It's interesting, most people (I'm loosely summing up) characterized the Happyfolk as "us" and the Strangefolk as "them." My initial gut instinct was the exact opposite.
I mean, people obscuring their reality and hiding their true intentions, motivated by greed, sounds like Americans to me. And the notion that the average american is living in harmony with nature is absurd, not to metion, the Happyfolk were obscured from the rest of the world.
I read it more as a more "primitive" culture. For example, say, Tibet. Buddhism leapt immediately to my mind because of the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the buddha, dharma, sangha) & the jewels in the song. Tibet would be obscured from the rest of the world for centuries, but then when "discovered" by us Westerners, suddenly "zen" is a marketing tool. Just look at the gluttony of products that promise to be spiritual or zen - zen teas, soap, green tea everything. As though simplicity and right living can be purchased to somehow fix the unhappiness and restless we all hide behind our dark glasses.
And in our course of "mining" other cultures for what we want to fix ourselves, we invariably screw up things for the natives. Africa immediately pops into my head, a rich & varied, amazing continent pillaged & virtually destroyed for its diamonds. Look into the history of diamond mining in Africa and you'll know why I refused a diamond ring from my fiancee. I looked at it and saw blood.
Okay, I'm getting a little riled up. Sorry. The basic premise could be applied to a lot of things - one particular line actually made me think of Vietnam for some reason. The point is, that disrupting a natural culture living in harmony to satisfy the needs of some external imperial society always results in disruption.
Which, now that I think about it, could very well be applied to the middle east. I'm glad that people brought it up here, I didn't think of it. Of course, we're still not the Happyfolk.
I think the last line is pleading with the average "small town" americans that what they think they want - false desires brought on by advertising - will not really bring happiness. And why are we oblivious to the bad things happening in the world? Our country has been committing all sorts of atrocities for decades, and the average citizen never even knows about it. "Where were you when it all came down on me?"
Really love your take on this. kudos. Completely reshapes the way I see it.
Really love your take on this. kudos. Completely reshapes the way I see it.
My initial thought was way underdeveloped, but the finale of the "Monkey" being awoken and destroying everything (especially "there was only fire, and then nothing") reminds me of greek mythology, largely due to just seeing wrath of the titans. Cronus (Kronos) in the movie is shown as a very immense being resembling lava and the cooled lava rock... he "erupts" out of a mountain and is so huge that every movement he makes flings lava about the world (only fire) causing "chaos" and burning things, it...
My initial thought was way underdeveloped, but the finale of the "Monkey" being awoken and destroying everything (especially "there was only fire, and then nothing") reminds me of greek mythology, largely due to just seeing wrath of the titans. Cronus (Kronos) in the movie is shown as a very immense being resembling lava and the cooled lava rock... he "erupts" out of a mountain and is so huge that every movement he makes flings lava about the world (only fire) causing "chaos" and burning things, it is said to be the end of the world.. (then nothing). So I was looking for more greek mythology within this song but quite frankly didn't find much.
And before reading your take I actually saw the "happyfolk" and the "strangefolk" as two in the same.
We are the happy folk in that we are innocent, happy, and truly good beings in many senses, but strangefolk in our overall view in what we do.
The strangefolk are hidden to the happy because we do not ever see any bad within ourselves. It is rare for people to admit their faults and mistakes. So as we continue to destroy what is good (the earth perhaps) by "mining" for the sincerity and beauty we all seek, we are wondering why we are haunted.
The song says the happy folk are haunted in their dreams... which points to us not seeing it as reality, we think of our impact as minimal and of little significance so we are confused as to why things are getting bad.
And then when it says "the happyfolk are finally fearful" i think it points to the fact that we will not fully understand and fear our own destructive nature until it is to late, when the monkey awakens and is a small noise, their is no stopping it from reaching "castrophany"
Your take is great, however, without that premise and I like your view a lot.
Thanks
It's interesting, most people (I'm loosely summing up) characterized the Happyfolk as "us" and the Strangefolk as "them." My initial gut instinct was the exact opposite.
I mean, people obscuring their reality and hiding their true intentions, motivated by greed, sounds like Americans to me. And the notion that the average american is living in harmony with nature is absurd, not to metion, the Happyfolk were obscured from the rest of the world.
I read it more as a more "primitive" culture. For example, say, Tibet. Buddhism leapt immediately to my mind because of the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the buddha, dharma, sangha) & the jewels in the song. Tibet would be obscured from the rest of the world for centuries, but then when "discovered" by us Westerners, suddenly "zen" is a marketing tool. Just look at the gluttony of products that promise to be spiritual or zen - zen teas, soap, green tea everything. As though simplicity and right living can be purchased to somehow fix the unhappiness and restless we all hide behind our dark glasses.
And in our course of "mining" other cultures for what we want to fix ourselves, we invariably screw up things for the natives. Africa immediately pops into my head, a rich & varied, amazing continent pillaged & virtually destroyed for its diamonds. Look into the history of diamond mining in Africa and you'll know why I refused a diamond ring from my fiancee. I looked at it and saw blood.
Okay, I'm getting a little riled up. Sorry. The basic premise could be applied to a lot of things - one particular line actually made me think of Vietnam for some reason. The point is, that disrupting a natural culture living in harmony to satisfy the needs of some external imperial society always results in disruption.
Which, now that I think about it, could very well be applied to the middle east. I'm glad that people brought it up here, I didn't think of it. Of course, we're still not the Happyfolk.
I think the last line is pleading with the average "small town" americans that what they think they want - false desires brought on by advertising - will not really bring happiness. And why are we oblivious to the bad things happening in the world? Our country has been committing all sorts of atrocities for decades, and the average citizen never even knows about it. "Where were you when it all came down on me?"
Really love your take on this. kudos. Completely reshapes the way I see it.
Really love your take on this. kudos. Completely reshapes the way I see it.
My initial thought was way underdeveloped, but the finale of the "Monkey" being awoken and destroying everything (especially "there was only fire, and then nothing") reminds me of greek mythology, largely due to just seeing wrath of the titans. Cronus (Kronos) in the movie is shown as a very immense being resembling lava and the cooled lava rock... he "erupts" out of a mountain and is so huge that every movement he makes flings lava about the world (only fire) causing "chaos" and burning things, it...
My initial thought was way underdeveloped, but the finale of the "Monkey" being awoken and destroying everything (especially "there was only fire, and then nothing") reminds me of greek mythology, largely due to just seeing wrath of the titans. Cronus (Kronos) in the movie is shown as a very immense being resembling lava and the cooled lava rock... he "erupts" out of a mountain and is so huge that every movement he makes flings lava about the world (only fire) causing "chaos" and burning things, it is said to be the end of the world.. (then nothing). So I was looking for more greek mythology within this song but quite frankly didn't find much.
And before reading your take I actually saw the "happyfolk" and the "strangefolk" as two in the same.
We are the happy folk in that we are innocent, happy, and truly good beings in many senses, but strangefolk in our overall view in what we do.
The strangefolk are hidden to the happy because we do not ever see any bad within ourselves. It is rare for people to admit their faults and mistakes. So as we continue to destroy what is good (the earth perhaps) by "mining" for the sincerity and beauty we all seek, we are wondering why we are haunted. The song says the happy folk are haunted in their dreams... which points to us not seeing it as reality, we think of our impact as minimal and of little significance so we are confused as to why things are getting bad.
And then when it says "the happyfolk are finally fearful" i think it points to the fact that we will not fully understand and fear our own destructive nature until it is to late, when the monkey awakens and is a small noise, their is no stopping it from reaching "castrophany"
Your take is great, however, without that premise and I like your view a lot. Thanks