Ugly Casanova – Barnacles

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  General Comment:"I knew you like I knew myself"
  
  Let that sink in, in context. That's pretty powerful. The camaraderie of a relationship, of confusion, two people finding themselves and the world together. It's an ages old theme; here it plays perfectly.
  
  He has this relationship, but in the end he just wants to be lost alone, sinking with the ship. It's accepting defeat, but in a beautiful way, understanding that depression is part of life and part of art.

  Flag ttastyon April 16, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:this song is my favorite by Ugly Casanova. So damn good.

  Flag nihil1537on June 15, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:my favorite isaac brock song for sure. most incredible lyrics ive ever seen

  Flag BitterBuffalo3on August 17, 2011   Link

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• +4
  General Comment:this song is about codependency and a good relationship gone bad where issues are just hidden or ignored. because neither party wants to see how bad things really are because they're stuck in the memory of how amazing things used to be together.
  
  "i don't really need to see
  so i don't need to see so i'll paint
  i don't know, i'll paint it black"
  -the way he mumbles and slurs this really shows the confusion, denial, and futility of the situation, and turning the problems over and over in his head but not being able to find a real solution besides just covering it up by "painting it black"
  
  -he tries to talk to her about the things that are wrong.
  'i was talking like two hands knocking
  yelling 'let me in, let me in, please come out."
  
  -and it was obviously about as useful as.
  "black glass" and "dirt-based soap"
  
  "tell yourself what you know."
  -that it is beyond repair and there's more to the truth than whats being told.
  
  "hard hit, hard to miss, problems are what a problem is."
  -eventually everything that is really going on comes out and it hurts him
  
  "my light came up quick, call it your asterisk"
  -he caught on and and shes scrambling to correct her lies and fill him in on the other half of the truth. hence the asterisk* *displaced information
  
  "buried like boys in a boys first book of the stars.
  -hes in awe of everything that she was hiding from him pouring over thoughts and memories connecting it all trying to make sense of it but failing.
  
  "saw it as satellite
  constant unblinking as
  buried in the bottom of a bottom of a brackish lake"
  -what was going on with her was too big to hide.little rays of truth made it to the surface through all of the filth.
  
  "i don't really need to see
  so i don't need to see so i'll paint
  i don't know, i'll paint it black"
  -he knowingly crawls back into his hole of cold comfort and denial.
  
  
  
  

  Flag jesusisaterroriston November 05, 2010   Link

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    0

    i only read the first page of posts and was so furious so i had to make an account. I'm glad to see the more recent posts have a better idea of what Issac was getting at. all the people that tried to discount Issac Brock's work down to drug induced nonsense are fucking idiots. he is one of the best song writers of all time. he is a genius. if you really think hes that insane and just rambles or he just gets fucked up and throws some tracks down in a studio and its automagicaly a masterpiece. (like damn near everything he does is) sit in your moms basement and beat your dick till you write something as amazing as barnacles or teeth like gods shoe shine or bankrupt on selling.

    Flag jesusisaterroriston November 05, 2010  
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  Song Meaning:i think the song is about two people who aren't sure what they want in life yet, so they get together, and think that they are in love with eachother, but are just in love with having someone... but they really don't fit together at all, but they still try to cling on, like barnacles do on a boat. eventually he starts yelling at her to let him in or please come out, meaning he feels like she isn't herself around him and he can tell that they are falling apart, which stresses him out and he starts being a dick to her. eventually he realizes he has no choice but to end it, and he becomes depressed and shuts the whole world out... he won't even look outside, because he doesn't want to and so he paints his window black... the song pretty much summarizes to isolation, which is a big theme with isaac brock... he started out talking about outer space because there is nobody out there, and he hates being around people... but then he started thinking more realistically, as he called it, and began obsessing over the ocean and fishing and stuff like that... and deserts...

  Flag jswjswon May 05, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I think that the lines "I don't really need to see" through "i don't see how you see out of your window" are referring to windows as eyes in the sense that "eyes are the windows to the soul." In my opinion the this part is talking about not understanding the world outside of yourself, not understand how other people understand it, and shutting it out, or "painting your windows black." The next lines ("I don't know me... know you can't let go") are about two people, whether lovers or friends, who found each other and feel the same way, not really knowing who they are and how they fit into the world, but still holding onto old beliefs out of security. Barnacles, as someone mentioned, "are permanently fixed as adults," so I thinks this means that they have kind of just become unable to change their ways, whether of thinking or habits, who knows. "I was talking... please come out" mean to me that this person really wants to be able to understand the world or wants someone to show them how it works. The next lines "black glass... what a problem is" all seem to be referring to redundant (idk if thats quite the right word) things. Whats the point of black glass, dirt based soap, and telling yourself things you already know? So, in a way, I think these lines are this persons way of trying to tell them self that they're wrong, they can change, and that shutting the world out is the exact opposite of what he want. "My light came up quick... a brackish lake" are very confusing to me, but I came up with the idea that he had an epiphany (the light), that he could let the world in if he tried, (maybe the whole asterik thing is a supposed to be like a footnote mark in a book, that to other people his realization is just footnote) and that this realization was buried deep inside himself. The rest then is him actually saying that even though he knows about the possibility of change, he is still going to hold onto the old way of being, shutting the world out.
  
  
  I honestly just came up with this and idk if i explained what i wanted to say correctly. Especially the whole asterik part of the song. Lol. But I'd really appreciate some feedback because I'm going to be writing a literary analysis on this song for a high school paper and could definitely do with some help. Please be constructive, which parts are complete poo and how o fix it maybe?
  Thanks a million to anyone who helps.
  
  
  
  

  Flag Twellaheartson February 24, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:A failed relationship which one person gets over and the other doesnt. The ship sinks (relationship) they both are in the lake drowning (ending the relationship) and one of there lights come up quick (they get over it/break it off) and the other is still drowning in the lake so to them the other person is rising up so high they look like a satellite/star to the other which is still stuck on the boat like a barnacle.

  Flag namenottakenon December 07, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:yeah i think idontremember had a pretty good analysis. but for some reason i can't quite grasp the "i don't know me" verse. the speaker is saying they fit good together because he knows her like he knows himself, which is not at all. but he doesnt say that she doesnt know him, as opposed to her not knowing herself. that would seem to me, to complete the metaphor (or simile) but i'm afraid i'm taking the piss out of it so i'll stop there.

  Flag thirsty_thursdayon November 10, 2009   Link

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  Song Meaning:it's an extremely good song with a really good meaning.
  i love how he puts everything and i love the repition
  it's so nice

  Flag coreyonthesunon April 21, 2009   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:so he has a friend,who isn't really open with what he's thinking,' don't see how you see out of your window i don't need to see, i'll paint mine black' and shuts himself out of conversation. he's trying to provoke this friend to join in on the bullshit, or meaningful discussion, whatever. thats the part about 'i was talking like two hands knocking
  yelling 'let me in, let me in, please come out.' that comes up again at the end with the drums making a desperate knocking noise.
  to me the part of we clung on like barnacles...and i hear it as 'even though the shit stinks' is about holding on to the potential that they all had but aren't letting go.

  Flag jellaronion March 17, 2009   Link

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