| Mystery Jets – Soluble In Air Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is one of my favourites. The lyrics always remind me of the play 'Dr Faustus', where in his final soliloquy Faustus cries out to be turned into 'water drops' and to 'fall into the ocean, never to be found', rather than face the damnation that awaits him. The speaker here, comparing his situation to this tragedy (similarly crying 'oh let me be soluble in air!'), demonstates the kind of self-centred nature of young men, and their tendency to overly dramatise things. He is for instance, unlikely to be concerned with the possibility of damnation, and is probably more likely to be having 'girl-trouble'. If you want to go further with the Dr Faustus thing, you could again argue that the speaker here is suggesting that it would be better to be a tragic figure in a play/ story: 'To be the hero of my own story, forsee the events of my life.' He feels insecure because he does not know specifically what trouble to expect in life, whereas in many tragic plays (including Dr Faustus) the chorus reveals the main plot before the actors have even taken to the stage. In short then, the verses are considerations of whether or not it would be better to know what tragedies await you in life, while the chorus is a kind of melodramatic desire to cease to exist (or at least to be stripped of all the burdens placed upon mankind), so as not to have to face them whatever they may be. |
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| Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I agree with what most people have said; that he talks about moving away from having an individualistic ideology, to a more communal one, and that it is better to help others than just to serve the self. But I think that, as the title suggests, this song is more about the helplessness of not knowing how to do that. He says that he doesn't know what he should do, or who he should trust; which i think is perhaps an examination of those in power; he feels disillusionment with his position in life, because there is so much wrong with the world, that he doesn't know where to fit in. He doesn't know what he should do, and he doesn't trust anyone to tell him what to do. Because of this, i think the end represents a desire for simplicity. The image of working in an orchard is quite a romantic one; with its links to nature, and its promotion of life. If he had something that he knew was completely good, he would work til he was sore. But he doesn't. And yet, I don't really get the impression that it is a pessimistic song in particular. He still seems to have a belief that things will work out eventually. |
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