| Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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There are a lot of people caught up in the whole "Witnessed a drowning" thing, but that is really a vehicle to illustrate the main character's true feelings of his aggression's focus. To clarify, the lyrics are "If you told me you were drowning I would not lend a hand". Simply put "you are such a piece of trash, I wouldn't even bother to save your life, since the world is better off without you". While the dark emotions may very well reflect Collins's own feelings regarding the split between he and his wife, they are in no way related. The song is about betrayal. The main character is aware of the villain's treachery. He also knows that the villain is living with the pain and guilt of his wrong doing (which he can feel in the air). This is a punishment in, and of itself. The music so accurately captures the sensation of brooding anger, which makes this one of the best songs from the 80s. |
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| Closure In Moscow – arecibo message Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I keep seeing this Star Wars reference, but let's be honest. It's thin. De Cirque has no love for religion, and even speaks very harshly of Christianity (primarily Baptists) in Vanguard. The way I see this song, it's tied closely to the ACTUAL meaning of the song's title. The Arecibo Message was a radio signal sent to space in 1974, aimed at the globular starcluster M13. Some of the hopes behind this message was to contact any intelligent alien life that might be in it's path. There is a lot of controversial information and evidence suggesting that aliens have been here, and a few who claim that we were possibly placed here in either a colonization attempt, or to just populate inhabitable planets across the galaxy. I would like to point out that this interpretation does not reflect my own views of the origins of human life. So with that... "My earthly womb in your monolith: You've got it sewn, bunching at my hips." This sounds like a reference to two things. First, that we are born on THIS planet. Second, a reference to 2001 A Space Odyssey's Monolith to spark intellectual thought. The "Sewn bunching at my hips" may reference our plight at reproduction located near our hips. An acknowledgement that we were imbued with everything we needed to exist on earth, noting that any such alien life never intended to stay. "I ventured to your city, to meet you at your throne. I'm stuck inside your vestibule with no way to atone." There are a number of locations around the world that are littered with some evidence that we have been in direct contact alien life, from Tibet to the Yucatan, to parts of Russia and even New Mexico. A pilgrimage to these places, only to realize that we have no way of knowing who "they" are and no way to contact them. The vestibule being our limitations in space travel. "I gnashed my vexing jowl at the suffragette crown. The temple steps above my cringe. The temple steps beneath my scowl. And what's the use of pleading thirst? I see you drinking from my cup." Much of the Mayan culture was very advanced in astronomy and math. Also, some Mayan art points to the possibility of space ships and travel beyond earth. The "Temple steps" and pleading thirst seem to allude to our worshiping them as god's, with human sacrifice at these temples. The "drinking from my cup" could be the offering of blood to these unworldly travelers. The Suffragette crown line is a bit more confusing. "gnashed my vexing jowl" is to "grind my teeth in frustration or annoyance". a Suffragette is a derogatory term for a female supporter of womens suffrage movement (I specify a woman, because a less gender specific term would be suffragist). I'm still not quite sure how a suffragette ties in. "You're not the flesh I was after, so I try scraping off the blight. Can't get no passage to my terminus when I'm dying every night. So don't perspire with excitement. In fact, don't perspire at all. The jewel of my retribution makes empires rise and fall." This stanza looks to be about battling the realization of mortality (the "blight" statement and "passage to my terminus...). I wonder if he is speaking of going through life, knowing that he will never meet his extra terrestrial creators, and views their leaving us to our own ends as punishment. Perhaps, again, an allusion to the Mayans rise and fall as a civilization, stricken with rampant pestilence. "How could you defy these precious little ones? The very ones that show you love. I know you've got that filament, so how could you defy these precious little ones?" This chorus really binds the sentiments together. These "precious little ones" are us -- their 'children' who worshiped and loved them as gods. The filament being the commonality of our genetic makeups. There is more than a hint of anger here, at being abandoned. "Somethings got a hold on me. About to breach the seal." Here, he seems to be realizing that maybe they are not far away. Perhaps their return is close and they will "breach the seal" of our world, once again. This could be wishful thinking, or part of the story, embedded in the song. "If the drones become enlightened, you'll have such a noble swarm... " I had seen in an earlier interpretation that this was regarding C3-PO and R2-D2. Those are DROIDS... not drones. Drones are more like a parasitic loafer who operates independently, but is influenced by a single entity. i.e. a worker bee. This is easily tied into the line "Something's got a hold on me". What this line actually tells me is if the alien creators were to return and reveal who they truly are (and doing so very convincingly) that they would be loved, again as they gods of yore. I'm sure those in support of the Star Wars interpretation will repeatedly point to De Cirque's love of the Lucas films, but I just can't find this as a feasible translation. While Chris may be somewhat elusive in his lyrics, he does not make it a habit of being so obscure, that much of the content of a song must be overlooked to have an accurate interpretation. |
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