Daughters of the SoHo Riots

The narrative of the song appears to revolve around the theme of things "not working out how it was planned". The main point of the song centering on a relationship that is at a predictable endpoint that the writer and and his lover had nonetheless vainly hoped to avoid in their youthful naivite.

The image of Soho is artully used to display the theme. Soho in it's heyday was a spot for a cultural revolution that nutured burgeoning artists and ironically transformed an empty industrial sector into an artist's enclave.

A side effect of artists moving into the area is the birth of cool.... and the enivitable movement of gentrification now seen in the older neighbourhoods of many worldclass cities. By creating something unique and "cool" and full of hope and ideas, the intial artists in Soho created a self-fulfilling prophesy in which human nature, especially in modern corporate America, cashes in on the unique, beautifu/cool/naive and ultimately destroys it. "things don't work out as they are planned, human nature always interferes."

The sons and daughters of the Soho riot are who is left after the unique idea had been destroyed...literally the next generation inherting a perverted and commercialized image of the revolution. Those listless souls who don't realize sipping a Starbucks while shopping at a Bloomingdales is the antithesis of the original idea.

To make a story short, the narrator's lover now listless and disillusioned is left to join the masses of refugees of an unfulfilled life.

Futher clues to the general theme can be seen in most of the Narrators lines delivered to "the one he loves....

"How can anybody know How they got to be this way You must have known I'd do this someday"

This is masterful line. The narrator confesses ignorance to the invetible slide from innocence to wearied, yet to know that "I'd do this someday" both shows the narrator and his lover were fully aware but chose blissful self-deception.

later:

I don't have any questions I don't think it's gonna rain You were right about the end It didn't make a difference.

A great stanza outlining a boring an inevitable break-up. There are no questions left as everything has already been said -- in fact neither party has anything left to talk about at all.

"I don't think it's going to rain" --- talking about the weather is not only perceived as boring, but is often seen as the most non-intimate material for a conversation....a topic better left for strangers...who the lovers have become.

And as a bit of a stretch-- pathetic fallacy often appears in movies in which the weather mimics human emotion in various scenes...the most common is rain during an intensely depressive and emotional scene.....no rain means no emotion.

At odds with the lyrics and tone of the narrative is the tender way in which the song is sung by Berninger. The loving vocals end up being an ironic play on the content of the song....mournful....but apparently not mourning the loss of his love, rather the loss of the pairs innocence and what should have or could have been.

I think the title of this song is referring to the children the singer would have had with his soul mate had they not broken up and had to remain apart for the rest of their lives. These fictional "soho riots" were the turbulent times in their relationship that ultimately caused the final split. The rest of the song goes on to lament the loss of this kind of love in his life and how this lamentation is shared and discussed between them despite that both of them probably have new people in their lives. He knows that he must move on but he is holding on to her on an emotional level because he knows he will never have love like that again. He holds on even though it hurts.

Were there really soho riots? Or is this made-up fantasy land? If it's fantasy please take me there it sounds pretty and the people that live there probably look hot.

FOOKIN RIGHTEOUS!!!

... and here i look up the soho riots on google hoping to learn something and better my life!!! DAMN YOU NASHINUL!!!! :angry:

I did the same! But even the fountain of all knowledge, aka Wikipedia, didnt have anything so i guess they're fictional.

From the opening verse at least it sounds like it could be about eloping, kinda like exit music by Radiohead, but even better!

SoHo is a neighbor hood in New York City. its stands for South of Houston street. soho is a real bohemian neighborhood with lots of art shops and its really old. theres like no skyscrapers in soho. it is also home to the infamous, but now deceased, CBGB club that the ramones made famous. and the people there are all rich and hot. as for riots. i dont know but soho is my favorite place in the world even if i live in the midwest.

random, but the be your own pet song love your shotgun mentions a soho riot as well. kind of interesting, i guess.

There were no SoHo riots, this happened in the late 80's though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tompkins_Square_Park_Police_Riot Tompkins Square Park is juuust north of Houston Street which makes it not SoHo but very close. Wonder if this is what they're referring to. J shostakovich, i hope you get to visit SoHo soon, before it becomes completely starbucks-ed out!