the lyrics here are wrong and one of my favorites is fairly hard to hear clearly in part due to Jay's lack of articulation. Using sound-enhancers it's easier much much easier to pick out, "fine with the birthing of malice, fine with degeneration, fine with the careless common stranger's reserve." Makes much more sense than the "curve of karma." lol "Callous" might also work instead of "careless," but then the line loses a bit of its literary meaning.
the "careless common stranger's reserve" is just a masterful piece of song-writing. In essence it refers to what one might stereotypically find on a busy New York City sidewalk with heavy pedestrian traffic... just a general feeling of isolation in a sea of other people and a sort of automatic unwillingness to engage others.
It includes two sets of what might be seen as oxymorons:
careless -- reserve
common -- stranger
beginning with the word "reserve"... from dictionary.com...
1) Something kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose.
2) The keeping of one's feelings, thoughts, or affairs to oneself.
3) Self-restraint in expression; reticence: “One feels it everywhere, a quality of reserve, something held back” (Rollene W. Saal).
4) Lack of enthusiasm; skeptical caution.
Using these definitions it's very difficult to see how "reserve" could ever be "careless." Reserve seems to be something you can only apply in a very specific or exact way -- that act of "holding back." (hence, the reason one might see it as an oxymoron) But, indeed, it's something that people quite often do in a careless way without even thinking about it when among strangers ("if I don't look at them... maybe they won't look at me...."). It's something people do without hesitation.
"Common" and "stranger" can be construed as oxymorons as well. "Common," is something that everyone experiences. From dictionary.com...
Common
(1) Belonging equally to or shared equally by two or more; joint: common interests.
(2) Of or relating to the community as a whole; public: for the common good. See Usage Note at mutual.
(3) Widespread; prevalent.
Stranger:
n : anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found [syn: alien, unknown]
Common (there all the time, normal, regular, you have some sort of solid connection, etc.)
v.
Stranger (foreign, strange, unusual, no basis for understanding, etc.)
But, it's true... typically, everyday (in urban areas at least), strangers and being a stranger amongst a group of people you don't know is a common and normalized experience. It's also quite normal for strangers to maintain a distance -- a reserve -- and they do so not in a careful exacting manner, but they act that way with every other person who crosses their path.
@robeson Context? I have perhaps placed this song into at least two contexts that might just have been of my own interpretation.
Context number one: This man was OK with all of the political crap, there was nothing he could do about it, but then there was her. Only her. He was broken by the bend and the sway of her, He was broken by the give and take of her, and when he was with her, everything else just faded into grey. The other meaning, the one that just occurred to me, this is not a...
@robeson Context? I have perhaps placed this song into at least two contexts that might just have been of my own interpretation.
Context number one: This man was OK with all of the political crap, there was nothing he could do about it, but then there was her. Only her. He was broken by the bend and the sway of her, He was broken by the give and take of her, and when he was with her, everything else just faded into grey. The other meaning, the one that just occurred to me, this is not a love song. This is a song about politics and about people accepting what they have been given in spite of and perhaps knowing of the cost to others.
the lyrics here are wrong and one of my favorites is fairly hard to hear clearly in part due to Jay's lack of articulation. Using sound-enhancers it's easier much much easier to pick out, "fine with the birthing of malice, fine with degeneration, fine with the careless common stranger's reserve." Makes much more sense than the "curve of karma." lol "Callous" might also work instead of "careless," but then the line loses a bit of its literary meaning.
the "careless common stranger's reserve" is just a masterful piece of song-writing. In essence it refers to what one might stereotypically find on a busy New York City sidewalk with heavy pedestrian traffic... just a general feeling of isolation in a sea of other people and a sort of automatic unwillingness to engage others.
It includes two sets of what might be seen as oxymorons: careless -- reserve common -- stranger
beginning with the word "reserve"... from dictionary.com...
1) Something kept back or saved for future use or a special purpose. 2) The keeping of one's feelings, thoughts, or affairs to oneself. 3) Self-restraint in expression; reticence: “One feels it everywhere, a quality of reserve, something held back” (Rollene W. Saal). 4) Lack of enthusiasm; skeptical caution.
Using these definitions it's very difficult to see how "reserve" could ever be "careless." Reserve seems to be something you can only apply in a very specific or exact way -- that act of "holding back." (hence, the reason one might see it as an oxymoron) But, indeed, it's something that people quite often do in a careless way without even thinking about it when among strangers ("if I don't look at them... maybe they won't look at me...."). It's something people do without hesitation.
"Common" and "stranger" can be construed as oxymorons as well. "Common," is something that everyone experiences. From dictionary.com...
Common (1) Belonging equally to or shared equally by two or more; joint: common interests. (2) Of or relating to the community as a whole; public: for the common good. See Usage Note at mutual. (3) Widespread; prevalent.
Stranger:
n : anyone who does not belong in the environment in which they are found [syn: alien, unknown]
Common (there all the time, normal, regular, you have some sort of solid connection, etc.) v. Stranger (foreign, strange, unusual, no basis for understanding, etc.)
But, it's true... typically, everyday (in urban areas at least), strangers and being a stranger amongst a group of people you don't know is a common and normalized experience. It's also quite normal for strangers to maintain a distance -- a reserve -- and they do so not in a careful exacting manner, but they act that way with every other person who crosses their path.
careless common stranger's reserve.
Now those are lyrics! lol
@robeson Context? I have perhaps placed this song into at least two contexts that might just have been of my own interpretation. Context number one: This man was OK with all of the political crap, there was nothing he could do about it, but then there was her. Only her. He was broken by the bend and the sway of her, He was broken by the give and take of her, and when he was with her, everything else just faded into grey. The other meaning, the one that just occurred to me, this is not a...
@robeson Context? I have perhaps placed this song into at least two contexts that might just have been of my own interpretation. Context number one: This man was OK with all of the political crap, there was nothing he could do about it, but then there was her. Only her. He was broken by the bend and the sway of her, He was broken by the give and take of her, and when he was with her, everything else just faded into grey. The other meaning, the one that just occurred to me, this is not a love song. This is a song about politics and about people accepting what they have been given in spite of and perhaps knowing of the cost to others.