this song seems like a counterpart to (Antichrist Television Blues), which immediately preceeds in on the album. both start out similarly. In ATB, a peppy, hyper "Don't want to work in a building downtown" and in windowsill, a slowed down, almost reticent "I don't want to hear the noises on TV". if ATB can be interpreted as from the point of view of joe simpson, then this could be seen in part as jessica's response..
"MTV what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free
Set me free, what have you done to me?
I can't breathe, I can't see"
definitely seems like a reaction to intense media scrutiny.. in the broader sense though, ATB seems to describe the lazy, exploitative nature of the entertainment industry right now, while windowsill describes being fed up with it... be it from the point of view of a media darling, or any given person who's just sick of the flood of media distortion. Hence “I don’t want to see it at my windowsill” (x 21)
also, being from New Orleans, the windowsill line strikes me as an allusion to the flooding after Katrina…
“I don't want to fight in the holy war…
…I don't want to live in America no more”
Seems to support this… help was slow to come to the gulf coast in large part because national guard troops from those areas were mostly deployed to the “holy war” going on right now.
Admittedly, the last part of my interpretation might be a little skewed by my own experience, but regardless, the song seems to equate the media coverage of national news, entertainment, and even war as all falling into the same saturated, overblown category that is oh so distinctly American.
I know what you mean about the way it follows antichrist television blues, it's really clever. i don't necessarily think it's just about things like the media and all that - like on a literal level ATB is quite an attack on the distorted perspectives that fame and money can create and people damaging their children by living through them, but i think you can look at it as a wider statement about modern culture - like the way that religion/morality/culture and maybe politics etc. can be corrupted to the extent that they are damaging to the people they should...
I know what you mean about the way it follows antichrist television blues, it's really clever. i don't necessarily think it's just about things like the media and all that - like on a literal level ATB is quite an attack on the distorted perspectives that fame and money can create and people damaging their children by living through them, but i think you can look at it as a wider statement about modern culture - like the way that religion/morality/culture and maybe politics etc. can be corrupted to the extent that they are damaging to the people they should be looking after. so then windowsill would be like a response to that, about children/citizens dealing with the "rising tide" if an insustainable lifestyle and culture created by previous generations (hence the "father's debt" business). you can apply it to practically any area of politics - war, economics, climate change, general social responsibility - and it seems pretty relevent.
this song seems like a counterpart to (Antichrist Television Blues), which immediately preceeds in on the album. both start out similarly. In ATB, a peppy, hyper "Don't want to work in a building downtown" and in windowsill, a slowed down, almost reticent "I don't want to hear the noises on TV". if ATB can be interpreted as from the point of view of joe simpson, then this could be seen in part as jessica's response..
"MTV what have you done to me? Save my soul, set me free Set me free, what have you done to me? I can't breathe, I can't see"
definitely seems like a reaction to intense media scrutiny.. in the broader sense though, ATB seems to describe the lazy, exploitative nature of the entertainment industry right now, while windowsill describes being fed up with it... be it from the point of view of a media darling, or any given person who's just sick of the flood of media distortion. Hence “I don’t want to see it at my windowsill” (x 21)
also, being from New Orleans, the windowsill line strikes me as an allusion to the flooding after Katrina…
“I don't want to fight in the holy war… …I don't want to live in America no more”
Seems to support this… help was slow to come to the gulf coast in large part because national guard troops from those areas were mostly deployed to the “holy war” going on right now.
Admittedly, the last part of my interpretation might be a little skewed by my own experience, but regardless, the song seems to equate the media coverage of national news, entertainment, and even war as all falling into the same saturated, overblown category that is oh so distinctly American.
I know what you mean about the way it follows antichrist television blues, it's really clever. i don't necessarily think it's just about things like the media and all that - like on a literal level ATB is quite an attack on the distorted perspectives that fame and money can create and people damaging their children by living through them, but i think you can look at it as a wider statement about modern culture - like the way that religion/morality/culture and maybe politics etc. can be corrupted to the extent that they are damaging to the people they should...
I know what you mean about the way it follows antichrist television blues, it's really clever. i don't necessarily think it's just about things like the media and all that - like on a literal level ATB is quite an attack on the distorted perspectives that fame and money can create and people damaging their children by living through them, but i think you can look at it as a wider statement about modern culture - like the way that religion/morality/culture and maybe politics etc. can be corrupted to the extent that they are damaging to the people they should be looking after. so then windowsill would be like a response to that, about children/citizens dealing with the "rising tide" if an insustainable lifestyle and culture created by previous generations (hence the "father's debt" business). you can apply it to practically any area of politics - war, economics, climate change, general social responsibility - and it seems pretty relevent.