| Crystal Castles – Celestica Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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These lyrics are so ambiguous it's open to interpretation really. The song is fantastic and keeps me guessing as to what she's referring to. I wrote my last post about desensitization before the video came out. After I saw the video which seems to have religious references, I want to try to modify my perspective again =) I'm taking the stance that the lyrics are anti-religion, anti-establishment and nihilistic . The reason for that is based on the meaning I get from the words. The whole tone makes me think she's telling us to abandon conformity and perceived righteousness embodied by the church. For example, take 'As we fall into sequence | and we're eating our young'; this opener tries to explain how hurtful and damaging our conformity (falling in sequence) is to our children. The next line 'remain silent and still for modesty' tells us that by saying and doing nothing in the face of adversity or authority ensures that you'll keep your modesty. Of course, in today's culture if you are the one shouting out or getting involved, you can open yourself up to embarassment and ridicule. This line is not alice's thoughts, it's what we're told to do by the church: be meek. Then we are told that 'when the splints have been broken | and they can't help you now | do you pray with your eyes closed naturally' I see this as Alice trying to appeal to our intellect by explaining that when the splints (the rules, code of practice, beliefs, laws) are broken sometime in the future or through some sort of breakthrough or renaissance etc what will we do? Who will help us? Will we pray with our eyes closed as a natural instinct? I see the next part as either one of two scenarios: 1. Alice then asks us to 'follow me into nowhere'. This being one of the nihilistic lyrics in the song, we're being led into the unknown, into the un-uniform place which may be our future: 'woven with the utmost care'. 2. Alice is quoting for the church or organised religion. They ask us to follow them but there is no heaven so we are led into nowhere, but this guidance and treachery is 'woven with the utmost care'. Obviously, people in power throughout history have spent an abundance of time trying to control the masses through the leverage of religion. From here, I think the next lines are based around the desire to be left alone, to not be coerced into other people's beliefs. 'Lost' refers to how the religious describe people without religion, like lost sheep. 'Drown' refers to the consequences of not following organised religion, drowning in sin. It is obvious from this reference point that Alice wants to be unaffilliated to any organised religion and for those proponents to keep quiet about their beliefs. But still may be theist, in the same sense that Einstein was theist. It is also equally valid that she's outright atheist. The next bit, 'we descended from no one with a wink' is, I think, a reference to the big bang. 'We descended from no one' - life evolved through the 'winking' of the universe into existence, not created by a God. I can't really decipher the next chorus from my chosen reference frame, it seems like she is trying to simultaneously ask for help and deny it too. 'When it's cold outside' and 'When I choose to rest my eyes' are almost certainly metaphores. Possibly 'resting eyes' is a metaphore for 'giving up' or losing the will to live. 'cold outside' may mean when external factors are hard going, such as peer pressure or conformity pressures. Either way, I get the overall sense that she's willing her way through it, but losing that will at the last moment. Confusion. The song's near its end. 'Have they cleansed you with cloride and scrubbed behind the knees'. As someone posted previously; maybe an allusion to holy water, or a reference to being cleaned chemically after your dead body has been found. I personally think it's the unnatural mental cleansing she refers to. We are infused with ideals, laws, beliefs, rights, wrongs, idioms from the day we're born, our natural instincts are 'cleansed with cloride'. It's a sarcastic question because it's inferring that we are now acually more dirty than before. 'Has your body been hollowed by the breeze'. Have we been made empty through the constant weathering away by the organised religions, mainstream media and social structures (the breeze)? Are we just shells walking about; like plastic dolls? The whole album is meant to have a bleak outlook, which I can agree it does. This song stands out as one of the best for me. Bizarrely, I do see some hope resting within it. This whole comment is based entirely on the assumptions made at the beginning. I think the lyrics could be interpreted in various way when based on a different starting assumptions. Thanks CC for making your music. |
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| David Bowie – Heroes Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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1984 - Winston and Julia. They were heroes. Down with Big Brother! |
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| Crystal Castles – Suffocation Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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'we ignore refused consent' ignoring refused consent = rape. |
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| Crystal Castles – Celestica Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Alastair Reynolds writes some fanstastic novels! Iain M Banks is also a sci-fi hero. I cant wait for his new book to come out. | |
| Crystal Castles – Celestica Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| totalness = engrish. totality = english. | |
| Crystal Castles – Celestica Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I reckon the whole tone is about the desensitization of modern western civilisation, acting like sheeple (as we fall into sequence) and how we, as a whole, have been moulded/trained/brainwashed into mindless empty shells. The last three lines: Have they cleansed you with chloride - chemically cleaned you, we use all sorts of chemicals in our modern day lives, genetically modified food etc. and scrubbed behind the knees - this is a way of saying 'cleaned everywhere', 'no stone left unturned' kind of thing. It shows the totalness (i doubt that's even a word but I like it) of the way our nature is removed by our modern culture. Has your body been hollowed by the breeze - shows how we become empty shells, the 'breeze' being the media, government, social idioms, political correctnes etc. This is how I perceive this song, anyway! |
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| Crystal Castles – Black Fag Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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here in the UK, 'fag' can mean a cigarette. 'Im going for a fag' is a common expression. but i doubt cc are referring to a black cigarette. |
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| Crystal Castles – Intimate Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think this about a homeless bisexual ('another girl another boy another place to stay') who sleeps with many ('collecting hearts') out of a need to keep off the streets. Maybe they have chosen to become bisexual due to the serverity of their predicament. The narrator shows that the person doesn't have a plan, rather they are walking blind and stumbling through life: 'we close our eyes and feel our way' 'A new fit' means the new sexual relationship they have found. This person is HIV positive but doesn't tell their partners about it. This might be because they fear another night out in the cold, as 'another boy another girl' means 'another place to go'. They die: 'it feels like sleep', 'it feels like being born'. And they 'return to [the] soil' as a continuity of energy transference. 'Return to frailer form' means that when our bodies degrade and become dust, we become a 'frailer form'. made from the same materials and elements, but in a different arrangment. Alice Glass once said 'everything is dust'. Inherently sad and meaningful, these lyrics struck me as a possible reflection on homeless life from the narrator's teenage years. |
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