| Phish – Ghost Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The more I listen, the more I like the lyrics on this album. I think this is probably their best lyrical music. The other albums do offer some interesting imagery, but these offer direct meaning. Very cool. I have to agree with fourtwentey420. While this song may have started out with a remembrance of a childhood imaginary friend, it probably evolved into a more mature idea about the belief in a higher power. The song starts with someone who is confiding, finally, in a friend. He tells this friend of the special "ghost" whom he could call on and ask for solutions to problems. His ghost friend was always faithful and would always help him get ahead. This ghost would not actually respond in words, but instead, through actions; the ghost would change reality itself if the caller asked it. Each time he called the ghost, he waited for a response but the ghost never spoke back, so out of impatience he would put down the phone leaving the possible response on the other end. This happened until the ghost mysteriously stopped helping. He would call and ask for help but there wouldn't be any change in reality and thus he knew the ghost was gone. He felt betrayed. Forsaken, he finds other, better ways of changing situations in reality and thus stops calling the ghost. At the end of the song, he remarks that maybe the ghost is actually still there and perhaps if he looks again or in a different place, he may find his trusty friend and once again be saved by the mysterious force. This must be about faith. Just like asking God for help, he sometimes helps and sometimes doesn't. People often get fed up waiting for real results from requests to God and leave the faith. People also often desire that connection with the deity so much that they will, throughout their lives, look in the wind and rain for the ghost they think may be able to help them. That is just how desperate humans are. |
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| Steely Dan – Third World Man Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Definitely PTSD and definitely "He's a third world man". What is difficult about this song is how it switches from character to character. Anytime you see "he's a third world man" you know it is not the afflicted person speaking. The other lines are either thoughts or vocalizations from the main character. "Johnny's playroom is a bunker filled with sand." Is probably an internal thought. Smokey Sunday could be either the main character's nickname from wartime or, and more likely, it is the setting for the following lines in the song. "Soon you'll throw down your disguise We'll see behind those bright eyes By and by When the sidewalks are safe For the little guy" These lines are from observers who probably care about this person and are ready to see their loved one again, but they know they must wait for the illusions to pass first. The last lines are from the man with PTSD who remembers his experience while he was flashing back. He recalls his experience. "I saw the fireworks I believed that I was dreaming 'Til the neighbors came out screaming He's a third world man" The song is most unfortunate because the main character is aware of his condition. |
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