A lot of people don't know this, but, because of melting polar ice caps, polar bears in the northern Canada/ Artic regions are dying because what used to be a short swim to the ice caps where they would birth and rear their cubs is now hundreds of miles causing death through exhaustion, drowning, hypothermia and just plan getting lost 'en route'.
I believe this is what MJK is referencing here. I think he is using the image of the polar bear to represent humanity and suggesting with the first stanza that we as a species are "chipping away at our island" (earth).
I'm also of the opinion that the lines "no need to bare it all alone / Ill be there" is, in true MJK style, religious satire referencing the huge portion of the population who believe that 'God' will come in once the degradation of our home has surpassed habitable and deliver(*)the 'good' unto salvation (**)or heaven.
*No end in sight save your own
**Hoping to fade and disappear into the white
I agree with LuckyOleaf. I think this song may be about global warming and the fact that polar bears are on their way to extinction. There's a tv ad on Animal Planet that shows a mother polar bear and her little baby floating on a block of ice surrounded by water. She looks so sad and alone, she finally swims off, her baby trailing behind. That ad breaks my heart every time I see it I want to cry. This song is so haunting and beautiful. I heard it for the 1st time on my way to see Puscifer...
I agree with LuckyOleaf. I think this song may be about global warming and the fact that polar bears are on their way to extinction. There's a tv ad on Animal Planet that shows a mother polar bear and her little baby floating on a block of ice surrounded by water. She looks so sad and alone, she finally swims off, her baby trailing behind. That ad breaks my heart every time I see it I want to cry. This song is so haunting and beautiful. I heard it for the 1st time on my way to see Puscifer live in Portland on Saturday. I immediately fell in love with this song and it was so awesome to see Maynard sing this live. Holy shit, it was AWESOME. Tim Alexander's pounding blew me away (he was even more entertaining Monday night dressed like a stripper, WOOHOO). So lucky me, I just spent two evenings with Maynard & Puscifer. If you ever get that chance, you HAVE to take advantage of it. Puscifer is so entertaining. Maynard has a wicked sense of humor.
No need to bear it alone...the idea of white lies comes to mind -- that even if global warming were a big scare some of the individually carried out solutions would be good for one...be it hell or high water.
No need to bear it alone...the idea of white lies comes to mind -- that even if global warming were a big scare some of the individually carried out solutions would be good for one...be it hell or high water.
The lumbering synth line, the echoey sound, and distant, shivery presentation of Maynard's vocals are truly awesome musicianship for evoking a scene of loneliness, cold, and a free-floating loss of perspective.
The lumbering synth line, the echoey sound, and distant, shivery presentation of Maynard's vocals are truly awesome musicianship for evoking a scene of loneliness, cold, and a free-floating loss of perspective.
Also, there is the association of snow and the color white being representative of innocence and youth or perhaps the white robes that Christ is so often...
Also, there is the association of snow and the color white being representative of innocence and youth or perhaps the white robes that Christ is so often depicted as being dressed in. These symbols would lend symbolic texture to this polar bear being on a mission or "end," "a chipping away," and the "look of fear" of "braving it alone" that has the subject floating away. What seems like a call for environmental protection could verily be the call that anyone takes up - one whose adherence is also an alienation that may well be the death sentence of activist martyrdom.
On the Puscifer website a live version of Momma Sed and Holiday on the Moon follow this song. Both seem concerned with following something to it's end in an unquestioning mindset - be it kidney stones or the ridiculousness of being grateful for a holiday on the cold, lifeless speck of dust that orbits our planet - quite the view but no one in sight.
Maynard's own carrier would seem to support this notion. As a fan of Puscifer one may well know he spent years as the frontman for Tool and the occasional guest singer for other bands. Years went between albums and tours of performance and it is only recently that he has departed from the subject matter and style of Tool sound to be a more steady, occasionally quite serious frontman for A Perfect Circle and, of course Puscifer.
This song also reminds me heavily of Eskimo by Damien Rice. I've never heard of them being friends but if the interesting similarity between The Mission by Puscifer and The Mission by Damien Marley were an indication of a trend within C is for... then one might profit meaning from a reading of the lyrics for Eskimo and a picture of the agonized, tear-worn face of Rice.
A lot of people don't know this, but, because of melting polar ice caps, polar bears in the northern Canada/ Artic regions are dying because what used to be a short swim to the ice caps where they would birth and rear their cubs is now hundreds of miles causing death through exhaustion, drowning, hypothermia and just plan getting lost 'en route'. I believe this is what MJK is referencing here. I think he is using the image of the polar bear to represent humanity and suggesting with the first stanza that we as a species are "chipping away at our island" (earth). I'm also of the opinion that the lines "no need to bare it all alone / Ill be there" is, in true MJK style, religious satire referencing the huge portion of the population who believe that 'God' will come in once the degradation of our home has surpassed habitable and deliver(*)the 'good' unto salvation (**)or heaven.
*No end in sight save your own **Hoping to fade and disappear into the white
I agree with LuckyOleaf. I think this song may be about global warming and the fact that polar bears are on their way to extinction. There's a tv ad on Animal Planet that shows a mother polar bear and her little baby floating on a block of ice surrounded by water. She looks so sad and alone, she finally swims off, her baby trailing behind. That ad breaks my heart every time I see it I want to cry. This song is so haunting and beautiful. I heard it for the 1st time on my way to see Puscifer...
I agree with LuckyOleaf. I think this song may be about global warming and the fact that polar bears are on their way to extinction. There's a tv ad on Animal Planet that shows a mother polar bear and her little baby floating on a block of ice surrounded by water. She looks so sad and alone, she finally swims off, her baby trailing behind. That ad breaks my heart every time I see it I want to cry. This song is so haunting and beautiful. I heard it for the 1st time on my way to see Puscifer live in Portland on Saturday. I immediately fell in love with this song and it was so awesome to see Maynard sing this live. Holy shit, it was AWESOME. Tim Alexander's pounding blew me away (he was even more entertaining Monday night dressed like a stripper, WOOHOO). So lucky me, I just spent two evenings with Maynard & Puscifer. If you ever get that chance, you HAVE to take advantage of it. Puscifer is so entertaining. Maynard has a wicked sense of humor.
No need to bear it alone...the idea of white lies comes to mind -- that even if global warming were a big scare some of the individually carried out solutions would be good for one...be it hell or high water.
No need to bear it alone...the idea of white lies comes to mind -- that even if global warming were a big scare some of the individually carried out solutions would be good for one...be it hell or high water.
The lumbering synth line, the echoey sound, and distant, shivery presentation of Maynard's vocals are truly awesome musicianship for evoking a scene of loneliness, cold, and a free-floating loss of perspective.
The lumbering synth line, the echoey sound, and distant, shivery presentation of Maynard's vocals are truly awesome musicianship for evoking a scene of loneliness, cold, and a free-floating loss of perspective.
Also, there is the association of snow and the color white being representative of innocence and youth or perhaps the white robes that Christ is so often...
Also, there is the association of snow and the color white being representative of innocence and youth or perhaps the white robes that Christ is so often depicted as being dressed in. These symbols would lend symbolic texture to this polar bear being on a mission or "end," "a chipping away," and the "look of fear" of "braving it alone" that has the subject floating away. What seems like a call for environmental protection could verily be the call that anyone takes up - one whose adherence is also an alienation that may well be the death sentence of activist martyrdom.
On the Puscifer website a live version of Momma Sed and Holiday on the Moon follow this song. Both seem concerned with following something to it's end in an unquestioning mindset - be it kidney stones or the ridiculousness of being grateful for a holiday on the cold, lifeless speck of dust that orbits our planet - quite the view but no one in sight.
Maynard's own carrier would seem to support this notion. As a fan of Puscifer one may well know he spent years as the frontman for Tool and the occasional guest singer for other bands. Years went between albums and tours of performance and it is only recently that he has departed from the subject matter and style of Tool sound to be a more steady, occasionally quite serious frontman for A Perfect Circle and, of course Puscifer.
This song also reminds me heavily of Eskimo by Damien Rice. I've never heard of them being friends but if the interesting similarity between The Mission by Puscifer and The Mission by Damien Marley were an indication of a trend within C is for... then one might profit meaning from a reading of the lyrics for Eskimo and a picture of the agonized, tear-worn face of Rice.
The bear is not mentioned in the end. Why?
The bear is not mentioned in the end. Why?
"A polar."
"A polar."
Let's try metaphor.
Let's try metaphor.
(from Google):
(from Google):
polar: having a pair of equal and opposite charges
polar: having a pair of equal and opposite charges
bear: support or hold in a certain manner
bear: support or hold in a certain manner
hmm...
hmm...
"The bear is not mentioned in the end. Why?" IMO it's because the polar bear died, and there's only the polar (region) left.
"The bear is not mentioned in the end. Why?" IMO it's because the polar bear died, and there's only the polar (region) left.