| Beck – Heart Is A Drum Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This is my interpretation. First of all the title. Heart Is A Drum. The word drum I think is a good clue to what this song is about. Think of the old saying "March to the beat of your own drum." As we know, Beck is all about being the kind of artist who marches to the beat of his own drum. He has an incredible artistic mind and he's carved out a niche for himself by being himself and being unique amongst the sea of copycats in the music industry. He has literally marched to the beat of his own drum since he arrived on the music scene. Free as a traveling wheel Circling around your iron will Does Beck mean that he's free in his creativity? Could he mean be referring to the iron will that it takes to be a unique artist in todays world? To be an artist like Beck, most certainly means that he needs to have an iron will because going against the grain is one of the hardest things that people ever had to do. See only what you feel Keeps you turning when you're standing still You try to run from trouble when it comes You follow the drum keeping time with everyone High as the light of day Falling down across your lost highway Why does it hurt this way? To come so far to find they've closed the gates? You've lost your tongue when you fall from the pendulum Your heart is a drum keeping time with everyone In the first two lines of this verse, could he referring to someone like Hank Williams? A struggling, iron-willed ,creative artist on a lost highway? Someone who is hurting really badly so they might be high on something? In reference to his own music career, and the music career of others, he may have been thinking that he had come so far only to find that the music industry collapsed? I read an interview with him where he discusses a new David Bowie album which upon release seemed to go unnoticed whereas in decades before it was a major event. A lot of major creative artists lost their sources of income and in some cases no longer receive the amount of publicity in their careers that at one time they used to receive. So for an artist like Bowie, to have come so far only to find that they have closed the gates is sort of fitting. It's also fitting for Beck since at one point he didn't even have a label anymore. He had come so far and had attained major success only to find the gates seemingly closed on his own career as well. Perhaps he felt that he had lost his tongue (desire to write) and his voice (an artist with something to say) when sales went down due to the advent of downloading for free music that was occurring. After his contract with Interscope expired, he was without a label for a number of years. In my opinion, it was completely ridiculous for an artist of such creative magnitude to be without a recording contract (if that's actually true). Everyone, hear the drum from the undertow Need to find someone to show me how to play it slow And just let it go In this part, could he be referring to his style of music as the undertow? Undertow definition: In physical oceanography, undertow is the steady current – below the splash zone – which is moving offshore for waves approaching a shore. Wikipedia If this is a metaphor for his style of music, then he's talking about his music as being the kind that moves away from the norms or moves away from what's popular or mainstream. His music style could be considered a strong current below the surface of a body of water (what's popular in music today) moving in a direction different from that of the surface current. Need to find someone to show me how to play it slow Could he be referring to his creative work ethic? He works so hard at his art that he wishes someone would come along to show him how to play it slow and to let go of his desire to make an impact in the music world. Or he thinks he works too hard and wishes he knew how to slow it down. Your eyes get stung by the rays of the sinking sun You follow the drum keeping time with everyone Going beat beat beat, it's beating me down Beat beat beat beat, it's beating me down Day after day, it's turning around 'Til all my days are drowning out Does the first line mean that he wakes up just as the sun is about to set and upon waking the light of the sun stings his eyes? He spends the days sleeping and the nights awake working. He's getting tired and weary. Day after day he keeps hoping things will turn around but it's wearing on him and he's getting run down. Those are just a couple of things I thought of when thinking/analyzing this song. |
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