We need so damn many things
To keep our dazed lives going
Many things, to keep our lives
Lives going, so many things
We need so damn many things
(We need so damn, we need so damn many things)
To keep our stupid lives going
(To keep our stupid, keep our stupid lives going)
Many things to keep our lives
(To keep our lives, to keep our lives, many things)
Lives going, so many things
(So many things, so many things, lives going)
We can be bound, run around
(We can be bound, we can be bound, run around)
Fooled animal bite its tail
(Fooled animal, fooled animal, bite its tail)
Animal, he has been bound
(He has been bound, he has be bound, animal)
Run around, around and 'round
('Round and around, 'round and around, run around)
To keep our dazed lives going
Many things, to keep our lives
Lives going, so many things
We need so damn many things
(We need so damn, we need so damn many things)
To keep our stupid lives going
(To keep our stupid, keep our stupid lives going)
Many things to keep our lives
(To keep our lives, to keep our lives, many things)
Lives going, so many things
(So many things, so many things, lives going)
We can be bound, run around
(We can be bound, we can be bound, run around)
Fooled animal bite its tail
(Fooled animal, fooled animal, bite its tail)
Animal, he has been bound
(He has been bound, he has be bound, animal)
Run around, around and 'round
('Round and around, 'round and around, run around)
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
I think this song "Brakhage" is a joyful reminder of how arrogant and self-absorbed our human species can be. For the literati reading this, I think the Hegelian dialectic of the master/slave is invoked here: "We can be bound, run around / Fooled animal bite its tail". To be blunt, I think Laetitia Sadier wrote this to mean we humans can be lame by thinking that all our technology, materialism, and know-how gives us freedom and makes us 'free', when rather we could actually be the ones that are enslaved to our own devices.
@juvenescence9 Stan Brakhage visited my college and showed his short film "He was Born, He Suffered, He Died"
@juvenescence9 Stan Brakhage visited my college and showed his short film "He was Born, He Suffered, He Died"
Stan Brakhage was an experimental filmmaker. I'm not sure what this song has to do with him, other than that he died right around the time this album came out, maybe it's a tribute. I haven't seen any of his films.
I've seen a little of his stuff on youtube, but apparently he's done all kinds of things. he didn't believe in sound in cinema, as I understand it, so his works are silent. hence, there's a guy who nailed this song to the images of one of his films, and it works decently when it's not just distracting.
@juvenescence I think you are right with your interpretation, but it also works as a tribute to Stan Brakhage as his experimental filmmaking has a lot to do with the ideas portrayed in this song. His techniques were very minimalist and he took cinema to new boundaries, where he discarded a lot of, as you say, "technology and materialism" and just made films which were very different to what the common idea of cinema was at that time (and could very much be applied to modern cinema, as well). Basically, these lyrics describe, in my opinion, a lot of what Brakhage represents to cinema, and could be applied to more general aspects as well.
I have seen Brakhage's films. They are existential garbage for overly cerebral godless lefty philosopher-types. Really dull abstract film-art, similar to Jackson Pollack's paintings.
But STEREOLAB are a great band !