| Manchester Orchestra – The Silence Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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The whole album tells the story of a dysfunctional family, with elements of Andy Hull's life woven throughout. From "my old man's heart attack" in The Gold, to "your drunken dad and a pair of scissors" in The Alien, and wanting to "feel the way our fathers felt" in The Grocery, there are references to family throughout the album including mothers, brothers, daughters, etc. But the references to fathers are most relevant, as Hull is coming to grips with his role as a father. The last track can be seen as an inter-generational conversation with each verse able to be interpreted differently when the speaker is changed between Andy, his father, or his daughter or any mix up of the three. There is a running theme of "there is nothing you keep when you die" in the album. The Maze - "There is nothing I've got when I die that I keep" Lead, SD - "If I die there's nothing I keep" The Wolf - "There is nothing you've got when you die that you keep" However, in the final track, Andy changes this to "There is nothing you keep, there is only your reflection", the realization that we are reflections of our parents, more specifically boys grow up to be our fathers. This is echoed again as "That was something your father had burned in me Twenty hours out of Homestake eternity 'You can go anywhere but you are where you came from'" Could it be Hull wants to abandon this paradigm since it would mean his daughter is "cursed by my ancestry" and "there is nothing but darkness and agony"? The album is concluded with "Let me hold you above all the misery Let me open my eyes and be glad that I got here" Signifying the escape from a troubled past which is characterized as a mine or cave, or simply A Black Mile to the Surface. |
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