This is such a great song - I wish I could find my way into it! The 'spinning in clock towers' verse makes the song feel allegorical but I can't quite figure out what for. Like, maybe the king is Time, or Death, or Nature, or... ??? Or maybe it is actually about a particular person. Dunno.
My only contribution just now is, I work on a farm, and I think a lot about the tension that exists in our power over animals, doing our best (hopefully) to treat them well and protect them in exchange for holding them captive and eventually killing them, even though we ask them (and never can) if they're ok with that deal. Anyhow, I often get this song in my head when I'm going round the sheep. "Imagine you were free once, and the choice had been your own." "Down comes the hammer, and down you all fall." I do not think the writer/s necessarily intended it to be about power over animals, but it's one little shade of its meaning for me.
The gentleness of the music and the singing is so powerful in contrast with the sledge-hammer of the subject matter. Lends a sort of naivety to the violence, which is both touching and terrifying. It's like a child playing with puppets, not quite realising or not quite admitting that the puppets are alive.
This is such a great song - I wish I could find my way into it! The 'spinning in clock towers' verse makes the song feel allegorical but I can't quite figure out what for. Like, maybe the king is Time, or Death, or Nature, or... ??? Or maybe it is actually about a particular person. Dunno.
My only contribution just now is, I work on a farm, and I think a lot about the tension that exists in our power over animals, doing our best (hopefully) to treat them well and protect them in exchange for holding them captive and eventually killing them, even though we ask them (and never can) if they're ok with that deal. Anyhow, I often get this song in my head when I'm going round the sheep. "Imagine you were free once, and the choice had been your own." "Down comes the hammer, and down you all fall." I do not think the writer/s necessarily intended it to be about power over animals, but it's one little shade of its meaning for me.
The gentleness of the music and the singing is so powerful in contrast with the sledge-hammer of the subject matter. Lends a sort of naivety to the violence, which is both touching and terrifying. It's like a child playing with puppets, not quite realising or not quite admitting that the puppets are alive.
meant "even though we DON'T ask them (and never can)".
meant "even though we DON'T ask them (and never can)".