Jejune:
-without interest or significance; dull; insipid
-juvenile; immature; childish
-lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed:
-deficient or lacking in nutritive value.
Obviously the first few verses are talking about love, which is mentioned throughout the album. When we express love, it's "a way to return" to what I think is this "basis, essence of life" that is mentioned in the next verse. The rastafarian theme is all about love, and Danny Brewer (the guy talking throughout the album) reiterates this point - "love has always been the message," and the last thing he's talking about at the end of "one for you, one for me" is love/compassion/mercy. It seems like at some points it is hinted at that love is the way to get to wherever we go after this life, aka: the basis, the essence of life - the ultimate reality the Wheel of Becoming refers to.
This song seems to express the struggle we all have inside of ourselves that we will never be able to achieve this afterlife, whether it's heaven or a second life or a life as a tree or whatever. We all struggle with that, but we get close to it when we act out of love.
There is a theme in this album about "codes." For example, in "A Machine Spiritual" he talks about forming some kind of code - maybe this means pattern, as in the pattern of society/mankind. I'm honestly not sure.
"Come fire, come water, come KARMA, we’re all in transition
The WHEEL OF BECOMING erases the physical mind
Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the CODE we inherit, the basis, the essence of life"
The Wheel of Becoming is a representation of Buddhist beliefs about life, death and rebirth. It is the belief that karma or past actions traps us in this cycle of existence (code?). Life within the wheel is considered captive reality, and life outside of the wheel is considered ultimate reality. I think this is what is meant by "the basis, the essence of life."
BrightEyesAtheist, I think you have a good point about hiding what we're made out of.
"Green of the radar" means it's raining, but he has an umbrella. I personally feel that he's basically saying, if we're made to love, why do we hide it/hide from it?
"Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features
We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line"
This, to me, is expressing looking back on memories of love (nostalgia) through the passage of time. It's as if you can feel the nostalgia at this part of the song, it's my favorite. Looking back on memories where you were sharing with someone else , it feels so right because you're showing love and that's what we're MADE OF/here to do, and "everything [falls] into line." but then it ends, and we're scared, hiding under our umbrellas and avoiding what we're made of.
"It's just so bizarre, all the things I'm afraid of.
Why do I hide from the rain?"
The fact that we hide from it makes us jejune? or maybe this makes relationships we share jejune? I'm still not sure.
That is my take on the song. Please let me know what you think!
Right On. I agree so much with pretty much everything in your post. i think understanding "the wheel of becoming" is something that is important especially in this album and much of Conor's work since Lifted, and i hope this is important to you in your life as well. our hearts and minds, all of us together.
Right On. I agree so much with pretty much everything in your post. i think understanding "the wheel of becoming" is something that is important especially in this album and much of Conor's work since Lifted, and i hope this is important to you in your life as well. our hearts and minds, all of us together.
One thing where i differ from your ideas is about the rain in this song. Conor has continually used weather as a metaphor for the future, or the passing of time. Remember "If you want to see the future, go...
One thing where i differ from your ideas is about the rain in this song. Conor has continually used weather as a metaphor for the future, or the passing of time. Remember "If you want to see the future, go and stare into a cloud" and "the future hangs over our heads, and its moves with each CURRENT event, until it falls all around like a cold steady rain - just stay in when its looking this way" there are plenty of other references across the albums, maybe not as explicit.
so we see he also uses hiding from the rain as hiding from change and future and time. I think this is still what hes saying in the chorus of this song, but "is it true what we're made of" refers to the themes of oneness, wheel of becoming, code, dna, patterns and relations, etc. (those themes are worthy of their own thread)
so why hide from or be scared of the future/time/uncertainty if it is true what we're made of (oneness, love).
I was under the impression that the code is a literal interpretation of our DNA. "The code we inherit, the basis the essence of life" is a pretty overt description. It's been a running theme throughout People's Key as well as Digital Ash; whether it be in the form of the code, a spiral, or a spiral staircase.
I was under the impression that the code is a literal interpretation of our DNA. "The code we inherit, the basis the essence of life" is a pretty overt description. It's been a running theme throughout People's Key as well as Digital Ash; whether it be in the form of the code, a spiral, or a spiral staircase.
I also saw this interpretation in A Machine Spiritual in the lyric "we form some kind of code, of flesh and bone. no you're not alone." I see a running theme of DNA as a base unifier of...
I also saw this interpretation in A Machine Spiritual in the lyric "we form some kind of code, of flesh and bone. no you're not alone." I see a running theme of DNA as a base unifier of all living things in this line and in a lot of others.
The symbolic unification of all living things is a really strong theme in this song, be it karmic, or scientific. Another example, I feel, is the idea that all matter in our solar system (including all living things) is the result of stars erupting eons ago is hinted at by the term "jejune stars."
Just my interpretation though. I guess that's half the fun in listening to this album :)
Jejune: -without interest or significance; dull; insipid -juvenile; immature; childish -lacking knowledge or experience; uninformed: -deficient or lacking in nutritive value.
Obviously the first few verses are talking about love, which is mentioned throughout the album. When we express love, it's "a way to return" to what I think is this "basis, essence of life" that is mentioned in the next verse. The rastafarian theme is all about love, and Danny Brewer (the guy talking throughout the album) reiterates this point - "love has always been the message," and the last thing he's talking about at the end of "one for you, one for me" is love/compassion/mercy. It seems like at some points it is hinted at that love is the way to get to wherever we go after this life, aka: the basis, the essence of life - the ultimate reality the Wheel of Becoming refers to.
This song seems to express the struggle we all have inside of ourselves that we will never be able to achieve this afterlife, whether it's heaven or a second life or a life as a tree or whatever. We all struggle with that, but we get close to it when we act out of love.
There is a theme in this album about "codes." For example, in "A Machine Spiritual" he talks about forming some kind of code - maybe this means pattern, as in the pattern of society/mankind. I'm honestly not sure.
"Come fire, come water, come KARMA, we’re all in transition The WHEEL OF BECOMING erases the physical mind Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation And the CODE we inherit, the basis, the essence of life"
The Wheel of Becoming is a representation of Buddhist beliefs about life, death and rebirth. It is the belief that karma or past actions traps us in this cycle of existence (code?). Life within the wheel is considered captive reality, and life outside of the wheel is considered ultimate reality. I think this is what is meant by "the basis, the essence of life."
BrightEyesAtheist, I think you have a good point about hiding what we're made out of.
"Green of the radar" means it's raining, but he has an umbrella. I personally feel that he's basically saying, if we're made to love, why do we hide it/hide from it?
"Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line"
This, to me, is expressing looking back on memories of love (nostalgia) through the passage of time. It's as if you can feel the nostalgia at this part of the song, it's my favorite. Looking back on memories where you were sharing with someone else , it feels so right because you're showing love and that's what we're MADE OF/here to do, and "everything [falls] into line." but then it ends, and we're scared, hiding under our umbrellas and avoiding what we're made of.
"It's just so bizarre, all the things I'm afraid of. Why do I hide from the rain?"
The fact that we hide from it makes us jejune? or maybe this makes relationships we share jejune? I'm still not sure.
That is my take on the song. Please let me know what you think!
Megbird,
Megbird,
Right On. I agree so much with pretty much everything in your post. i think understanding "the wheel of becoming" is something that is important especially in this album and much of Conor's work since Lifted, and i hope this is important to you in your life as well. our hearts and minds, all of us together.
Right On. I agree so much with pretty much everything in your post. i think understanding "the wheel of becoming" is something that is important especially in this album and much of Conor's work since Lifted, and i hope this is important to you in your life as well. our hearts and minds, all of us together.
One thing where i differ from your ideas is about the rain in this song. Conor has continually used weather as a metaphor for the future, or the passing of time. Remember "If you want to see the future, go...
One thing where i differ from your ideas is about the rain in this song. Conor has continually used weather as a metaphor for the future, or the passing of time. Remember "If you want to see the future, go and stare into a cloud" and "the future hangs over our heads, and its moves with each CURRENT event, until it falls all around like a cold steady rain - just stay in when its looking this way" there are plenty of other references across the albums, maybe not as explicit.
so we see he also uses hiding from the rain as hiding from change and future and time. I think this is still what hes saying in the chorus of this song, but "is it true what we're made of" refers to the themes of oneness, wheel of becoming, code, dna, patterns and relations, etc. (those themes are worthy of their own thread)
so why hide from or be scared of the future/time/uncertainty if it is true what we're made of (oneness, love).
Love!
I agree with that. Basically what I meant by love was the idea of oneness. Definitely agree. Love.
I agree with that. Basically what I meant by love was the idea of oneness. Definitely agree. Love.
I was under the impression that the code is a literal interpretation of our DNA. "The code we inherit, the basis the essence of life" is a pretty overt description. It's been a running theme throughout People's Key as well as Digital Ash; whether it be in the form of the code, a spiral, or a spiral staircase.
I was under the impression that the code is a literal interpretation of our DNA. "The code we inherit, the basis the essence of life" is a pretty overt description. It's been a running theme throughout People's Key as well as Digital Ash; whether it be in the form of the code, a spiral, or a spiral staircase.
I also saw this interpretation in A Machine Spiritual in the lyric "we form some kind of code, of flesh and bone. no you're not alone." I see a running theme of DNA as a base unifier of...
I also saw this interpretation in A Machine Spiritual in the lyric "we form some kind of code, of flesh and bone. no you're not alone." I see a running theme of DNA as a base unifier of all living things in this line and in a lot of others.
The symbolic unification of all living things is a really strong theme in this song, be it karmic, or scientific. Another example, I feel, is the idea that all matter in our solar system (including all living things) is the result of stars erupting eons ago is hinted at by the term "jejune stars."
Just my interpretation though. I guess that's half the fun in listening to this album :)