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Post by Lori on Aug 1, 2003 23:56:04 GMT
Just as we hit the green I've never been so happy to be alive Only seven miles behind You could smell the child The smell of the front line's survival
With my silver Buddha And my silver bullet (I pull the pin)
You learn to ride the Earth When you're living on your belly and the enemy are city-births Who need radar? We use scent They stink of the west, stink of sweat Stink of cologne and baccy, and all their Yankee hash
With my silver Buddha And my silver bullet (I'm pulling on the pin,) Ooh, I pull out, pull out the pin (pulling on the pin, oh...)
Just one thing in it Me or him Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! I love life! I love life!
I've seen the coat for me I'll track him 'til he drops Then I'll pop him one he won't see He's big and pink, and not like me He sees no light He sees no reason for the fighting
With my silver Buddha And my silver bullet (I'm pulling on the pin,) Ooh, I pull out, pull out the pin (pulling on the pin, oh...)
I had not seen his face 'til I'm only feet away Unbeknown to my prey I look in American eyes I see little life See little wife He's striking violence up in me
With my silver Buddha And my silver bullet
Just one thing in it Me or him Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! I love life! I love life!
Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! Just one thing in it Me or him And I love life! I love life! I love life!
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 14, 2003 15:45:12 GMT
I would like to engage anyone interested in discussing this song. The perspective, the inspiration and the performance. Your turn....
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Post by lucagrella on Sept 16, 2003 16:47:06 GMT
Well, Al, I'll take your challenge as as good an excuse as any to start my mega-essay on what is still for me the greatest album ever recorded - The Dreaming. It seems to me there is a unifying theme to this record, and I've struggled over the years to isolate just what it is in a nutshell. It's been difficult to come to a definitive conclusion because the album works on such a subconscious level, and I often feel I am missing things when I listen it -- or rather that things are affecting me emotionally that I can't quite grasp intellectually (not that there's anything wrong with that...). The closest I'd been able to come for quite a while to saying about the work as a whole is that it seems to be about the fine line between intimacy and violation and what a struggle it can be to allow oneself to risk the former for fear of the latter. That theme is directly apparent in the songs that close what used to be Side One and Side Two (Leave It Open and Get Out of My House); less obvious but pretty clear in All the Love and Houdini; a bit more obscurely tackled in There Goes a Tenner; and more metaphorically approached in The Dreaming and Pull Out the Pin. But I struggled with the remaining songs -- Sat in Your Lap, Gaffa, and Night of the Swallow. The first two seem to be about a quest for knowledge and, dare I say it, deeper understanding, and do not seem to fit my "theory" and Swallow has always been a complete mystery to me, and probably for that reason my least favorite song on the album. Still, each time I listened to the album, I was left with the haunting feeling that this was a unified work of art, with a theme or message, whether consciously intended by Kate or subconsciously "just there." And as I was thinking about Pull Out the Pin this morning (after reading Al's challenge laid down herein), I was struck by another angle. As I said, Dreaming and Pull Out the Pin are metaphorical representations of the theme of intimacy vs. violation, each one a tale of the rape of a country, the first told apparently from the violator's point of view (or at least someone from outside the culture) and Pin obviously in the first person, presumably a Southeast Asian (Vietnamese?) man fighting the western invaders. And somehow the words "borders" and "boundaries" popped into my head. What I realize that I get from "The Dreaming" (the album) every time I listen to it is a sense of both the excitement and fear of stepping over borders and breaking through boundaries. It's a sexual/emotional journey in Tenner, Get Out of My House, All the Love, Houdini and Leave It Open, while it's an intellectual or spiritual journey in Lap and Gaffa. In Dreaming and Pin the stakes are on a different level -- it's a life and death journey, one on which the very survival of a race is in the balance. The boundaries being violated are not in anyone's mind -- they are real. And with this new insight, eureka, Night of the Swallow becomes clearer to me -- it is, suddenly and obviously all of a piece with the rest of the album, a song that touches on all the aforementioned aspects of this theme of boundaries and borders, intimacy and violation. Its Celtic-flavored arrangement and title that hints at some sort of migration or liberation give it a cultural context; its imagery of flight and escape gives it a spiritual feel, and its early lyrics hint at some sort of sexual or at least relationship conflict and later of some sort of intellectual awakening (and finally, there it is, the actual word I'd arrived at, seemingly on my own -- borderlines). Suddenly, the song seems to be, as poetically abstract as it is on the surface, the thematic centerpiece of the album. So while this rambling was inspired by thinking about Pull Out the Pin, it's really more of an evaluation of Night of the Swallow, and of course the album as a whole. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in your (Al's or anyone's) comments. I realize I haven't been specific on how some of the songs fit my "analysis" (for lack of a more appropriate word) since it seems obvious to me, so don't hesitate to question/argue/kvetch. I up for it... I'll shut up now... Luca
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 17, 2003 1:04:21 GMT
Very interesting! I think Kate enjoys that each of us can get so many things out of her work on so many levels. I like the recurrent theme that you touch on about emotional reactions that circumvent rationale (intellectual levels) I see this as her most emotional work. She calls it her "Mad Album". As many of you know it is my favorite. Furthermore, "Pull Out the Pin" has always been my favorite track. What is more urgent than the struggle of life, and your way of life vs. death and change (or being wrong theologically)? This album is fraught with violation, fear, longing, frustration and impatience. If I were to have to pick a unifying theme to this project it would be the "Capital (or Deadly) Sins" Pride-greed-envy-wrath-lust-gluttony-sloth. These elements are writhing throughout all of these compositions. I don't know if that was intentional; but, they are there nonetheless. Theologically, from The Oracle at Delphi we get "Know Thyself" and "my own heart shows me the way of the ungodly" Well to start "Sat in Your Lap" sets the tone of awareness of one's shortcomings and the sloth, greed and envy that ignorance produces. Let me highlight the rest as not to get too lengthy here: "There Goes a Tenner" - greed, lust, envy "Pull out the Pin" wrath, pride greed, (blood lust) "Suspended in Gaffa" gluttony-envy-greed-sloth "Leave it Open" wrath-pride "The Dreaming" greed-envy-wrath-gluttony-pride "Night of the Swallow" lust-pride-envy "All the Love" envy "Houdini" pride-lust-envy "Get Out of My House" wrath-greed-lust You may say this is a thin arguement, but answer this for me. The deadly sins are juxtaposed to these virtues: Humility, generousity, love, kindness, self-control, temperance and zeal. Do you see any of these elements prevailing here? My theory is looking pretty good, huh? Please disagree or comment.
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 19, 2003 13:49:49 GMT
Can I get an 'amen'? Hell even a 'you're nuts' ;D
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Post by lucagrella on Sept 19, 2003 18:30:08 GMT
Certainly an interesting theory, and I'd like to listen to the album through with your list in hand to see if I think you're onto something. I do need you to explain All the Love. This is a song about fear of intimacy and the need to isolate, it seems to me. I'm not sure which deadly sin that would fall under, but I don't get envy at all. Luca
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 19, 2003 23:25:34 GMT
I do need you to explain All the Love. This is a song about fear of intimacy and the need to isolate, it seems to me. I'm not sure which deadly sin that would fall under, but I don't get envy at all. Luca That ('All the Love") may be the only chink in my armour regarding my theory; however, I can make my case nonetheless. The link between envy and regret is there, albeit a weak one. To be envious of what we don't have is regretful. But to bolster the 'Capital Sins' analogy we bring in pettiness and sloth to temper this regret. e.g. "I needed you to love me too, I wait for your move" There is an expectation there. I also see the fear of intimacy in that line, as well as - "The next time I dedicate my life's work to the friends I make, I give them what they want to hear" This disingenuous sentiment could also be construed as a slovenly effort at building the intimacy she is envious of. I see veiled wrath and self loathing, an underlying envy if you will. Your point is well taken as well, when "up rears the head of fear in me" appears in the lyric. But when the lament of "All the love we SHOULD have given' is emphasized repeatedly; I see regret and weakness as the predominant theme here. Guilt, blame and sloth, it seems to me, are in play as well in the character's regret. How'd I do Luca? Any other comments? You know, everyone, there is room for disagreement here. Please add you thoughts.
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 20, 2003 0:06:34 GMT
I would love for you to recreate your perceptions on "All the Love" and yes I do remember them. Even though I forgot to incorporate pride into the equation, I did skirt around it though. You are so good at this. If you'll work on the new threads I promise to participate. Let's back them up with file saving this time though. But what about my theory? 'Zan
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Post by Al Truest on Sept 23, 2003 1:20:45 GMT
This theory is gaining credibility with me. I need an unbiased opinion. Sto', you're good at that. What do you think? Anybody else see the link?
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Post by Xanadu on Nov 21, 2003 19:53:12 GMT
The Dreaming is refered to a the "Angry" album, even by Kate herself as one point (find reference later! ) But it is far more than that and I agree with the theory that both Luca and Al present here.
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Post by strabley on Nov 29, 2003 11:07:37 GMT
I am a scarred recovering Catholic, and comparing my fave album to the seven deadly sins makes me sad. Are they sins or human instincts waiting to be expressed by a world that does not readily accept them? Maybe I should just shut up (I leeeeave it shut)
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Sven Golly
Moving
"In the night you hide from the madman you're longing to be"
Posts: 800
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Post by Sven Golly on Jan 25, 2004 3:00:30 GMT
I am a scarred recovering Catholic, and comparing my fave album to the seven deadly sins makes me sad. Are they sins or human instincts waiting to be expressed by a world that does not readily accept them? Maybe I should just shut up (I leeeeave it shut) It's time to open this thread back up. Is there a theme at all to "The Dreaming" or which of the 3 theories advanced here do you subscribe to?
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Post by Sto on Jan 25, 2004 13:06:09 GMT
This theory is gaining credibility with me. I need an unbiased opinion. Sto', you're good at that. What do you think? Anybody else see the link? Wow, I missed this one, sorry! I think it's a very interesting theory. I can see where you're coming from with all your correlations of the deadly sins with the songs. I was just wondering though, if you could fit the theory with many of Kate's songs, and not just this album? The "Never for Ever" songs, for example? Are you thinking that Kate may have started work on this album with the theme of exploring the deadly sins in mind, or that it's a by-product of the songs which she came up with? I just wonder if Kate sets off writing an album thinking "My theme for this album is...", especially if there's a particular theme playing on her mind (obviously "The Ninth Wave" was a themed concept album - but is "The Dreaming"?)
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Post by Al Truest on Jan 25, 2004 14:39:53 GMT
You're right, you could apply the theory to more than just "The Dreaming", but not as uniformly to any other album. Actually, I only advanced the notion, 'cos I disagreed with the original premise by Luca. My debunking of his by offering an alternative, raised the question. If I wanted a certain flow and flavor for an album, as an artist I might be tempted to go with a theme. Especially if this were my "mad" album. Kate, being creative and somewhat cryptic, may really enjoy having layers of themes to keep us guessing. But as you said. "The Ninth Wave" was a themed effort for sure. And those two have more similarities (at least to me) than her other works. Can anyone else come up with a different theme to the album? Or I'll take a few affirmations on my theory.
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Post by Lori on Jan 25, 2004 23:09:52 GMT
I love this song!!! Haven't a clue what it's about though. Never looked into the lyrics. They're are a very small percentage of Kate's lyrics that I've looked into enough to understand, but I'm slowly working through them
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