| Swans – The Most Unfortunate Lie Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I see the "most unfortunate lie" as being a lie told to oneself. The lie is the "ideas" ones own mind "subscribes" to. But the mind is not "clear enough." The song describes an "ancient" time when the present was "foretold." If this is possible then there is no self determination, right? There is a since of realizing powerlessness. This song draws a picture in my mind of the singer looking in a literal mirror, and realizes he's killed himself. In that moment his minds eye draws a metaphor of a, river of black water, drawing his hands out and finding them cupping his own blood ("thick as blood...full of gold). And the song sets the mood for what he feels at that moment. Clarity, and eternal regret. It's too late, he is undone. His lie was, "lethal, all consuming." So, Knowing he can not live, his last wish is to want to believe the self-deluded thoughts that led him to suicide. But he can not. Ironic. | |
| Modest Mouse – Gravity Rides Everything Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"Oh, got to see, got to know right now What's that riding on your everything?" These lines indicate urgency and importance. Because at no point do these lyrics refer to any individual "You(r)", and because the lyrics deal with universal themes rather then specific moments in time, the word "your" I believe literally means, "our" but the author has used the more colloquial "your" to close psychic distance. "riding on" is a way of saying, "dependent on" or in the case of a bet, the value placed on. So the first two lines could be read literally as, "We desperately want to know what's the value of everything." The author then uses irony to contrast this urgent search for meaning with the following line, "It isn't anything at all." This ironic conclusion is mirrored in the next stanza when he talks about "...writing on your shelf. In bathrooms and bad motels." I think it's safe to interpret that, "writing," as the Bible. After all what other writing is the audience likely familiar with, deals with universal themes, and can probably be found by the author in bad motels and bathroom shelves? Only the bible. Again the author explains away this stanza, and the bible in particular with irony, "No one really cared for it at all." In other words, "we ('no one' means 'we' or 'I' but abdicates responsibility) really didn't care for the bible at all." And to explain why we/he didn't care for it at all the author adds, "Not the gravity plan." Which is probably the most obtuse line in the song. However, the meaning of the phrase, "gravity plan" can be gleaned from the rest of the song. We know that gravity is persistent and ever present. And we know from the title of the song, that "Gravity Rides Everything." And if we extend the conclusion that "ride" can be used to mean: give value to, we can conclude that gravity gives meaning to everything, and that the "gravity plan" is this: nothing has any value at all. This is confirmed in the next stanza, "Early, early in the morning It pulls all on down my sore feet I want to go back to sleep" "It," is gravity, that persistent force that, "pulls down on (our) sore feet." The author is confirming what the audience has probably often wanted, "early in the morning," more rest, an extended break from life. (like going back to bed or taking a half hour to post some crap on the internet) "In the motions and the things that you say" This speaks to both our words and actions, which the author believes will "fall right into place" by the persistence forces of the universe (gravity's plan). It's critical to notice the choice of the word, "fall." The author did not chose, "pull" or "attracted to" or "forced." Falling has a connotation of effortlessness. The author contrasts this to the first stanza, where there is a desperation to the need for understanding. "Gravity's plan" is effortless. In gravity's plan things don't just fall into place, they "fall right into place." Effortlessly things are put into place, not by desperate searching for meaning, or by the bible, but by the persistent and effortless forces of the universe. By understanding this we see that the song is not nihilistic but accepting of the fact that "flesh" will "sag," "milk" will "spill," "sex," and other weighty things (like the universal nature of death), will "fall" effortlessly "right" as they should. |
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