Anyone know what Live said about "Selling the Drama?" Options

[Godiva]

I am looking for some commentary by Ed on Selling the Drama... but I prefer stuff he said back in the day when the song was popular and before that album was released.

Thanks!

[WaiterAtCliftons]

ummm they got "Throwing Copper" because they were throwing bb's around a sporting good store

[FishOutaWater]

ummm they got "Throwing Copper" because they were throwing bb's around a sporting good store

I did originally address that issue, but unfortunately, I removed my discussion of that issue from my post in the interest of conserving space. I am aware that someone has stated that there is some interview somewhere that mentions the BB gun thing, although I have never seen or heard that interview myself. But as I said, what I described as the meaning of Throwing Copper is just what I think it is.

As for the BB gun explanation, I think that sometimes Ed gives a milktoast answer in promotional interviews because it isn't the right place to give a deep explanation. I've heard at least 3 different explanations of The River. Sometimes he says "it's about sex". Sometimes he goes into the whole flowing consciousness and sacred feminine explanation. But as for Throwing Copper, maybe that interview wasn't the place for Ed to say "yeah, I think most Christian leaders are self-interested hypocrits out to make money and accrue power." Throwing Copper is in large part a deep, sardonic social commentary that questions conventional authority and belief systems, and, I may be wrong, but I personally find it hard to believe that after the band put together such a creative masterpeace that stands as one of the top 20 albums of all time, they said "hey lets name it in honor of shooting BB guns at each other." I don't believe that any more than I believe that they named The Distance To Here because they were playing with rulers one day.

[sellingthdrama]

I don't believe that any more than I believe that they named The Distance To Here because they were playing with rulers one day.

Excellent line, there. I'd like to think Throwing Copper has some deeper meaning, but I've heard the BB gun story a lot.

As I've been moving along my own path and reading on various spiritual topics, it hit me one day what "The Distance To Here" actually means (at least, what I think it means). I've never quite understood it or thought about it - but then it just hit me. I think it is about the Now, and how we are all so close yet so far from the Now, or the Here. The "distance" to here, is not a physical distance but a spiritual one. And after this long journey, where do you end up? You end up here. So what is the distance to here? ...

This may have been obvious to some of you, but I was pretty psyched when it all clicked in my head. My apologies for going off topic.

[FishOutaWater]

Excellent line, there. I'd like to think Throwing Copper has some deeper meaning, but I've heard the BB gun story a lot.

As I've been moving along my own path and reading on various spiritual topics, it hit me one day what "The Distance To Here" actually means (at least, what I think it means). I've never quite understood it or thought about it - but then it just hit me. I think it is about the Now, and how we are all so close yet so far from the Now, or the Here. The "distance" to here, is not a physical distance but a spiritual one. And after this long journey, where do you end up? You end up here. So what is the distance to here? ...

This may have been obvious to some of you, but I was pretty psyched when it all clicked in my head. My apologies for going off topic.

I like what you said here. Let’s look at the song “The Distance” on The Distance To Here which, I think, further explains the title of the album.

I've been to pretty buildings, all in search of you
I have lit all the candles, sat in all the pews
the desert had been done before,
but I didn't even care
I got sand in both my shoes and scorpions in my hair
I saw that...
oh the distance is not do-able
in these bodies of clay my brother
oh the distance, it makes me uncomfortable
guess it's natural to feel this way
oh, let's hold out for something sweeter
spread your wings and fly
my car became the church and I
the worshipper of silence there
in a moment peace came over me
and the one who was beatin' my heart appeared and....
oh the distance is not do-able
in these bodies of clay my brother
oh the distance, it makes me uncomfortable
guess it's natural to feel this way
oh, are we locked into these bodies?
let's hold out for something sweeter
spread your wings and fly
oh, are we locked into these bodies?
are we anything at all?
let's hold out for something sweeter
spread your wings and fly
this distance is dreamin'
we're already there tonight


If I may offer my own interpretation of these lyrics:

I’ve done all of the conventional and all of the not so conventional things in search of “the one”. They’ve all been done before, but I had to try them myself in an effort to traverse the distance.

I’ve gone to churches and sat in pews. I’ve fasted and meditated in the desert. But I found that “the distance” to be traveled to find “the one” cannot be done through trying or effort in these bodies we carry around.

Then Ed gives a personal account of an experience he had when writing the album in the desert. After all of that effort to find the answer, he found it in silence, not in a church or the desert. His car became the church and he, the worshipper of silence. And, in a moment of pure silence, without effort, he found the oneness -- the one that was beating his heart appeared. The distance to here is not to be found through effort, in these bodies we carry around. It is not to be found by praying in the pews and fasting and struggling in the desert. It is in the pure silence of this moment. We're "already there". And when we find it, we see that we are not locked into these bodies. We transcend our bodies when we apprehend pure consciousness, and awaken to the oneness of all things. That is to spread your wings and fly.