I apologize in advance for this ridiculously long post. I thought someone would have mentioned this already, but I think this song has some hints of Freudian Psychology to it. I'm not sure if this should be categorized as a "meaning" or "opinion" post, but I'm going with "opinion" since others might disagree and because it reads more into the lyrics than are probably necessary. It seems to me like I've either said too much or not enough, sorry about that. There's a lot of psyhobabble in the next couple paragraphs, but it will have to do with the song, I promise.
When Freud wrote about the "id, ego, and super-ego", he originally wrote them in a way that could be translated into English as the "It, I, and over-I". The id being our basic needs, desires, drives, etc. The ego is what gives us self-consciousness towards reality. It basically helps us figure out what to do in "the real world" and figure out what is the right and wrong course of action in terms of human thought, not just by instincts. The ego pretty much helps us provide the id with what it needs without giving it anything that super-ego rejects. Since the id can have perverse drives, we need the super-ego in order to counteract them. The super-ego goes a step further and openly criticizes the actions of the ego because it has a sense of right and wrong.
Taken for what they are, the id and super-ego are not bad. They give us the desire to live, and the desire to live well, respectively. The ego isn't bad either. But the conflict that arises between the id and the super-ego causes great anxiety and guilt to the ego. The name of the song, "Goodbye, I!" seems to me to be another way of saying goodbye to the ego.
Sometimes the id and super-ego makes silly, pointless demands. It's only human. One daughter is extremely upset that the essentially useless "blue hydrangea" has been replaced because her super-ego sees beauty as ideal and convinces her it is wrong to destroy it. She cannot see the need to plant "climbing grain" for it's usefulness, and ability to feed the (in this case) more responsible needs of the id. Being human, and having such a strong moral super-ego, "she couldn't help but sing", or in other words, her ego gave in to demands even though they were flawed. She couldn't, in "good conscience", be silent about what she was witnessing.
On the other hand, the hummingbird is a perfect example of the flaws in both the id and the super-ego, but mostly the id. He criticizes the turtle because secretly the hummingbird's super-ego strongly criticizes himself. He doesn't want to stop living and moving in the "real world" with all of its money, jobs, reputations, and other self-centered actions. In the end, his super-ego actually works in conjunction with his already self-centered id by criticizing him when he isn't serving himself. He sees disconnecting himself from these things like the turtle is a waste of time, and can't see that his id and super-ego is living too quickly and his ego is letting this quick death happen. I see the line "they moved so fast you couldn't see them" as talking about how unsatisfying it really is to live only to serve physical needs and wants, and how quickly this leads us to an empty and motionless life that leads us into meaninglessness.
The "singing" daughter and the hummingbird both have egos (I's) which gave in to harmful demands. Some say that getting rid of the junk that takes up space in the ego is the only way to enlightenment. Many people, when in a trance or hallucination and feel they have reached god, feel their egos dissolve. As humans, we do need some ego to promote the helpful parts of our ids and super-egos, like eating, loving, helping others even when we don't have to, and having a sense of what's right. However, to reach enlightenment, it seems that it's necessary to say "Goodbye, I!" to whatever gives in to the harmful parts of our minds, like over-indulging, ignoring others feelings, feeling the world is unfair even when it is, and working ourselves to the point of either neurotic self-doubt or self-aggrandizing narcissism.
The purpose of enlightenment is to become closer to the truth. In the context of this song, this symbol of truth is God. Saying goodbye to the bad parts of our egos would bring us closer to god. In the song, I believe that the silent daughter and turtle are symbols of people who are at least closer to god.
The silent daughter can accept the sacrifice of the ideal necessary in order for her family to support itself. Because she is human, though, she is still disappointed. But she can suppress this part of her ego, because she knows that while one hand "taketh away", the other "giveth". Ironically, she knows to be silent in the face of this fateful trade because of a Taoist quote from the Tao te Ching, which is pretty much quoted word for word in the line "knowing well that those that know don't talk and those that talk don't know".
The turtle can accept that in order to live a long, peaceful life it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice physical "needs" that are, in the end, unnecessary. He willingly places himself in this position because he sees the virtue in standing still. Interestingly enough, the line referring to standing completely still no matter how much we move coincides with yet another Taoist quote, this time from Chapter 45 of the Tao Te Ching, probably not translated perfectly: "Movement overcomes cold; but staying still overcomes heat. So he by his limpid calm puts right everything under heaven." The quote seems to agree that although movement and stillness end up in the same place, stillness is somehow preferable.
In the end of the song, where the singer says "come turtle" and "go hummingbird", it seems to me that with each line he is sending away parts of his ego that are harmful (attached to the hummingbird) while ushering in parts of his ego that are helpful (attached to the turtle) in order to become closer to enlightenment. The lines at the very end of the song are so simple and almost whimsical compared to the rest of the song that we assume the singer has at least partially succeeded in this quest.
You're very welcome! I was afraid it had too many words and wouldn't make sense, I'm glad that wasn't entirely the case.
You're very welcome! I was afraid it had too many words and wouldn't make sense, I'm glad that wasn't entirely the case.
I forgot to mention that the father at the beginning is another good example of godliness. He looks on his field in silence and can look past "the honeysuckle fields" i.e. the frills of life, in order to get a focus on the important things. It's not that he disapproves of his daughter's disapproval, in fact he takes the way she shows affection for him very seriously. That doesn't mean he is going to change the way the...
I forgot to mention that the father at the beginning is another good example of godliness. He looks on his field in silence and can look past "the honeysuckle fields" i.e. the frills of life, in order to get a focus on the important things. It's not that he disapproves of his daughter's disapproval, in fact he takes the way she shows affection for him very seriously. That doesn't mean he is going to change the way the world works for her, but his daughter needs to know that doesn't mean he loves her any less. It's just the way things work.
I apologize in advance for this ridiculously long post. I thought someone would have mentioned this already, but I think this song has some hints of Freudian Psychology to it. I'm not sure if this should be categorized as a "meaning" or "opinion" post, but I'm going with "opinion" since others might disagree and because it reads more into the lyrics than are probably necessary. It seems to me like I've either said too much or not enough, sorry about that. There's a lot of psyhobabble in the next couple paragraphs, but it will have to do with the song, I promise.
When Freud wrote about the "id, ego, and super-ego", he originally wrote them in a way that could be translated into English as the "It, I, and over-I". The id being our basic needs, desires, drives, etc. The ego is what gives us self-consciousness towards reality. It basically helps us figure out what to do in "the real world" and figure out what is the right and wrong course of action in terms of human thought, not just by instincts. The ego pretty much helps us provide the id with what it needs without giving it anything that super-ego rejects. Since the id can have perverse drives, we need the super-ego in order to counteract them. The super-ego goes a step further and openly criticizes the actions of the ego because it has a sense of right and wrong.
Taken for what they are, the id and super-ego are not bad. They give us the desire to live, and the desire to live well, respectively. The ego isn't bad either. But the conflict that arises between the id and the super-ego causes great anxiety and guilt to the ego. The name of the song, "Goodbye, I!" seems to me to be another way of saying goodbye to the ego.
Sometimes the id and super-ego makes silly, pointless demands. It's only human. One daughter is extremely upset that the essentially useless "blue hydrangea" has been replaced because her super-ego sees beauty as ideal and convinces her it is wrong to destroy it. She cannot see the need to plant "climbing grain" for it's usefulness, and ability to feed the (in this case) more responsible needs of the id. Being human, and having such a strong moral super-ego, "she couldn't help but sing", or in other words, her ego gave in to demands even though they were flawed. She couldn't, in "good conscience", be silent about what she was witnessing.
On the other hand, the hummingbird is a perfect example of the flaws in both the id and the super-ego, but mostly the id. He criticizes the turtle because secretly the hummingbird's super-ego strongly criticizes himself. He doesn't want to stop living and moving in the "real world" with all of its money, jobs, reputations, and other self-centered actions. In the end, his super-ego actually works in conjunction with his already self-centered id by criticizing him when he isn't serving himself. He sees disconnecting himself from these things like the turtle is a waste of time, and can't see that his id and super-ego is living too quickly and his ego is letting this quick death happen. I see the line "they moved so fast you couldn't see them" as talking about how unsatisfying it really is to live only to serve physical needs and wants, and how quickly this leads us to an empty and motionless life that leads us into meaninglessness.
The "singing" daughter and the hummingbird both have egos (I's) which gave in to harmful demands. Some say that getting rid of the junk that takes up space in the ego is the only way to enlightenment. Many people, when in a trance or hallucination and feel they have reached god, feel their egos dissolve. As humans, we do need some ego to promote the helpful parts of our ids and super-egos, like eating, loving, helping others even when we don't have to, and having a sense of what's right. However, to reach enlightenment, it seems that it's necessary to say "Goodbye, I!" to whatever gives in to the harmful parts of our minds, like over-indulging, ignoring others feelings, feeling the world is unfair even when it is, and working ourselves to the point of either neurotic self-doubt or self-aggrandizing narcissism.
The purpose of enlightenment is to become closer to the truth. In the context of this song, this symbol of truth is God. Saying goodbye to the bad parts of our egos would bring us closer to god. In the song, I believe that the silent daughter and turtle are symbols of people who are at least closer to god.
The silent daughter can accept the sacrifice of the ideal necessary in order for her family to support itself. Because she is human, though, she is still disappointed. But she can suppress this part of her ego, because she knows that while one hand "taketh away", the other "giveth". Ironically, she knows to be silent in the face of this fateful trade because of a Taoist quote from the Tao te Ching, which is pretty much quoted word for word in the line "knowing well that those that know don't talk and those that talk don't know".
The turtle can accept that in order to live a long, peaceful life it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice physical "needs" that are, in the end, unnecessary. He willingly places himself in this position because he sees the virtue in standing still. Interestingly enough, the line referring to standing completely still no matter how much we move coincides with yet another Taoist quote, this time from Chapter 45 of the Tao Te Ching, probably not translated perfectly: "Movement overcomes cold; but staying still overcomes heat. So he by his limpid calm puts right everything under heaven." The quote seems to agree that although movement and stillness end up in the same place, stillness is somehow preferable.
In the end of the song, where the singer says "come turtle" and "go hummingbird", it seems to me that with each line he is sending away parts of his ego that are harmful (attached to the hummingbird) while ushering in parts of his ego that are helpful (attached to the turtle) in order to become closer to enlightenment. The lines at the very end of the song are so simple and almost whimsical compared to the rest of the song that we assume the singer has at least partially succeeded in this quest.
Again, sorry for the long post. It's my first.
thank you so much, this is great!
thank you so much, this is great!
i agree! thank you!
i agree! thank you!
You're very welcome! I was afraid it had too many words and wouldn't make sense, I'm glad that wasn't entirely the case.
You're very welcome! I was afraid it had too many words and wouldn't make sense, I'm glad that wasn't entirely the case.
I forgot to mention that the father at the beginning is another good example of godliness. He looks on his field in silence and can look past "the honeysuckle fields" i.e. the frills of life, in order to get a focus on the important things. It's not that he disapproves of his daughter's disapproval, in fact he takes the way she shows affection for him very seriously. That doesn't mean he is going to change the way the...
I forgot to mention that the father at the beginning is another good example of godliness. He looks on his field in silence and can look past "the honeysuckle fields" i.e. the frills of life, in order to get a focus on the important things. It's not that he disapproves of his daughter's disapproval, in fact he takes the way she shows affection for him very seriously. That doesn't mean he is going to change the way the world works for her, but his daughter needs to know that doesn't mean he loves her any less. It's just the way things work.