| Peter Gabriel – Washing Of The Water Lyrics | 2 months ago |
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Background - Us followed Gabriel's Passion of the Christ soundtrack. Of all the songs on the album, there are two that stand out to me as paired through Biblical imagery and their heartwrenching, visceral emotion: Blood of Eden and Washing of the Water. It's well documented that Gabriel was thinking about his own divorce and new relationship while writing the album. Washing of the Water is tragic, lonely, and pleading, with a dirgelike pace, in comparison to the peacefulness, two-person harmony and steady beat of its partner song. Washing of the Water is a literal prayer to the great river-sea spirit, the creator, to cleanse the narrator. "Washing of the water" is a phrase lifted directly from the KJV Bible, a common phrase about baptism, which is always conducted with water through light washing of the forehead or total immersion. Baptism is, in Christian practice, a symbolic rebirth, transformation, and forgiveness of sins. This "baptism" by the great river is to help the narrator start over and be transformed - to be freed from pain, selfish expectations, and to free the object of his love from the same - or it could be to let go of the other person entirely, so that he can stop holding onto empty hope and begin again. Either way, he's asking a higher power for rebirth and cleansing, because the narrator does not feel he has the power himself to grant his own forgiveness. Sometimes we hurt each other and don't believe we're worthy of redemption, but we want to stay in the relationship. It's a terrible conundrum - the only way forward is through. |
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| Peter Murphy – Cuts You Up Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Theory: A man is having an illicit affair. It forces them both to carry on charades, but especially the subject of the song, who is affectionate but then puts distance between them both. They both have to change colors, spin yarns, make up convincing lies. You have to look for what seems out of place so that the other husband won't catch on. Meanwhile, the woman you love refuses to leave the man who she is stuck with. I don't think drug abuse fits the themes here at all. Listen to the rest of the album and you'll hear a few binding threads, relationships being one of them. | |
| Soundgarden – Burden in My Hand Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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To get the full gist of this song, compare the song - lyrics and instruments - to the lyrics of Jimi Hendrix' "Hey Joe." Yes, this could be about addiction, probably is, but I have always heard this song as derivative of Hendrix - same atmosphere of despair, but tinged with some odd imagery - thus "The moon is glued to a picture of heaven and all the little pigs have god." Essentially, the voice (not necessarily CC but the persona who's speaking these words) is saying, "I've seen hard miles, bro, and if you dare to follow and hear my story, you'll wish you hadn't." It's an enjoyable song because you can skate across the darkness of the thin ice without falling into it. Very thrilling. |
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