Lyrical Interpretation: Throwing Copper Options

[Distance to Me]

Alright, I'm gonna start off by saying I'm sort of a lyrical nerd, I love me some lyrics and I love interpreting them. In fact, Ed has inspired me to writing poetry, which I've finished in the top 10 in some national contests for, and eventually I got around to pulling together a band which I sing, play guitar, and write for (I suck at singing though).

Anyway, basically just write down what a song means to you, whether it's through the lyrics or through the music. I could drone on and on about a song like They Stood Up For Love, so I'll try to contain myself.

[Sonic Tonic]

Indeed, we could always draw the meanings of songs as this thread suggests.
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This post has been edited by Sonic Tonic: Dec 20 2008, 10:21 pm

[Distance to Me]

Here we go...

1. The Dam at Otter Creek: The Dam at Otter Creek for me is about doing something wrong (like killing someone), and the guilt keeps building up until the guy snaps and freaks out (the water backed up... this is where sadness breathes... etc). I think the music reflects this as well, as the instruments keep rising until the freak out at the end. I'm not sure what the outro is about, with all the whispering. Maybe the person singing the song apologizes, and then he's at peace? I don't know.

2. Selling the Drama: Well, this is one of Ed's more straight up ones I guess. I think it's pretty much reflecting on how everyone has their own choices that they can make and no one else should put their beliefs on others and kill each other and what not.

3. I Alone: I suppose this could just be a really obsessive love song, but I'm sure there's more to it. In Pillar of Davidson, he talks about "old, bad eyes," which I believe has to do with a preacher spreading his lies. So when someone like himself is the only one who actually loves something, and not just uses it as a manipulative force, he is measured by his "eyes," rather than spreading his beliefs on others, like the preacher.

4. Iris: The lyrics are pretty confusing, but I think it's a love song of sorts. He's taking advantage of some girl who is pretty skanky, and he pretends he doesn't love her (the armies I've created), and he does things like this in a hope that she might love him, or something (until I take their flags).

5. Lightning Crashes: I think it's been pretty much confirmed by the band that this song is about the friend of theirs who was an organ donor, and about the life she passes on to others. Beautiful lyrics.

6. Top: The lyrics to this song are absolutely stellar. I love them. I believe it's a song about seeing through the emptiness of many controlling forces (politicians, religion, science, love, you name it) and how Ed is coming to grips with what he does and does not believe.

7. All Over You: More awesome lyrics. The lyrics are vaguely reminiscent of Iris, it could either be about loving a whore, a gay relationship, or how empty religion is. The "I've often tried to hold the sun, the sea, the fields, the tide" line is absolute badass and very powerful. I mean, who hasn't? Everyone has tried to hold these things, and no one can. Love it.

8. Shit Towne: pretty self-explanatory.

9. T.B.D.: T.B.D. stands for Tibetan Book of the Dead, right? Well, when I first heard the song, I didn't know anything about the Book of the Dead (I still don't) so I thought it stood for "To Be Decided," and it was more of a song about an atheist dying and having no idea exactly what will happen to him, but he doesn't need a book to tell him what happens. He's gonna die anyway, after all.

10. Stage: Stage is a tribute to the struggles of Kurt Cobain and his love with that bitch (do I even need to name her? Come on, she's been around. Every guy knows her personally).

11. Waitress: A simply put, but none the less genius message. Though many may not agree with it.

12. Pillar of Davidson: I love these lyrics. Pillar of DAVID'S SON. It parallels working in a factory (it is a factory from their hometown right?) with the repetitive bullshit that a preacher with "old, bad eyes" throws up. The shepherd is in his face, and perhaps people want to meet him, but only after they're dead. The outro I believe is about coming to grips with his atheism (who are often mistaken for devil worshipers by dumb asses) by locking horns with the stallion (that would be the devil, a stallion with horns), or maybe it's about him dying, I don't know.

13. White, Discussion: Some more awesome lyrics. I believe it's about how we're killing each other, killing the planet, and while we do this we argue and go insane and how people are content talking about this bullshit (some people are even known to get erections), and then, in the end, we will look back on where all the talking got us, and then we'll cry. Cuz' we're dead.

[Distance to Me]

oh. my bad.

[iateyourcookie]

Skimmed over it. Two things came to mind.


Iris: Wouldn't count on this being a *love* song, so much. Although, everyone loves a blowjob.


Pillar of Davidson: Caterpillar, Harley Davidson. Yes, factories. Not sure I Alone is directly related to this song other than the album it featured on.

[Pokey]

Yeah I kinda struggled with the connection between I Alone and Pillar of Davidson ... ha I knew there was the harley davidson factory in york but not caterpillar ... least of all making the connection between between the factory names and the song title (even though I know Ed has stated it was a work song for people back in York) ... you just blew my mind

[iateyourcookie]

you just blew my mind

I may have just completely made that up. Sounded good to me.

[iateyourcookie]

I may have just completely made that up. Sounded good to me.

Hey, whaddya know.

http://www.yellowpages.com/info-LMS8182571...Fcaterpillar%3F

[Wambangalang]

TDAOC: less about murder and more about our inability to overcome the various traps of psychological conditioning. "When all thats left to do is reflect on whats been done..". ed is using the metaphore of a dam to illustrate how the mechanism of thought - being memory - is the barrier between inward pain and freedom. You really have to have read some of krishnamurti's work to know exactly where ed is comming from with most of the older live stuff.

STD: Same here. Mankind repeats all of his mistakes generation after generation. The brain wants security and continuity so it seeks and it finds. But it does not find that which is the actual, rather it finds acording to its own particular desire. It escapes into nationalism or religion, or clings to the illusion that it is american, or catholic or muslim or a communist. The entire history of mankind is in you, You are the world, literally. Hence; "I know, I've been here before"

im tired but i will say i really think all over you is just about a guy who pays a hooker so he can blow all over her and vice versa. Pay me now, lay me down bitch

[turkish101]

Not to rain on the parade, but some of these are spot-off, as far as Ed intended, at least.

Apparently I Alone is not a love song at all, but a song about finding religion/truth for yourself. If you take others' word for it (ie organized religion), then you are separate from the teacher, thus being 'truly alone.' [via Wikipedia]

TBD does indeed stand for the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a mystic text from Tibetan Buddhism, about, naturally, death (if i remember correctly). The song is about the dying minutes of writer and proponent of LSD Aldous Huxley (while he's on LSD, no less). I suppose the chorus implies that he's pondering the teachings in the TBD, but rejecting them as he realizes his own mortality. That part is up for debate, though.... not really sure.

Lightning Crashes is a story that's been told countless times, being their most popular song and all. It's about the circle of life, specifically involving a friend of the band who died in a drunk driving accident, and donated her organs, which helped the troubled birth of a mother and her baby. I guess there was a storm that night too

Other songs haven't been discussed as much by the band.... White, Discussion is kinda obvious, about how people will endlessly talk and talk (probably politicians/media figures) until the end of the world, and then realize how little that achieved. Iris and All Over You could be simply about love/sex at first glance, but there could be more that we don't really know. I have no clue.

TDAOC is the one that interests me the most, because it sounds pretty specific, with some nice imagery, but I have no clue how to interpret it. A simple analysis could be a pro-environment stance - the men build a dam, the water gets deeper, one of the men drowns, and then they reflect on what happened. Pretty simple, I know.... I got nothing.

Hey, this is fun! When do we get to do Secret Samahdi?