submissions
| La Dispute – A Departure Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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These lyrics have some literary references, which makes it really interesting (to me at least). I've come across a few things in my reading, and I wonder if Dreyer intentionally put them there as a nod to literary influences.
'Then came a departure' is a line from a John Berryman poem: Dream Song 1. In the poem I think it's to do with it's protagonist's (Henry's) father's death. The 'departure' is a change into a more melancholic perception of the world, much like like the lyrics of Wildlife.
'The thing itself' is an idea coined by the philosopher Kant, which is basically thinking of something in isolation, without your relation to it; a reference to something existing independently without our understanding of it. In reference to the meaning of this song, I feel Dreyer is trying to say that there's something ahead of him that he doesn't quite understand - that it is apart from him, much like death is. |
submissions
| James Blake – Lindisfarne I Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I looked up 'lindesfarne' to find that 'lindisfarne' (slightly different spelling) is an island off of England. I took this to mean 'isolation' for Blake's context to the song. My interpretation is that someone is leaving Blake's life, and he is fearing becoming 'isolated' again because of it. The person is of 'kestrels breed' with huge ambition and vision. He thinks she is rushing into getting somewhere, and without proper thought or time to analyse ('tact to read') she'd take a liking towards him. He then repeats 'beacon don't fly too high' throughout this and the next song, as a plea - don't get too popular/successful that you have no need for me. The next stanza is dubious. I read it as '[thank you] for all your time,' spending time with him is nothing more than a 'playful crime' and 'a lesson lost again' refers to his poor social skills, and lack of getting better. This line reminds me a bit of Blake frequently referring to the fact he was an only child ('I never learned to share') and as such doesn't have the capacity to share feelings. The next stanza I takes a turn, in that she has left now. He feels pedestrian and anonymous - 'cute but I'll take the bus' just to be close to strangers. I find 'and a white that sometimes shone' a reference to the afterlife, and the speakers contemplation of suicide (mordbid yeah but I cant unread that haha). The song is beautifully come full circle with the first stanza being repeated again, encapsulating and containing everything that is said in the song. It's like he is going in circles, which would mirror reality - you meet someone, they leave at some point, you meet someone else. |
submissions
| James Blake – Unluck Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I cant shake the imagery of a hospital warden within this song, and a patient dialogue who is waiting on a organ donor of some sort. The title (which I think are really telling in James Blake songs) converts an adjective ('unlucky') to a noun (unluck), making the concept of having no luck perpetual and contained. The second line 'care for me' seems to me a plea from within the warden, because it is defined by the following lines - 'when crossings call out / one of three' which I see to be one donor out of three available (so in a sense he has limited chances). The second stanza seems to me the speaker addressing his 'only child' to take care when he is gone, and what to avoid; 'falling there.' |
submissions
| Bon Iver – Perth Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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This song is very expository; I live in Perth, Australia, and the line "this is a place / not yet awake" is very, very true. Perth is very sleepy and lazy. That line also seems to me like the time before the sunrises, and it feels like somewhat of a resolution. "furling forests for the soft" seems to me like Vernon looking out to rolling forests. I saw Bon Iver a few years back and he played up in the hills overlooking the city. This line fits the setting perfectly. The line "In a mother out a moth" is also intriguing; I can only read it as mother = giver of live and moth = full completion. I also love the confide / profane - con /pro ellipsis interpretation. In reviewing all of this I think it's half in part in exploring Perth, the place itself, and half about resolution or finding resolution there - becoming a moth, revealing a finality. |
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