| The Tallest Man on Earth – Into the Stream Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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From the very begining, I thought of this song like nothing but a dream due the surreal context of the lyrics. And I always thought the title was an anagram, like he's saying "for us to throw into this dream" say that a little faster and you'll get "into the stream". But naaw, I think it's quite easier than that. The first verse is aboout being born, the second one about becoming who you are, and the last one about dying and "move on". The stream of life really. However, we all love Kristian. For very good reasons. |
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| The Tallest Man on Earth – Little River Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I wonder if there´s a connection with this song and "The Gardener". "And he's stepping out and walks out of the garden Where all the lilies and all the weeds came from his cold hand" I guess there's no TTMOE-fans who hasn't heard that song, so the connection could be poosible. Maybe this is about the "babe" from that song. And we know that Mr. Gardener from before is one cold-hearted bastard and a liar, right? As well as the gardener in this song (Well, I assume he's a gardener in this song too cause the lyrics sort of implies that.) Beautiful lyrics none the less. |
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| The Tallest Man on Earth – Love Is All Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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In general, I would agree with sytch's interpretation. Especially the part about Chris McCandless. I have this feeling that this album was inspired by Into the Wild and McCandless' persona, and his way of dealing with life - at least the tone to both phenonemens are strikingly similair. I heard this record for first time around the time I saw Into the Wild, so I made the connections with phrases like "I plan to be forgotten when I'm gone" etc, without thinking really. At the very least, I think we'd all agree that this is a vagabonds' album, and that the stories on it often reflects the storytellers' experiences of that sort of life. Songs like The Wild Hunt, Burden of Tomorrow and King of Spain tells the euphoric visions of bohemian living, while this song, You're Going Back, Kids On the Run etc, expresses the consequences of losing yourself to, well, despair maybe. However, I think that, perhaps, Love is All could be about war, and a soldier's way of reflecting on the irony of its meaning. For example: "Well I walk upon the river like it's easier than land" The river could be this war. I mean, a river is streaming against one right? And it's dangerous and hard to get through. Just like a war. The character, however, is walking right through without difficulty, and without reflection. Just kills and reloads. "Evil's in my pocket and your will is in my hand" Evil could refer to something material, like bullets. and "your will", as in someone's/something's will but his own is making him fight. I think it refers to a government. "And I'll throw it in the current that I stand upon so still" Again, he fights without blinking, and stands still (don't react) to the current (battle). "Love is all, from what I've heard, but my heart's learned to kill" I think we all agree that this sort of sums up the entire song, a really important line there. He knows, theoratically, that love is of most importance in the world, but it's above him. And therefore the tears come - because he's tought to destroy and to kill. You can say that his natural state is being unnatural, which is what scars his life. "Oh, I said I could rise From the harness of our goals" That he could break from the chains holding him down, maybe? And now spikes will keep on falling from the heavens to the floor I think he means that things are getting darker, or at least not brighter. The pain just kepps coming to him day by day. "The future was our skin and now we don't dream anymore" Skin = surface/protection. In this case, maybe salvation. "Some day all this will change" might be his thinking here. But sadly, it never happens. War just happens to be eternal after all. "Like a house made from spider webs and the clouds rolling in I bet this mighty river's both my savior and my sin" Ah, my favorite part. This is a great metaphore. A house made of spider webs sounds brittle, and without structure, and can hardly be used for any human purpose, just like war. It's just not solid, he dosen't believe in it. But it is his reality. And the war (river) is his saviour as in, it gave his life a purpose. And a sin as in, It's an awful way of living. Of course it could be more three-dimensional than that. Whatever your interpretations of this song are, I think the bottom line is the story of a man who is defined by the same thing that destroys him. And therefore he sucumbs to nihilism, sort of what sytch said. A very sad song indeed. In terms of lyrics, it's not my favorite song by him, but I think that it's one of his triumphs. Look, I know that it's a cliche to compare Kristian with Dylan, but I wonder, if this would have been one of Dylan's early songs, it would have automatically been regarded as a protest-song. So, well.. maybe it's just that. (Sorry for typos, I don't really bother to check) |
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