"...the lengthiest (and most abstruse) track of the album (discounting the final track's double entente), undulates along slowly. Vesuvius, a volcano in southern Italy sets the scene for the saga of love during a time of war and strife. During World War II, Naples, which is not far from Vesuvius' location in the Bay of Naples, was repeatedly bombed by Allied forces until its capture in 1943, as well as being heavily damaged by the retreating Germans, who learned a trick or two from the Russians. The protagonist waits under the great volcano, but 'only the ashes remain,' he/she says--in essence--he/she has been stood up. The character then jumps forward to the present, lying with a lover, both of them 'waiting for something to...shake us from gravity's pull.' They are in a state of immobility, sleeping away the days, asking, like the mother of 'Odalisque', 'What can we do?' The protagonist is jolted out of his stagnant state by the 'low dirty war' but his partner was not: 'it [the war] happened before you came to.' The lines following are ambiguous, which is not helped by the line sung 'view to the quarterback's room' written as 'key to the quarterback's room' in the liner notes. Possibly an allusion to an illicit affair? Nevertheless, the devotion the main character shows to his partner is incessant in spite of idolatries--it's a protection, a cocoon."
i love this song.
"...the lengthiest (and most abstruse) track of the album (discounting the final track's double entente), undulates along slowly. Vesuvius, a volcano in southern Italy sets the scene for the saga of love during a time of war and strife. During World War II, Naples, which is not far from Vesuvius' location in the Bay of Naples, was repeatedly bombed by Allied forces until its capture in 1943, as well as being heavily damaged by the retreating Germans, who learned a trick or two from the Russians. The protagonist waits under the great volcano, but 'only the ashes remain,' he/she says--in essence--he/she has been stood up. The character then jumps forward to the present, lying with a lover, both of them 'waiting for something to...shake us from gravity's pull.' They are in a state of immobility, sleeping away the days, asking, like the mother of 'Odalisque', 'What can we do?' The protagonist is jolted out of his stagnant state by the 'low dirty war' but his partner was not: 'it [the war] happened before you came to.' The lines following are ambiguous, which is not helped by the line sung 'view to the quarterback's room' written as 'key to the quarterback's room' in the liner notes. Possibly an allusion to an illicit affair? Nevertheless, the devotion the main character shows to his partner is incessant in spite of idolatries--it's a protection, a cocoon."
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=43