Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:27 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:47 pm Posts: 2932
SLH916 wrote:
Man in Black wrote:
This is an amazing tune, there's no doubt about it. I tend to think, however, as is the case with most of Ed's lyrics, people tend to over analyze the meaning.
This verse:
Have you ideas on how this life ends? Checked your hands and studied the lines Have you the belief that the road ahead, ascends off into the light? Seems that needlessly it's getting harder To find an approach and a way to live Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
...is fairly straightforward if you ask me. It's an agnostic/atheist pondering the meaning of his life (or life in general). If you truly believe that we're just an evolutionary accident and that life ends with nothing...certainly there are times when this thought has to trouble you. The narrator is looking for an epiphany, but doesn't have one... the "into the light" question is rhetorical.
MiB, which is your favorite album, or do you just like some individual songs?
Vitalogy/No Code/Yield.
_________________ For your sake I hope heaven and hell are really there but I wouldn't hold my breath
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:29 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Man in Black wrote:
SLH916 wrote:
Man in Black wrote:
This is an amazing tune, there's no doubt about it. I tend to think, however, as is the case with most of Ed's lyrics, people tend to over analyze the meaning.
This verse:
Have you ideas on how this life ends? Checked your hands and studied the lines Have you the belief that the road ahead, ascends off into the light? Seems that needlessly it's getting harder To find an approach and a way to live Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
...is fairly straightforward if you ask me. It's an agnostic/atheist pondering the meaning of his life (or life in general). If you truly believe that we're just an evolutionary accident and that life ends with nothing...certainly there are times when this thought has to trouble you. The narrator is looking for an epiphany, but doesn't have one... the "into the light" question is rhetorical.
MiB, which is your favorite album, or do you just like some individual songs?
Vitalogy/No Code/Yield.
Does the music transcend Ed being a whiny bastard, or does it color the experience for you?
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:13 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:47 pm Posts: 2932
SLH916 wrote:
Man in Black wrote:
SLH916 wrote:
Man in Black wrote:
This is an amazing tune, there's no doubt about it. I tend to think, however, as is the case with most of Ed's lyrics, people tend to over analyze the meaning.
This verse:
Have you ideas on how this life ends? Checked your hands and studied the lines Have you the belief that the road ahead, ascends off into the light? Seems that needlessly it's getting harder To find an approach and a way to live Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
...is fairly straightforward if you ask me. It's an agnostic/atheist pondering the meaning of his life (or life in general). If you truly believe that we're just an evolutionary accident and that life ends with nothing...certainly there are times when this thought has to trouble you. The narrator is looking for an epiphany, but doesn't have one... the "into the light" question is rhetorical.
MiB, which is your favorite album, or do you just like some individual songs?
Vitalogy/No Code/Yield.
Does the music transcend Ed being a whiny bastard, or does it color the experience for you?
Well, musically, I (obviously) like the songwriting/playing and lyrically...
I think that in the end, a person's well-being boils down to the relationship he/she has with him/herself and a select few other people. Personally, I haven't found much meaning in life beyond that. While not always profound, Ed's (lyrical) observations on these relationships has usually rang true for me.
_________________ For your sake I hope heaven and hell are really there but I wouldn't hold my breath
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:18 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Man in Black wrote:
Well, musically, I (obviously) like the songwriting/playing and lyrically...
I think that in the end, a person's well-being boils down to the relationship he/she has with him/herself and a select few other people. Personally, I haven't found much meaning in life beyond that. While not always profound, Ed's (lyrical) observations on these relationships has usually rang true for me.
Fair enough. I'm going to go put Elvis' debut album on now.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:37 pm
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:48 pm Posts: 4320 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Angus wrote:
I listened to it at least 20 times the last few days. I don't know why, I just keep playing it.
Whenever PRESENT TENSE come on, this verse makes me just stop:
Have you ideas on how this life ends? Checked your hands and studied the lines Have you the belief that the road ahead, ascends off into the light? Seems that needlessly it's getting harder To find an approach and a way to live Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
For some reason, I keep looking at the lines in my hands.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:39 am
Former PJ Drummer
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:00 pm Posts: 19826 Location: Alone in a corridor
SLH916 wrote:
Angus wrote:
I listened to it at least 20 times the last few days. I don't know why, I just keep playing it.
Whenever PRESENT TENSE come on, this verse makes me just stop:
Have you ideas on how this life ends? Checked your hands and studied the lines Have you the belief that the road ahead, ascends off into the light? Seems that needlessly it's getting harder To find an approach and a way to live Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
For some reason, I keep looking at the lines in my hands.
Somewhere on this board I once wrote about 1000 words on Present Tense and its meaning for me.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:18 pm
this doesn't say anything
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:00 pm Posts: 5364 Location: Wrigley Field Gender: Male
listening to No Code somewhat loud ('cept for that Sometimes--> Hail Hail transition), I feel really allows the cd to breathe and you can hear how rich aurally the sessions were, as well as how fucking good this music is... listening casually at work or just as background and even in headphones, I think a lot of this album's brilliance is lost in the murk... the mixing has the instruments at frequencies which beg for volume, because otherwise they all blend into this "mellow" album which isn't really the case.... But turned up loud, the album comes out and grips you... so many parts become rocking and fierce, some in a slow because I'm prowling around waiting to kill you kind of way, it makes the guitar break after the first verse in IMT sound like Ed coming up out of the water gasping for air, it makes Red Mosquitos bridge into a boat rocking through the storm in the sea but faithfully carrying you to safety, and it makes Around the Bend, a sweet jammy closing number by one set of the best rockers in the biz.
Post subject: Re: A guided tour through No Code: Present Tense
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:11 pm
Global Moderator
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am Posts: 44183 Location: New York Gender: Male
Isaac Turner wrote:
iceagecoming wrote:
Angus wrote:
The entrance of the accoustic guitar in Present Tense is the highlight of the entire PJ catalogue.
Oh Angus
It's pretty amazing. Not the highlight of the entire catalogue, probably top 10, but amazing nonetheless.
Wouldn't mind seeing a list of the top 10 PJ highlights. I think the Pilate couplet in the bridge/3rd verse is near if not in the top 5.
we may have a thread for that. But go ahead and make one. it'd be a good thread. Just be prepared for a merge if someone finds the old one.
_________________ "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
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