Holy, Holy

according to Wye Oak themselves:

holy holy holy, there is no other story. holy only holy, it is madness seeking mastery. hold me hold me hold me, would you like to know me, a tongue without a mouth to feed, and only seeking agony. for the joys and secrets i have stored, here i lie awaiting my reward. attention for the blessed final count, the ties that hold your mind and mouth give out. no patience can contain this, all human joy is precious, and i alone should know this, and everyone should notice. holy holy holy, there is no other story, it is madness seeking mastery, we will be who we want to be. for the joys and secrets i have stored, here i lie awaiting my reward, attention for the blessed final count, the ties that hold your mind and mouth give out. oh, they will give out.

after watching some live videos and acoustic versions, here is my new take:

Holy, holy, holy There is no other story Holy, holy, holy It is madly seeking mastery

Hold me, hold me, hold me Would you like to know me? A tongue without a mouth to feed And only seeking at your lead

For the joys and secrets I have stored Here I lie awaiting my reward A tension for the blessed final cower The ties that hold your mind and mouth give out

No patience can contain this All human joy is precious And I alone should know it And everyone should notice

Holy, holy, holy There is no other story It is madly seeking mastery We will be who we want to be

For the joys and secrets I have stored Here I lie awaiting my reward Attention for the blessed final count The ties that hold your mind and mouth give out

All they will give out All they will give out All they will give out All they will give out

this makes evident how easy it is to interpret the same thing in vastly different ways.

okay, here's what i've got:

holy, holy, holy there is no other story holy, only, holy _____ seeking mastery (i really don't know what she's saying before "seeking mastery." i can't hear "kindly" or "blindly." for some reason, i tend to hear "it is not me seeking mastery," but it doesn't seem very logical.)

hold me, hold me, hold me would you like to know me a tongue without a mouth to feed and only seeking as i need

for the joys and secrets i have stored here i lie awaiting my reward clenching for the blessed final count (i'm uncertain what she's saying... but it sounds closer to the original interpretation by hopemusicguy to me)

no patience can contain this all human joy is precious and i alone should know this and everyone should notice

holy, holy, holy there is no other story _____ seeking mastery (see aforementioned) we will be who we want to be

for the joys and secrets i have stored here i lie awaiting my reward attention for the blessed final count the ties that hold your mind will not give out (again, i don't really know here, but it sounds sort of close...)

the same as above mostly still applies, but i've heard slight differences. i should've never started with these album lyrics... :)

holy, holy, holy there is no other story holy, only, holy _____ seeking mastery (still don't know, but perhaps "it is nightly seeking mastery")

hold me, hold me, hold me would you like to know me a tongue without a mouth to feed and only seeking as i need

for the joys and secrets i have stored here i lie awaiting my reward attention for the blessed final cower (thought she was saying "count," then thought "hour," put them together = "cower." still not sure) the ties that hold your mind will not give out (or some variation of this)

no patience can contain this all human joy is precious and i alone should know this and everyone should notice

holy, holy, holy there is no other story _____ seeking mastery (see aforementioned) we will be who we want to be

for the joys and secrets i have stored here i lie awaiting my reward attention for the blessed final cower the ties that hold your mind will not give out (or some variation of this)

ooooh, they will give out ooooh, they will give out ooooh, they will give out ooooh, they will give out

or maybe it's "the ties that hold your mind and mouth give out"

and i also think it may be "it is madly seeking mastery"

and that i need to ban myself from the wye oak lyrics section...

and i'm back-- can't contain myself.

i think you're probably right Justus, with the "...BLINDLY seeking mastery."

also, a correction of my own interpretation... INSTEAD OF: and only seeking as i need SHE MIGHT BE SAYING: and only seeking i don't need

and live i've clearly heard her sing "the ties that hold your mind do not give out"

\i can't restrain myself from commenting. i think she may be saying "it is madness seeking mastery"