, the bourgeois, and their army. He won't be kind to them due to the injustice they carry out against the worker, determining their future as wage slaves, etc "If I had an orchard I'd work till I'm raw If i had an orchard I'd work till I'm sore" He's talking about the means of production being at the hands of the farmer back again. So when he gets back the means of production ie the orchard, he's willing to "work till he's sore". Just like Marx said, "from each according to his ability" "And you would wait tables And soon run the store" So the worker gets to run the store now, not the capitalists, not the middle man. The proletariat runs the show now. The biggest reason why I think it's about communism is the "orchard" verse. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.