For the people who don't believe there is meaning to the song - David Byrne does not write meaningless lyrics. Every word is dripping with meaning, and if it sounds meaningless, that is because you don’t understand it.
What I can figure from this song, which is undoubtedly very cryptic, is that it is about government oppression. To me this is made clear enough by the title alone.
I don’t know about you, but the idea of the “hand of a government man” clearly gives me the visual of oppression. The hands “pass in between us”, everywhere, telling us what is right and wrong, how to live. We'd "better not miss it", “Falling bodies tumble 'cross the floor. Well I'm a tumbler!
When you get to where you wanna be. Thank you! Thank you!”
"Well I'm a tumbler. Born under punches. I'm so thin." punches of the gov hand, knocking him down, creating a society that starves someone like Byrne. “And the heat goes on...Where the hand has been “
I tend to blame society rather than the government for that invisible hand. When I see the government in this song, it is not as a culprit but as something which failed to deal with a corrosive society. The words that I would use to describe this song are not government oppression but RAT RACE.
I tend to blame society rather than the government for that invisible hand. When I see the government in this song, it is not as a culprit but as something which failed to deal with a corrosive society. The words that I would use to describe this song are not government oppression but RAT RACE.
@mockingbird5 The words "under punches" are a play on the catholic prayer line "under pontious" (David Bryne has discussed his catholic upbringing in interviews). There is a deep religious aspect to this song. Government's and religion in America are intrinsically tied through the dollar and concepts of morality and tradition (i'm a government man)
@mockingbird5 The words "under punches" are a play on the catholic prayer line "under pontious" (David Bryne has discussed his catholic upbringing in interviews). There is a deep religious aspect to this song. Government's and religion in America are intrinsically tied through the dollar and concepts of morality and tradition (i'm a government man)
For the people who don't believe there is meaning to the song - David Byrne does not write meaningless lyrics. Every word is dripping with meaning, and if it sounds meaningless, that is because you don’t understand it.
What I can figure from this song, which is undoubtedly very cryptic, is that it is about government oppression. To me this is made clear enough by the title alone. I don’t know about you, but the idea of the “hand of a government man” clearly gives me the visual of oppression. The hands “pass in between us”, everywhere, telling us what is right and wrong, how to live. We'd "better not miss it", “Falling bodies tumble 'cross the floor. Well I'm a tumbler! When you get to where you wanna be. Thank you! Thank you!” "Well I'm a tumbler. Born under punches. I'm so thin." punches of the gov hand, knocking him down, creating a society that starves someone like Byrne. “And the heat goes on...Where the hand has been “
*NOTE this is just my interpretation, the song could just as easily be praising the government! But it certainly has meaning either way.
*NOTE this is just my interpretation, the song could just as easily be praising the government! But it certainly has meaning either way.
I tend to blame society rather than the government for that invisible hand. When I see the government in this song, it is not as a culprit but as something which failed to deal with a corrosive society. The words that I would use to describe this song are not government oppression but RAT RACE.
I tend to blame society rather than the government for that invisible hand. When I see the government in this song, it is not as a culprit but as something which failed to deal with a corrosive society. The words that I would use to describe this song are not government oppression but RAT RACE.
@mockingbird5 water cannot hurt a man
@mockingbird5 water cannot hurt a man
@mockingbird5 The words "under punches" are a play on the catholic prayer line "under pontious" (David Bryne has discussed his catholic upbringing in interviews). There is a deep religious aspect to this song. Government's and religion in America are intrinsically tied through the dollar and concepts of morality and tradition (i'm a government man)
@mockingbird5 The words "under punches" are a play on the catholic prayer line "under pontious" (David Bryne has discussed his catholic upbringing in interviews). There is a deep religious aspect to this song. Government's and religion in America are intrinsically tied through the dollar and concepts of morality and tradition (i'm a government man)