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Ansel Lyrics
I took a trip down to Mexico
With my father and brother, Ansel
You can't know
Well, you can't ever really know
Was I really 'spose to know?
How the hell would you know?
I made a mess of myself and the trip on the whole
My father stayed patient with me, why I don't know
You can't know
Well, you can't ever really know
That's the last time I seen my brother Ansel
Troubles on the head winds
Troubles on the tail winds
Troubles on the head winds
Troubles on the tail winds
Me and my sister we hung on the phone
Watching the news
As they looked for Ansel
On top of that mountain
Underneath the snow
Their dogs were a sniffin
I guess you'll never know
You can't know
You can't ever really know
Would you really want to know?
How the hell would you know?
On gears around an uncaring sun
It doesn't know what it gave as the bone moon was 'round again
Again this allows one spheres heart to pump
Pumping waves of hearts
That come and go and then come and then
You can't know
Well, you won’t ever really know
Would you really want to know?
Nah, you can’t know
The last time that you’ll ever see another soul
Nah, you never get to know
No, you don't know
With my father and brother, Ansel
You can't know
Well, you can't ever really know
Was I really 'spose to know?
How the hell would you know?
My father stayed patient with me, why I don't know
You can't know
Well, you can't ever really know
That's the last time I seen my brother Ansel
Troubles on the tail winds
Troubles on the head winds
Troubles on the tail winds
Watching the news
As they looked for Ansel
On top of that mountain
Underneath the snow
Their dogs were a sniffin
I guess you'll never know
You can't ever really know
Would you really want to know?
How the hell would you know?
It doesn't know what it gave as the bone moon was 'round again
Again this allows one spheres heart to pump
Pumping waves of hearts
That come and go and then come and then
Well, you won’t ever really know
Would you really want to know?
Nah, you can’t know
Nah, you never get to know
No, you don't know
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Isaac's brother died in a mountain accident back around the time Good News came out. "Although it was a problem, I didn't feel as I do with the last few friends and my brother who died." - Isaac Brock
I think this song is him finally expressing the death of his brother in a song. It obviously isn't a 100% literal depiction of his brother's death, and his brother wasn't named Ansel, but I think this song is about the feeling he had when he found out his brother died on that mountain.
@TurinTurambar I think his brother was named Ansel, as his death matches the man in this article http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jun/20/2-stranded-climbers-rescued/. Sounds like the song is more direct than is usual for the band.
@TurinTurambar I think his brother was named Ansel, as his death matches the man in this article http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jun/20/2-stranded-climbers-rescued/. Sounds like the song is more direct than is usual for the band.
@TurinTurambar Actually, this song is about as literal as it gets. Someone on Reddit did some solid detective work and found that Isaac had a stepbrother named Ansel. I'm too lazy to find the direct quote but Isaac said he took a trip to Mexico with his father and brother, "lost his mind", and that was the last time he saw his brother. He always presumed they'd patch things up later but then he was killed in an avalanche. Something of a cautionary tale about how you can be wiped off the face of the planet at any...
@TurinTurambar Actually, this song is about as literal as it gets. Someone on Reddit did some solid detective work and found that Isaac had a stepbrother named Ansel. I'm too lazy to find the direct quote but Isaac said he took a trip to Mexico with his father and brother, "lost his mind", and that was the last time he saw his brother. He always presumed they'd patch things up later but then he was killed in an avalanche. Something of a cautionary tale about how you can be wiped off the face of the planet at any moment, and you never really know.
@TurinTurambar actually his step-brother ansel died
@TurinTurambar actually his step-brother ansel died
This song is about the last time that Isaac Brock saw his brother Ansel before he died in an avalanche.
It also seems to be about how life is uncertain and how it could end at any time. The uncertainty is both a good and a bad thing, as you both would and wouldn't want to know when your time will come.
From an interview with Isacc Brock from USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/03/17/modest-mouse-strangers-to-ourselves/24831695/):
While Brock mulls over the big ideas, he also gets achingly personal on Ansel, which details a last trip he took with his brother, who died in an avalanche. "I kind of lost my mind, and I'd say it was pretty frustrating for the guy. I figured we'd be able to reconnect at some point and fix that," he says. "It's not a new reminder, a new concept, but you could trip and fall and die right now. It's just good to remember that."
“On gears around an uncaring sun It doesn't know what it gave As the bone moon winds 'round again Again this allows one sphere's heart to pump Pumping waves of hearts that come and go And then come and then”
Sometime you hear a song a bunch of times from a band you absolutely love and need to survive, and you might dismiss said song as something very black and white and that needs no dissecting (mourning the death of his brother) but then as you look closer and come across a stanza so perfect in its poetic connection, added with the beautiful irony about being disconnected from someone forever, it makes a jackass write some bullshit on a website no one will ever read yet feels complete in just having declared his love and connection to it.
@TomThumb681 I feel you bro. One of the most quietly devastating moments in a song I've heard in a long long time. It's like a punch and a hug at the same time
@TomThumb681 I feel you bro. One of the most quietly devastating moments in a song I've heard in a long long time. It's like a punch and a hug at the same time
"The last time that you’ll ever see another soul Nah, you never get to know No, you don't know"
Wowowwow.
Possibly about Ansel Adams? I imagine him and Isaac would share the same ideals -- both hate seeing peaceful, beautiful scenes of nature being destroyed for civilization.
I'd like to say that this is totally incorrect, and it's about his brother, who obviously was killed in some mountain climbing incident or something. His death was part of the inspiration for their Good News album.
I'd like to say that this is totally incorrect, and it's about his brother, who obviously was killed in some mountain climbing incident or something. His death was part of the inspiration for their Good News album.
@MechanicalBirds i actually think you were on to something with your first comment about ansel adams. clearly this album has an overwhelming theme of environmentalism and the band's view of what is becoming of the world. i think people are looking too much at the obvious message (the death of isaac's brother). I think it is meant to have multiple meanings, as with any modest mouse song. I think he is talking about the innocence that many of us feel when it comes to environmental responsibility and using an innocent view of death to convey it.
@MechanicalBirds i actually think you were on to something with your first comment about ansel adams. clearly this album has an overwhelming theme of environmentalism and the band's view of what is becoming of the world. i think people are looking too much at the obvious message (the death of isaac's brother). I think it is meant to have multiple meanings, as with any modest mouse song. I think he is talking about the innocence that many of us feel when it comes to environmental responsibility and using an innocent view of death to convey it.
Caught a lyric in the song I liked, wondered if it had been put on here. Songmeanings never lets me down :) Nice job!
I think that this song may be based on real life events, not Isaac's perhaps, but it might be a story someone told him. I believe it is rendered through the child's perspective, like the parts with the words "don't know" show that kids don't remember or don't think about certain events, probably because they are too complicated or just not interesting for a child. And the tone of the song is positive because children who had lost their relatives when they were young often don't feel sorry about that. So for me this is a song about a child telling a story about the lost brother who was never found, and as he tells this story, he openly confesses that he doesn't remember much of what had happened back then.
@catherine3 no, that’s wrong, his step-brother ansel died in an avalanche.
@catherine3 no, that’s wrong, his step-brother ansel died in an avalanche.