You could be right, skrewuguy. There's a chance Mercer was referring to the bigger picture, not just radio, but all music. And he chose 'radio' cuz it has a better ring to it than 'music'...? But I dunno... he's really stressing radio... here's my take on it:
Look at the last stanza... it switches to the past tense, saying radio did all these things, most of the things to you yourself, and theyre good things for the most part, i dunno about "bloody lullaby" and "sings the tunes of crooks and cheats" but mostly the speaker is talking about the personal connection 'you' share/shared with it. These things were happening to 'you' at the present throughout most of the song, but now they 'happened'. So Mercer could be saying that radio is dead or dying - in the 3rd stanza he hints at it dying, "Radio, became a skull...a night of rot..." and in the 4th stanza he's talking about like its in the past, it has died, and it was there for you when you were down but maybe, you still didnt appreciate it enough ?
So I think the song could be a lament towards radio's current status in the 21st century, and a lament on the subjective experience one shares with it, and that they can take it for granted, and possibly regret it when the medium is gone.
Yeah, I agree for the most part. I always took it as the personal lamenting interpretation:
Yeah, I agree for the most part. I always took it as the personal lamenting interpretation:
The first stanza seems to be about the narrator relating their experiences and feelings with the radio, as an emotional outlet with its "sounds from lovely caves" that "hear your sobs."
The first stanza seems to be about the narrator relating their experiences and feelings with the radio, as an emotional outlet with its "sounds from lovely caves" that "hear your sobs."
The second stanza shifts the focus from the narrator to the radio itself. They have built trust and a mutual love for listening to music, and begin to believe in the hopes it tells in the songs. At least that's what I think the "blue light" symbolizes.
The second stanza shifts the focus from the narrator to the radio itself. They have built trust and a mutual love for listening to music, and begin to believe in the hopes it tells in the songs. At least that's what I think the "blue light" symbolizes.
...
The third stanza is much more pessimistic, so I assume it's following an event in the narrator's life which the music gave them false hope for. So they develop a sense of hate for the radio's promotion of lies and false dreams. They stop listening to the radio in their car; instead of playing music, "through your roof comes the hidden signal of things gone wrong." All the trust they built up that was lost makes them hostile to the radio, and everything associated with radio.
The fourth stanza sees the entire story in retrospect. While the angst is faded, they seem desensitized a bit, recognizing the patterns of the radio and its lullabies, but gaining respect for what it did to them.
But it doesn't have to be just about the radio... it could be a metaphor for nearly anything anyone gets pleasure and hope from.
Or maybe it's a broader, more political commentary I don't see yet.
You could be right, skrewuguy. There's a chance Mercer was referring to the bigger picture, not just radio, but all music. And he chose 'radio' cuz it has a better ring to it than 'music'...? But I dunno... he's really stressing radio... here's my take on it:
Look at the last stanza... it switches to the past tense, saying radio did all these things, most of the things to you yourself, and theyre good things for the most part, i dunno about "bloody lullaby" and "sings the tunes of crooks and cheats" but mostly the speaker is talking about the personal connection 'you' share/shared with it. These things were happening to 'you' at the present throughout most of the song, but now they 'happened'. So Mercer could be saying that radio is dead or dying - in the 3rd stanza he hints at it dying, "Radio, became a skull...a night of rot..." and in the 4th stanza he's talking about like its in the past, it has died, and it was there for you when you were down but maybe, you still didnt appreciate it enough ?
So I think the song could be a lament towards radio's current status in the 21st century, and a lament on the subjective experience one shares with it, and that they can take it for granted, and possibly regret it when the medium is gone.
Yeah, I agree for the most part. I always took it as the personal lamenting interpretation:
Yeah, I agree for the most part. I always took it as the personal lamenting interpretation:
The first stanza seems to be about the narrator relating their experiences and feelings with the radio, as an emotional outlet with its "sounds from lovely caves" that "hear your sobs."
The first stanza seems to be about the narrator relating their experiences and feelings with the radio, as an emotional outlet with its "sounds from lovely caves" that "hear your sobs."
The second stanza shifts the focus from the narrator to the radio itself. They have built trust and a mutual love for listening to music, and begin to believe in the hopes it tells in the songs. At least that's what I think the "blue light" symbolizes.
The second stanza shifts the focus from the narrator to the radio itself. They have built trust and a mutual love for listening to music, and begin to believe in the hopes it tells in the songs. At least that's what I think the "blue light" symbolizes.
...
The third stanza is much more pessimistic, so I assume it's following an event in the narrator's life which the music gave them false hope for. So they develop a sense of hate for the radio's promotion of lies and false dreams. They stop listening to the radio in their car; instead of playing music, "through your roof comes the hidden signal of things gone wrong." All the trust they built up that was lost makes them hostile to the radio, and everything associated with radio.
The fourth stanza sees the entire story in retrospect. While the angst is faded, they seem desensitized a bit, recognizing the patterns of the radio and its lullabies, but gaining respect for what it did to them.
But it doesn't have to be just about the radio... it could be a metaphor for nearly anything anyone gets pleasure and hope from.
Or maybe it's a broader, more political commentary I don't see yet.