Intuition

this song is so amazing it is almost terrifying.

a beautiful song, about the struggle between two opposing world views: the logical against the intuitive. i'm also interested in how these word views correspond with the ways in which the two hemispheres of our brain see things - the left being rational and logical, the right being non-verbal and intuitive. a simplification, for sure, but worth reading up on. Or just feeling :-) But a little background from wikipedia:

Intuition is the apparent ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason... Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify... The "right brain" is popularly associated with intuitive processes...

anyway :-) after a descriptive first verse to set the scene, and a line that i'll come to later;

Piecemeal could break your home in half

she understands the problem with trying to live your life in a 'rational way', in logical 'steps' - a piecemeal approach - rather than sensing and experiencing the bigger picture in a more intuitive way. ('in half' here could also allude to these two opposing sides of the brain/worldviews)

A love is not complete With only heat

i imagine the word 'but' before this line. her left brain is trying to be objective about what she needs (more than sexual heat), whist ignoring what her intuition is really telling her. which is beautifully redressed in the next verse...

And in came a heatwave A merciful save You choose, you chose Poetry over prose

just listen to the way she sings this - all the heat, passion, and intuition is wrapped up in these few lines. this is where it's at - more heated and more musical, improvised (unplanned - intuitive), passionate... ;-) I think the word 'save' refers to being saved from the cold rationality of logic; instead, nourished by the warmth of intuition, manifested as a HEATWAVE of passion. Poetry over prose again symbolises left/right world views for me - poetry corresponding with metaphor and the intuitive right-brain, prose referring more to the linear 'language' of the left-brain.

A map is more unreal than where you've been Or how you feel

this line sums up by reminding us to trust our feelings over any map or conceptualisation of life.

all of which leads me to the question of this 'boy'. in one sense the boy doesn't really figure - the song is really about intuition, and he is just a character in that story. But in another sense, it's all about him, it's all about the passion, as that would have been the motivation for the ideas in the song. this music wouldn't have existed without that passionate love. So it's NOT about a boy... but it actually is :-) Such is the dichotomy that feist so skilfully illustrates for us :-)

one line i'm still not sure about:

A destination known Only by the one Whose fate is overgrown

is this the boy? if so, is she in awe of his intuitive abilities? but why overgrown? is she the one, or could the one be her view of god/the universe/fate? it could also be any of us, as listeners. There is no one meaning to any song, and this song is certainly deep enough to support many levels of understanding - i've enjoyed sharing mine with you :-)

this is one of my favorite feist songs =)

the lyric is definitely "in half." i mean, i dont' know that officially, but listening to the leak, it sounds like "in half," rather than, "and have."

the last 1:20 or so of this song is just beyond belief. she sounds so amazing, and so full of emotion. i really can't stop listening. a friend of mine raised an interesting point, saying that the song "devours," you while you're listening to it, and keeps you in a womb to just be consumed by the song, and then there's an eerie feeling in the silence that follows the song. i thought that was pretty accurate way of describing how the song makes a listener feel.

to me, this song relates to the inner voice inside of us leading in the direction of destiny. "we won't have to be shown the way home" and though it's not about a boy they often provoke the inspiration to follow your heart. I often think of "a love is not complete with only heat". What else do we need in love? WHich brings on the next verse and a heatwave of a new love. I love the idea of choosing poetry over prose. SOmething passionate and feeling, intuitive, versus the prose form that leaves little room for personal interpretation. WE wonder if we have the courage to follow our intuiton, follow a mapless route and then give everything up for someone only based on intuition. There is a certain amount of wicked anticipation that comes with walking the line between fate and free will that demands a load of patience and faith which i tend to feel in the Did I, Did I? at the end of the song. My two year old daughter loves to croon the did i's with the audience in the end :)

Beautiful song. Definetly one of my favorites right now. It's really chill, calm, and peaceful. I love the beat and rhythm and her voice goes so smoothly along with it. I'm not sure of the meaning though..

I listen to this song quite a bit. It really makes me happy. If only i could marry her voice.

I think she is saying that nothing can change your gut feeling. Instinct is such a primitive human trait that is meant to protect you. But as we throw emotions into the mix we tent to ignore the gut.

I think she knows she doesn't love this person, but wasn't the one that ended the relationship. And when someone leaves you, you tend to second guess things and sometimes try to convince yourself that you still want that person, mainly because you were not in control of the fate of the relationship.

And there will always be that what if. and thats what she recants at the end.

I melt at the end when the crowd chimes is. I will never stop listening.

wow, i can't believe that no one has said anything about this song!! My little sister played this for me last week and i am in LOVE with it.

This song gives me high hopes for future Feist stuff. It's pretty fantastic.

i heard "in half" instead of "and have".. dunno though.

great song, cant stop listening to it.. dont really understand what she's trying to say, but i do get the last part.. about how if you do something things could be different, and you never really know what it could affect.

that's what i got from it at least.