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The Empty World Lyrics
As stiff as toys
And tall as men
And swaying like the wind torn trees
She talked about the empty world
With eyes like poisoned birds
She talked about the armies
That marched inside her head
And how they made her dreams go bad
But oh!
How happy she was!
How proud she was!
To be fighting in the war
In the empty world!
And tall as men
And swaying like the wind torn trees
She talked about the empty world
With eyes like poisoned birds
That marched inside her head
And how they made her dreams go bad
But oh!
How happy she was!
How proud she was!
To be fighting in the war
In the empty world!
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This song, along with "Splintered In Her Head" & of course "Charlotte Sometimes" were all inspired by Penelope Farmer's book by the same name. Nerd that i am, i actually own a copy; you will actually find the famouse phrase "stiff as toys/ & tall as men" in the book.
This song in particular is about a dream the protagonist, Charlotte Makepeace, has, in which she fights along with toy soldiers in a war that her caretaker's (Miss Chisel Brown) brother Arthur died in (probably WWI).
I really recommend it- it's a neat story.
how come no one has commented on this? interesting lyrics..could be taken many ways. needs some discussion!
I'm confused as to why only one person has commented on this song. I love it.
i love this song always had a hard time making out the real meaning of the lyris though, probably because the lyris are so short and it's hard seeing it taking a superior meaning beyond the literal
The song reminds me of some of the battle scenes from Michael Moorcock's "Elric" books. I'm not sure why.
Many bits of this song stem from the 2nd book to Charlotte Sometimes, called, "Emma in Winter" by Penelope Farmer. It is a great little book if you can find it.
funny... this song makes sense to me. maybe it's the experimenting with acid and whatnot. it seems to be about a psychotic woman... "fighting in the war", fighting all the imaginary things psychotic people fight, apparitions, voices, people setting out to hurt her -- the empty world, because it's not real.
i think you just have to feel your way around it. it's genius.
emma in winter? is it the same story?
As stiff as toys And tall as men
"She dreamed she stood below the picture, the "Mark of the German Beast," and there were soldiers all round her in red uniforms, stiff as toys but tall as men" -the book Charlotte Sometimes
And swaying like the wind torn trees She talked about the empty world
"Charlotte's guilty fear started to fade away, and she felt excited, almost exhilarated by this empty world" -the book Charlotte Sometimes
it was the top album and RS was taking alot of drugs
he probably doesn't even remember writing this (or recording it)
it could be a nonsense or it could be something profound
when I hear this song I think of the revolutionary war and how men were fighting for what at the time was an empty new world but thats cuz of the music and the military drums. The lyrics confuse me