| Toad the Wet Sprocket – Nightingale Song Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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purejoys darkness mentions the story of Luthien and Beren. Toad The Wet Sprocket has actually made reference to Tolkien's work before; 'Hobbit on the Rocks,' anyone? However, if you'd elaborated a little more you'd see more connections: Lúthien was the daughter of King Thingol. Thingol disliked Beren and set an 'impossible' task that Beren had to do before he could wed Lúthien. Beren had to wrest a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. Morgoth is the rough equivalent of ultimate evil/Satan in the context of the series (Sauron served him) and he had bound the three fairest jewels, the Silmarils, into his crown. The Silmarils are so beautiful that unbelievable amounts of blood are shed for them because of the greed they inspire. Beren set out, and Lúthien followed him. Beren was captured, as was Luthien. However, Luthien escaped with help and freed Beren. Together, they retrieved one of the Silmarils through unbelievable peril using Luthien's magic, but a werewolf devoured the hand of Beren that held the Silmaril as they escaped. Thingol accepted Beren and Luthien's love at this point, but Beren had to retrieve the Silmaril. Beren succeeds, but pays for it with his life. Luthien perishes in despair. Luthien comes to the Halls of Mandos (a god-like figure) in the West/Undying Land. Mandos is moved by her grief, and gives Beren and Luthien a mortal life, that they might have a chance to be together. 'Mortality' in Tolkien's series is often referred to as 'the Gift of Men.' Eärendil married Elwing, granddaughter of the son of Beren and Lúthien. Elrond is their son, and Arwen their granddaughter. Elwing had the Silmaril that Beren had retrieved. While Eärendil was at sea, Elwing threw herself with the Silmaril into the sea to keep violent people from coveting it. She was borne to Eärendil's ship, and he begged the Valar (basically gods) for help. Now, Eärendil sails the skies, the Silmaril upon his brow. This is the 'most beloved star' that Galadriel refers to; the light that Frodo receives in the phial is from the Silmaril! In The Lord of the Rings, Arwen is kin to Luthien, and Arwen and Aragorn walk the path of Luthien and Beren. And when Aragorn dies, so too does Arwen. With the story in mind, look at the lyrics again: "We sing the nightingale song alive We might be different but our hearts won't lie... ...And little ever changes if anything at all But the song rings loudly through these halls..." (halls of Mandos?) "And little ever changes when you view it from the sky And the damage we encounter the earth just passes by And little ever changes if anything at all And we remind ourselves how small we are" I don't know if this is Toad the Wet Sprocket's intention, but it is certainly compelling. And regardless it is a beautiful story and a beautiful song. |
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| Toad the Wet Sprocket – Fly From Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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^ I'm not sure about the other band members but Glen Phillips (the singer) is not a Christian so he certainly doesn't 'think you can have Jesus and the world, too.' This song is not about the religion itself, imo; if it was I doubt that it would repeatedly question whether or not Jesus would "fly from Heaven if he's all you say." O_o It's about the people- the grief of James. It is on the human aspect of the story. Going slightly off on a tangent, it's interesting to note that this is not the only song that Toad the Wet Sprocket has dealing with brother-like relationships; they have a song titled 'Brother'! The polar opposite of Fly From Heaven, a song laden with loss, grief, and bitterness, Brother joyfully celebrates the undying bond of love between brethren. |
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| Toad the Wet Sprocket – Pray Your Gods Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"Dona nobis pacem" or "Grant us peace" is the phrase the women are singing at the end, for those who couldn't make it out. This coupled with the references to armies as well as the contrast of fear/bloodshed and love makes this... an interesting song, to say the least. I do not see this as a Christian or even a religious song at all. It CANNOT be sung from the perspective of Jesus or God; how does 'I feel my body weakened by the years' and 'I fear my time is short' fit in with that? It doesn't, and it doesn't help anyone's case that Glen Phillips is not a Christian. It could even be interpreted as being anti-Christian. I don't think it is at all, but God describes himself as being jealous and demands blood sacrifices on numerous occasions- Jesus was the blood sacrifice to end all blood sacrifices and create a loophole through which sinners could flee the fire that God had originally condemned them to. The Abrahamic god is arguably a ruthless punisher, depending upon the passage. I don't think it's picking on any one specific god. It certainly is NOT favoring one god above all others; I have no idea where people are getting that. People fearing the pain of death or the joys of life and therefore turning to gods of cruel design? Religions often promise some form of life/reward after death, but also dictate to a person how they ought to live their lives. 'Joys of life' are about as subjective as you can get, but it's not difficult to see where restrictive religious doctrines might be being referenced there; some religions consider dancing a sin, for example. I think the song could be interpreted a number of different ways. And while it seems kind of clear to me what the song is NOT saying, I'm a bit indecisive about what it IS saying. To me it is a love song. The singer has a distinctly human perspective; he ages/weakens over time, his time is finite. This perspective gives him a sense of urgency. He is singing to the object of his affection. I think that said person is perhaps unwilling to have a relationship with the singer for extremist religious reasons OR is tempted to join a dangerous religious organization, and that the singer is trying to convince his love not to. Either way, 'you will be the one to sacrifice' indicates to me that at the very least this person must make a choice. All the singer asks of his love is that it be returned. Will this love of the singer's take the path of fear, or will they lay upon the singer's altar their love in return? |
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