Arienette

Gad... My friend and I kept rewinding the part where he's all 'YEP!' and asking it ridiculous questions

"Are you secretly a woman?"

"-YEP!"

"Do you own a fax machine?"

"-YEP!"

Goodtimes...

I think he's done what he does so many times, with this song: taken two completely unrelated concepts, and woven them together into a song. Look at "A Scale...", it includes basically 4 different themes which, alone, would not stand up as a song, but together are just related enough to make a coherent mood, while each part tells its own unique message. Here, I believe the verses to be critiques of society and those people within it that Conor believes to be useless portions: the angry, the fragile (overly-sensitive), the sad (flagrantly depressed), etc. The chorus, I believe, is about what Sweetygal put: Arienette, whose significance I have yet to puzzle out, except maybe as a protectionist figure, is being called to by Conor, who sees her, an external entity, as being critical to curing his self-loathing (via the mirrors) and his inner demons (the wolves).

Just a psychological note: The first step out of an egocentric stage is reaching out for help, or realizing that there is something with value in your life. Arienette could stand for both of these things. Also, most people in egocentric phases would be described as "depressed," though Conor's seems to go a bit better than a temporary stage of disgusted introspection. As such, I hope that the song is a way for Conor to begin feeling better about his life and situation.

man.. who else loves when conor says "yup!" really loudly? raises her hand i love little things like that. :)

I've always thought that when art is "great" it can be apreciated/understood/enjoyed on many different levels. Bright Eyes is a great band. Every single one of their songs holds meaning and weight. Everyone who listens to them comes away with their own ideas and feelings. On top of that the music is very good. How can you not enjoy these guys?

Take the name of the band. The mood of their songs are anything but bright, but damn aren't the lyrics bright.

i think the line "oh stay with me arienette, until the wolves are away" to me shows he has dependance, and that he is vulnerable. He needs this imaginary (or not) security to help him get through all the bad things, and fears, or the wolves, and needs help through all of that until they are gone. Its almost as if he's begging, he needs it and maybe he doesnt have it and thats why he's inventing this girl to help him through anything. and everything.

what caught me was "So don't leave me here with only mirrors watching me" for me this means he's scared to look at himself as he's scared to see the weak, sad, angry, wicked, and desperate traits that he's describing, within himself. He wants this Arienette, the girl who he sees as pure, to take him away from all the horrible things a person can have within themselves, and perhaps the things he himself has done. She's his silver lining.

And then the silver turns to gray so syat with me Arienette until the wolves are away...this song makes me cry. It is so beautiful. I would love to sing this song to someone that used to be a very big part of my life. His use of metaphors and symbolism in this song is amazing, "so don't leave me here with only mirrors watching me." "The wicked are vultures." Anyways, what a beautiful and meaningful song.

You are right. This song has some of the best metaphors and symbolism on the album. I think an important concept in this album is that he is suffering from a fever and has these wicked dreams because of it. For example when he says "The wicked are vultures, they bake in the canyons. They circle in sunlight and wait for their victims to collapse and call to them." The wicked only come out at night when he is sleeping...ie. when he collapses.

Ah, by better, I meant more serious. Not sure how better came out, I think I was listening to a song at the time. Sorry.

another bright eyes song with a name in the title, or in this case, THE title. i think the ones with names are always more romantic. this song reminds me of 'padraic my prince.' it makes me want to cry.