"I dreamt of the rocks at the Asbury dunes, and that you jumped from the top of the Log Flume,"
So bear kills himself...
"...and they gather like wolves on the boardwalk below and they're howling for answers no wolf can know"
And everyone gathers around his body, and is trying to figure out why he would do such a thing.
"I charged at the waves with a glass in my hand, and was tossed like a ball at the bottle stand"
This line is utterly brilliant. Remember in A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains, and the Nice and Blue songs, the imagery of having a glass and filling it up. Also the common motif of Water being what cleanses you of your sins. So the sea is God and his Kingdom
So he charges at the sea with a glass in his hand. This has to mean that he sees this endless expanse of God and he tried to run into it for answers with the idea of filling up his cup and bringing it back, but what he encountered shook up his understanding of everything and then tossed him back into the world where he lands next to the corpse of his friend
"...and landed beside your remains on the stones where your cold fingers wrapped round my ankle bone"
His friends death is what causes him to run into the ocean, but God puts him right back next to him after throwing him around. His friend comes back to life which I interpret to mean that Bear has given up his old life for a new one with God. Bear grabs Fox, more or less telling him that he is one of the dead now after experiencing God. Fox was trying intellectually relate to his salvation to his Worldly self at the beginning of the song, but now realizes that its not about making your worldly self better, but about letting it die. So Bear kills off his old self, and then Fox realizes that the ocean has killed him too,
"while maybe ten feet away was a star thousands of times the size of our sun exploding like tiny balloons you'd throw darts at"
Clearly another metaphor for God, but this time one that's made of fire and explosions and therefore light. I picture Fox being grabbed by the "Dead" bear, coming to the realization that he is indeed dead as well, and therefore a fellow member of the kingdom, and he turns around and sees this gigantic, magestic, scary, explosive, unfathomably large ball of Light (another biblical metaphor for God.)
"BEAR: I slept until our chest was full of yarn we spun from Shetland wool in socks from where the Dorset grows sheared
Right on, kintonw. I would just add that the whole Asbury Park imagery, with the amusement park, fair games (throwing ball at bottles) and boardwalk are a defining symbol to Weiss, as he's from Philly, and so in close proximity to New Jersey and its shore.
Right on, kintonw. I would just add that the whole Asbury Park imagery, with the amusement park, fair games (throwing ball at bottles) and boardwalk are a defining symbol to Weiss, as he's from Philly, and so in close proximity to New Jersey and its shore.
I realize I'm jumping on pretty late, but what was your thought on Bear's last quote?
I realize I'm jumping on pretty late, but what was your thought on Bear's last quote?
@kintonw I think the star does represent God, but the star is said to be very fragile, like water balloons, so I see it as Fox's belief in God dying after Bear kills himself
@kintonw I think the star does represent God, but the star is said to be very fragile, like water balloons, so I see it as Fox's belief in God dying after Bear kills himself
"I dreamt of the rocks at the Asbury dunes, and that you jumped from the top of the Log Flume,"
So bear kills himself...
"...and they gather like wolves on the boardwalk below and they're howling for answers no wolf can know"
And everyone gathers around his body, and is trying to figure out why he would do such a thing.
"I charged at the waves with a glass in my hand, and was tossed like a ball at the bottle stand"
This line is utterly brilliant. Remember in A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains, and the Nice and Blue songs, the imagery of having a glass and filling it up. Also the common motif of Water being what cleanses you of your sins. So the sea is God and his Kingdom
So he charges at the sea with a glass in his hand. This has to mean that he sees this endless expanse of God and he tried to run into it for answers with the idea of filling up his cup and bringing it back, but what he encountered shook up his understanding of everything and then tossed him back into the world where he lands next to the corpse of his friend
"...and landed beside your remains on the stones where your cold fingers wrapped round my ankle bone"
His friends death is what causes him to run into the ocean, but God puts him right back next to him after throwing him around. His friend comes back to life which I interpret to mean that Bear has given up his old life for a new one with God. Bear grabs Fox, more or less telling him that he is one of the dead now after experiencing God. Fox was trying intellectually relate to his salvation to his Worldly self at the beginning of the song, but now realizes that its not about making your worldly self better, but about letting it die. So Bear kills off his old self, and then Fox realizes that the ocean has killed him too,
"while maybe ten feet away was a star thousands of times the size of our sun exploding like tiny balloons you'd throw darts at"
Clearly another metaphor for God, but this time one that's made of fire and explosions and therefore light. I picture Fox being grabbed by the "Dead" bear, coming to the realization that he is indeed dead as well, and therefore a fellow member of the kingdom, and he turns around and sees this gigantic, magestic, scary, explosive, unfathomably large ball of Light (another biblical metaphor for God.)
"BEAR: I slept until our chest was full of yarn we spun from Shetland wool in socks from where the Dorset grows sheared
Right on, kintonw. I would just add that the whole Asbury Park imagery, with the amusement park, fair games (throwing ball at bottles) and boardwalk are a defining symbol to Weiss, as he's from Philly, and so in close proximity to New Jersey and its shore.
Right on, kintonw. I would just add that the whole Asbury Park imagery, with the amusement park, fair games (throwing ball at bottles) and boardwalk are a defining symbol to Weiss, as he's from Philly, and so in close proximity to New Jersey and its shore.
I realize I'm jumping on pretty late, but what was your thought on Bear's last quote?
I realize I'm jumping on pretty late, but what was your thought on Bear's last quote?
@kintonw I think the star does represent God, but the star is said to be very fragile, like water balloons, so I see it as Fox's belief in God dying after Bear kills himself
@kintonw I think the star does represent God, but the star is said to be very fragile, like water balloons, so I see it as Fox's belief in God dying after Bear kills himself