Pedestal

"A song like Pedestal for instance, something like that could only be created in that time. It's about death; I was much more into that than now. I thought I had a clear picture of death but now I know it's a mystery and it will always be a mystery, although it is something we all have in common: everybody knows that life ends with death. So then I try to imagine how we would live if we didn't know we were going to die. Would we live our lives differently? Less careful maybe? Less scared? These are beautiful things to think about and build a song around. But I think that after a year of Portishead I've become a little more sober."

• Beth Gibbons of Portishead in an interview found here:

http://wnet.suomi.net/kotisivu/heikki.hietala/Interviews/Beth%20Oor.htm

:: this song got me through some hard times. i think the "miracle" is love. and even though he left her, he suffers in the end ::

true true, who doesnt put someone they love on a pedistal

The way this song is sung is so expressive, Beth's voice changes with each word. I love how delicate the musical accompaniment is, too - it's really careful and restrained. And I agree with the comments on the subject.

beautiful song. "mystery of all time.." Portishead music is fulfilled with mysteries..

this reminds me of secret admirers. when someone secretly likes you, they put you on a pedestal since they only pick out the good aspects of you (since they admire from afar). when someone does not know they have this admirer, they don't really respond, so the secret admirer feels frustration. the song makes sense to me when i think of it this way.

this song reminds me of the movie "angels in america" when Prior tells the angels that they should sue god for abandoning the angels and humanity

Its clear to me that the first part of the song is tlking about a big breakup... hush, can you hear , its the voice that tells you that its going to be ok. The second part concerns ones placing the person and the precious moments where they belong, in a special place in your heart...but in the past

Gorgeous song really, one of my many favourites from Portishead. Beautifully sung, too, as always when Beth sings.

I've also found the interview above on the internet but, to be honest, interpretations by users of this site make much more sense to me than what Beth says about it herself. The breakup of a relationship has something to do with death, of course, but I really can't find much of "imagine how we would live if we didn't know we were going to die" in the lyrics... Except for the line "no time, make or reason" maybe: If we didn't knew death, time wouldn't matter as much or maybe wouldn't matter at all. And we would do different things for different reasons without the constant threat of death probably...

i never really thought about what it meant but it always made sense to me. i looooove this song.