Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Is all that we've become
Just nothing but hats and bags
We're waiting for taxi cabs
So you light cigarettes
And I'm taking drags
In the air, a sea of words,
That didn't come soon enough
In my mind a railway station
And a ticket stub
And it is Easter in the town
I can hear as they strike up the band
We're listening to some old man
Say he came back to life with a hole in his hand
And now the Sunday school is gathered
Together in pink and in blue
They're heralding angels for you
But not for me
They're singing
Gloria in Excelsis
Deo, deo
Gloria in Excelsis
But there's no,
There's no hope
And I am grateful for the things
That you've tried to show to me dear
But there's no Arcadia,
No Albi, and there?s no Jerusalem here
And underneath your pastures green
There's earth and there?s ash
And there's bone
And there are things that disappear
Into it and then they are gone
And there is light that hits the sky
And then it is midnight again
And there is my mother, my father,
And you and we are all impermanent
And on the green they tell their tales
About how even the dead can come back
I just don't believe in that
So you can keep on singing
Gloria in Excelsis
Deo, deo
Gloria in Excelsis
But there's no,
There's no hope
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing as ghosts
Just nothing but hats and bags
We're waiting for taxi cabs
So you light cigarettes
And I'm taking drags
In the air, a sea of words,
That didn't come soon enough
In my mind a railway station
And a ticket stub
And it is Easter in the town
I can hear as they strike up the band
We're listening to some old man
Say he came back to life with a hole in his hand
And now the Sunday school is gathered
Together in pink and in blue
They're heralding angels for you
But not for me
They're singing
Gloria in Excelsis
Deo, deo
Gloria in Excelsis
But there's no,
There's no hope
And I am grateful for the things
That you've tried to show to me dear
But there's no Arcadia,
No Albi, and there?s no Jerusalem here
And underneath your pastures green
There's earth and there?s ash
And there's bone
And there are things that disappear
Into it and then they are gone
And there is light that hits the sky
And then it is midnight again
And there is my mother, my father,
And you and we are all impermanent
And on the green they tell their tales
About how even the dead can come back
I just don't believe in that
So you can keep on singing
Gloria in Excelsis
Deo, deo
Gloria in Excelsis
But there's no,
There's no hope
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing
There's no such thing as ghosts
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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Magical
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Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
none on this song either! I'm surprised. someone ought to have commented this.
This is a cynical view that the world is just the material that we can see...and that we're all impermanent (like in History of Britain) When she talks about easter and there's an old man, that's like Jesus returning from the dead, which she thinks isn't possible (I used to think it said hole in the hand, which would make sense if it is Jesus she's talking about). The Libertines had a dream about reaching Albion (not alby) and Arcadia (which is like Utopia) but Emmy's saying there's no such thing as that. It's like there's someone trying to convert her, but she's saying though you might sing "Glory to God in the highest," there's no hope and we'll all die and end, and there's no afterlife i.e. being a ghost or the dead coming back, like Jesus.
This is the song that first got me into Emmy The Great. It's pure genius from start to finish.
I think that "We're listening to some old man/Say he came back to life with a hole in his head" may be mistranscribed, to my ear it sounds like "a hole in his hand" which would rhyme better and fit the Easter imagery better.
The "Gloria in excelsis Deo" ( translates from the latin as "Glory To God In The Highest" ) is what the angels sang when Christ was born in the new testament and has been incorporated into many hymns going back at least as far as the third century.
Subtle and brilliant this is one of the finest lyrics I have ever read/heard.
i absolutely love this song.
the meaning should be pretty easy to figure out..
I'm with Breakfast on this one.
"We're listening to some old man say He came back to life with a hole in His hand" makes more sense as it's obviously a reference to Jesus. The old man makes me think that it could be a pastor.
I also think the line "There's no Arcadia, no Alby and there's no Jerusalem here" could actually be "There's no Arcadia, no Albion, there's no Jerusalem here".
The Easter Parade is a novel by Richard Yates. The main character is called Emmy.