It's about the Georgia Guidestones. I can't believe how off you sheeple are... This reference is common knowledge among the REM illuminati. Also.
font9b, if that were as convincing as it is brusque, we'd have a great comment from you.
font9b, if that were as convincing as it is brusque, we'd have a great comment from you.
The Georgia Guidestones have a couple of good things going for them as an explanation: The time (three years between their construction and the album) and place (about 30 miles from Athens) is very compelling. They are "marker stones".
The Georgia Guidestones have a couple of good things going for them as an explanation: The time (three years between their construction and the album) and place (about 30 miles from Athens) is very compelling. They are "marker stones".
There's little enough to the lyrics that there's not much to match or mismatch between the song and the reference. But the Georgia Guidestones are not a ruin (Yet. Is the song "set" in the future?) It is definitely not a tomb....
There's little enough to the lyrics that there's not much to match or mismatch between the song and the reference. But the Georgia Guidestones are not a ruin (Yet. Is the song "set" in the future?) It is definitely not a tomb. Who, if the song is about the Guidestones, is deadlier than whoever else?
Given so few lyrics, I wouldn't expect so many as three discrepancies between the song and what the song is "about". Maybe some of the illuminati font9b speaks of are not too bored to do more than assert an interpretation by appeal to anonymous authority. But even if the song was inspired by the Guidestones, there's already more to the poem-like lyrics than there is in the match between them and the Guidestones.
well who knows really, that's cryptic mr. stipe.
here we have fournts: Seclusion, Knowledge, Life (long/eternal), Death
Te persona claims to be deadly not only deadly but smarter too
The last verse seems to be referring to an archaelogical dig, a hunt for knowledge in a ruin.
Marker stone most likely means grave stone Secluded in a marker stone could be referring to a corpse or the loneliness of one who is dead. This person would not only be smarter (possessing the knowledge that comes with death), but deadlier (being dead)
perhaps Stipe is referring to the knowledge we all long for, that of existence after death
"I could live a million years" may reflect a desire to avoid death because of the uncertainty it confronts the persona with.
anyone else?
correction: Here we have four themes etc...
The lyrics as printed may or may not be correct -- it's very difficult to parse from the vocals, and I've seen alternative transcriptions.
It's hard to put all of the pieces together, but there are many references to a place where something from the past, older than a natural human lifetime, is preserved. This may be simply a conventional tomb or grave.
Something is described as having lived (or being set to live) for a million years. If allegorical, this could be the continuation of this tomb, grave, or object of archaeological interest.
One of the least vague lines of the song may say more, though: "not only deadlier but smarter too". Whoever this is referring to (probably not the first person, or voice of the lyrics) we now know three things about: He, she, or they are/were: a) Deadly b) Smart c) ...and, it is somehow surprising that they are smart...er, but not surprising that they are deadly-er
We don't know who they are being compared to (if you're smarter, then you're smarter THAN someone). But we know that it is surprising that the smart/deadly one(s) are smarter than those they are being compared to.
One possibility would be that a past civilization or culture is being referred to, somehow deadlier than the singer's... but also smarter, in contrast to the usual trend of knowledge increasing throughout history. If this is being suggested, then the song might, overall, be about a civilization that wiped themselves out rather thoroughly, leaving nothing of their knowledge behind. That might mean the song is a story of past nuclear devastation (perhaps set in the near future, with the song being sung in the far future). The "million" in the lyrics may refer to the extreme longevity of nuclear waste or fallout, deadly for a million years.
Another, wilder interpretation that suits the lyrics would be that the subject is some kind of supernatural creature, literally living a million years. A vampire, being immortal, could live a million years, and also be smarter and deadlier than we are. If the narrator knew of someone being killed and suspected a beast had done it, and then found that a vampire or werewolf had actually done it, then he could be surprised to learn that the killer is not only deadlier (not surprising -- many animals are deadly) but smarter (!) too (surprising -- animals are not smarter than people).
I can't find anything in the lyrics to fully support or contradict either of those definitions, so either one of them is right, or the song should be seen as simply too vague to pin down a single interpretation.
I like your supernatural intrepretation. It actually makes the most sense.