Brother I'm so sorry that you watched the Patens burn
And I've been holding onto the gold
When lettin' go would free my hands
And I've been tying your tongue in a knot
Oh I've been tying your tongue in a knot
To wrap this death, to wrap this death in a sheet
I listened to this song a number of times and I always thought she was saying "paintings burn". If it is Patens, that completely changes the meaning, and it actually makes a lot more sense to me that way. kind of. She mentions "mama" also in this but I wonder if brother is not used in the religious sense. Alela obviously has very strong ties to Christianity (not necessarily that she is faithfully devoted but that it is somehow important to her). "And I've been holding onto the gold, When lettin' go would free my hands" refers literally to holding the cup or plate for communion (often gold). I get the sense that in this verse she is speaking from the perspective of a priest or someone who appears very pious to another member of the church (or maybe a monk (Brother), and when it says "And I've been tying your tongue in a knot" that the tradition and dogma associated makes it hard to speak up about anything that may appear critical of the church (even if the communion wafers are on fire!). "To wrap this death in a sheet" is clearly supposed to evoke again, in a literal sense that when the bread and wine sit on the alter they are covered with a white cloth. I think the idea of the rifle fits. Obviously it is supposed to elicit some feeling of being trapped in your home and there are bad people (or i suppose maybe wolves or something) coming to attack. The "it's us against the world, let's fight" mentality that some religious people have (not necessarily in the violent sense of the word fight) fits this rifle theme and to me also fits in with the verse that is obviously "about" communion.
As for the rest of the song, i don't really understand how it all fits together. All i know is it's a beautiful song, and if i were to find it didn't have a real meaning at all, i wouldn't care.
Ah, paintings! Maybe it is. I had a hard time making that word out and started to think it was a random last name, like her brother watched a family burn in a fire or something.
I think until I hear different, I'll change it to "paintings".
Ah, paintings! Maybe it is. I had a hard time making that word out and started to think it was a random last name, like her brother watched a family burn in a fire or something.
I think until I hear different, I'll change it to "paintings".
As for meaning, Alela described it on Daytrotter as "a song about a dream that took place in the house I grew up in. My parents had recently sold the house and the song is about letting go of that place and that time. It is a loss of home song"...
As for meaning, Alela described it on Daytrotter as "a song about a dream that took place in the house I grew up in. My parents had recently sold the house and the song is about letting go of that place and that time. It is a loss of home song"
Brother I'm so sorry that you watched the Patens burn And I've been holding onto the gold When lettin' go would free my hands And I've been tying your tongue in a knot Oh I've been tying your tongue in a knot To wrap this death, to wrap this death in a sheet
I listened to this song a number of times and I always thought she was saying "paintings burn". If it is Patens, that completely changes the meaning, and it actually makes a lot more sense to me that way. kind of. She mentions "mama" also in this but I wonder if brother is not used in the religious sense. Alela obviously has very strong ties to Christianity (not necessarily that she is faithfully devoted but that it is somehow important to her). "And I've been holding onto the gold, When lettin' go would free my hands" refers literally to holding the cup or plate for communion (often gold). I get the sense that in this verse she is speaking from the perspective of a priest or someone who appears very pious to another member of the church (or maybe a monk (Brother), and when it says "And I've been tying your tongue in a knot" that the tradition and dogma associated makes it hard to speak up about anything that may appear critical of the church (even if the communion wafers are on fire!). "To wrap this death in a sheet" is clearly supposed to evoke again, in a literal sense that when the bread and wine sit on the alter they are covered with a white cloth. I think the idea of the rifle fits. Obviously it is supposed to elicit some feeling of being trapped in your home and there are bad people (or i suppose maybe wolves or something) coming to attack. The "it's us against the world, let's fight" mentality that some religious people have (not necessarily in the violent sense of the word fight) fits this rifle theme and to me also fits in with the verse that is obviously "about" communion.
As for the rest of the song, i don't really understand how it all fits together. All i know is it's a beautiful song, and if i were to find it didn't have a real meaning at all, i wouldn't care.
Ah, paintings! Maybe it is. I had a hard time making that word out and started to think it was a random last name, like her brother watched a family burn in a fire or something. I think until I hear different, I'll change it to "paintings".
Ah, paintings! Maybe it is. I had a hard time making that word out and started to think it was a random last name, like her brother watched a family burn in a fire or something. I think until I hear different, I'll change it to "paintings".
As for meaning, Alela described it on Daytrotter as "a song about a dream that took place in the house I grew up in. My parents had recently sold the house and the song is about letting go of that place and that time. It is a loss of home song"...
As for meaning, Alela described it on Daytrotter as "a song about a dream that took place in the house I grew up in. My parents had recently sold the house and the song is about letting go of that place and that time. It is a loss of home song"