Personal song-lyric interpretations? - Page 2 - Forever Delayed

Slideling · #16 30-06-2009, 07:54

'Use a thought to put myself to sleep' - That's a nice line, but I usually need a thought to wake myself UP.

oxygen · #17 30-06-2009, 08:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by srhgrg

He always says stuff like that, 'never been severely underweight' etc. I'd say being under 6 stone is more than 'vaguely' anorexic, although maybe anorexic's the wrong word?

Is 6 stones... 38 kilos or so? And wasn't he around 5'7''? If that's not underweight, I don't know what else is.

Slideling · #18 03-07-2009, 08:14

'Midget' is used to refer to the tallest boy also in Rumble Fish. Didn't know where to put it. If anyone remembers, someone said the 'Midgets' line in PCP referred to Nicky and his hatred of smoking.

#19 06-07-2009, 23:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by &ria

i will go to my grave, swearing on a stack of nmes that "all is vanity" is about being in patient in mental health treatment.

Not sure if this is the right thread to put this inBut i belive that the title 'All is Vanity' is a refernce to a short story by Nikolai Gogol, cant remember its name now but I do remember it being in one ( it wasnt so long ago I read it).
Wonder how the two are connected?

topical · #20 09-07-2009, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by this dead end

Not sure if this is the right thread to put this inBut i belive that the title 'All is Vanity' is a refernce to a short story by Nikolai Gogol, cant remember its name now but I do remember it being in one ( it wasnt so long ago I read it).
Wonder how the two are connected?

I imagine it's more connected to its origins in the Book of Ecclesiastes than the Gogol story, and that Gogol himself took it from there.

vtn · #21 15-09-2009, 03:05

Bumping an old thread; hopefully this is OK on this board and sorry if it's bad behavior!

I personally think All Is Vanity is just about living with a depressive disorder. What really made the entire thing click with me was seeing someone's comment on songmeanings.net where the lyrics in the chorus were put in quotes, like this:

Quote:

It's not "What's wrong?"
It's "What's right?"

It doesn't do much good to ask someone in the midst of a depressive episode "What's wrong?", because everything is wrong. The sardonic response therefore is "It's not 'what's wrong?', it's 'what's right?'"

Moving on... "Haven't shaved for days", a symptom of depression is ceasing to keep up with everyday tasks and basic hygeine. I think the part beginning with "I would prefer one choice..." is about a desire to simplify life and remove the parts that are difficult especially during a depressive episode: making one's own choices, being self sufficient. Being so dismayed by the contradictions in life that one simplified 'truth', even if manufactured, would make you content. Did anyone in primitive cultures suffer from mental disorders or are they a product of the modern world?

"Makes me feel like I'm talking a foreign language sometimes," feeling misunderstood, unable to articulate your view of the world, why you feel such despair about the human condition, and exactly what is wrong. Probably after describing the things that upset you to someone else, the response was a sarcastic "sorry, that's just the facts of life, sunshine".

Maybe a bit of an inside reference with "gives the appearance of delay" --> "forever delayed"? Maybe not.

I think the title also hearkens back to another lyric, though only obliquely. The one we all know and love of course... "self disgust is self obsession".

*sigh* This whole post probably sounds like I'm talking a foreign language, I'm tired and therefore not 100% articulate

oxygen · #22 15-09-2009, 06:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtn

It's not "What's wrong?"
It's "What's right?"

That's how I heard it too, before reading the booklet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtn

*sigh* This whole post probably sounds like I'm talking a foreign language, I'm tired and therefore not 100% articulate

Actually, it makes a lot of sense. I agree 100%.

egaeci · #23 15-09-2009, 10:40

Oh, I love this thread. Keep posting!

Slideling · #24 27-10-2009, 16:29

Can anyone explain 'The weak kick like straw'? I don't understand the metaphor!

revolfaster · #25 27-10-2009, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by oxygen

Is 6 stones... 38 kilos or so? And wasn't he around 5'7''? If that's not underweight, I don't know what else is.

I have the audio interview where he says that he was only 6 stone. I looked up the conversion for pounds, and it would be 84. That's underweight, especially for someone 5'7.

Lone Architect · #26 27-10-2009, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richian

Can anyone explain 'The weak kick like straw'? I don't understand the metaphor!

I just assumed that was because straw is a very soft material (it's the first and weakest house that the Big Bad Wolf destroys).

If you wanted to layer more depth on it than is probably present then you could view the straw in question as a 'straw man' - completely fabricated argument dreamed up by someone who is losing the debate (or who doesn't understand it) in order to try and win a point but which is ultimately doomed to fail. A weak way of arguing one might say.

Slideling · #27 27-10-2009, 16:40

The 'Straw Man' is a very interesting way to think about it.

Lone Architect · #28 27-10-2009, 16:44

Works well with the following "Words are never enough, just cheap tarnished glitter" line.

I do love finding meaning when it's not there in songs.

Slideling · #29 27-10-2009, 16:46

Buuuuurn to the writers.

vtn · #30 03-11-2009, 14:35

R, I was just reading your Livejournal profile and now (relevant to the thread) I wonder if Richey meant "shards, Chartres" (rather than 'chards') and just has bad spelling? There are other spelling/grammar errors in the JFPL book so it's not horribly far off.