I Missed The Point

I think she's just rejecting religion in this song and the last line might just be her saying 'thanks, but no thanks'.

It's a beautiful song that gets right to the point.

What exactly does go on in this song?

I'm getting naughty ideas from "velvet holes gaping wide".

What I don't understand is what "pageantry" could refer to.

I missed the point of the song...hahaha

To take it literally, I think it's something along the lines of, "I cannot and will not ever understand how or why the universe works, but our love is simple and something I get." I want to say the first two lines, about lightning and clay, are saying, "Regardless of my lack of understanding, I can still function and go on," although that seems a bit unlikely, since the alternates offered are both nature-based, as well.

Much of the song intones a storm, even at a catastrophic level. "velvet holes gaping wide" would seem to refer to a hurricane or tornado.

The song has religious overtons as well, even though in many ways it sounds like its being sung to a lover. But the pageantry of storm is imagery of god.

It really is a beautiful and artistic look at storm and catastrophe. To see them as a sort of terrestrial pageantry, to acknowledge you do not grasp the exact point of it but to readily concede your gratefulness.

Neko is a wonderful poet.

I think the language of this song describes being surrounded by the violence and chaos of a storm and feeling, not threatened, but loved. I like to think that it's describing the storm as a love song from a god (or God) to Neko, or the listener, and that though she doesn't get all the words, she at least understands that much, and is grateful.

"I have lightning if the stars dry out to guide me"

I think that line introduces with a bang the idea of love in the storm. Stars are usually seen as guides, comforts, sources of beauty and wonder. But in the very first line, she seems to say that she doesn't mind if they are gone; She has the lightning. Needless to say, lightning isn't usually seen as being quite so benign and comforting as stars. And yet, to the narrator, it is just as good or better.

I'm a little caught up on the line "I have soft clay to knit my bones astride". It's one of my favorites, and yet I'm not sure what she means by it. My mind is making vague allusions to man being formed out of clay, which would solidify the idea that the song is sung to God. I don't know. By the way, it is my personal opinion that when she talks about the clouds singing "to me / Of wonders unseen", she's referring to thunder. For what that's worth.

The last stanza, "I'm sorry..." and so on, makes me think of the girl standing in the middle of the rain and storm, like a girl lavished with words and gifts, giggling and saying, "Sorry, I don't get it, I don't get it! But thank you." It's a strange song. On the one hand, there's the violence and catastrophe (good word, RossJackson) of the storm. But it's treated as no big deal, even sweet, like a dog that enthusiastically licks its owner's face. In many ways, I think this may be the cutest song Neko has written. Figures that it'd be about something like thunderstorms. :D

One of my favorite Neko songs! I've often thought it could be about God and the wonder over His "pageantry". Still, I like the romantic notion of it being a beloved object of affection, who, despite the "pageantry" of the lover's torrential displays just doesn't get it...until the end of the song. It's quite sweet.