| Between the Buried and Me – Silent Flight Parliament Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I just want to get the ball rolling on this song. First: Strigiformes is the Order in which owls (Family) fall under when you talk about them in a scientific, taxonomic rank way. So I think Strigformes is like a collective mind of Night Owls. Similar to the demon, Legion, from the bible. " And He (Jesus) asked him (the man), "What is thy name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion: for we are many.") Mark 5:9 Any thoughts? Second: The line: "They will send us to warn, but that's part of the game as well" makes me wonder who THEY are. Who is controlling the Night Owls? Third: The lines: I still know what my mind tells you to do Cut out pieces to form new The word "still" implies that he knows what to do despite something that could stop him, whether that thing be time or brain washing or something. Also, his mind is telling someone else to do something, whose mind is that? Lastly The lines: Am I me What is he Does anyone else hear it more like: Am I HE (me) What is he or is it just me? Still trying to make out the rest of this song. Basically it sounds like the story here is: 1. Prospect #2 knows he must destroy the world (desperate measures. The box is a doom's day device created by the night owls) 2. The night owls are a collective mind, who can proccess incredible amounts of information from several sources at once. 3. Prospect #2 destroys the night owls 4.Prospect #1 awakes as the world is ending. He basically watches himself destroy everything. Please help me make more sense of all this. Thanks ya'll |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Melting City Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Syco, I agree with you that the "Black Box" is a doom's day device, but this song doesn't say Black box, just "Box." I hate to split hairs, but it could be a big enough difference to matter. If Tommy is talking about the black box, what do you think it means to "sneak into the box"? What does, "the robot has stepped out of his box" mean? Just a thought. I think now that you're right, that the "burning smell" is reminding him of the moments before his world ended, and he is sensing this world's imminent doom. As for your Lunar Wilderness comment, him returning to his planet and fidning it destroyed only shows that his mission failed, not that he wasn't the cause. Please respond, I'm determined to figure this all out eventually :) |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Lost Perfection: b) Anablephobia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The end lines in parentheses is about the band being bored while traveling on tour. | |
| Between the Buried and Me – Lost Perfection: b) Anablephobia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Continuing from 'Lost Perfection," the three adults continue to plan a mission to save the world (which ultimately fails, hence the world ending). "We shall live past these days, rid of all we've done." This line means that they are trying to survive, but the second part is really saying that the end of the world is THEIR fault. Digging into the lyrics later in the BTBAM discography, you'd see that these are the people who destroyed the world. The whole song "Prequel to the Sequel" talks about 3 HUMANS who eventually destroy the world after plundering all of its love and resources. The whole Parallax series and even some songs off of The Great Misdirect (Fossil Genera for sure) tell the rest of this story. :) |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Lost Perfection: a) Coulrophobia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I'm not the first person to realize this, not even close, but I'm posting this here just for all the people who are just getting into BTBAM and don't know. So they won't have to jump around the internet collecting info like I had to. This song is introducing a character called Prospect #2. He is a protagonist that is on a mission to save his world from destruction he had caused. His "mission" is to go back in time and plant microorganisms. I'm not sure how that exactly was supposed to work, but either way he failed his mission. When he returns to his time, his is destroyed, or it might be totally non-existent, depending on your interpretation. This is all confirmed in the EP: "The Parallax: The Hypersleep Dialouges" and more specifically in the WRITTEN lyrics for "Lunar Wilderness." I think that maybe, Tommy started thinking of this story while touring and being bored in the tour van. |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Desert of Song Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| To me this entire album is the story of Prospect#1 's world leading up to his decision to flee in "Swim to the Moon." I think this song is the world after the night owls take over, and it becomes a distopia, much like the totalitarian government found in the novel "1984.' This song describes a world worth escaping. | |
| Between the Buried and Me – Melting City Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It is important to note 2 things: 1. This is my first shot at a totally original BTBAM interoperation. I TOTALLY welcome anyone's opinion on this. I'm in no way claiming to be 100% right. Please forgive my writing style's immense use of parentheses, but it's what makes sense to me. 2. Tommy doesn't always put the story in a linear form. For example, he has said that "Bloom" takes place between "Swim to the Moon" and "Specular Reflection." Ok, here we go ;) I think the first part of this song takes place on Prospect #2's world before the destruction and the beginning of his mission. So I think this takes place before the Parallax EP. In my mind, there is a metaphor of a home (whether its a planet, dwelling, or ship) or "box," and uses terms such as "bed" and "window." "She" is his lover, but not a person, but the "Headless Wonder" from "Prequel to the Sequel. So "She" is the planet itself. The black mask represents Prospect #2's increasing detachment from the human condition as he ends the world (a.k.a. Black mask IS Prospect #2). He used the world, "collecting" and "profit[ing]" from its resources, then "destroying" it. He leaves the world before it is destroyed, or "before the rise of the sun." The ending of his world puts his mission into motion. He is "propelled" by the world's "pain," or death. The second half of the story takes place "years later" (obviously), but more specifically, just before the song "Extremophile Elite." [Non linear story telling, remember?] Prospect #2 eventually becomes some kind of inhuman being (mentally and maybe even physically) during the song "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" with all the cutting he does to himself; perhaps even becoming some part machine. His "frantic writing" is a note he writes, which later he will find again when he meets Prospect #1 in "Extremophile Elite." "Something is buried where his head once lay A note... MY note My hands shake and I fall to my knees Slowly read... "please know I love..." I think it's an apology note, something he might have done to psychologically cope with his wrong-doing (abusing his world until its destruction). He wonders why he is holding onto it and why he is reading it again ("What inside forced me to see the ink?" ( I think it was the humanity he has left, but it obviously causes him pain and pushes him towards becoming inhuman.) After he takes it out, uncrumples the note ("smoothed out") and reads it, he rips it up ("then in pieces"). He feels massive regret. He blames himself for his world's destruction ("One heart in a two heart bed. She woke to nothing. Because of me, she woke to nothing.") His ship (or "box" which has become his only home at this point) lands on Prospect #1's world. This is the world the Night Owl's have taken over. They promised to make it better in "Fossil Genera:, but as we know from "Desert of Song," it is a desolate, sad world. This explains the "Valley of smiling despair." I think the Night Owl's would argue that the world is better, hence the dichotomy. The negative emotions he feels here are from his human side, or "other half," which he is in the process of losing ("BUT lost through selfish measures") ever since he destroyed his world and failed to save it. Perhaps the rest of this song is a strong vision. He is inhuman ("robot") and has left his home ("box" this time, an actual dwelling). He feels alien to his dying world. There is nothing left to gain from this world ("No profit/ For once no profit"). The destruction has already begun ("after the rise of the sun"). "A burning smell creeps up my nostrils (the box is gone)." This line reminds me a lot of the line "The stench of shit is in the air..." from "Lost Perfection," which we know is the ending of Prospect #2's world. His home ("box") is destroyed. A trapdoor is a portal to something usually negative. Locked from inside, to me, means that he is closing off this portal to this negativity, which I think he thinks is his human side. He is now an "incomplete me," or an inhuman human if you will. He continues his mission. "My propulsion from their pain." So in conclusion, this song is about the death of his humanity and the death of his world. I know I make A LOT of stretches, but hey, this is my first attempt. What do you guys think? |
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| Between the Buried and Me – Lay Your Ghosts to Rest Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I had the feeling he was going to destroy based off the ending of the album. I totally agree with you on this :) | |
| Between the Buried and Me – Bloom Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Tommy also said that this underwater village did experiments on Prospect #1 and brought him back to life. As far as I can tell, Prospect #1 was floating in the ocean after "Swim to the Moon" when he either fell into the water, or this Queen Sea entity captured him. Siren like, they tell him that everything will be fine and they won't hurt him. They do some kind of tests on him, he must have died, and they brought him back to life and returned him to his boat, where he drifted until he crashed on the island from "Specular Reflection." "Queen Sea will give back life" (Prospect #1 died, and they brought him back to life) "We used you" (They did tests on him) "Your purpose is clear" (He has a destiny to fufill) "We never knew" (They didn't know who he was when they captured him) "Floating back to the surface" (They return him to the boat) "(Tentacle hearse transportation... Actual happenings or the distant mind?) " (The method of his return to the surface, and his vauge awareness of all this happening) |
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