| Neil Young – Harvest Moon Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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What makes the song heartbreakingly beautiful is his desire to "dance in the light"...what little light they have left. Moonlight is not as bright as the fire of the sun (i.e.,the fires of passionate love, the fires of youth) but it reflect the sun's light back to us when we are in darkness; even if it can't warm us, it reminds us the sun once shined. And there is definitely the melancholy of missing someone, even if you still sleep in the same bed with them. With "I want to see you dance again" he is saying it has been too long since she danced, smiled, or enjoyed being alive. He wants her to be happy again, as happy and carefree as they were years ago. If he just wanted to watch her and adore her grace and beauty one last time the words would be "I want to see you dance once more" or "some more." |
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| Neil Young – Harvest Moon Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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yes. this is not a "cute, romantic song." It's about young or even adult love---it's about after. After you have passed through every phase of your life--with the person who has been there with you the whole time---and you realize you two are coming to your day's end. The reference to "feeling the night" rather than hiding from it or sleeping through it (dreaming of the future, waiting for the next day to start) is about accepting your mortality and making the best of every moment you have left. "Children" dream of the future because their days are endless. |
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| Okkervil River – The President's Dead Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Yes, but. The 5th and 6th stanzas are delightfully free of sarcasm and put the focus on one's own experience. "If you don't live through a day for the littlest things, And the littlest ways made you feel you were blessed If you died right then, well you know you'd be missed, But there's no better state to cease to exist And you wouldn't feel sad, and you wouldn't resist Cause you knew what you had, and were thankful for it" |
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| The Cowboy Junkies – Just want to see Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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If you aren't paying close attention you might miss little details of very intentional and specific death scene quotes. These deaths all say "I don't want to be...(quotation) because it will be seen as ...etc. 1. "Chalk outline" = dead for hours, all alone, until police found my body 2. "no hair on no wall" = mistaken for a criminal because I took a gunshot would to the head. 3. "a patch" on a memorial quilt = PITIED by everyone who used to treat me as an equal-- because I have aids or breast cancer. 4. "blood-stained note saying fuck you all" = AN ANGRY AND SPITEFUL SUICIDE. a bloody suicide with a angry note suggests: remember how I used to say "you'll be sorry when I'm dead? now my blood is on your hands! |
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| The Cowboy Junkies – Just want to see Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Sorry--I meant to add this: "We can't fight what time and grief turn us into. We are too tired to fight this sadness, Tommy, so let's rest our bodies and minds (our memories are fading anyway, just let go...). Even young people lose or alter memories without being aware of it. Since memories are so fragile--we can't count on anything being "the truth." Therefore, the sad truth is that perception IS reality. I just wish I could see what that perception is? It kills me to not know!" |
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| The Cowboy Junkies – Just want to see Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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(golf clap...)Nice hypothesis ZellaL! Your narrative is logical and well supported. But it is also a bit oversimplified and literal. What I mean is this: if my analysis doesn't explain why the song makes my eyes get wet, or why I have to listen to it at least 4 times in a row, then it's not good enough...I haven't really grasped the song's meaning at all. When we interpret poetry and fiction (or really good lyrics!) "figuring it out" is more than creating logical hypotheses and missing facts to fill in the narrative gaps. You do yourself a disservice by treating the song as a puzzle or game of '20 questions.' You also must figure out what's *ambiguous* in the poem, and what's irrefutable? Where is the tension? What does she (narrator) reveal in her word choice, imagery, repeated words/phrases, ideas, mood, pace, etc. For example: Question 1 What is the problem/crisis she's having? It's obviously death, because JD just died, right? A: WRONG! This song is not about death; it is about *SEEING* ourselves and others clearly--in life and in their deaths. After JD died, she noticed how her perception of him didn't alter with his dying. This got her thinking about how others might see her, and wondering how it may change after her death (or because of her death). She wishes, perhaps, she could peek into the future and see what the value of her life was (to her friends, family, colleagues, children) so maybe then she could stop fearing the unknown. And stop being tempted to kill herself when her feelings of self-doubt is too heavy to bear. Question 2 Q:What is the narrator's mood? weary? passionate? joyful? desperate? A: it changes with each stanza, and adds a *new* mood in the last stanza: Mood 1/ Mood 2/ Mood 1/Mood 2/ Mood 1/ Mood 3. Mood 1 is weary and worried, but also reflective and inquisitive. Mood 2 is cheerful and comforting, (to distract herself and Tommy from their grief by remembering how kind JD was). Mood 3 is the big surprise. Death is no tragedy if others have SEEN you in a positive light--if you have helped others and improved humanity in some small way. Loneliness and isolation are the more soul-threatening problems (e.g., if you've lost your family, friends, community and have no relationships left.) Question 3: Mood in Stanza 6 Q: What is implied (in last stanza) when "memories...die" and dreams replace them? A: She is sad and melancholy, of course, but she has this moment of clarity in which she sees how our lives mean very little. In our brief time on earth we should focus on the people we love: loving, caring for, challenging, and helping each other. We can't fight what time and grief do to us (we are too tired to fight this sadness, Tommy, so let's rest) and minds (memories are lost). Even young people lose or alter memories without being aware of it. |
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