Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Can you show me the shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your china, can you show me
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there to shine in your Japan
To sparkle in your China, yes I'll be there
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Can you show me the shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your china, can you show me
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there to shine in your Japan
To sparkle in your China, yes I'll be there
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, look out
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Can you show me the shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your china, can you show me
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there to shine in your Japan
To sparkle in your China, yes I'll be there
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Bodhisattva, would you take me by the hand
Can you show me the shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your china, can you show me
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
Bodhisattva
I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there to shine in your Japan
To sparkle in your China, yes I'll be there
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, look out
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It's a joke.
Your incisive comment shows are have attained satori.
connecthook.wordpress.com/mine/religions/the-jewel-in-the-center-of-the-lotus-eaters-2/
I concur!
I concur!
I think that "the shine of your japan, the sparkle of china" is most definetely about nirvana, first he says "can you show me" (nirvana), then "and i'll be there" (nirvana)
I also noticed that the man singing seems ancy and in a hurry, don't know if that relates.
And yes, the song is simply about a shallow guy following the Eastern-religion craze, unable to divorce even the names of Japan and China from their consumer connotations. Absolutely smoking song--the Charlie Parker influence really shows through in the long solo section.
The song is an eye-rolling satire of Westerner's (Hollywood/California flakes in particular) oversimplified misunderstandings of Eastern 'religion'. The protagonist does want a quick fix. He could be a middle aged guy, someone who's wasted his life, an addict, or someone who has just realized that they are spiritually bankrupt. They've heard that Buddhism has the answers or so it seems to them.
They reach out to a teacher. The teacher may be a charlatan, as many have suggested (like the Beatle's reference in Sexy Sadie) or they may be legit. This is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the protagonist thinks that they can follow a set of rules or a recipe to achieve enlightenment or happiness. Rather than doing the hard work of self-assessment and self-improvement, they want the "Cliff's Notes" version of spirituality. They seek to copy off of the teacher's paper, so to speak.
"Sell my house in town" could refer abdication of worldly attachments in earnest or as a 'check-off' item on their list to obtain enlightenment. Or maybe it's just what they focused on during a quick reading of #2 from the "The Thirty-seven Practices of Bodhisattvas" by Gyelsey Togmey Zangpo, ie, "Give up your homeland".
I agree the protagonist sounds rushed and insincere, likely intentional on Fagan's part, particularly with a lot of the repetitions. Also, if you take a step back, there are a lot of vampy repetitions in the song both lyrically and musically. I suspect that this is a musical joke for Walter and Donald, a metaphor for the continuous cycles that the protagonist is stuck in an "ocean of cyclic existence"--on a grand scale repeating mistakes in reincarnation and on a microscale of repeating meaningless phrases over and over.
connecthook.wordpress.com/mine/religions/the-jewel-in-the-center-of-the-lotus-eaters-2/
connecthook.wordpress.com/mine/religions/the-jewel-in-the-center-of-the-lotus-eaters-2/
enlightenment. it was a sect just like Hare Krishna and the Dan are mocking it.Makesense to me anyway.
I,gonna sell my house in town ,and i,ll be there to shine on your
and to a different example on how to live ( "Bodhisattva" Which is like a saint, someone that lived as an example not just teaching things academically)
and a new (simpler) lifestyle ( "I'm gonna sell my house in town" ).
After "winning the game" in the Western world, the author of the song or the character in the song still feels empty, so he is going to look elsewhere, a different culture entirely for fulfillment ( To shine in your Japan To sparkle in your China Yes I'll be there ) Fagen rips on Western/American values in many of his songs.
I'm not sure if the author is making a specific judgment on the character in the song or not. I don't detect the person in the song being ridiculed for falling for the "grass is always greener" illusion. I also don't detect the opposite, the author promoting the idea that we should look to Buddhism, and to Chinese & Japanese culture instead of our own. It seems more like a neutral observation. The author is just saying, "This is what I am seeing". Or perhaps he is commenting on how we look to people that have "made it", either in positions of power, wealth or celebrity for answers and they have no more answers than we do; they too are looking for answers.