| Frightened Rabbit – 400 Bones Lyrics | 4 years ago |
|
I have spent a lot of time listening to this song recently and I think it is one of FR's most optimistic, powerful, and encouraging songs despite the sadness that still lingers within it, that sadness isn't despair, but joy of love, life and memory. This is my understanding of the song. "Four hundred bones, crumpled in bed" The easiest line to interpret, with 400 bones being a reference to two people (the human body has about 200 bones in it), the choice of the word 'crumpled' is interesting, there are connotations there of exhaustion, or perhaps damage, you crumple things before you discard them, two people who are both broken in some way but who have each other and can take solace in that. "I'm the only one who knows that you're still breathing" This line I think means that they are isolated from the world, nothing exists in this moment beyond the two of them, no one knows that they are even alive, they are just enjoying this peaceful moment in each other's presence. It could mean that the partner of the speaker is sick and expected to die soon, no one knows that she/he hasn't died yet, or perhaps a combination of both, but I think the former meaning fits better with the rest of the song "Beneath the blanket, of another French death" While French death sounds sad or depressing, I wasn't sure what it meant so I looked up the term and Wikipedia suggested that "la petite mort" is French for the little death, a term used in modern times to describe the "period of transcendence" post orgasm, a reflective, happy, exhilarating moment that these two have just shared together and now lay together under it's "blanket" experiencing it together. This is a positive feeling, I like the mention in that article too that Barthes suggested this should be the feeling we get when we read great literature, and maybe I could add to that or when we hear great music. I think this is what could be meant by the French death. "This afternoon is one I will be keeping" This is the line that convinces me that this is a positive song and a positive moment, the speaker will be remembering this afternoon because of the joy it brings him. "Where skin is painted by a brush from the Sun" some nice imagery here, the warmth of the sun running over their skin "Pull the sheets up to your neck so She can't see us" pulling the sheets up to cover their nakedness from the sun "And let the clocks do all the worrying for once" This is another line that shows this is a comforting and encouraging song, the moment is so blissful that not even the clock, a symbol for the ever present passage of time and the existential dread that comes from the pressure of not "wasting" time or wasting any of your life, here not even the ticking of a clock can cause any worry to the couple. "We're passing out inside the sleeping mausoleum" This is the line that is challenging, since the mausoleum is a place of death, yet this moment seems to be a happy one, but I think since it is a "sleeping" mausoleum it is not a place of death yet, it has not awakened to become a mausoleum it is just a place where the two of them can share a moment. This line does foreshadow the somewhat tragic turn at the end of the song however. "This is my safe house in the hurricane Here is where my love lays, two hundred treasured bones" the safe house being the presence of the partner, a shelter from the chaos, confusion, despair and destruction of the hurricane of life. "This is my warmth behind the Cold War This is what I'm living for, forever coming home" The reference to the Cold War is another line I am not positive about, but I think he wanted to juxtapose the warmth of the relationship, but possibly the Cold War being a reference to the dread of the 70's that nuclear war would end the world, in the face of that dread the speaker still has a will to live because of the existence of the partner, the speaker has a reason to keep returning home and not give into the fear of annihilation. "Here's to the room I can rest in The door I've always opened, never to be closed" The room to rest in speaking about peacefulness, true rest from anxiousness or fear, complete comfort and relaxation because of the presence of the partner. The door never to be closed means that it will not be taken away from the speaker no matter what happens. "You as my horizon line, the star I navigate by Takes me back to hold 200 perfect bones" This is the line that makes me well up every time I hear it, just a beautiful pair of metaphors here. The horizon line being the line that defines the boundary between ground and sky, also connected to the vanishing point where existence could start and end, the partner defines the existence or identity of the speaker, gives the speaker the boundaries within which the speaker can exist. The star I navigate by as a reference to sailing where sailors would use the stars to figure out how to get home, the partner is the speaker's home, where he exists, feels alive, feels like himself/herself. "On absent days I will return to this place And play a silent colour film within my head" In the last verse here there is a melancholy turn, it is clear that the partner has died or is gone (likely death judging by the last line), but the speaker comes to remember their time together, the silent colour film, the fact it is colour is important since that means the memory is vivid and clear. "In which the pillow leaves a cold upon your face And all at once it all makes perfect sense" This is the line that I am the least confident about, but I think that this is something that indicates that the partner has died since normally pillows would heat up from human heat and human contact, the idea that when you turn your pillow over the other side is always cold, so if the pillow is cold on the partner's face then the partner is dead or not really there, however this memory is what brings the speaker to their epiphany, and "it all makes perfect sense." The speaker has figured out "all" of it, life, the meaning of life is to find a love and hold onto it, since a life without love is a life unfulfilled, love is the reason people exist on this planet, and he also realizes that something you love will never truly be gone (see the next line) "400 bones crumpled in bed I'm the only one who knows that you're still breathing" Here the song is framed by the repetition of the first two lines, but I believe the meaning here is different, the 400 bones are crumpled in bed again because even though the speaker's partner is gone, they are still with him/her in memory, and the speaker knows they are alive (still breathing) because they live on through the speaker's memory and love, so while the partner is not physically alive, they are spiritually alive or metaphysically alive. |
|
| Propagandhi – Purina Hall Of Fame Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
Sleeping masters roused to burning homes from beds Steeping toddlers plucked from their watery deaths Ribbons, plaques and soft-soap are the ephemeral rewards Paid to the slaves whose selfless acts accord This section has been fairly well explained to combine with the song title and show the pointless awards that Purina gives out to animals when they do something heroic. A higher value to their masters These parting gifts, bolt pistols Console the rest, the remainder This first line here, continuing from the previous line “accord a higher value to their masters” can either mean that the selflessness of the animals shows that they value their masters lives, or it can mean that the actions of the animals cause their masters to give them (pets) a higher value than other animals (the remainder). I think the second meaning is intended. The bolt pistols, that are the “parting gifts” is a sarcastic use of the term gifts since those are small guns used to stun animals or kill them for transport or to prepare them for slaughter, this is what the remainder of the animals, those not given these awards are left with. Too bad the tributes paid to lives that relegate these thrones To lives spent valuing the runners-up, are known to be neither fleeting nor desireable but nothing surprises me these days I just sit and watch the boxcars roll by and wait This first line here is speaking of the tributes or recognition, so this would be comparable to the awards in the first stanza, given to “lives that relegate these thrones” that would be animals who are not put in the Hall of Fame, animals that are not as valued like pets are. Then in the second line he adds another subject, not just lives of these undervalued animals, but also “lives spent valuing the runners-up” so here he is speaking of humans, people who value those animals that others see as “runners-up” or less important than these animals in the “Hall of Fame.” These awards that these animals, and these people get, are neither fleeting or desirable. This is juxtaposed with the awards to the pets in the Hall of Fame which are “ephemeral,” meaningless, short lived, temporary. So unlike those awards these awards are longer lasting, yet not desirable. For the animals, they are longer lasting because the bolt pistols bring death, and death is not desirable. For the humans who value these animals, the “award” is not fleeting because this label of animal lover, which might sometimes be conflated with someone who is crazy for seeing value in these animals lives, that is a label that will stick with you and that is not seen as desirable by society. So he is not surprised that society does not see the value in caring about these “runner-up” animals. Patient Unattended So patient So unattended Here this section can be the actions of the human who is waiting to strike, but also the idea that the animals who are not valued are unattended, ignored, not valued or cared for, so there seems to be a double meaning here. A package under A terminal bench and A short fuse to scatter Steady hands if I forget to remember This is a reference to the bomb, stopping the train from going to a slaughter house or meat packing plant. It has a short fuse because it needs to go off quickly before the bomber gets second thoughts, his shaking hands are because he is nervous, he doesn’t know if he should do it, because he might forget the reason he is doing it in the first place. That better lives have Been lived in The margins and Locked in the prisons And lost on the gallows Than have ever been enshrined in palaces But here, the reason he shouldn’t be afraid is that many of the people that society looks down on, those who live in the margins, are imprisoned, or killed, are better people, in a moral sense, than those who are in places of power in society with the palace reflecting power. It's not your fault There's nothing you can do It's just the way it is There's nothing we can do Here the speaker changes, the voice is different and softer than how the other lyrics are spoken and this is a clear indication that rather than the speaker of the poem giving up, this is the doubt of the bomber, or the influence of the media or society at large to not worry about it and just keep the status quo. And then as has been mentioned the explosive guitar solo at the end symbolizing the bomb going off and encouraging people to take action against animal cruelty. I think they symbolism of the palace to represent people in positions of power connects back to the earlier line of the throne to show that while yes this is directly talking about animal cruelty, it is also talking about humans, and how value seems to be imparted sometimes on certain people and not others, and to remember that those people who do live in the margins are just as important or even more important than those that get the attention and the awards. Or even that some people are treated as animals by those in power, and given meaningless rewards to make them feel good and distract them while in reality the “masters” or the people in power do not care about most people and are doing the equivalent of putting them to death. So I think the dual meanings are both here. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.