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The Wind and the Dove Lyrics
Somewhere between the wind and the dove
Lies all I sought in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill
Well I cannot tell you
Which way it would be
If it was this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove
And I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
Somewhere between the wind and the dove
Lies all I lost in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill
Well I cannot tell you
Which way it would be
If it was not this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove
And I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
Lies all I sought in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill
Which way it would be
If it was this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
Lies all I lost in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill
Which way it would be
If it was not this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
Song Info
Submitted by
askforgiveness On Jan 31, 2009
More Bill Callahan
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All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast
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"What does this song mean to you?"
To me it sounds like the Linger On part was a reference to the Velvet Underground song Pale Blue Eyes. It sounds pretty similar and since "And I am a child of linger on" doesn't make much grammatical sense, maybe he is saying that he is influenced by Velvet Underground.
Err, scratch that last comment. Just read this: http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2009/striking_as_ever_bill_callahan_returns_to_the_grey_eagle
Q: does the “linger on” lyric refer at all to “Pale Blue Eyes” by Velvet Undergound? A: It’s not a reference to Pale Blue Eyes. Pretty good song, tho.
Seems pretty straight-up to me. There holds a mystery in a bird's flight to the layman. Somewhere between the means and the bird, there is some sense of child-like wonder and magic as what's going on mechanically. The lyrics depict a loss - death maybe? love? some aspect of self? Who knows. The loss is questioned in the first chorus where the lyrics skirt around the true lament (I don't know how the dove could exist without the wind) which is pretty much "I don't know what do do". Perhaps the lyrics were to come to some sort of peace (dove being the bird, and as other flights are examined from this album), I think the lyrics is the struggle of how to move on past losing something that may or may not be able to even be conceived, all that potential and hope, but also a demand to understand it, as the child lingers at the window trying to make sense of what has happened. Could be completely off my rocker though! Just how I interpret it. : )
On the whole album, birds are thoughts. So here the Dove is thought of peace. Thoughts move by change, like birds that fly on the wind. If there is no wind, there can also no thought of peace, as with no wind, the thoughts lay down. So, the concepts of wind (change) and dove (peace) are interconnected. So there can only be a form of peace when there is also trembling. Without tremblinding, he could not know the [concept of] peace.
Like the birds of thought, in his childlike wonder, he can go up in his thought [like a bird peering through the window].
In relation to the rest of the lyrics, a sort of peace comes from the train of thought, not true it’s absence…
One can wonder and create one’s own serenity of thought, and hold on to it through the winds of change….
There is no thought of peace (dove), when there is no train (wind, change) of thought.
One could embrace the winds of change, and find peace within it, like a wondering or daydreaming child…