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Without Mythologies Lyrics
A soft breeze with the slippery concrete black and full of muddy slush, contrasting with the hoarfrost, clean and hung on a tunnel of silent shivering trees (the ones you said you'd like to be), and the birds that screamed at the sun now buried deep down below the ground, beneath the snow, I press my shoulder to this wall between us. I know you are behind me but I press my shoulder to this wall, determined not to turn around. I know I'll see you standing, still that statue that I molded in my mind to kiss, so beautiful you'll never move again. Someplace far away, at some sad table littered with bad light, with chipped plates, in 48 frames from a movie on the cutting room floor, you said "True meaning would be dying with you", and though I wanted to, I did not smile. But now I will give up on this wall that we have fought with, never uncover meaning behind our rich words. If I could I would make you a raging river, with angry rapids, supplied with rain, so you could always meander and forever be able to run away without contending with myths wrongly interpreted with pain. A harsh wind.
I actually think this is a much of myths. I can see the one about Orpheus and Eurydice, but there are many more:
the part in the song about wishing to change someone into a raging river is like the myth of Alpheus and Arethusa, in which Athena changes Arethusa into a river to escape Alpheus;
the myth of Bauchis and Philemone in which they're turned into trees by the gods for their hospitality;
the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe in which there literally is a wall that separates them;
and finally the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, in which he made a statue of the most beautiful woman, he fell in love with it.
Phew.
I too remembered most of these myths when listening to the song. Did Galatea break though, in Pygmalion and Galatea, once the gods made her real?
I too remembered most of these myths when listening to the song. Did Galatea break though, in Pygmalion and Galatea, once the gods made her real?
No, she lived fine in all the versions I've read.
No, she lived fine in all the versions I've read.
I've loved this song for years, but just recently took a look at the lyrics. I was a bit surprised. I may be reading it wrong, but it seems to me this is a song sung to loved one who has passed away. He sings of lying on concrete, pressing his shoulder to the wall between them. She said she wanted to be the trees, which takes on much more meaning if she's buried at their roots. And there's the bit about dying with her, and the image of her in his mind, which will never move again. Giving up on the wall between them--is the man singing the song giving up on life to join his loved one beneath the ground?
This song is definitely an allusion to the myth of Oorpheus and Eurydice. For those that don't know, basically Orpheus was a great musician (he was the son of the muse Calliope) who's playing could bring about any emotion. When his wife (Eurydice) was bitten by a snake and died he crossed to the underworld and pleaded to Haedes that he might have his wife back. After playing such a beautiful song on his lyre, Hades agreed to this on the condition that Orpheus COULD NOT turn around and look at his wife until they were both in the sunlight and out of the underworld, otherwise she would disappear forever. Anyways, he looks back and Eurydice disappears forever.
" I press my shoulder to this wall between us. I know you are behind me but I press my shoulder to this wall, determined not to turn around." definite reference to this story.
I think J.K. Samson has modelled himself a modern day Orpheus and Eurydice. A man who's love died, and he'd do anything to get her back. he's haunted by memories of this woman who he loved.
Also- in regards to the "dying with you" line, after Orpheus lost Eurydice for the second time he wandered into the dance of the followers of Dionysus (drunk, half crazed and possibly drugged women), who ripped him apart. His head floated across the ocean to Lesbos where it became an Oracle.
I agree with that he references Oroheus and Eurydice, but i also think he references another Greek myth about the man who builds the most beautiful women out of stone, and then falls in love with her, the gods make her real for him, but then I think she breaks and he doesn't want any other women.
I agree with that he references Oroheus and Eurydice, but i also think he references another Greek myth about the man who builds the most beautiful women out of stone, and then falls in love with her, the gods make her real for him, but then I think she breaks and he doesn't want any other women.
"...still that statue that I molded in my mind to kiss, so beautiful you'll never move again."
"...still that statue that I molded in my mind to kiss, so beautiful you'll never move again."
I'm confident that there are more myth references, that I don't understand, in this song.
I'm confident that there are more myth references, that I don't understand, in this song.
i love the way it begins with " a soft breeze.." and ends with " a harsh wind" . reminds me of confusion and problems in a relationship.
my two favorite parts of this song would be "true meaning would be dying with you, and though i wanted to, did not smile..." and "if i could i would make you a raging river, with angry rapids, supplied with rain, so you could always meander and forever be able to run away..." le sigh
"i do and see you standing still, that statue i molded in my mind to kiss, so beautiful you'll never move again..." that line just made me cry. it does that a lot.
this band works so well on rainy, grey days.
oh god, i love this song. The weakerthans kick ass i'd say. I was lisening to their stuff, and i didnt expect this judjing from their other stuff but, whoa. this is really really good. "Pamphleteer" too
hell yes! this and pamphleteer are my two favorite weakerthans songs.
hell yes! this and pamphleteer are my two favorite weakerthans songs.
This song is just beautiful, it has a really powerful sound with amazing lyrics. One of my favorites by the weakerthans.
its incredible how much one person can describe in a thirty second period, and in how much detail. this song is just amazing.
i love this song because i love picking out the myths. i think the most important (but not best in my opinion) line in this song is "without contending with myths wrongly interpreted" because obviously its him interpreting myths for a person in this song. sooo good:)