| The Barr Brothers – Even The Darkness Has Arms Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I think the song is a coming-of-age story. Yes, the writer is in love with a woman. But I think more importantly the writer is struggling to find himself in relation to his ancestors and his book learning and his lover. HIs lover, (perhaps) his most intimate relationship poses the greatest risk to his becoming. "Maybe the water went dry / Keeping an eye on you / And with an eye on you, it could drown me too…” But the water doesn’t drown him, it gives him life. The book learning key line; “I bring to you with reverand hands / All the books that my love abides…” Books are at least as cathartic as music. In a different way. I think the writer has an intimate relationship with books. The tightrope walker in the first lines of the song is probably a reference to Nietzches’ tightrope walker. I think Nietzche’s hero, Zarathustra’s primary goal in Thus Spoke Z is to be a trusted, wise leader of the common people (I never finished the book). This is not my blog, it’s just a convenient google search: http://theilluminatedshowman.blogspot.com/2012/08/nietzsches-tightrope-walker.html Zarathustra, speaking about the tightrope walker: "Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and stopping. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under. I love those who do not know how to live, except by going under, for they are those who cross over.“ Nietzche: "No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!" “People will raise a whole lot of hell about / The water and the wind-mill” is a clear reference to Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Quixote thought the windmills were giants and he either fought them or wanted to fight them (I never read the book). He didn’t realize his giants (his enemies or his sins or his doubts or his self loathings) weren’t real, they only existed in his head. The writer is "stabbing quixotically” at his ancestor giants, those who gave him the gift (and the burden) of becoming his own full self. Barr brothers: “You can be chrome when you’re wise / Can be wise when you’re blue…” The down times are the most instructive times if one can plow them in, work them in, letting the down times feed the soul instead of poison it. One must go under, or over, in order to grow. Ultimately the song is positive and forward-looking. “A light in the window / To pass the night through … Keeping it on, keeping it on…” The writer is thinking too much about what he is instead of living into whatever is already. Thanks for posting. Peace. |
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