dbsabres06 i completely disagree. this fits in seamlessly with the rest of the album. i think that the songs on friend and foe are about dealing with some sort of internal struggle. in this song, he is not talking about some literal air raid, but a concern about the way people are remembered. specifically, he mentions a girl who commits suicide being remembered as having her fate "brought upon herself." he also mentions ben franklin as being remembered as an inventor.
i think the song is talking about how after people die, "people of the future" ignore (Cover your ears, cover your eyes, cover your mouth
silence, blindness tasteless) the important things about the deceased ("people of the future won't remember names) but instead define them by one action.
in the song, the decision to commit suicide, the discovery of electricity and "betrayal" are all specifically defined traits that people are remembered for.
throughout the rest of the album, songs like "muscle 'n flo" and "running" deal directly with mortality, the subject of "muscle 'n flo" feels life is too long and he has already met his goals and the subject of running is dealing with mortality as well, but in a far more direct way.
my, my continues with a similar line of questioning, except instead of talking about other people's pasts he's asking am i defined by my past? and he interjects various reasons that his past is important.
so many other themes unite this song with the rest of the album... i just don't understand how you could possibly make that statement after having heard a single other song on this album.
having said this, i will say that though there are uniting themes (religious references, mortality, the past, burden of success, etc) the lyrics for these songs are not all written by one member of the band, i have read in interviews that the members write chunks of lyrics and put them together later, so don't worry, i wouldn't dare suggest this is anything as simple as a concept album.
it's a clever idea, really- by putting together their lyrics in each song, they have a sense of flow between songs, but don't close themselves off into one niche of writing.
dbsabres06 i completely disagree. this fits in seamlessly with the rest of the album. i think that the songs on friend and foe are about dealing with some sort of internal struggle. in this song, he is not talking about some literal air raid, but a concern about the way people are remembered. specifically, he mentions a girl who commits suicide being remembered as having her fate "brought upon herself." he also mentions ben franklin as being remembered as an inventor.
i think the song is talking about how after people die, "people of the future" ignore (Cover your ears, cover your eyes, cover your mouth silence, blindness tasteless) the important things about the deceased ("people of the future won't remember names) but instead define them by one action.
in the song, the decision to commit suicide, the discovery of electricity and "betrayal" are all specifically defined traits that people are remembered for.
throughout the rest of the album, songs like "muscle 'n flo" and "running" deal directly with mortality, the subject of "muscle 'n flo" feels life is too long and he has already met his goals and the subject of running is dealing with mortality as well, but in a far more direct way.
my, my continues with a similar line of questioning, except instead of talking about other people's pasts he's asking am i defined by my past? and he interjects various reasons that his past is important.
so many other themes unite this song with the rest of the album... i just don't understand how you could possibly make that statement after having heard a single other song on this album.
having said this, i will say that though there are uniting themes (religious references, mortality, the past, burden of success, etc) the lyrics for these songs are not all written by one member of the band, i have read in interviews that the members write chunks of lyrics and put them together later, so don't worry, i wouldn't dare suggest this is anything as simple as a concept album.
it's a clever idea, really- by putting together their lyrics in each song, they have a sense of flow between songs, but don't close themselves off into one niche of writing.