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Post by matanchik on Nov 18, 2005 20:05:55 GMT
i'm very sorry for your loss, almdudler
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Post by Adey on Nov 19, 2005 3:14:06 GMT
I echo Mat's sentiments Almdudler..
I guess there could never be the right time to lose your Mum, but 28 is surely too young. I don't have the experience, but deal with your loss first. You've all the time in the world to deal with A Coral Room. Unless of course it gives you some comfort.
Wishing you the strength to get through the next few months.. Oh and welcome to the Forum, for what it's worth..
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Post by Barbarella on Nov 21, 2005 0:03:46 GMT
I still have not been able to listen to this song without crying like a damn goober. Both musically and lyrically, it gets to me. I tried bringing the cd to work so a friend could listen to it and I thought I'd be okay when it got to Coral Room because I couldn't hear the words.(damn, loud printer) I still ended up teary eyed. Very moving.
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Post by Adey on Nov 21, 2005 12:50:34 GMT
Just wondering how 2 of our members are feeling about this song now they've had a chance to absorb it..
Is it a trial or can the beauty of the song be seperated from any unpleasant associations it may stir up?
Would welcome your comments or respect your silence - whatever is appropriate for you..
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Post by Xanadu on Nov 22, 2005 19:15:44 GMT
Just wondering how 2 of our members are feeling about this song now they've had a chance to absorb it.. Is it a trial or can the beauty of the song be seperated from any unpleasant associations it may stir up? Would welcome your comments or respect your silence - whatever is appropriate for you..Am I one of the two, Adey? I suppose I am. I think it's a beautiful song, and I don't have any difficulites with the subject. As a matter of fact, I don't see it as having her mother as the subject. It's a little more like Moments of Pleasure than I had expected. I think the real thesis of the song is the realm of the mind as a great ancient city in slumber... obscured by the ravages of time and experience. When one sets sail into the unknown emotional abyss... and puts that cautious hand over the side of the boat, what image touches you first? What random memory is the one that ties you a particular time of your life? The example here is her mother. The random memory is not one that she sculpted, but of her mother's little brown jug and her rhyme. And, though such physical items can no longer remain with us, it's that quaint jug that leapt to her mind and gives her back her mother, for a moment. I also think it is terribly significant that she chose an image of her and Bertie underwater for the accompanying photo. Not only for the metaphor of the water, but to associate a potential new memory with a loved one. And so the spider of time weaves its web... threading together the most unusual of experieces... honoring some and obscuring others... in the vast sea that is our mind. When you reach out, into the water, sailing on that sea... What do you feel...?
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Post by Adey on Nov 23, 2005 3:58:07 GMT
Some thoughts on this, but my impressions only. I claim no insider knowledge ~ The abandoned, half glimpsed underwater city in all it's detail, may be interpreted as Kate's metaphor for memory. A place where memories go and slowly disappear, either underneath the lost nets of fishermen, the webs of the "spider of time" or under the inevitable covering of coral growth that the sea promotes. Maybe she is concerned that even the most precious of memories will eventually disappear completely.. Still very much alive in her concious mind is of course the memory of her Mother. This specific recollection of her standing in the kitchen, and the other association of her favourite little brown jug she used to hold the milk.. And of the day that it was broken, and the little spider ( of time, perhaps) climbed from the ruined jug.. And the pieces will stay for a while in the memory of that room, that time, in that house already partially obscured by the net and the coral in Kate's own sea of memory. This is the recollection that Kate pulled out when she dipped her hand over the side of the boat and into that sea. She asks us I think, what memory would we pull out if we dipped our hand into our own sea of honey?
"Put your hand over the side of the boat, what do you feel?"
This most beautiful and haunting of perhaps all of her songs, is exquisite and profoundly moving. We should surely be honoured that she has chosen to share one of these most precious memories with us.. Thanks for your comments Xan - you were indeed one of the two people I was referring to.. I assume you read my earlier comments on this song ( as quoted above)? I'm more than surprised at how strikingly similar our two interpretations actually are..
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Post by Xanadu on Nov 23, 2005 18:58:02 GMT
I assume you read my earlier comments on this song ( as quoted above)? I'm more than surprised at how strikingly similar our two interpretations actually are.. You know I hadn't yet! I have had a difficult time catching up on all the posting. For a bit, I was avoiding the early interpretations affecting my thoughts until I had some impression of the songs. Now that I do read your thoughts, I am surprised at how we both have felt the same about it. Great minds... and all, right? I wish I had read them sooner, but I think it is wonderful that we can realize that we were sharing it all along. I actually think that memory is a very delicate and poignant aspect of our humanity. It is really all that lasts and connects us with other people in our life, since it is all so fleeting.
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Sheila
Moving
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese.
Posts: 701
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Post by Sheila on Nov 23, 2005 22:46:30 GMT
So I assume I am the other one, Adey? Well, it doesn't make me cry like a goober every time I hear it "Barbareeeeeeeeela!!!" but I like it a lot. I can't say much more about it than you and Xan have already said, except to say that I can relate to it on a mother's death level if I up it a generation to my Gram's death a couple of years ago. Many things in that house were like the little brown jug. And LITERAL spiderwebs!! (God I laughed so hard when my big tough man aracnophobic cousin squealed like a little girl when he walked face first into a spider web in the basement. It was funny and sad--probably the last time we will ever be in that basement, we knew it, and the humor was perfect to lighten the somber mood) Anyway I'm rambling. To summate: the song doesn't make me uncomfortable the way MSFC does, in fact I can actually relate to it, and like you all said, there is so much else going on in it.
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Post by Al Truest on Nov 23, 2005 23:01:17 GMT
Just wondering how 2 of our members are feeling about this song now they've had a chance to absorb it.. Is it a trial or can the beauty of the song be separated from any unpleasant associations it may stir up? Would welcome your comments or respect your silence - whatever is appropriate for you..Am I one of the two, Adey? I suppose I am. I wasn't sure if I was the other, since I'd already posted my thoughts. But I am nonetheless the only other response, so here goes....(I will reference Zan's comments too, as they were similar observations to your own) I too very much felt a similar vibe to "Moments of Pleasure" in presentation. The reminiscing about specifics that share conceptual snapshots of past relationship.
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Post by meepshizzle on Dec 1, 2005 1:23:28 GMT
"Coral Room" haunts me still - after repeated listening. Kate has always been metaphorical. I so agree with the interpretations made of this exquisite song. Perhaps I was thinking too much into it...kinda got hung up on "the planes came crashing down" (immediate reference to 9-11, at least for anyone living in America), "sails at the windows", "there's a city covered in net", etc. It IS about memories, as the city in net. I got the whole jug thing, but the city and the room covered in net and coral...I could only reference back to earlier Kate - "Under Ice" and "Houdini" - under water (and then the mother/son image) ...like buried under ground, under us...and then the SKY of honey..optimism..above water, above ground. I love the duality of this new cd. Side 2 is exquisite, brilliant, a masterpiece! BTW Nice to find Kate fans from around the world!
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Post by Al Truest on Dec 1, 2005 2:05:53 GMT
Nice first post. Thanks for jumping right in Sheepsicle . There is more to be mined from this jewel. I like your insights nonetheless. Welcome.
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Post by Sto on Mar 19, 2006 21:53:11 GMT
I'm quite interested in people's interpretations of "Put your hand over the side of the boat, what do you feel?". Beautiful interpretations here by Zan and Adey.
It's funny because I never thought of actually touching the water - I always see it (or feel it?) as putting your hand on the boat's side - so "over" for me is "on top of". I tend to agree with your two interpretations now, but it's an interesting dichotomy: the solid, hard reality of the boat's side, and the "milky silky" flexibility (for want of a better word) of the sea of honey. The line is delivered so beautifully and is a perfect end to part one of the album. It leaves you stranded out at sea in your own imagnination...
Any other thoughts on this line? And do people feel it's too far-fetched to think of the lines about the planes coming tumbling down as September 11th references?
Also, as a side note, this is my mum's least favourite track on 'Aerial', she calls it the "disappointment" of the album (hope she doesn't mind me quoting her!). She really adores 'Aerial', maybe even more so than me. It just interests me that she doesn't connect with the track at all, she thinks it's bland. I disagree with her but respect that opinion. I know one critic found the little brown jug line rather funny. Do you think the song is over-sentimantal?
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Sheila
Moving
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese.
Posts: 701
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Post by Sheila on Mar 20, 2006 9:31:28 GMT
I'm sorry Sto but I have a tendency to agree with your mum. (but I do think your mum is being a bit harsh about the song) I like the song but it was the sentimental song I was dreadingly expecting on "The Red Shoes". I just can't relate to it. I usually jump to disc 2 after Joanni ends....
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Post by Adey on Mar 20, 2006 21:50:18 GMT
And do people feel it's too far-fetched to think of the lines about the planes coming tumbling down as September 11th references? I don't think it's far-fetched but I don't go with the idea, as the next line "And many a pilot drowned.." hardly seems to fit in that context. Guess only Kate knows for sure! I think it's the jewel in the crown of disc 1, only just trumped by the whole "Aerial" experience on Sky.. Certainly sentimental but I don't think overly so. A blast of searing honesty and emotions expressed so openly are just a few of the things that Kate does so well. Much enjoyed your comments Sto..
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Post by paul1574 on Nov 3, 2006 22:21:31 GMT
this may be totally off the wall but.... much as i love this song, for the emotion it stirs (i cry like a goober too...lol) i cant help but think sometimes its like a mash of two songs it seems to start describing a small fishing village or such that at some point suffered disaster (?) possibly in my mind a ref to WW2 ~ the battle of britain and the arial battles fought over the channel (?) and the rescue efforts of said residents when a plane was shot down (speedboats and drowning pilots) then all of a sudden she goes into this thing about her mother ~ which i think could stand on its own as a song in its own right now maybe this is a memory of her mother or from her mother who possibly lived in the village and told this story about the war ?? as the song as a whole is all about memories and imho (and im biased) i think the hand over the side of the boat is a reference to residual memory now i might lose a lot of you here or be burnt at the stake as a witch but i believe in residual memory on objects and places and that you can feel a place often by touch OR it could be a metaphor for stepping out of the box as it were and moving on from the memory i have so many questions about this song it isnt funny...if i ever were to get the chance to sit down with Kate this is prob what id ask about or if by chance she reads this or hears about it id love to hear what she means by it all.... and while i know so many writers/poets etc etc prefer you to take away your own thoughts etc it would be nice to hear exactly what is meant by it as i know from experience stuff ive written and its been one way when i wrote it and another when people have read it im rambling now sorry....
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