| Flogging Molly – Black Friday Rule Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Disagree. He can be referring to a time period in order to compare what he's experienced to that. It doesn't make sense, knowing Dave's history, for this song to be set in that time period. I think it's far more autobiographical than that. | |
| Flogging Molly – Grace Of God Go I Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Nope. | |
| Flogging Molly – Grace Of God Go I Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I'm almost positive that this has zero to do with the Potato Famine. I promise, not every song done by an Irish band is about the famine, guys. "lookin down through tide of no return, is a field where the crops no longer grow. parched is the land, strangled and bedamned, therefore the grace of God go I" First of all, it's not 'therefore'. It's, 'there, for' and is short for 'there, but for the grace of God go I'. It's a common saying that means 'I could have that person's life and problems, if not for God's grace'. Knowing that, this first part makes me believe that the speaker is looking at and talking about someone else...and how that person is 'bedamned', 'strangled' and 'parched'. So, they're thirsty, can't breath/are being choked by someone or something esle, maybe outside of their control or not...and, in any case, they're ultimately damned. Whomever is being spoken of is, from what I gather, emotionally barren and the speaker sees a lot of himself in this other person. But, the other person has given in, given up and maybe even entirely lost...and, had it not been for the grace of God, the speaker might have been there as well. So, then we have: "down beside where the riverbed sleeps, is a man not knowing what he should feel. mocked by the wave that beats the water's edge," So, first of all, notice back in the first stanza that 'there, for the grace of god go I' is the final line, the final say. In the following stanza's, this is also true, even though he almost says it all, he doesn't say it entirely until the final line of each stanza. And, in the last two, he leaves off the 'go I' until the last line, but he didn't do this in the first stanza. That shows the emotions progrssing, almost like a self-awareness setting in deeper and deeper, or an awareness of the person he's watching and what they're going through and how emotionally barren and desolate they feel. Second, and speaking to the overall theme of the song (or poem), I think water plays a really huge part of what the speaker is trying to say. So, what does that mean? Here are some metaphors for water. I think there are a few ways the water metaphor applies to this song. Life - Man can live without food longer than he can water. Our existence begins and grows within a womb of water (and other fluids, but you get the idea). Judgement - If you want a biblical theme, water cleanses sin. Sex - Water can be lust. Water is fluid, it's wet, the connection with sex is pretty obvious. Conquering Nature - In many adventure stories, water is used to show man's ability to conquer nature, . Disaster stories often show man's inability to conquer nature, but his determination to survive it. Time - Water can rush quickly through rapids, flow along a river or be still on a pond. Water moves at its own pace and can affect the pace of a story. It can represent the way time moves depending on our own state. Secrets - Water hides things. Emotion - Tears, rain, There is a reference to water, in one way or form or another, in EVERY stanza. That means that water and it's meanings are a big, big deal to the imagery. Pay attention to that. Anyway, I'm not going to dissect this entire thing for you...just, PLEASE, stop telling me -and everyone else- that it has something to do with potatoes when it CLEARLY does not. If there's any famine at all being discussed here, it's somehow an emotional one. You figure it out, just stop telling me that this poem has to do with Ireland's great potato famine. It does not. I promise. |
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