Post subject: Re: SOTM #76: A scratching voice all alone...
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:30 pm
Johnny Guitar
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:58 am Posts: 241 Location: New York, NY
stip wrote:
sure, I think that makes sense.
Sorry if that was obvious. I agree the lyrics aren't top notch and ultimately don't quite come together as much as one might like. But "nonsense" and "loose scribbles" imply way less thematic coherence than there actually is. And to me the gorgeous music suits the theme so well that they actually do work together.
I thought it was an interesting point that you (in the original post) said you thought Ed "can't articulate what's wrong and doesn't understand what the subject needs." The lyrics are so different from Ed's and maybe indeed these are feelings of a different kind of self-disappointment than Ed has known, and that limits his ability to fully let go it the song. I'm not sure. His vocal tone and emotional resonance sure work well here for me.
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:58 am Posts: 241 Location: New York, NY
dirtyfrank0705 wrote:
Why in the hell are all of these SOTM's being bumped? I don't care, it's just a little peculiar.
Isn't it because some of us weren't around or weren't paying much attention to the given song at the time and now get interested and have something (or think we have something) to say?
I've found myself appreciating this song lately, and wanted to read what the most thoughtful group I "know" who thinks about these things had to say about it... and I think it's nice that a conversation like this can keep going over all this time...
Post subject: Re: SOTM #76: A scratching voice all alone...
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 2:15 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
yofismom wrote:
stip wrote:
sure, I think that makes sense.
Sorry if that was obvious. I agree the lyrics aren't top notch and ultimately don't quite come together as much as one might like. But "nonsense" and "loose scribbles" imply way less thematic coherence than there actually is. And to me the gorgeous music suits the theme so well that they actually do work together.
I thought it was an interesting point that you (in the original post) said you thought Ed "can't articulate what's wrong and doesn't understand what the subject needs." The lyrics are so different from Ed's and maybe indeed these are feelings of a different kind of self-disappointment than Ed has known, and that limits his ability to fully let go it the song. I'm not sure. His vocal tone and emotional resonance sure work well here for me.
NAIS is the rare (for me, anyway) slow song that draws attention to what the singer is saying that manages to bypass the need for really good lyrics because the atmosphere is so compelling. NAIS could probably have been an instrumental and you still would have known what the song was about.
_________________ "Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR
I vividly remember driving on an empty forest road while this was playing and the rain was pouring down. This song was one of the last ones by the band that created magic moments for me. Lyrically the final verse is pretty straightforward to me - a get out of a bad situation but knowing deep down that you never will since there are no (economic) opportunities so you'll just end up where you started (both physically and mentally). I appreciate that's a pretty dark interpretation.
Quote:
It's a little bit reflecting on where I came from...I grew up in really rural area in Northern Montana, and it's looking back at it. I think until two or three years ago, I looked back at my childhood as being a fairly utopian situation where I had the freedom to ride my bike around town when I was five years old, and my parents didn't have to worry about anybody taking me and killing me or whatever. In the last couple of years...there have been some things that have kind of allowed some darker things to come to the surface of my childhood, seeing things that I had kind of selectively forgotten for my own mental health or whatever. I had just seen Affliction and I had just read Nine Below Zero by this guy, Kevin Canty, all very kind of rural things that unearthed a lot of stuff. It just kind of what came out. I'm just now starting to actually really analyze what I was talking about...because I still don't really have a grip on that. ~Jeff Ament
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