| Boy & Bear – Back Down the Black Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think this song is about watching others suffer and wanting to help them. In the beginning someone is struggling with addiction. "You're hurting I can tell by the way that you move You got your head on your chest and your chest in your mouth You don't look so good" This conjures an image of a junkie experiencing powerful withdrawals. This person is supposed to be the songwriter's pillar of strength. Perhaps an older brother or other role model. Their suffering is causing great anxiety. There is a void in leadership. "But brother you're scared and I'm scared when you're scared 'Cause you ain't supposed to be" As the song transitions towards the chorus, it feels to me like the helpless observer is becoming empowered. Perhaps the child has grown up. They seek to willfully lift the addicted out of "the black." "'Cause I got the animal I've got the beast on a leash these days So you don't go wondering back down the black to that awful place And help is well on it's way, You taught me too much to sit back and watch you this way" Its almost a way of saying, "I couldn't help you before. But now that I can I'll do whatever is necessary." As the song progresses, I think the author's attempt to help was unsuccessful. There is mention of a raven, a clear omen of death, as well as this line: "And I watched it all disappear Oh tether of life won't you shepherd me home again dear" The "it" in this case being the life, or will to live, of their loved one, who has now died despite the author's best efforts. The person saw life as merely a "tether", with their "home" being someplace beyond this world. The closing refrain suggests to me that watching loved ones suffer is an eternal element of life. We try as best as we can to help, but sometimes those efforts are unsuccessful. Even so, we wish to help anyways. "Oh my legs don't work and my limbs all hurt As my body aches to take the weight that's been thrown down on top of you Like you would do too" Far from the sense of empowerment of lifting someone out of the black, the implication here is that sometimes we are powerless to stop or prevent the suffering of others. There is a sense of being resigned to allow fate to shape the destinies of others. But the lighter, yet melancholy tone of the music suggests that perhaps that's okay. The author is trying to come to peace with the powerlessness of the human condition. |
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