Bottom of the World Lyrics
I think this song is about being homeless. hehe.
I believe he's talking about dew.
arh, a new, favourite song :) that little instrumental melody is really great. I was walking around in stockholm alone after a concert at 2 am listening to this tune. I was really lost at the bottom of the world.
Emily Haines did not write this song. She has a song with the same title, but they are not at all the same. This one is by Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan.
It's a strange song with many characters, but to me it's about being homeless and the characters you might meet on the way. God's green hair means he's sleeping outside on the grass and wakes up to the dew, or the diamond, seeing beauty when at rock bottom. The weird things he dines on 'Tilapia fishcakes and fried black swan are a bit of wishful thinking, just like dreaming all night about a beautiful girl' Black swans are from Australia, which to some could be described as the bottom of the world. But then cardinal birds are from north and south America. Like most Waits songs, there is no hard and fast meaning - that's up to you.
really good song from his last album anyone knows what's with the "balancing a diamond on a blade of grass" thing? he also mentions it in All the world is green. what does it mean? any ideas?
It's because he was talking about sleeping on the grass
It's because he was talking about sleeping on the grass
He is being slightly immodest claiming to be the diamond balanced on a blade of grass but no less so than claiming God hangs on every word when he wants talk. My favorite line is the first line of the song, I believe his father is looking over his shoulder saying those words rather than the boy looking back in time and hearing them again.
He is being slightly immodest claiming to be the diamond balanced on a blade of grass but no less so than claiming God hangs on every word when he wants talk. My favorite line is the first line of the song, I believe his father is looking over his shoulder saying those words rather than the boy looking back in time and hearing them again.
God's green hair (grass) is where he slept last, and he (God) balanced a diamond (morning dew) on a blade of grass.
God's green hair (grass) is where he slept last, and he (God) balanced a diamond (morning dew) on a blade of grass.
I'm handcuffed to the bishop and the barbershop liar
Now I'm thinking this is a reference to cheap booze. what does anyone else think?
I've been thinking about this line since I first heard the track.
I've been thinking about this line since I first heard the track.
My interpretation: The bishop represents religion. The barbershop liar (lie) represents societal constraints. So he's saying that he's an outcast, trapped (handcuffed) in his condition by those that adhere to social conformity.
My interpretation: The bishop represents religion. The barbershop liar (lie) represents societal constraints. So he's saying that he's an outcast, trapped (handcuffed) in his condition by those that adhere to social conformity.
i wonder if this was written before or after wristcutters? this song was playing in my head the whole time we were watching it the other night...
this is just how you feel after a long period of being in a transient state. when you feel like you don't have any roots you have moments like some of the lyrics in here. balancing a diamond on a blade of grass...you start to see beauty everywhere. even if your future is bleak..especially actually. beck wrote a lot of songs like this. this reminds of stuff like "hollow log" and "modesto" two artists that seem very akin to me. and very personal to me as well.
I find this to be such a sad song about homelessness that happens to young vulnerable teenagers that run away from home and the failure of American social services to support them.
The unsavory sounding characters that the teenager meets could either be a help or a hindrance which ever way you want to look at it but I can't imagine the teenagers prospects with someone called Scar Face Ron.
Eating Black Swan, Squirrel and the other weid things are the kind of Mulligan's Stew that you can imagine Hobbo's eating whilst on the road, the only things they can get their hands on.
God's green hair is off course sleeping on the grass and the first thing you will see on waking is the dew drops on the blades of grass as you have no pillow to rest your head on.