Parting of the Sensory

General Commentthe ending of this song is what does it for me. modest mouse will be played at my funeral. because they are my fucking life.

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My OpinionDuring 3:35 to 5:34 of this song I get the urge to scream these lyrics into someones face

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General CommentGreat song, I don't exactly have anything meaningful to say but it's one of the best songs of We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.

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General CommentThis is my favorite song off the new album.

To me this song is about the "Circle of Life" but instead of it being positive, Isaac views it as being an ultimately fatalistic concept...

"There's no work in walking in to fuel the talk
I would grab my shoes and then away I'd walk
Through all the stubborn beauty I start at the dawn
Until the sun had fully stopped
Never walking away from
Just a way to pull apart
Dehydrate back into minerals
A life long walk to the same exact spot"

The "stubborn beauty" could be life. (Life is often regarded as beautiful but in this case it is "stubborn" because it never completely ends). Dehydrate into minerals doesn't seem to be metaphoric at all. A life long walk into the same exact spot again could mean we are destined, or doomed, to end up in the same spot we began. Non-existence perhaps?

The parting of the sensory
Carbon's anniversary
Just part it again if you please
Carbon's anniversary

The parting of the sensory, I think, refers to the parting of our senses when we die. This would in turn be Carbon's anniversary, since we are carbon based life forms, and our material bodies would "return" to the earth. (Does that make sense?) The old old mystery could refer to the old mystery of the concept of eternal life, the circle of life, etc.

"Who the hell made you the boss
If you say what to do I know what not to stop
If you were the ship then who would ever get on
The weather changed it for the worse
And came down on us like it had been rehearsed
And like we hope, but change will surely come
And be awful for most but really good for some
I took a trip to the exact same spot
We pulled the trigger, but we forgot to cock
And every single shot"

Boss could be referring to a higher power which came up with this concept of "the circle of life" or life itself. Isaac shows his dissatisfaction with the concept by saying "Who the hell made you the boss? We placed our chips in all the right spots, but still lost. Any shithead who had ever walked Could take the ship and do a much finer job. This fit like clothes made out of wasps." Isaac concludes by saying "fuck it I guess I lost" accepting this concept he dislikes...

The beginning of the next part also starts out the same way and continues to show how life's changes are ever-occuring, but fatalistic, and bad for most, and however hard you try to prevent them, it is futile. "And like we hope, but change will surely come. And be awful for most but really good for some. I took a trip to the exact same spot. We pulled the trigger, but we forgot to cock. And every single shot

Aw, fuck it I guess we lost."


"Some day you will die and
Somehow something’s going to steal your carbon."

Again showing the negative effects of the circle of life.

Just what the song means to me, it may be way off.

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General CommentModest Mouse don't do political, they do universal. I'd bet anything that the said boss is God.

Here's a quote from a drunken Isaac Brock:
How many political idealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
Answer: Political Idealists can't change shit.

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General CommentThere's no work in walking in to fuel the talk
(you don't need to do anything for the talk to start, the 'talk' being life itself. you're just here, and you can't explain it)

I would grab my shoes and then away I'd walk
('grab my shoes' is saying he's going to somewhat prepare for the 'walk', the 'walk' being life)

Through all the stubborn beauty I start at the dawn
('stubborn beauty' is also analogous to life, as it is both hard (stubborn) yet awes us (beauty). the 'dawn' at which he starts at is birth, of course)

Until the sun had fully stopped
(the life he speaks of can be compared to an earth day. the sun never stops, even though it disappears sometimes. when the earth does stop spinning, i.e. the sun stops, his life ends.)

Never walking away from
(you never walk away from life, your decomposition will be consumed by other life and used, and so on..)

Just a way to pull apart
(pull apart could be seen as your conscious and body pulling apart at death if seen from a theist view, but from an atheist perspective it can be seen as just a way to get out of life [nonexistence])

Dehydrate back into minerals
(self explanatory)

A life long walk to the same exact spot
(you start as nothing and you leave as nothing, and it takes all your life to do it)

Carbon's anniversary
(the span between your birth and death is the carbon's anniversary)

The parting of the sensory
(your five senses and conscious thought make up everything you do. part with it, and you no longer participate in reality)

Old old mystery
(forever, humans have tried to come up with an explanation for the mystery of life)

The parting of the sensory
(..)

the next verse is almost ultimately seen in a theist's perspective:

Who the hell made you the boss?
(who made you 'god'?)

We placed our chips in all the right spots
But still lost
(we did everything you wanted, but still didn't win)

Any shithead who had ever walked
Could take the ship and do a much finer job
(even an idiot would know how to be a better god)

This fit like clothes made out of wasps
(the life that the god gave to him wasn't fit to what he needed. also, a little fact: some indigenous people use the paraponera insect in their adulthood rites by knocking them out with a natural chemical and woven into sleeves. the adolescent wears it while they come back to consciousness.)

Aw, fuck it I guess I lost
(no matter what he says, he's still going to die)

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General CommentWell, just starting with the title, "Parting of the Sensory". Parting of the Sensory, can easily mean, that all senses have left him, maybe the inevitable outcome of everyone. Or you could take it in a different way, although spelled differently, Censory could mean the same thing. "Parting of the Censory" could mean, the censory that kept him seeing how beautiful the world was, had just parted, leaving him with all the vulgar disgusting things in the world instead. "Who the hell made you the boss?", him talking to god, saying how the hell could you be so damn cruel. Placing the chips in all the right spots but still losing - living your best and or doing everything right, but still having to "part".

(if you guys enjoyed my interpretation, hit me up and i'll continue.)

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General CommentWell, This song is about life and how it comes and goes.

The first verse being about the walk through life through "stubborn beauty" (which is how describes the universe, as beauty that hasn't realized itself). The walk lasts from the sun rising to the sun setting (the beginning and end of a lifetime) and how you never really end up very much further than where you started.

The first chorus mentions carbons anniversary(every living thing on earth is a carbon based life form.) this is about the circle of each individual life, from start to end as an anniversary of the life death phenomenon. The parting of the sensory is describing that death is merely the parting from conscious self and the senses that allow you to experience the world in their individual ways. No heaven or hell. Old old news to read(I always thought it was old old mystery, referring to the mystery of life and death contemplated since humans learned how to think critically.) would mean that it's just old news, it's been around for a long time and we're tired of it.

My favorite part

Who the Hell made you the boss?
we placed our chips in all the right spots
but still lost
any shithead who would ever walk
could take a ship and do a much finer job
This fit like clothes made out of wasps
Aw, Fuck it I guess I lost

This is basically referring to life as a ship and God being the captain or boss. The writer is asking god who made him the boss? because it wasn't any public election, he was automatically in charge. He's saying that we did everything the way we were told but we still lost, still died. And that any shithead who would ever walk could do better than God at his job. This fit like clothes made out of wasps, something being made to be comfortable but is actually very painful and uncomfortable, life in otherwords. And in the end, giving up.

Who the hell made you the boss?
If you say what to do, I know what not to stop
If you were the ship who would ever get on?
The weather changed and for the worse
It came down on us like it had been rehearsed
Not like you hoped, but change will surely come
And be awful for most, but really good for some
I took a trip to the exact same spot
We'd pulled the trigger, but we forgot to cock
And every single shot

Aw, fuck it, I guess we lost

Again questioning god's existence and morals. The second part being that there's plenty of rules but they don't cover everything. No one would ever follow you if they knew what you were really like. Everything is going downhill(End of the world as we know it) It all happened so elegantly and smooth like it was planned. We hoped it would be better but it only came true for some( the rich?) and awful for most(The poor?) I lived my life and tried everything but wasn't quite prepared for it every single time. And again giving up.

The rest of the song is about dying and someone or something taking his/her Carbon to continue life, Also about being alive and taking others carbon. And how it's all one big circle, an equilibrium.

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General CommentI haven't read too much into this song but from the beginning and that awesome "Someday you will die, and somehow something's going to steal your carbon" part, it makes me think it's about how we die and end up in the ground and then part of something else again after we decompose. "A life-long walk to the same exact spot"

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General CommentOne of the best songs off the new album. One of the best songs modest mouse has ever done. Carbon - Carbon dating. I don't want to take the time to explain it right now, but the lyrics are really ingenius.

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