Post by tannis on Jul 19, 2008 8:24:28 GMT
Overlook: "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" ...
No stranger's feet
Will enter me
(Get out of my house!)
I wash the panes
(Get out of my house!)
I clean the stains away
(Get out of my house!)
I took my mop and my bucket
And I cleaned and I cleaned...
My door was never locked
Until one day a trigger come cocking
(But now I've started learning how)
I keep it shut...
DOUG: I find the use of strong symbolism and metaphor and allusions in your lyrics to be extremely interesting. For example, in "Get Out Of My House", the woman who is singing the song has been left by her lover and feels hurt, and identifies herself with a house. This is a biblical allusion. When she says "I wash the panes", it is a triple entendre, because she's saying she's washing the windows of her body, which are the eyes. This means she's crying, and by doing so, she's washing the hurt and pain away. Then she says "No stranger's feet will enter me" saying that she won't let anyone into her house, which is saying she won't let anyone into her body, which is also reinforced by the biblical use of "feet" as a euphemism for "private parts". The layers of meaning here, are pretty incredible.
Love-Hounds: |>oug's famous Kate Interview, 1985
gaffa.org/dreaming/doug_int.html
Let's look at the biblical word translated "feet."
In Middle Eastern culture, not only is it what we stand on, it is also a euphemism for a man's sex organs. When confronted with a word that can have several meanings, the context in which it is used determines its translation. If the context is ambiguous then the meaning of the word is up for grabs. When it comes to sex, cultural bias and the Bible, most scholars will opt for the professionally safe translation, no matter how strange it sounds. Many won't even call your attention to the fact it could be translated another, way. They leave you to figure it out on your own!
One of the easier places to see the double meaning for "feet" is in 1 Samuel 24:3. The text says that King Saul, while on military maneuvers, "turned aside and entered a cave to cover his feet." When you picture it, turning aside is a very descriptive euphemism for walking away to urinate. But one thing is for sure, it does sound very strange for him to hide while he put on his shoes!
There is another place where the double meaning is easy to see. It is connected to the "And a Virgin shall conceive" prophecy in Isaiah 7:20. The prophet says that Israel will be defeated by the Assyrians. As a consequence, "they will have a razor put to their heads, their beards, and the hair of their feet" (i.e. circumcision).
In the book of Ruth, we can again see the sexual overtone to for the word for "feet" which radically alters the traditional story. In two separate places the text says that Ruth "lay at the feet" of her wealthy kinsman, Boaz. Your understanding of human nature will determine the meaning of the text. If you have a positive view, Naomi is an all-wise matron who counsels her daughter-in-law on how a symbolic gesture of total submission will melt the heart of any man. (It should be noted that it took two gestures performed on successive nights to affect the marriage.) If you have a negative view of human nature, Naomi is a self-seeking old woman who badgers Ruth into using the oldest trick in the book to lasso a prize meal-ticket! Many Scholars tend toward the latter view but the little old church ladies won't let them translate it that way!
Next we come to a truly bizarre, little known passage in Exodus 4:25. In preparing to go back to Egypt, Moses' wife takes a sharp flint and circumcises her oldest son. She then "touches the foreskin to Moses' feet," thereby making him" a "bridegroom of blood to me." The exact reason for this strange carrying-on is not clear. It is generally assumed that Moses, being Jewish, was already circumcised but this is probably not so... Touching the foreskin to his big toe makes little sense, while a vicarious circumcision does.
from Sex, Cultural Bias and the Bible
www.whosoever.org/v8i3/sex.shtml
Kate Bush Leave it open
www.youtube.com/watch?v=87zEQp5v5_c
Kate Bush - Get Out Of My House vs The Shining
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJyp5HaPj68
No stranger's feet
Will enter me
(Get out of my house!)
I wash the panes
(Get out of my house!)
I clean the stains away
(Get out of my house!)
I took my mop and my bucket
And I cleaned and I cleaned...
My door was never locked
Until one day a trigger come cocking
(But now I've started learning how)
I keep it shut...
DOUG: I find the use of strong symbolism and metaphor and allusions in your lyrics to be extremely interesting. For example, in "Get Out Of My House", the woman who is singing the song has been left by her lover and feels hurt, and identifies herself with a house. This is a biblical allusion. When she says "I wash the panes", it is a triple entendre, because she's saying she's washing the windows of her body, which are the eyes. This means she's crying, and by doing so, she's washing the hurt and pain away. Then she says "No stranger's feet will enter me" saying that she won't let anyone into her house, which is saying she won't let anyone into her body, which is also reinforced by the biblical use of "feet" as a euphemism for "private parts". The layers of meaning here, are pretty incredible.
Love-Hounds: |>oug's famous Kate Interview, 1985
gaffa.org/dreaming/doug_int.html
Let's look at the biblical word translated "feet."
In Middle Eastern culture, not only is it what we stand on, it is also a euphemism for a man's sex organs. When confronted with a word that can have several meanings, the context in which it is used determines its translation. If the context is ambiguous then the meaning of the word is up for grabs. When it comes to sex, cultural bias and the Bible, most scholars will opt for the professionally safe translation, no matter how strange it sounds. Many won't even call your attention to the fact it could be translated another, way. They leave you to figure it out on your own!
One of the easier places to see the double meaning for "feet" is in 1 Samuel 24:3. The text says that King Saul, while on military maneuvers, "turned aside and entered a cave to cover his feet." When you picture it, turning aside is a very descriptive euphemism for walking away to urinate. But one thing is for sure, it does sound very strange for him to hide while he put on his shoes!
There is another place where the double meaning is easy to see. It is connected to the "And a Virgin shall conceive" prophecy in Isaiah 7:20. The prophet says that Israel will be defeated by the Assyrians. As a consequence, "they will have a razor put to their heads, their beards, and the hair of their feet" (i.e. circumcision).
In the book of Ruth, we can again see the sexual overtone to for the word for "feet" which radically alters the traditional story. In two separate places the text says that Ruth "lay at the feet" of her wealthy kinsman, Boaz. Your understanding of human nature will determine the meaning of the text. If you have a positive view, Naomi is an all-wise matron who counsels her daughter-in-law on how a symbolic gesture of total submission will melt the heart of any man. (It should be noted that it took two gestures performed on successive nights to affect the marriage.) If you have a negative view of human nature, Naomi is a self-seeking old woman who badgers Ruth into using the oldest trick in the book to lasso a prize meal-ticket! Many Scholars tend toward the latter view but the little old church ladies won't let them translate it that way!
Next we come to a truly bizarre, little known passage in Exodus 4:25. In preparing to go back to Egypt, Moses' wife takes a sharp flint and circumcises her oldest son. She then "touches the foreskin to Moses' feet," thereby making him" a "bridegroom of blood to me." The exact reason for this strange carrying-on is not clear. It is generally assumed that Moses, being Jewish, was already circumcised but this is probably not so... Touching the foreskin to his big toe makes little sense, while a vicarious circumcision does.
from Sex, Cultural Bias and the Bible
www.whosoever.org/v8i3/sex.shtml
Kate Bush Leave it open
www.youtube.com/watch?v=87zEQp5v5_c
Kate Bush - Get Out Of My House vs The Shining
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJyp5HaPj68