Firstly this is one of the best songs on the album and has a lot of god dang plays. Now I think I read somewhere that Dessa has a Philosophy degree or something along those lines... I'm studying Philosophy and I think that the lines
"They say that Gods on the right/ so goes the rhetoric/
But I think that cross is a kite/ that left a skeleton/
And I think that Russel was right/ but thats irrelevant friend/
For all I know therell be nothing left to defend tomorrow/ "
are about this guy Bertrand Russell. From what I know, Russell basically denied everything and strongly believed that Religion is actually just superstition and despite the fact that it has some good points causes more harm. Iuno what it means in this context really but it looks like it's just some sort of nihilistic outlook on life.
Yeah, I love Dessa's verse on this. The whole song is basically about too much greed, the displacement of local business by large corporate conglomerates, how that is destroying good things, etc. This is how I would interpret it the part you are referencing:
Yeah, I love Dessa's verse on this. The whole song is basically about too much greed, the displacement of local business by large corporate conglomerates, how that is destroying good things, etc. This is how I would interpret it the part you are referencing:
"It's the Flight of the Salesman, Death of the Bumble Bee, Nothing left but the Attorneys and Tumbleweeds" - 1st, of course, it is a great pun on the play "Death of a Salesman" and the musical piece "Flight of the Bumble Bee", but also shorthand for corporate types running the world, leading to environmental catastrophe....
"It's the Flight of the Salesman, Death of the Bumble Bee, Nothing left but the Attorneys and Tumbleweeds" - 1st, of course, it is a great pun on the play "Death of a Salesman" and the musical piece "Flight of the Bumble Bee", but also shorthand for corporate types running the world, leading to environmental catastrophe. Also, recently there was that strange case of bee hives dying in the news, a bit of a mystery, tying the whole line to recent actual events. The end of the line is self explanatory I suppose, that the only thing that would be left after these people have their way will the be attorneys and tumbleweeds.
"They say that God's on the Right, so goes the rhetoric" - Basically that conservatives claim that God favors the way of life they would espouse, that their values are Godly values.
"But I think that cross is a kite, that left a skeleton" - Not sure, but maybe something along the lines of "Maybe the concept of Christ used to mean something, but now it is just a shell of an idea that is used to support current thinking, and changes depending on which way the wind blows." The bare bones of the Christ idea left like a kite to blow in the wind, not standing for any one solid thing.
"And I think that Russell was right, but that's irrelevant friend" - Bertrand Russell created the term "Agnostic". Agnosticism basically rejects superstition, and on the question of God they believe we do not have sufficient evidence, and further, that it is impossible to every acquire evidence to prove/disprove the God hypothesis. And when she says "but that's irrelevant friend", I think she is saying that while she is an agnostic and doubts the concept of the Christian God, that is irrelevant, because the concept of that God still exists strongly in our culture and must be engaged with if you want to deal with how people think.
Seriously, I'm impressed by all that she packs into that verse. It sort of seems so lame to interpret it, because that ruins the poetic coolness of it.
Firstly this is one of the best songs on the album and has a lot of god dang plays. Now I think I read somewhere that Dessa has a Philosophy degree or something along those lines... I'm studying Philosophy and I think that the lines "They say that Gods on the right/ so goes the rhetoric/ But I think that cross is a kite/ that left a skeleton/ And I think that Russel was right/ but thats irrelevant friend/ For all I know therell be nothing left to defend tomorrow/ " are about this guy Bertrand Russell. From what I know, Russell basically denied everything and strongly believed that Religion is actually just superstition and despite the fact that it has some good points causes more harm. Iuno what it means in this context really but it looks like it's just some sort of nihilistic outlook on life.
*good points, it causes more harm
*good points, it causes more harm
woops!
woops!
Yeah, I love Dessa's verse on this. The whole song is basically about too much greed, the displacement of local business by large corporate conglomerates, how that is destroying good things, etc. This is how I would interpret it the part you are referencing:
Yeah, I love Dessa's verse on this. The whole song is basically about too much greed, the displacement of local business by large corporate conglomerates, how that is destroying good things, etc. This is how I would interpret it the part you are referencing:
"It's the Flight of the Salesman, Death of the Bumble Bee, Nothing left but the Attorneys and Tumbleweeds" - 1st, of course, it is a great pun on the play "Death of a Salesman" and the musical piece "Flight of the Bumble Bee", but also shorthand for corporate types running the world, leading to environmental catastrophe....
"It's the Flight of the Salesman, Death of the Bumble Bee, Nothing left but the Attorneys and Tumbleweeds" - 1st, of course, it is a great pun on the play "Death of a Salesman" and the musical piece "Flight of the Bumble Bee", but also shorthand for corporate types running the world, leading to environmental catastrophe. Also, recently there was that strange case of bee hives dying in the news, a bit of a mystery, tying the whole line to recent actual events. The end of the line is self explanatory I suppose, that the only thing that would be left after these people have their way will the be attorneys and tumbleweeds.
"They say that God's on the Right, so goes the rhetoric" - Basically that conservatives claim that God favors the way of life they would espouse, that their values are Godly values.
"But I think that cross is a kite, that left a skeleton" - Not sure, but maybe something along the lines of "Maybe the concept of Christ used to mean something, but now it is just a shell of an idea that is used to support current thinking, and changes depending on which way the wind blows." The bare bones of the Christ idea left like a kite to blow in the wind, not standing for any one solid thing.
"And I think that Russell was right, but that's irrelevant friend" - Bertrand Russell created the term "Agnostic". Agnosticism basically rejects superstition, and on the question of God they believe we do not have sufficient evidence, and further, that it is impossible to every acquire evidence to prove/disprove the God hypothesis. And when she says "but that's irrelevant friend", I think she is saying that while she is an agnostic and doubts the concept of the Christian God, that is irrelevant, because the concept of that God still exists strongly in our culture and must be engaged with if you want to deal with how people think.
Seriously, I'm impressed by all that she packs into that verse. It sort of seems so lame to interpret it, because that ruins the poetic coolness of it.