| Prefab Sprout – Green Isaac Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I don't know much about Paddy MacAloon's life, but I think that this song is about an individual's relationship with the church. "Stella Mater (star mother or as i read: heavenly mother) light is failing making such a fool of thee when you'd love the be someone. This is the time I've set aside/.../cul de sac pride." The light of knowledge as we know it disgraces the image of god as he's come to know it through the church (he means this a bit ironically) and this is the token time i take out of my day to show my appreciation of you. "I've learned today /.../ that you'd want to say" he's expressing difficulty of relating to the community of the church because the language of divinity is to him an unspoken moment that he cant convey in this context "Forget the style... wash and comb your hair" which music is capable, on the other hand, of achieving, so it will serve as the vessel of my new faith the "little green isaac youre gonna walk backwards through the room" part is reprimand by an authority figure of the boy's newfound faith meaning get out.... "does that mean i wont see you?" is the boys response, and the parents response is the equivalent of "just get outta my sight." I too suspect the Isaac reference is biblical, implying that the boy is talking with his parents who placed an expectation to have a certain kind of faith regardless of the personal cost. This sentiment is reflected in the Joan of Arc reference as he realizes the nature of his type of prayer and what it will cost him: being regarded as an occultist by the church. The "up the stairway he rose" means his growing up on the christian path and "down the stairway" refers to walking away from the church along that very same path. I believe that this is also a reference to hegelian dialectics (whichP McA might be familiar with given the veryMarxist quality of the final track on this album which implies the inevitability of proletarian revolution) and he's relishing the irony of the truth provided in that way of thinking |
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