| The Decemberists – Of Angels and Angles Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[trisweb:45857] I think you are absolutely on the right track... this is a song about the extremes of living life. 'Angels in your angles' means to me that the divine and beautiful plays some part even in the disasters of your existence. In the way the yin-yang symbol embodies the idea of an integrated binary, with a small part of the 'opposite' or 'white' in the black. The rest of the lyrics are a very structured exploration of this. A low moon is big and beautiful on the horizon of the night sky, it is actually still there in the tangles and angles of the shitty things you go through. The moon in the sky is a reality that is completely undeniable! The purr (one of the best sounds in existence given to the lowly pigeon, often considered vermin) of the pigeon is the knocking at the door (ticking at the sill) that reminds one that outside yourself there is such beauty even in the lowest of things. This has such great power to destroy the paralysis of fear! A tough word on a crossword is maddening but ridiculously trivial, and fucking bedbugs are basically an invasion can upend your life. When one is nipping at your finger, you are either so low down this is normal, or you know shit is about to get a lot worse. This references the range of dark emotions one can experience... Today, twice when I was out having a smoke, a hummingbird landed within 4 ft of me to drink and have a little bath. The moment of calm that comes with this encounter as such a wee being trills away and flicks it's enormous tiny tongue to drink and flips it's wings to have a little bath is hard to describe in any complete way. 'Your open palm' brings this magic right personal... not only are you open to receiving, but some other is directly offering you their hand in friendship, love, some sort of compassion. These things have a deep sort of beauty that is outside of time and circumstance... Y, living is drowning in a sense, as we all 'swim till we die', but I think the chorus is about that black dog of depression, knowing the beauty is there, within, without, but just not being able to feel it in this particular moment. It can be pretty terrible to be so familiar with the beauty of existence and not able to manifest it.... But the final lines of the song repeat the idea that beauty is everywhere, even in the 'tangles and angles'.... and both verses end with specific references to this idea. It is prob not a coincidence that these lines refer to birds... even the lowliest and most common sort of these wee folk sing and sound in pleasing ways, are often fed and cared for by humans, and they can fly wherever they want to go! It seems crazy to me people could see this being about suicide... 'down we go away' is there, but it is def not the final word! I think the title says it all... Of Angels (light, beauty, calm, smooth, perfection) and Angles (rigid, stuck, tangly, defined/predestined, troubles). I think this is a lyric that does not shy away from the dark hopelessness of depression, but offers a hopeful reminder that light and beauty still exist even when you can not see them... |
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