Little bit of a tweaked repost from something I posted in a comments section elsewhere:
Personally I think Undertow is close to the culminativÂe point in the album where, having being introduced to the vibe, the feel, the overall sound and atmosphere of The Fool by "Set Your Arms Down", and then drawn into the web by "Warpaint", deep into the web, you find yourself captivatedÂ, hitting the peak of the musical experience so to speak. Sure, you could just stop listening right now.. but why would you possibly want to? Now she's got you in the Undertow, you're trapped. The realisatioÂn of this fact is then enforced by the lyric "Why you wanna blame me for your troubles? You better learn your lesson yourself", you can leave anytime you like, but something is compelling you to stay, to ride out the journey. It's not her fault, you got yourself into this, you started this and now you're going to have to stick it out, but you'll be all the better for it in the long run.
Personally, I rarely find a proper literal lyrical meaning in music, particularly with music like Warpaint. I tend to think of the meaning behind a song as the emotion and vibe it portrays, the way it makes you feel. The lyrics often reinforce the 'meaning' behind the song, however there is so much more that goes into it. If the artist could put what they feel, what they mean, what they want to express into words, they would have done so instead of making an album.
I wrote another whole paragraph here before I realised all I had done it confuse myself trying to define this music through words. The funny thing about words for all their merits, is how useless they are for describing things. 'real' things, whatever I mean by that.
Little bit of a tweaked repost from something I posted in a comments section elsewhere:
Personally I think Undertow is close to the culminativÂe point in the album where, having being introduced to the vibe, the feel, the overall sound and atmosphere of The Fool by "Set Your Arms Down", and then drawn into the web by "Warpaint", deep into the web, you find yourself captivatedÂ, hitting the peak of the musical experience so to speak. Sure, you could just stop listening right now.. but why would you possibly want to? Now she's got you in the Undertow, you're trapped. The realisatioÂn of this fact is then enforced by the lyric "Why you wanna blame me for your troubles? You better learn your lesson yourself", you can leave anytime you like, but something is compelling you to stay, to ride out the journey. It's not her fault, you got yourself into this, you started this and now you're going to have to stick it out, but you'll be all the better for it in the long run.
Personally, I rarely find a proper literal lyrical meaning in music, particularly with music like Warpaint. I tend to think of the meaning behind a song as the emotion and vibe it portrays, the way it makes you feel. The lyrics often reinforce the 'meaning' behind the song, however there is so much more that goes into it. If the artist could put what they feel, what they mean, what they want to express into words, they would have done so instead of making an album.
I wrote another whole paragraph here before I realised all I had done it confuse myself trying to define this music through words. The funny thing about words for all their merits, is how useless they are for describing things. 'real' things, whatever I mean by that.