This is such an amazing composition and arrangement. The first section with its mechanical beat evokes factory machinery and marching in step. Then the beat changes and suddenly it comes to life. I'm sure there is a more precise description of the transition, but that's how it sounds to me.
I don't know what the band intended, but I imagine a story when I hear this song.
"Night hangs on the city like a blanket on a cage" - you put a blanket over a cage to keep the animal inside quiet. Brilliant metaphor.
I picture a worker at the end of the day, trudging a familiar route home through cold dark streets. Feeling powerless, with only "what is hidden in our hearts" to sustain them.
Passing an almost-hidden doorway, there comes a new sound, and a sudden thought: "Jump!".
Inside, there is warmth and music. The porrohman (a shaman of music) works his spell to bring out the humanity in the crowd. Soon they are calling out "give us iron, give us rope!" (Give us the tools to change our lives.) As the song fades out, we no longer hear the mechanical rhythm of the factory but the thump-thump of a heartbeat.
This is such an amazing composition and arrangement. The first section with its mechanical beat evokes factory machinery and marching in step. Then the beat changes and suddenly it comes to life. I'm sure there is a more precise description of the transition, but that's how it sounds to me.
I don't know what the band intended, but I imagine a story when I hear this song. "Night hangs on the city like a blanket on a cage" - you put a blanket over a cage to keep the animal inside quiet. Brilliant metaphor.
I picture a worker at the end of the day, trudging a familiar route home through cold dark streets. Feeling powerless, with only "what is hidden in our hearts" to sustain them.
Passing an almost-hidden doorway, there comes a new sound, and a sudden thought: "Jump!". Inside, there is warmth and music. The porrohman (a shaman of music) works his spell to bring out the humanity in the crowd. Soon they are calling out "give us iron, give us rope!" (Give us the tools to change our lives.) As the song fades out, we no longer hear the mechanical rhythm of the factory but the thump-thump of a heartbeat.