| Radical Face – Always Gold Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I love this song. It has an incredible sense of acceptance and calm. My favorite line is probably this one: "You can blame me when there's no one left to blame I don't mind" That's the true meaning of love. To forgive, and to support, regardless what happens. |
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| Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I have a pretty strong opinion on the meaning of this song. In my opinion it is told from the point of view of a man who feels like he has done nothing with his life - that he is a failure, and he is possibly contemplating suicide. In the song he flashes back to a girl he used to know throughout all his childhood, marked by a religious upbringing. They were close friends; he was even in love with the girl. However, as they grew up they grew apart: he is a hopeless romantic, a melancholy dreamer and has a habit of getting himself into trouble whereas she is the “good girl” – steady, honest and obedient. They eventually split apart about this. The graffiti throughout the song represents the narrators own questioning views of religion and how he does not truly believe it can save him. Despite his general hopelessness he still dreams of a chance he will make it to heaven, and that he and the girl will meet again. Below is a line-by-line explanation: “Please, remember me happily By the rosebush laughing With bruises on my chin, the time when We counted every black car passing” As can be inferred from the reference to the bruised chin, this describes the narrators childhood. He and the girl (probably a neighbor) would spend time together, playing games and laughing. “Your house beneath the hill And up until someone caught us in the kitchen With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank A vision too removed to mention” They were close. The reference to “maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank” makes it seem like they made plans to run away/go on some great adventure together. The fact that “someone caught” them also hints at the fact that they were children, being watched closely by their parents. The “vision too removed to mention” shows that even then they recognized that their dreams were just that: dreams. “But please, remember me fondly I heard from someone you're still pretty” Fast forward: the narrator and the girl have lost contact, but we can tell he still remembers her, and still cares about her. “And then they went on to say That the pearly gates Had some eloquent graffiti Like "We'll meet again" and "Fuck the man" And "Tell my mother not to worry"” Wherever it is that the narrator has ended up, he feels the need to mention the views of the people around him which seem cynical and irreverent. This also foreshadows the conflicts he and the girl had. He’s basically saying “See? I’m not worth it, I can’t be a better person” “And angels with their great handshakes Were always done in such a hurry” The narrator himself seems to be religious, or is influenced by religion, probably due to his upbringing. However he feels that religion has let him down, and wasn’t there to help him so he’s lost trust. “And please, remember me that Halloween Making fools of all the neighbors” The narrator was always the “bad boy”, the incorrigible one. “Our faces painted white By midnight, we'd forgotten one another And when the morning came I was ashamed Only now it seems so silly” The girl felt uncomfortable with his behavior and left, yet he continued having fun. When the morning came he realized how much he’d hurt his friend, though looking back the whole thing seems childish and petty. “That season left the world and then returned And now you're lit up by the city” But those times are gone now, and the girl has moved away to the city. “So please, remember me mistakenly” Previously when the narrator asked to be remembered he wanted to be remembered “happily”, or “fondly”, now though he is moving to a darker tone. He’s speaking about things he isn’t proud of. He is saying, if you remember me like this, do so only by accident. “In the window of the tallest tower Calling passers-by but much too high To see the empty road at happy hour” These lines are not literal. Instead, they describe how the narrator has always been a bit of a lonely dreamer, signified as being in a “tall tower”. He tried to reach out to people with his ideas, but they were too far out there for people to understand, a tendency of which that was already alluded to in the “vision too removed to mention” in the first stanza. The last line gives a sense of loneliness: at happy hour people are either at home with their families or at bars with friends, the narrator however is alone. “Gleam and resonate, just like the gates Around the holy kingdom” With words like "Lost and found" and "Don't look down" And "Someone save temptation"” Again the narrator draws parallel to religion, showing that at least in part his thinking and worldview is strongly shaped by religious upbringing. This time the graffiti is less joking, and disrespectful but more questioning and poignant. “And please, remember me as in the dream We had as rug-burned babies Among the fallen trees and fast asleep” Again, the narrator flashes back to their childhood. “Aside the lions and the ladies That called you what you like and even might Give a gift for your behavior A fleeting chance to see a trapeze Swinger high as any savior” The “lions and the ladies” represent teachers in school. If you behaved well they would reward you. At one point there seems to have been a trip to a circus which was the setting for the second next stanza. The reference to the savior makes me think that this was probably a religious school which shaped the two children’s worldview, albeit somewhat differently. “But please, remember me, my misery And how it lost me all I wanted Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains” Obviously the narrator is somewhat morose. He seems to be a troubled dreamer, like the “dogs that love the rain” he too has a leaning towards melancholy and chases his own trains in the form of lofty, but unreachable goals, dreams and aspirations. “The colored birds above their running In circles around the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter So bright, on cinder gray, in spray paint "Who the hell can see forever?"” These lines describe a scene: a yard behind a church and on the wall there is graffiti making a snide comment about the proposed omniscience of god. “And please, remember me seldomly” Now the narrator is describing a memory especially painful to him- probably the point at which he and the girl began to drift apart for good. “In the car behind the carnival My hand between your knees, you turned from me And said, "The trapeze act was wonderful But never meant to last"” The narrator seems to have developed feeling for the girl, and tried to act on them. She, being much more pious and religious than him thinks he has overstepped his bounds and turns from him, switching the subject. Her words, that “The trapeze act was wonderful, but never meant to last” indirectly states that while she really likes the narrator, they cannot be together, probably because she is fed up with his empty dreaming. “the clown that passed Saw me just come up with anger” The narrator obviously didn’t understand her choice and resented it. The nature of the song however shows that he has probably come around to understanding her, or at least now he seems to be blaming himself, when back then he blamed her. “When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot Had an element of danger” This line marks a break from the happy, comforting childhood images. The children are growing up. The circus dogs may be metaphorical for the people the narrator meets as an adult. He sees the world as intimidating filled with ragtag mongrels that may or may not mean well. “So please, remember me finally And all my uphill clawing” What the narrator wants the girl to know and to remember is that he really tried to battle his demons. The phrase “uphill clawing” however makes it sound like he felt he was doomed from the get go, like the trapeze swinger who’s act could not last. “My dear, but if I make the pearly gates I'll do my best to make a drawing Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl An angel kissing on a sinner” Obviously death is on the narrators mind, whether in the future or imminent. He seems to not have given up all hope of being a “good person” and making it to heaven. He regrets many of his life decisions and hopes that maybe in heaven he and the girl may meet again. Until then however he will wait and “make a drawing”, like he did as a child. The drawing shows him, and the girl, analogous to “god and Lucifer”. She was an angel kissing on him, the sinner. “A monkey and a man, a marching band All around a frightened trapeze swinger” The metaphor moves back to the circus scene as the narrator thinks of himself as a monkey, just a man, as the “frightened trapeze swinger” trying to balance his way through life, but ultimately failing. |
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