As others have said, this strikes me as a song about the difficulty if not impossibility of finding your own "voice" as an artist, because we're all "standing on the shoulders of giants," which is to say, our perspectives are formed by the fact that we're lifted up by these monuments to the past, these influences of ours, and so what is truly "ours"? I strongly suspect it pays homage to Federico García Lorca's "El Niño Mudo,"
El niño busca su voz.
(La tenía el rey de los grillos.)
En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.
No la quiero para hablar;
me haré con ella un anillo
que llevará mi silencio
en su dedo pequeñito.
En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.
(La voz cautiva, a lo lejos,
se ponía un traje de grillo.)
The child was seeks his voice.
(The king of the crickets had it.)
In a droplet of water
the child sought his voice.
I do not want it for speaking;
I will make a ring of it
so that my silence can wear it
on its little finger
In a droplet of water
the child sought his voice.
(The captive voice, far away,
put on a cricket's clothes.)
What use has a cricket, much less a bird, for a human voice? He already has one of his own. So, this King of Birds, this pigeon sitting mute on the shoulder of a human statue in a park, is frustrated.
You are right about finding that voice. If a person saw this live back in the day there are some added lyrics that expand on this concept. In the ending between verses of 'everybody hit the ground', Stipe sings 'the water is evening out' 'the catacombs have been revealed' 'be sure. be strong be true.' A happy ending which is rare a thing from the mind of Michael Stipe!
You are right about finding that voice. If a person saw this live back in the day there are some added lyrics that expand on this concept. In the ending between verses of 'everybody hit the ground', Stipe sings 'the water is evening out' 'the catacombs have been revealed' 'be sure. be strong be true.' A happy ending which is rare a thing from the mind of Michael Stipe!
As others have said, this strikes me as a song about the difficulty if not impossibility of finding your own "voice" as an artist, because we're all "standing on the shoulders of giants," which is to say, our perspectives are formed by the fact that we're lifted up by these monuments to the past, these influences of ours, and so what is truly "ours"? I strongly suspect it pays homage to Federico García Lorca's "El Niño Mudo,"
El niño busca su voz. (La tenía el rey de los grillos.) En una gota de agua buscaba su voz el niño.
No la quiero para hablar; me haré con ella un anillo que llevará mi silencio en su dedo pequeñito.
En una gota de agua buscaba su voz el niño.
(La voz cautiva, a lo lejos, se ponía un traje de grillo.)
The child was seeks his voice. (The king of the crickets had it.) In a droplet of water the child sought his voice.
I do not want it for speaking; I will make a ring of it so that my silence can wear it on its little finger
In a droplet of water the child sought his voice.
(The captive voice, far away, put on a cricket's clothes.)
What use has a cricket, much less a bird, for a human voice? He already has one of his own. So, this King of Birds, this pigeon sitting mute on the shoulder of a human statue in a park, is frustrated.
You are right about finding that voice. If a person saw this live back in the day there are some added lyrics that expand on this concept. In the ending between verses of 'everybody hit the ground', Stipe sings 'the water is evening out' 'the catacombs have been revealed' 'be sure. be strong be true.' A happy ending which is rare a thing from the mind of Michael Stipe!
You are right about finding that voice. If a person saw this live back in the day there are some added lyrics that expand on this concept. In the ending between verses of 'everybody hit the ground', Stipe sings 'the water is evening out' 'the catacombs have been revealed' 'be sure. be strong be true.' A happy ending which is rare a thing from the mind of Michael Stipe!