| Jethro Tull – Only Solitaire Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Nothing like contributing several years after the last post. Or several decades after the song was recorded, for that matter. First, several other sites have mentioned that this song is a direct response to one or several critics, specifically intended to be a slap in the face. This is what it means to me. Brain storming -- the entertainer does think. Habit forming -- the entertainer can cause change in the audience. Battle Warning -- the entertainer performs an important function. Weary -- the tiredness that results from doing the same task again and again, especially without results. winsome -- joyful, especially in a manner that doesn't make logical sense to the majority of the population. actor -- It is a show, not the entertainer's reality spewing spineless chilling lines. Spine-chilling lines are powerful, scary words. These seem quite similar, but are at the same time quite different, with a quality that is hard to pin down as to why they are different. The critics -- Others, who have a history of not doing anything themselves, but instead try to explain how others aren't doing it right falling over her -- Each critic is rushing to an unspecified "her" (although, I tend to think of this her as the Queen of England), attempts to make their voice heard first, or most important. to tell themselves -- The critics say what they want to hear, not necessarily what the audience wants to know. But at least they agree with each other. He's boring, and really not an awful lot of fun. -- Not quite redundancy here. In the entertainment scale, boring is on one side, fun on the other. So, being both boring and not fun is both on one side and not the other. Just being not fun could mean neutral. Well, who the hell can he be when he's never had VD and he doesn't even sit on toilet seats? -- The entertainer does not conform to the standards of the critics. As such, the critics discount him. Court jesting -- The court is where I pick up that the "her" is royalty. Jesting in the court has a long history. Never realy liked, but generally always tolerated. Also, the Jester was not always mere entertainment. They provided a different view for royalty. Never resting. -- The task is always at hand. He must be very cunning -- the critics cannot determine a reason for the act and actions, so to make it fit their mold, place an assumption on it, that of the entertainer being cunning. to assume an air of dignity. The critics can see no reason why he should be dignified, so presume it is an assumed air. and bless us all -- The act does provide benefit to all, even if not the intended audience. with his oratory prowess --skill at manipulating the spoken word. his lame-brained antics -- Hm, didn't the song start off noting brain-storming? The antics are lame-brained, the performer is not. and his jumping in the air. -- A standard method of physical comedy, but also does draw attention to the jumper. And every night, his act's the same. -- Critics expect new diversions, as they often fail to understand what they see. And so it must be all -- Again, not understanding what they see, an assumption is placed to make the actor fit their world. a game of chess he's playing. Chess, in the western world, is regarded as the ultimate test of one's mental abilities, one person against another. The strategy involved, the outmaneuvering of one's opponent. The ability to win is synonymous with the ability to out-think another. In a world where beauty and athletic ability are well-rewarded monetarily, mental powers are still respected the most. No matter how many plays a football player knows, he is regarded as a dumb brute, to make the regarder feel somewhat his equal. But you're wrong, Steve. -- Note the overlapping of this phrase. First, it is a specific critic that the entertainer is signalling out, even though all critics were lumped together earlier. However, "Steve" is a fairly common name, so possibly instead of noting a single critic, the entertainer is applying it to several, who just will not be able to figure out who he is applying it to. Second, the overlapping shows that it is not a single aspect of which the critic is wrong, but is wrong on several points and several levels, all intertwined. You see, it's only solitaire. The game is not a great mental struggle against another. The game is a trivial pastime that one plays against, at most, oneself. "He's the type of person to cheat at solitaire" is an insult. The game of solitaire does not include an audience watching it, like other competitions do. The entire act of the entertainer is for the entertainer, no matter who is looking on. |
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