| Boards of Canada – Everything You Do Is a Balloon Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Being a child of the '70s and '80s, BoC is a weird trip back in time for me, as much of the aesthetic of their work meshes with my own memories of growing up then... esp this video... My memories of the '70s have quite eerily the same washed out look, with only reds and greens remaining, that scratched-school-film look from old movies and TV of the day, incorporated and indistinguishable from memory. The statement in the video is pretty obvious, at least to me... that we all have influences in our lives growing up, and if we're not made aware of where they can take us, they can lead us astray. These bad influences are why the other kids are monkeys who end up dying or being left behind one by one, due to choices they make or behaviors they embody. |
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| Little Dragon – Blinking Pigs Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Sounds like: Was a distant *moan* And the smell of home ;) I feel it has to do with nightmares as well, but more subtly -- not being able to let go of a former lover, that's haunting her. How they got the moth to appear on the bf's shirt at the end, is pretty cool; doesn't look like it was greenscreened in, but perhaps a serendipitous coincidence that worked out awesome. ;) |
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| Little Dragon – Fortune Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Seeing the video reveals much about the lyrics... noticed this in LD's releases, they're integrated works with video much of the time. I agree with hwhy that 'fortune' can mean the poisonous nature of success and how one tends to be a slave to it rather than the opposite, forsaking much of who you once were... but I think, esp considering the video, that it has a deeper meaning. The video starts with a house that, step by step, becomes a sprawling, grotesque castle fortress. This can be 1) the technological progress of mankind, or 2) Little Dragon's success. Out of this fortress, an angel rises, but is then imprisoned in a jewel, which becomes a monstrous dragon, belching blue fire. This can be how humanity's exit-strategy-less consumption of resources, in an age where we are well past the tipping point of irreversible damage to the environment, has created a literal monster, chasing profit. It can also be LD's interpretation of themselves, coming from relative obscurity (the angel) into the big stars (the dragon) they are. We zoom into the eye of the dragon, and find a flawed jewel which becomes a vector-drawn skull, obviously the lure of success and how it can be poisonous: "Mountain of pearls to sooth the soul Gold and silver and silk to cover the old Clocks and rubies crushing these hard bones I'm going blind from to many shiny stones" A man with a bird, finds the jewel/skull and imprisons it in it... he speaks, and his words turn into a ghost which shoves out the bird, becoming a real skull, or Death, as he walks through a convincing Japanese-style graveyard, full of ghosts. Wandering, transfixed on the Death jewel, he ignores the blue bird as it watches him walk away. This is most likely a symbol of humanity, with the bird meaning virtue/conscience, finding the jewel of money/profit/success/conquest, which puts virtue on the backburner and eventually corrupts enough to forsake it entirely. The words are the man's breath, or life, which then is imprisoned in the jewel. Not much need to explain more there. Seduced, he wanders on the path to death while virtue can do nothing but wait for him to come to his senses, if ever. Reminds me of Japanese tales of siren-like demons that lured men to their deaths. We exit the eye of the dragon, as it flies low over a sea with many waves, seeing the bird and a unicorn fly past it, and again see the jewel/skull in its eye. As the dragon was flying high in the clouds before, now he's only able to fly just shy of the breakers... success/money/fame/corruption making him weak, as he sees other things forsake him now, as he once did them. A fitting description of how we're struggling with disease, crime, political pettiness, and corporate power in the current global economy. "Sleep on ugly dreaming wave Vivid life turn into grey No friends want to stay around So moving on to a different part of town" We return to the grotesque castle, now gray and dull, and see it torn down piece by piece, revealing a bed of flowers under a huge, leafless tree, which springs back to life. The blue bird alights in its branches, and unicorns sit on clouds above. Then the mountains around the tree become green and lush, with Japanese 'oni' (demons, but here they are nature spirits) and even Japanese mountain people smiling to the right. A rainbow breaks over an idol (not sure if it's Jesus or perhaps a Buddhist image) as the scene pans out, and ends with the man riding the dragon back to the tree. The jewel, no longer a skull, twinkles as stars above. What isn't obvious if you just listen to the song without watching the video, is that the band have given this a happy ending. This last part is obviously the old corrupt, miserable establishment being taken down, and nature being allowed to regain its former life and vitality. It can also mean a return to/focus on roots (see what I did there?) for perhaps the band, perhaps mankind. Virtue alights in the branches of this newly healthy tree, as well as attracts more virtue and good things from exile... or friends and loved ones regain contact with LD and only things of substance and integrity surround them? Nature thrives and spreads, and the mountain people and oni are strong symbols of returning to more simple ways, working with and respecting nature rather than destroying it (not to mention the idol symbol). The jewel is allowed to be just a jewel, to be admired from afar, where only then can it be beautiful. One of my favorite Little Dragon tunes... |
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| Little Dragon – Blinking Pigs Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Watch the original video for this song -- the lyrics will make a lot of sense. ;) | |
| Little Dragon – Constant Surprises Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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There may be a Buddhist flavor in the lyrics, as one thing Siddhartha said upon becoming enlightened, was that viewing the world in that new state was like 'being in a constant state of astonishment'. Could be the Thai-like headdress and costumes in the video, as well as Yukimi's upbringing with a Japanese dad, which natives of which are still predominantly Buddhist, are a stylized expression of this. The lyrics have tons of this 'flavor' baked in: 'I was walking home Looking at the trees Got the feeling that they Were looking back at me' A description of the stages leading to enlightenment during training, is that 'a tree is suddenly no longer a tree, then after enlightenment, a tree is a tree once again'. To me, this is bumper-stickered in this verse -- that oneness often means you see the trees as a part of you, inseparable like an arm or leg. 'Thoughts that occurred to me Not of the usual kind And I don't take it for granted no I don't call them mine I don't call them mine Cause in my life things Are built on [constant surprises]' Another verse about how the Buddha saw the world after he rose from the bodhi tree. 'Thoughts.../Not the usual kind/I don't take it for granted/I don't call them mine' perfectly describes how thoughts are treated in the enlightened mind -- you don't ignore them, but they are not you, either. 'The higher forces want to connect Last night in my dream I was talking to you You know who you are Were you dreaming too 'Cause in my life Things are built on Are built on [constant surprises]' 'Life is but a dream' is a tenet of many sects of Buddhism, as the world as we see it is full of things coming into and out of existence, like clouds across the sky... impermanent, dependent on so many other things to be -- as wispy and ethereal as a dream. 'Last night in my dream I was talking to you/You know who you are/Were you dreaming too' made me smile for this reason. :) 'Then on my way home I met this guy He was not so shy You know not that kind We spoke then suddenly I could read his mind You think it's mad But I don't fool myself You think its odd 'Cause in my life In my life things are built on [constant surprises]' This verse has to do with how one, whether training in martial arts or less violent disciplines, can 'become one' with another. In martial arts this is vital to predict and defend, and in anything else it allows the subject to understand an object intuitively and naturally, allowing whatever goal you seek to realize as close to full potential as possible. In Buddhism the point is that there is really no such thing as 'me' and 'you' -- we put those labels on to separate, rather than accept that we're all originally just waves on the same ocean. Even the chorus 'Constant surprises/Coming my way/Some call it coincidence/But I like to call it fate' is a Westernized way of describing the complex interplay of cause and effect in our daily lives. This song is dope, Zen or not, though. Don't put that label on it; just my observations. ;) |
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