| Midlake – Roscoe Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[lura04:2403] I think that's part of it, but there's a Hegelian dialectic thing going on too. where he says a change or two (around this place) after the thought we were devoid part he's basically saying we don't have to start over again to get back to that simpler time, the roots of that simpler time remain in the world he laments. the place is a parable for our modern life, a cut-up, abstracted society with no reference to the organic materials and diy or hire a friend way of life of the many generations that preceded us. but nothing that was here before is gone. it's just a mindset - if you want to build a cabin in the woods, grab an axe & run into the forest. |
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| Grateful Dead – Ripple Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The simple part - that this life is a spiritual journey we all must take alone - is there, but there's more to it. It's a spin on the Plato's Theory of Forms (think universal truths). There is a giant orchestra we're all playing in. The author is looking at his brainchild and it's life inside that orchestra to see if they have any particular resonance to the listener in the cacophony of other voices contributing to the orchestra in the beginning - the lyrics glowing &/or the melody being played by the unstrung harp (this is where the Theory of Forms comes in b/c the thought is divorced or abstracted from any manifestation it has - i.e. an electronic recording or single public performance). Then he kind of hedges or discounts the value of his brainchild - It's hand me down - all thoughts are as Plato doesn't see them as derivative or copied, but rather universal & almost tangible forms that live at an abstract layer & are visible by inference from multiple manifestations in the physical world. The thoughts are broken - this is just the author admitting that he can't fully see the abstract form nor can he reduce what he sees to an accurate manifestation as words are limited in how they can depict the form. So he's not sure he wants to share. He resolves this dilemma by just doing it. More music - more attempts at reducing the form to something tangible - better orchestra - better view into the true nature of the form. i.e. his take is as good as anyone else's. Then the chorus to me just repeats the notion that the forms exist - ripple in still water - how do we know there's a ripple if the water's still - no manifestation? Answer: we have the seeing eye. Where there is no pebble tossed or wind to blow just indicates the permanent & independent nature of the form - nothing created it nor can destroy it. I like the ReflectingonReality's idea about a dead body though. Now comes the tricky part. This is where Hunt connects the need to discover these forms and communicate them to the need to individually walk our spiritual path through life. The cup being empty is like the spiritual gas tank being empty - no view into the forms. The liquid described here is an ability to see the intangible forms for what they are. If I got a better view on it than you, I'm happy to share. What Hunt thinks the fountain is I don't know. This is something metaphysical. I think ReflectingonReality's allusion to Aleister Crowley's line about do what thou wilt is close to the author's personal belief system. There is a Thelemic theme that runs through this, so let's just say that something like OTO gets you in the ball park of a some fount of knowledge that reveals these universal truths, but the way to get to this fountain is a journey that must be taken alone. The rest is just the duties of the enlightened to others as they follow the spiritual path - if you choose to be a leader you must follow - follow what? There is a set of rules for self-enlightenment that are handed down through the secret societies & the Eastern practices of meditation & the ritual worship of Egyptian deities & whatever all the hocus pocus that makes up Magick. Again, not necessarily what Hunt believes is the path, I don't know what that is, but for purpose of completing the lyric interpretation it's a code of conduct employed to achieve a personal enlightenment that reveals a set of universal truths. |
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