Puscifer

Simultaneous

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Simultaneous Lyrics

So, the first time I saw him was at the annual city festival, at the end of the plaza, on, uh, "Punker Hill", also known as "The Island of Misfits". Um, It's like a mound of black leather and army surplus jackets and boots and spiky egg-white hairdos and mohawks and second generation Exploited and Minor Threat and Sex Pistols patches and stuff. Basically a haven for the misunderstood punk-y, rock-y, goth-y, "Woe is me" types.

And, uh, there he was, right in the middle of it all. Um, oversized yellow form-rubber cowboy hat; pink plastic Toys-R-Us pistols and holster. Off-white dashiki, uh, shirt, and tattered bell bottom jeans, leather feet, Raleigh cigarette finger stains. And he was an island within an island, and I just, kinda had to know more.

So, I, uhh, I sat with him for hours just trying to get a bearing on his beautiful insanity. Every third inquiry was met with, you know, an eloquent but unusual response, and, you know, the subsequent exchange, it kinda warranted continuing the conversation, because he was, he was interesting. Uh, 'course the other, the other reason my efforts where dismissed, while he took in the constant flow of the festival crowd, all around us.

A raging river of multi-cultural river of music, art, food, families, uh, all of this with his Walkman at full volume. I think it was Foreigner, playing through the headphones. And I asked maybe, you know "Hey maybe you could turn that down, so we can talk? ", and he replied "Can you hear me"? and I said "Yes", he said "Well, then it's fine". He never really pretended, not once, to be able to organize all of this chaos that was going on around us. Uh, he just unapologetically chose which pieces to focus on.

Well, you know, after a few hours we seemed to have found our stride, found our rhythm, kinda settled into it, and we're having these intermittent conversations, uh, flipping back and forth between the chaos and the focus. And then, just kinda out of nowhere, he seemed to become a little unsettled and disturbed. And I asked him what was wrong and he just blurted out "Peanuts parents and syrup", and then he looked at me like I wondered what that means, and then he said, "You have any, do you have any batteries?"

So, basically his, his Walkman was running out of power, and he just needed batteries, so before I could even turn and ask one of our fellow punkers for some double-A's, he grabbed my face with both hands, and then for the first time in the entire conversation, he, gave me his complete focus and attention, completely present, and calmly said "We will never know world peace, until three people can simultaneously look each other straight in the eye".

Should the oceans rise
Should the sky come falling down
Should the islands tremble beneath us
See our better nature blossom

Should the sun rain fire
Should Hell on Earth freeze over
And our enemies wait hungry
See our better nature feed them

Should the sun rain fire
Should Hell on Earth freeze over
And our enemies wait hungry
See our better nature feed and calm them

Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over

Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over
Find a way through, around, or over

Submitted by

mellow_harsher On Nov 02, 2015

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by M1a

7y ago

This is a song about 3 different things going on at once, hence the title!

In one sense, it's describing a simple story about meeting a schizophrenic man who has these moments of incredible clarity, while at a punk festival.

At the same time, like all Puscifer songs, it can easily be interpreted as a sexual metaphor between these 2 characters, "I had to know more, after a couple hours we settled into it, kind of found our rhythm, going back and forth between the chaos and the focus, and all of a sudden he became startled".

The 3rd layer of this song took me a while to figure out, but is incredibly profound to me at least! It's describing what Maynard sees as God, either a dream or a vision and seeing this "beautifully insane" person who "Unapologetically chooses which pieces to focus on", just as God has no direct intervention in our world but chooses based on its will. The part that made me believe this is 100% about meeting God, is the fact that the beginning of the song the speaker describes this place as just "an island of punks and goths at a festival" but yet he goes on to call it "A raging river of multicultural art families and food", which is way more than just a punk fest and describes the nature of our world beautifully.

The best part to me, is the walkman. God has his walkman on, and we can hear what he is saying, but he doesn't hear us, he only SEES us and sees our behaviors and choices. The batteries are a metaphor for sacrifice, not exactly in a Satanic way, but the simple act of asking for batteries to help this man is what caused him (God) to give Maynard enlightenment by saying the truth of our world. That we won't make any progress until 3 people can simultaneously look eachother straight in the eye. God is basically a bisexual schizophrenic man with a cowboy hat and pink pistols, who is beautifully insane, who makes no apologies in his choices, who can't hear us but wants us to hear him, and who will give us the answers we are looking for only when we prove ourselves to be good enough people to deserve these answers. Absolutely love this song, once you realize the 3 layers of this song and its connection to God, the music that kicks in at "Well, then it's fine", so good!

This is a song about 3 different things going on at once, hence the title!

In one sense, it's describing a simple story about meeting a schizophrenic man who has these moments of incredible clarity, while at a punk festival.

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by dreamingsky 5y ago

@M1a This is incredibly insightful. I never would have figured this out. I really love the idea of the Walkman too. God sees us and can speak to us, but isn't listening to us over the loud music. So clever.

by dreamingsky

5y ago

I agree with M1a, I think the spoken-word part at the beginning is about Maynard speaking with God. I give them credit, I never would have figured it out.

The only part I couldn't figure out is the "Peanuts parents and syrup" part. Maynard asked God what the matter was, and God said that. Then Maynard said "and then he looked at me like I wondered what that means".

I searched and found someone else who figured that part out. Peanuts does not refer to the nut, but to the comic strip by Charles Schulz with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, etc. The adults (e.g. parents) never speak, but only say "wah, wah...". Then the syrup is about how it makes things slower.

So Maynard asked God what the matter was, and God told him in effect "my Walkman sounds like the adults in the Peanuts cartoon speaking slowly". However, God noticed Maynard did not understand, so he simplified his comment to "do you have any batteries?"

So in order to understand God's comment, you'd have to know a lot of background information:

what a Walkman is
what a tape sounds like in a Walkman when the batteries are dying
what the adults in the Peanuts cartoon sound like

So that is probably what talking to god would be like: God would talk to you, but you'd have no idea what he was saying since God is so much beyond you. In other words, "Every third inquiry was met with, you know, an eloquent but unusual response".

There is so much packed into this short story. So fun.

My Interpretation

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by pete102036 5y ago

@dreamingsky

Peanuts parents and syrup. Peanuts, parents, and syrup. God bless the Oxford Comma. Really, youÈve opened my eyes.

by Milkyweiss 1y ago

@dreamingsky would assume it refers to the line in Tool's Rosetta Stoned: "...And can anyone tell me why Y'all sound like Peanuts parents? Will I ever be coming down?..."

This said, "Peanuts parents in syrup" would mean the song started sounding "syrup-ish" at that line, as what happens, when tape walkmans run out of juice.

by Jeremeybest

3y ago

So my interpretation of this song comes back to the new world order it requires three nations to simotaniously look each other straight in the eye Russia USA and China to find a way through around or over so humanity in its entirety can move forward

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by IppyFlummery

3y ago

God is busy with his own biz. He will throw you a bone of wisdom. Something incredibly profound and then get back to listening to Foreigner on his Walkman. Love this song.

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