First off. I absolutely love this song.
The first few minutes of instrumental are amazing. It really reminds me of older Modest Mouse, with the jaunty guitar and what-not.
Now, Reading over the lyrics, it does seem that it could be from a whales perspective, being captured by the fisherman, as applcobbler brought up.
But at the same time, I wouldn't put it past Isaac to have more than one meaning to his song, or draw analogies between two things. (One of the best thing about Modest Mouse songs are that the meanings are often up to personal interpretation.)
I feel that it could be drawing an analogy between whale hunting and as ButteryWaffles said, "Showbiz".
Modest Mouse were the whales, swimming happily in their familiar waters. They weren't well known, the weren't really famous, but they were happy. Those major labels and interviews and popularity are the hunters. Maybe they didn't have a choice, it came without warning, or maybe they had to for whatever reason. But they were attacked, pulled out of the familiar waters and taken elsewhere, unfamiliarity, uncomfortable, to be made use of(I.E. Make "radio-friendly" songs and do interviews, for money. Basically doing the typical "rockstar" life. A whole cycle of just making more songs. Not really having fun with it anymore.) And he's saying that, they didn't have a choice in this, they were "Captured" against their will, but in retrospect, he wishes he could have found a way out. Find a way so that it wouldn't have had come to this.
Buuuuuut this is all my personal take on it, after some thinking.
Either way the song is awesome.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
@ArcticSounds I agree with that. I think that the lines "Instead of seeing, a neighbor out God, I wish I would've found a way out" kinda goes hand in hand with this. As a band, they were just having fun, doing what they do. Touring with other bands who didn't seem to get caught up in the whole major label woes. They just got blind sided and he's almost saying "instead of helping other bands, we should've paid attention and not got caught up in what they were trying to use us for".
@ArcticSounds I agree with that. I think that the lines "Instead of seeing, a neighbor out God, I wish I would've found a way out" kinda goes hand in hand with this. As a band, they were just having fun, doing what they do. Touring with other bands who didn't seem to get caught up in the whole major label woes. They just got blind sided and he's almost saying "instead of helping other bands, we should've paid attention and not got caught up in what they were trying to use us for".
First off. I absolutely love this song. The first few minutes of instrumental are amazing. It really reminds me of older Modest Mouse, with the jaunty guitar and what-not.
Now, Reading over the lyrics, it does seem that it could be from a whales perspective, being captured by the fisherman, as applcobbler brought up. But at the same time, I wouldn't put it past Isaac to have more than one meaning to his song, or draw analogies between two things. (One of the best thing about Modest Mouse songs are that the meanings are often up to personal interpretation.) I feel that it could be drawing an analogy between whale hunting and as ButteryWaffles said, "Showbiz".
Modest Mouse were the whales, swimming happily in their familiar waters. They weren't well known, the weren't really famous, but they were happy. Those major labels and interviews and popularity are the hunters. Maybe they didn't have a choice, it came without warning, or maybe they had to for whatever reason. But they were attacked, pulled out of the familiar waters and taken elsewhere, unfamiliarity, uncomfortable, to be made use of(I.E. Make "radio-friendly" songs and do interviews, for money. Basically doing the typical "rockstar" life. A whole cycle of just making more songs. Not really having fun with it anymore.) And he's saying that, they didn't have a choice in this, they were "Captured" against their will, but in retrospect, he wishes he could have found a way out. Find a way so that it wouldn't have had come to this.
Buuuuuut this is all my personal take on it, after some thinking. Either way the song is awesome.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
I agree, that would make a lot of sense. I think that this EP makes up for Good News... and Dashboard though. It reminds me a lot of The Lonesome Crowded West.
@ArcticSounds I agree with that. I think that the lines "Instead of seeing, a neighbor out God, I wish I would've found a way out" kinda goes hand in hand with this. As a band, they were just having fun, doing what they do. Touring with other bands who didn't seem to get caught up in the whole major label woes. They just got blind sided and he's almost saying "instead of helping other bands, we should've paid attention and not got caught up in what they were trying to use us for".
@ArcticSounds I agree with that. I think that the lines "Instead of seeing, a neighbor out God, I wish I would've found a way out" kinda goes hand in hand with this. As a band, they were just having fun, doing what they do. Touring with other bands who didn't seem to get caught up in the whole major label woes. They just got blind sided and he's almost saying "instead of helping other bands, we should've paid attention and not got caught up in what they were trying to use us for".