| Elton John – Levon Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I am sorry, I somehow submitted before I was done. I think "Jesus" being "Levon, Jr." is consistent with the emotional tenor of the song. I take that stanza "He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day when the New York Times said God is Dead and War;s begun"- is to evoke that sense that the son feels as though his father (who thinks he is master of the universe) wants the son to be just like him - and the culture of the day said that view of the world - the old WWII vets who were welcomed home with tickertape parades - was dead. I am not sure what "Alvin Tostig" is about - except I think it negates the view of the father as being a Latin immigrant who would actually name his child Jesus. Tostig is Irish. Alvin - Levon the consonants are the same. I am being too much the cryptographer, but I think perhaps both father and son are named Alvin Tostig and that the son - as adolescents do - has created the mocking nickname "levon" out of "Alvin" I don't think anybody really manufactures cartoon ballons. I think the lyric is supposed to evoke a trivial sort of industry, and also the creation of vacuous dreams that are cartoonish and unrealistic. And the son is roped into his father's hopes and dreams - though he doesn't believe them. The son wants to escape the father and leave him behind - wants to create his own dream. Frankly, if you over think it, as I have done - it is an enormously sad song about the generational break between the WII, Depression era parents and the baby boom children. I was a baby boomer and understand exactly that ambivalence between pleasing your father and finding you own sense of identity. It is enormously sad that, for some many of us - though not me - it morphed into a disdain, even hatred for the guys who won WWII. |
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| Elton John – Levon Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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People take lyrics too literally. They take "symbolism" too literally too, as though things are in a code with a one to one correspondence. Poetry is a language of emotion, not concrete description. It is intended to evoke, based on the personal experiences of the listener or reader as much as the personal experience of the writer. In other words, it is not some sort of puzzle which is to be figured out and which has a right answer. Your guess is as good as mine. Levon wears his war wound like a crown. - to me, Levon is class of '45. - one of the WWII vets, who didn't understand the '60s with the anti-war movement, drug culture, etc. His war wound to me just evokes that sense of a demand for respect for WWII service. He calls his child Jesus - Well, who was Jesus' father? From the perspective of his son, Levon seems to think himself to be God. Because he like the name - again, evoking that vast arrogance (from the perspective of his son) And he sends him to the finest schools in town. (WWII era guy following the very traditional route of education as path to success etc. - the son feels as though the schools are to feed the ego of the father rather than for the genuine benefit of the son.) Levon, Levon likes his money - from the perspective of the son, the father is overly materialistic. He was born a pauper to a pawn - Who was born on Christmas? Jesus. The New York Times said God is dead - This confused me, and the best I can make of it is this - "Jesus" is actually Levon Jr. I think that is constent with the emotkional tenor of the song. |
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