The Past Is a Grotesque Animal Lyrics
And in its eyes you see
How completely wrong you can be
How completely wrong you can be
Makes you wonder why it bothered
Who could appreciate Georges Bataille
Standing at a Swedish festival discussing "Story of the Eye"
Discussing "Story of the Eye"
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too
But at least I author my own disaster
At least I author my own disaster
I'm just not available
Things could be different but they're not
Things could be different but they're not
The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
She gets hysterical because they're both so mean
And it's my favorite scene
But the cruelty's so predictable
It makes you sad on the stage
Though our love project has so much potential
But it's like we weren't made for this world
(Though I wouldn't really want to meet someone who was)
I've been dodging lamps and vegetables
Throw it all in my face, I don't care
Let's tear this shit apart
Let's tear the fucking house apart
Let's tear our fucking bodies apart
But let's just have some fun
And nothing can defeat you
No death, no ugly world
You've altered everything
I find myself searching for old selves
While speeding forward through the plate glass of maturing cells
But even apocalypse is fleeting
There's no death, no ugly world
Mythologizing me like I do you
Perceive me in the radiance of terror dreams
And you can betray me
You can, you can betray me
Crown my head, crowd my head
With your lilting effects
Project your fears on to me, I need to view them
See, there's nothing to them
I promise you, there's nothing to them
You make me feel so criminal
How do you keep it together?
I'm all, all unraveled
We're always touching by underground wires
But most nights we've raided the same kingdoms
And none of our secrets are physical
None of our secrets are physical
None of our secrets are physical now
This song is fucking EPIC. I listen to it atleast 5 times a day.
Me too. I can't express how much I love this.
Me too. I can't express how much I love this.
I don't think it's "Paul Hellion" or "poor hellion". It's probably "parhelion" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog). Given Kevin's tendency to use obscure references, it wouldn't surprise me if this was the case.
if i could only listen to one song for the rest of my life, this would be it.
I might have to agree with ya there ;)
I might have to agree with ya there ;)
This is without a doubt the most powerful song Of Montreal has ever created.
"Things could be different, but they're not."
Hit me harder than Neutral Milk Hotel's "How strange it is to be anything at all"
this song is great, but nothing has EVER hit me as hard as "how strange it is to be anything at all."
this song is great, but nothing has EVER hit me as hard as "how strange it is to be anything at all."
From Wikipedia. The last paragraph sheds some light on the song meaning...
In his review for Pitchfork, Dubbin suggests that "'Heimdalsgate' takes up the drugs-as-artistic-inspiration vs. drugs-as-personal-ruin dilemma and plays it out with equally conflicted musical gestures." The interpretation of the song's subject matter as drug-related is not uncommon [2] -- but according to Barnes, neither is it valid. Asked "Are you a stoner?" by The Stranger's Christopher Frizzelle in direct reference to the song's "chemicals", Barnes says, "Yeah, that has nothing to do with drugs. That's the chemicals in your mind." [3]
FRIZZELLE: Serotonin?
BARNES: Yeah. I went through this chemical depression, and that's when I was writing a lot of the songs for Hissing Fauna. They're all songs about that experience. And I was experiencing it in the moment that I was writing the songs, and sort of asking myself: What the hell is going on? Why are you all of a sudden totally paranoid and plagued by these anxieties? And why is everything so distorted and confusing and fucked up? My lifestyle hadn't changed that much. And then I realized, well, there's something going on inside of me that I don't have control over, and then you realize how vulnerable you are to these things, these elements that you can't understand, or unless you go on medication and get it under control. It's like you're being betrayed by your body.
FRIZZELLE: Sometimes if you just put on a dress or something your whole mood can change.
BARNES: To some degree. I'd gotten to that point where nothing was working. I was borderline suicidal, and my relationship with my girlfriend had totally eroded and she'd gone back to Norway with our daughter and everything was totally fucked, and I was just like, What can I do? "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" is about that. The lyrics tell the story of what was really going on and the music sort of represents this other emotion that I wish existed. The music was really happy because I wanted to make something that would lift my spirits
"how can i explain i need you here and not here too?"
perhaps my favorite line in an of montreal song EVER. so true and correct and everything i ever thought about any person I ever loved.
terrible and magnificent in one breath. definitely the saddest of montreal song ever.
bowie talks about a girl with mousey hair in 'life on mars' and the "It's my favorite scene/they're both so violent" really remind me of that song
Red Rover is a game where a group of children divide evenly into teams and each team joins hands in a chain. One team shouts out "Red Rover Red Rover send (a name of another team's player) right over". That kid has to run and try and break the bond between to children. If the kid breaks the chain he/she can grab one of the kids who's hand let go and take them to their team. If not, they have to join the other team.
parhelion is a large halo or glare created by the sun's rays passing through clouds (or something). they're really neat.
I don't think this has been mentioned yet...
But since "fauna" [from the album title Hissing Fauna] means in one sense "The species of animals that existed in a certain period of time in a certain place"... it fits perfectly with the title "The Past is a Grotesque Animal".
Also, its a mythological name, which fits in with the lyric of this song "Sometimes I wonder if you're mythologizing me like I do you".
Haha, man I love this CD...its full of so many suprises.