| Yes – The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn) Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| For example, the line : ‘the multitudinous seas incarnadine’ from another work might make one think its writer had been eating mushrooms, especially considering when it was written the word ‘incarnadine’ did not exist in the english language. But that writer swapped it from the Italian language, likely knowing the ‘carna’ syllable would suggest carnage, befitting that portion of the play. And I don't think many here among us would think that Shakespeare was smokin’ rope. | |
| Yes – The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn) Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| A lot of people assume Anderson and Yes were under the influence of various mind-altering chemicals when the lyrics were written, and they might have been. Another possibility/approach is to get ideas, images, and connect various distal concepts when high, but then do the actual writing the next day or so when straight (who wants to waste a buzz looking at a pencil snd paper?) . But such chemicals need not be involved at all . I also see Anderson’s lyrics as heavily inspired by the loose syntax of ee cummings, who lived before LSD even existed, before THC was available in the underground, etc. Social interactions and small town life and love were the base for ee cummings work. Anderson on the other hand pursued the more exhilarating nature, such as the ocean, mountains, horizons, windstorms, and its nonhuman and human life (on this song). Just a love of words, being attuned to their actual sounds, allowing a freedom unbound by grammar, and having an overarching concept can be enough to go in the direction of these lyrics. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Anderson swaps the order of adjectives and nouns quite a bit like he does with ‘sea whole’ and such as is done in French, e.g., Le Moulan Rouge) but even Shakespeare did that often, as needed to fit the meter of the line. | |
| Yes – The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn) Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| Michael Garrret is right about the Hindu origin of the song, and while it is tempting to connect ‘we fled from the sea whole’ to the Red Sea parting, Moses’ tribe didnt actually flee from the sea, but rather the Pharaoh’s army. You could say they fled~through~ the sea , perhaps. The ‘sea whole’ is the phrase that makes me think more of evolution, as life as an amalgamation of many species fled, or transitioned , from the sea to the tide pools to the swamps to the land. Anderson uses the phrase ‘whole’ in a similar manner on their previous album, Close to the Edge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But it is reasonable to read Christian themes in the song as well since Anderson and co-writer likely Howe were forerunners of what eventually became known as New Age. They fused Eastern, Western, and Ancient religious and philosophies. While this was not unique in that the Theosophists aimed to fuse Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Jewish spirituality about a hundred years ago. Painter Mondrian and poet TS Elliot were theosophists, with Elliot’s “The Wasteland” being a theosophist masterpiece. Some of the beatniks also sought to generalize a spirituality from all the world religions, but most were mainly nihilists because they were the first generation to have to learn to live with global nuclear annihilation at a very young age. Yes were of the hippies movement that turned the non-conformist beatnik pessimism and city grime existentialism into a non-judgmental optimism bathed in nature. | |
| Phish – Bathtub Gin Lyrics | 1 year ago |
|
Yes, pretty sure it is about modern prohibition and its subversions, which has lessened in the last decade. That is why there is the Gershwin quotes, as mentioned, since most of his classics were written during the alcohol prohibition era. I always wonder if the joker might be a reference to Dylan, who often referred to himself as the joker such as believed to occur in his All Along The Watchtower. Or it could be Kesey & the merry pranksters. But might as well consider it to be a generic description for anyone with an iconoclastic bent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Musically, the song builds on a combination of Bowie’s Aladdin Sane with the crazy piano playing of Kieth Tippets as that song also quotes Gershwin. Rhythmically, I hear it coming from the 50s song On Broadway. My favorite aspect is that after each break it comes in even louder than before and with such a sharp attack. I cant think of any other song that does that, not even in decades worth of prog. Since it is now 2024, check out their live version played at the MGM Sphere. |
|
| David Bowie – Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) Lyrics | 1 year ago |
|
I agree it is A lad insane, which is much better than a lad in vain , or a lad in vein. Heroin references in music by the early 70s were getting pretty tired by that time. Plus the splitting of the the first word and its merging of its last syllable with sane to make insane is a more interesting wordplay. If you didn’t see the title spelled out and just heard the song, you would definitely hear it as a lad insane. Unfortunately for me, I had already seen the album cover before finally hearing the song on the radio, so I was a little slower in overcoming the spelling bias. I’m glad I read through the lyrics here and the comments to help me listen to the lyrics more carefully next time I listen to it. I didnt know about the subtitle with the dates which makes it clear that @nthony’s interpretation is spot on, plus the others building on that. I like the internal rhymes like away & bouquet, which are phonetic but not visual. When I read lyrics, I often dont catch the non-visual rhymes. It helps to slow down and mentally pronounce the words. Of course, you can always listen to the song, but where is the fun in that? The crazier piano in the latter half is definitely Kieth Tippets. If you like that style, check out his playing on the song Cat Food by King Crimson. He does more elegant playing on their album called Lizard. The earlier piano has whiffs of Gershwin, befitting one of the prewar periods in the subtitle. The song Bathtub Gin by Phish absorbs this song by Bowie, along with its Gershwin nods. |
|
| King Crimson – Epitaph Lyrics | 1 year ago |
|
I first heard it in ‘72 a few years after being written. Definitely about the nuclear holocaust. When it was written, large street protests calling to ‘ban the bomb’ (atomic bomb) were widespread in all the free societies. The movies Dr Strangelove and On the Beach from a few years before made a large impact. Important to give credit to the lyricist, Pete Sinfield. This was before the 1st post-apocalyptic movie, A Boy and his Dog’ in 1975. People didnt think in terms of post-apocalyptic survival like that movie and Mad Max series that followed. So the ‘crawling’ should evoke an injured and barely surviving person, likely on their way out. But the imagined causes of humankind’s problems are general enough to make the song relevant to other eras. I now tend to think of nuclear annihilation as more likely being caused accidentally, although I wouldn’t rule out it being caused by fools. A good painting to pair with this song is Max Ernst’s ‘Europe after the Rain’ which depicts sunlight gleaming on instruments of death, as well as destruction. The song could have been used for the Oppenheimer movie if it wasnt so obscure. When singer Greg Lake joined ELP, he would append this chorus from Epitaph onto Karn Evil Nine (another Sinfield song) in live shows, and of course that song was a mix of humanity being destroyed by our own creation of artificial intelligence along with nuclear weapons. The AI concludes we are too imperfect. For other Sinfield songs, I think one of his best is “Wake of Poseidon” which condenses the main aspects of society into a vividly dense erudite picture of the reawakening of Pre-Christian knowledge. For example the phrase “ Sheds sudden theater rain” is an imaginative description of crocodile tears. |
|
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer – The Great Gates of Kiev Lyrics | 3 years ago |
|
Note that a precursor and possible inspiration to the beginning of this song was the short story called ‘Night Journey’ by John Barth, aligning with the interpretation by tmzw… Also, the very last line of the song came under heavy criticism in the early days of the internet in a discussion of prog lyrics. (rec.music.progressive). Considered pretentious. On the contrary, it can be seen as a late 60s interest in reincarnation via hinduism, and it is also a statement on biology. All life requires a prior death for energy, or viewed more optimistically, all death transforms into anothers life . Death is life. Weird coincidence with the war in the country of the mentioned Gates, I heard a Ukrainian soldier use the exact phrase ‘death is life’ to describe their motivation to fight and sacrifice if needed. In this case, the life means the life of their country and fellow citizens. I doubt the soldier ever heard the 50-year old song, but you never know. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.