| Son Volt – Atmosphere Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think it has to do with our new reality and the war on terror, all of which has Jay wanting to riot. "Translate the faces, Wash off the dust" - images of New Yorkers with stunned looks on their faces which are covered in dust come to mind. "Smoke plume twilight, American tears" - remember the images from the evening of 9/11/01 and the huge smoke plume from ground zero. America had gathered itself to this reality and began to weep. "Prairie-burnt eyes tell the hell and break through the lens" The zombie-like eyes of the terrorists in their photos. "Feed the buildings by the coast a flagrant dance" the WTC buildings in New York City on fire. "Single twist of hate" - the hate-filled terrorist attack. But I disagree with Jay here, it isn't a single event, attacks from this enemy have been going on since 1979. "Pick up the blessings" - God Bless America and all the prayers from around the world "Meet the new sky" - WTC towers are gone "Gettin that old time feeling again" - madmen on both sides, each side thinks the other is evil and will go to war, kill, etc. |
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| Son Volt – Tear Stained Eye Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Definitely a song about moving on in life but it is related to a specific event: the Mississippi floods of 1993 and the town of St. Genevieve, MO. It's a small town about 50 miles south of St. Louis, right on the Mississippi River. It was originally settled around 1735, making it one of the oldest European settlements west of the Mississippi. During the massive flood in the summer of 1993, the town's historic district was threatened, and people came from miles around to help build an enormous stone, earth, and sandbag levee to "hold back the water." It was a close call, but they ended up being successful, at least in the downtown area. The story got quite a bit of national attention at the time, Jay Farrar said he heard about it on CNN. | |
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