Roseability

I think this is about how things are not as they appear always and appearance is deceptive. Gertrude Stein did say "a rose is a rose" and maybe they're disagreeing or maybe they are being critical of people that always try to read too much into things - perhaps Roddy is saying that sometimes things are what they are (although "I am what I am not" would then be a total contradiction of this song!). He says "you'll always be dissatisfied", so why force ourselves into that? Why not just learn to accept that some things are that black and white and things are easier to deal with when you raze it down to a more simplistic level?

I read an interview with the band and they said that the reference to gertrude stein is about her saying 'a rose is a rose' and this song is about that being too simplistic a view, things might not be what they seem etc. I may have misinterpreted this or remembered it wrongly but I'd really like to know what other people think. I love the song!

yer i think your write. Gertude Stein wrong a poem about a rose, and that show the song came about. I wouldn't mind seeing the poem cos idlewild seem to likegertrude stein, when i went to see them she was on the front of the drum kit! This song means alot to me. I first heard it when a friend of mine, Barn, Told me to download it, and it's now 'our' song and over time we have become like brother and sister. When i went to see idlewild i was meant to be going with him, but he had a car crash on the way to the gig. Now every time i hear it i remeber sitting outside Birmingham Academy listening to them doing Roseability for sound check. Even though i was crying at the time, it makes me really happy thinking back.

I love this song. Gertrude Stein was a feminist, wasnt she? I wonder if that has any relevance to the song.

Both times I've seen Idlewild live Roddy has said this song is dedicated to his sister so it's probably also about her; how her looks don't show what she is like inside.

Both times I've seen Idlewild live Roddy has said this song is dedicated to his sister so it's probably also about her; how her looks don't show what she is like inside.

i read an interview that said even the band didn't have a clue... he said that he didn't even know what the hell roseability meant

In her own work, Gertrude Stein attempted to parallel the theories of Cubism, specifically in her concentration on the illumination of the present moment and her use of slightly varied repetitions and extreme simplification and fragmentation. A lot of this technique trickles into Roddy's songwriting. My first impression of the band's lyrics really reminded my of Hemingway, and it's only logical that they both derived the style from the same place (ie Gertrude Stein).

Is Roseability a word? Great song.

Rooooooooooooooossssssssseeeeeee-ability.....there is no Roseabilty. Man, I love that part!!!