| The Mountain Goats – Deuteronomy 2:10 Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I feel like this has to do with dealing with one's own failings, being a shadow of one's former self, etcetera. | |
| David Bazan – Virginia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Also, I can't remember if Bazan said he got killed or if he killed himself. But I do know that the person's family was worried about whether or not he was a Christian when he died, so they went to all of his friends to try to get confirmation. I suppose the "You smiled at us/it off" lines were intended to be vague, but give the impression of a smirk. | |
| David Bazan – Virginia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I saw Bazan play this song at a house show in Austin recently, and this song was the highlight of the evening. It's absolutely perfect. Best song on the new album. We asked who it was about, and he said it was about a friend who died really young. It was actually a guy who's nickname was Virginia. |
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| Manchester Orchestra – The River Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I feel like the first few lines are an allusion to when Jacob wrestled with God/the angel in Genesis 32: 22The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 27And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." When he says "Cheat, what a way out," I don't think he's talking about himself; I think he's saying it to God. I find that a lot of Andy's lyrics are about spiritual struggle and doubt, and here he's allowing himself to be personified by Jacob. He wrestles with God to find answers, truth, etc. In the story in Genesis, Jacob doesn't overtake "the man," but doesn't give up, even after his bones have been broken. So when he says "Cheat, what a way out," I don't think he's actually talking about himself, but to God. He's frustrated that whatever he's wrestling with cannot be resolved. This may be stretching it, but I think the next lines (I think I know you best when I sleep/I think I know everything) are still references to Jacob: both the dream Jacob has in Genesis 28, and also the arrogance Jacob recurrently shows throughout Genesis. |
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