UnderTruth
37
Points
37
Points
I am me. Unless I'm being someone else. In which case I'm still me, but not the me that I normally am.
| Ed Sheeran – Lego House Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I'm going to frame my observations in light of not only the lyrics but also the music video. While the video depecits an obssessed stalker/fan, I'm going to choose to look at it as someone unhappy with who they are and longing to be someone better. In the vein of a stalker then you've got someone trying to take over someone else's life as their own in an unhealthy kind of way but the core concept is a quite normal one. If you don't like who you are, change. Judging from the video, the character played by Grint is either singing this song to Sheeran or he isn't. If he isn't, then he's singng it to himself - or some version of himself - possibly a version of himself he wants to be. I would propose that every time he used the word 'we' that it is meant to imply himself now and himself in the future, together, the pair of them. "I'll do it all for you in time" could easily be a promise to himself in the future. In time everything I do will cause you to exist in more than my desires, I will be the man I want to be and looking back I will be able to see all the things I've done have led me to where I am. "It's so hard to say it but I've been here before and I'll surrender up my heart and swap it for yours" is just another way of saying that so far his efforts have led him back to his old ways again and again, but he's willing to trade all the things that he currently cares about (his heart) for the things he wants to be able to say he cares about in the future. You could wrap up a lot into the phrase 'cares about': people, addictions, habits. Sometimes the person you want to be doesn't have ties to the things you yourself currently have ties to. "If you're broken I'll mend ya and keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now...I'll pick you up when you're getting down..." The use of 'we' and 'you' can get vague and tricky when talking about yourself in seperate time periods. And ths line introduces a third 'persona' of self. Kind of an outside controlling entity. In order to create person B from person A there must be a person C to orchestrate the change. 'If (you in the now) are broken I (the one in charge) will mend ya and keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now...I'll (the one in charge) pick you up when you're (in the now) getting down.' You could argue that the controlling persona is an abstraction in the now of the person he wants to be in the future. I know right now I've lost some of you, but how different is this than telling yourself to buck up after something personally devestating happens. You might be wrecked. And you know you need to not be wrecked, but you feel wrecked, so you tell yourself to buck up and straighten up and you do. Persona A turns into Persona B through the controlling influence of Persona C. "Out of touch, out of love, out of sight, out of mind" is how he will seem once he achieves his goals in the future. This is how I was - best not to think of it anymore, things are better now. "I'm gonna paint you by numbers and color you in", Painting by numbers is an act of creation. Creation by the book, according to the plan. He's going to create this future self by his plan(s) and "If things go right we can frame it, and put you on a wall". If it works out right it'll be worthy for display, a finished product, he can cease his efforts of creating this person he wants to be because he will have succeeded and become that person. And as far as the phrase '"Out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now", he's sayingthat even though he might not be there yet....and though he may have failed on numerous occassions to invoke the exact changes he desires in his own life, he's happier with the result now than with what he had before. Like a Lego House, anything that isn't satisfactoy will be broken and restructured the next time around. As a closing thought, the three words with two meanings....I believe the words are obviously 'I love you'. And in light of my interpretation here I would say the two meanings are the love he has for himself as a being (ie he's not suicidal or anything, he loves himself too much to do anything stupid, etc) and he also loves himself too much to let himself stay the way he is. A love that sees the potential for something better. A self version of the old concept "I love you for who you are, but I love you too much to let you keep doing what you're doing (to yourself)." |
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| Jim's Big Ego – The Ballad of Barry Allen Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Nice bit about the jelly being see-through/frozen. I was thinking about a slightly different aspect of the aspic (the phrase makes me smile) - remeber the old phrase 'it was like moving through jelly'? Imagine moving around in water....now imagine moving around in jelly/geletian/aspic. Slow. And he's "got time to think of the beauty of a thousand variations of the beating of a wing of a hummingbird suspended in the aspic of the world moving slower than molasses" there is motion involved...just real slow. Time enough to predict any number of outcomes - any thousand variations of the future. | |
| Jim's Big Ego – The Ballad of Barry Allen Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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There is subject matter - and then there is meaning. The subject matter is the Flash, as mentioned several times already. The meaning however derives more from a personal comparison to the Flash (or the Flash mythos as presented in the song). The problem with 'living eternity between seconds' is that you have the time to understand what you are seeing and act accordingly. You aren't given any power over what others do, but you have such insight into the 'now' that the future becmes largely predictable. Think about how many times you can hear the same jingle on the radio before you both loathe and have it memorized? Even if you intially enjoyed the thing? Being so familiar with a thing that you long for unfamiliarity - wistfully remebering a time when newness existed. Waiting with anticipation for the next big thing but knowing at the same time that it's going to be more of the same no matter how big it is. These are all concepts that, while not necessarily experienced by everyone, are experienced by many people. Now tie into it the aspect of doing the right thing and being overlooked. (Not necessarily a Flash only thing - think Superman/Clark Kent or any other alter-ego'd hero). But in the Flash's case it's not solely a matter of being overlooked by choice but rather being overlooked because of who he intrinsically is. Always there when needed, but off to the next thing before the accolades get handed out. Over-worked. And while not underappreciated, never managing to reap the rewards of appreciation. And finally the social aspect of the thing. If your drive (for whatever you pursue) prevents you from getting to know people around you because they can't keep up (with your drive) you tend to be in a very solitary place or surrounded by others with the same/similar drives. Which CAN be fulfilling in the necessary way, but can just as easily be like being alone in a crowd. Personally I can tie a lot of my empathy into this song due to my Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) as much of the time I live life bored. If you aren't fast enough to keep my attention then you're predictable. I've spent much of my life wishing I was anyone else (both before and after ny mid-college diagnosis) because the place I occupy in the world just isn't the same as the state others seem to habitate naturally. And time does seem to drag for me when I'm not interested in something. I can literally get lost in a complete train of thought and look up to find only a few moments have passed when my inner clock dictates a much larger amount of time should have. (And to be fair, the reverse is also true - I'm almost always late for something because I lost track of time. Sometimes I get so involved in things that I take for granted how long in real time they are actually taking me.) And part of the whole package deal is a large amount of social awkwardness. Even in a bar situation with close friends I have trouble slowing myself down to talk about the things they do....sitting still is a chore and tracking with conversations that don't interest me out of politeness is a sheer act of superhuman will. At any rate, the point I'm trying to make here (and the whole reason for this, my first posting) is that what a song is about isn't always what a song means. And sometimes a song means different things to different people. And on the far, far side of extreme....sometimes a song might end up meaning more than even the lyricist intended. Stranger things have happened. :) |
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