When Under Ether Lyrics
Like a conveyor belt above my eyes
When under ether the mind comes alive
But conscious of nothing but the will to survive
Look up at the ceiling feeling happiness
Human kindness
I point to the ceiling, she smiles so kind
Something's inside me unborn and unblessed
Disappears in the ether, this world to the next
Disappears in the ether, one world to the next
Human kindness.
she's feeling happiness because she's 'under ether' or anaesthetic. Shes high due to the drugs she's been given.. This may not be about abortion but miscarridge, the procedure a woman has to go through to remove the foetus after miscarridge.. i think the whole album could be about 2 pregnancy's both lost and a lost lover too.
I think you're right.
I think you're right.
@ImMyRuin I agree. There is a lot of loss in this album. I agree this song always makes me think the surgery is to remove the fetus after miscarriage.
@ImMyRuin I agree. There is a lot of loss in this album. I agree this song always makes me think the surgery is to remove the fetus after miscarriage.
such a beautiful song.about a miscarriage i think.the lady next to her-mother/nurse?
From Part III of T.S. Eliot's "East Coker"
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre, The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed . . .
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about; Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing--
The "ether" being referred to in this song is not the anesthetic, but rather the fabric of the universe, where the baby is returning to. C'mon, this is clearly about an abortion -- "waist down undressed", and with a woman beside her holding her hand? One of PJ's easier to interpret songs, but still amazing...
PJ said that it's not about abortion... but for me personally, it still can be about it, no mather what she said.
PJ said that it's not about abortion... but for me personally, it still can be about it, no mather what she said.
Ether was used for anaesthesia during childbirth, starting in the mid 1800s, up until about 1915 when they started using "twilight sleep" which used different drugs. The lyrics "feeling happiness" suggest childbirth to me, and not a miscarriage or abortion. "something's inside me... disappears into the ether" could be talking about her state of mind under the drugs, where she becomes "conscious of nothing but the need to survive". Childbirth is a bit like that anyway, it's like going through a tunnel even without drugs.
hospital beds have wheels, and when you are lying on your back and being moved to a hospital room on one of them, the ceiling looks like it is moving
okay i recently discovered that it's "human kindness" rather than "you unkind mess." whenever the edit function comes back, i'll change it.
is it about an abortion?
Abortion it is. Feeling happiness for what? Better to let the unborn baby disappear to the next world. Could be human kindness if the unborn babys future is pitch black due to a mentally ill mother or victim of rape. Longshot but not impossible: A lonley mother cant raise a child; human kindness from the cristian right-wing who thinks its better to take the bastard away in the name of mom/dad/kid norm. Ether is the tranqulizer to comfort the mom.
it is so beautiful.