I have to agree with Relapser about how MX Missles is about someone who died very young. I agree with how the song could be about how the main character and the author realized just how vulnerable and mortal the main character was. I'm guessing from the lines
"did you, did you think they would remember
how you almost made state champ"
that the main character was an young athlete that thought he/she was invincible, or at least that since he/she was once a "great champ" that nothing could stand in his/her way. In this sense, he/she seemed "aloof" or acted as if he/she was above basic human frailty. "Alphonson" may be a school or the name of a sports team or rival that the athlete played against in a sport game. Perhaps the lines "oh no, listen, it didn't really half surprise us
to learn that you aren't really MX-missile-proof" may suggest that the athlete died in the accident in the game, but before he/she died, he/she realized at the last moment of his/her life just how mortal he/she was.
I'm think that the lines "You were in the ground in late november
when the leaves in earth are down" proves that the main character died and was buried and the author (Andrew Bird or the narrator) is reminiscing on the young athlete's death. Because of how personal the song sounds, the athlete may be a relative or offspring of the singer or narrator.
This song definitely deals with mortality. The athlete watched the legionnaires march off to war. The legionnaire's lives are a parallel symbol for the athlete's life. Before soldiers enter combat, they are often filled with mixed emotions--sometimes excitement, sometimes fear, but no matter what they're feeling they often don't realize the full extent of just mortal and breakable their bodies are. They live and act as if they're immortal.
Athletes often act the same. The adrenaline and rush that an athlete gets from action gives them the feeling of power--of might. However, often they get haughty, especially when they are at a young age, and they don't realize just how fragile their lives are.
The line "
I thought you were a life-sized paper doll" shows how the narrator thinks he/she was at fault because he/she didn't think of the athlete (maybe his son or daughter) as a human being. Rather the narrator viewed the athlete as a doll, frail as paper, but still not as a mortal human being.
I love this song. I can really relate to it because being at the age of where the whole world seems in your hands and that you're invincible, I often forget how mortal I really am.
I have to agree with Relapser about how MX Missles is about someone who died very young. I agree with how the song could be about how the main character and the author realized just how vulnerable and mortal the main character was. I'm guessing from the lines "did you, did you think they would remember how you almost made state champ" that the main character was an young athlete that thought he/she was invincible, or at least that since he/she was once a "great champ" that nothing could stand in his/her way. In this sense, he/she seemed "aloof" or acted as if he/she was above basic human frailty. "Alphonson" may be a school or the name of a sports team or rival that the athlete played against in a sport game. Perhaps the lines "oh no, listen, it didn't really half surprise us to learn that you aren't really MX-missile-proof" may suggest that the athlete died in the accident in the game, but before he/she died, he/she realized at the last moment of his/her life just how mortal he/she was.
I'm think that the lines "You were in the ground in late november when the leaves in earth are down" proves that the main character died and was buried and the author (Andrew Bird or the narrator) is reminiscing on the young athlete's death. Because of how personal the song sounds, the athlete may be a relative or offspring of the singer or narrator.
This song definitely deals with mortality. The athlete watched the legionnaires march off to war. The legionnaire's lives are a parallel symbol for the athlete's life. Before soldiers enter combat, they are often filled with mixed emotions--sometimes excitement, sometimes fear, but no matter what they're feeling they often don't realize the full extent of just mortal and breakable their bodies are. They live and act as if they're immortal.
Athletes often act the same. The adrenaline and rush that an athlete gets from action gives them the feeling of power--of might. However, often they get haughty, especially when they are at a young age, and they don't realize just how fragile their lives are.
The line " I thought you were a life-sized paper doll" shows how the narrator thinks he/she was at fault because he/she didn't think of the athlete (maybe his son or daughter) as a human being. Rather the narrator viewed the athlete as a doll, frail as paper, but still not as a mortal human being.
I love this song. I can really relate to it because being at the age of where the whole world seems in your hands and that you're invincible, I often forget how mortal I really am.