Lyrics for The Seer's Tower as interpreted by thisismyname

The Seer's Tower Lyrics
In the tower above the earth
There is a view that reaches far
Where we see the universe
I see the fire, I see the end

Seven miles above the earth
There is Emmanuel of mothers
With his sword, with his robe
He comes dividing man from brothers

In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel
In the powers of the earth, we wait until it rails and rails
In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel
Oh, my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us

Still I go to the deepest grave
Where I go to sleep alone

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sarcasticSmith
09-12-2005

Rated 0 
First comment for a gorgeous song.
This is such a haunting song. I don't know what it means, but the imagery of the tower is beautiful. The references to Emmanuel, fire, and the end seem religious, but I don't know enough to say how.

"Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loves and bathed us."---this is so powerful, does anyone know if it is an allusion to anything?

Sufjan is incredible, through and through. If you are looking at this without ever having heard his music, just do yourself a favor and get everything he's done...

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Empirer85
10-03-2005

Rated 0 
i agree....very haunting.

clever title as well.

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someyoungguy
10-13-2005

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Emmanuel means "God is with us." My guess would be this song is about Heaven, or perhaps in general, death and people's perceptions of the afterlife.

"Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us." Earth is often called Mother Earth in the female sense, time is often male, Father Time. Father could also refer to God in general. Amazing song though, and this comes from an Agnostic ;)

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MeAndOnlyMe
12-04-2005

Rated 0 
"I see the fire, I see the end."

Possibly the Chicago Fire?

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MeAndOnlyMe
12-04-2005

Rated -1 
"I see the fire, I see the end."

Possibly the Chicago Fire?

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MeAndOnlyMe
12-04-2005

Rated 0 
"I see the fire, I see the end."

Possibly the Chicago Fire?

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ilikestuffandyou
12-26-2005

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the closest sufjan gets to religion on the album. Also, probably the only song not written about illinois per se, just a play on words about the sears tower. The song is about dying, and thats pretty apparent from the lyrics

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musicforlife!
12-26-2005

Rated 0 
Wouldn't "the tower above the Earth" be the Sears Tower in Chicago?

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steeny
01-04-2006

Rated 0 
Tower of Babel, anyone?

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blakehawbaker
01-06-2006

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thats what i was thinking at first, and i guess i still more or less think that about the end repetition.

just throwing these out there...
maybe mother is mother nature, father is God? apply it to the song and it says nature and its silly laws have left mankind and God has embraced his beloved children.
it also seems apocalyptic to me also

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sonicpudding
01-09-2006

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the song seems apocalyptic to me as well. "where we see the universe, i see the fire, i see the end." armageddon, anyone?

seven is a perfect number, used in the bible often. emmanuel was jesus, but it's interesting that sufjan wrote that jesus divides. perhaps, like in casimir pulaski day, he's pointing out the faults of religion. that really, it's just divided all of us. that could be completely off, though. could also be that jesus divides those who are truly faithful to him from those who aren't. i could be completely off in trying to see a frustration with god in sufjan's music.

he talks of building something for emmanuel and having it be torn down by "the powers of the earth". like blakehawbaker said, i see the mother as the earth and the father as god, and god protects us from these earthly powers.

lastly, i find it interesting that a major chord is struck (literally) when "still i go to the deepest grave" is sung. showing man's weakness next to god, but the happiness can be that after death one goes to heaven to be with god.

(very religious, and i'm not really at all, but sufjan is and i like that a religious spin can be put on his music.)

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Rahnae22
01-10-2006

Rated 0 
Not Sear's...Seer's

seer n 1: a person with unusual powers of foresight

I vote for the Tower of Babel

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imoveritfosho
01-12-2006

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The end...

"still i go to the deepest grave
where i go to sleep alone..."





beautiful.

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Oubliette
01-13-2006

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sonicpudding - your interpretation best matches my own. I think this song touches on Armageddon and the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's said that Jesus will divide the faithful from the nonbelievers upon his return. I also see a connection between the Earth/mother representing Satan and the father representing God.

This song is so poignant and beautiful.

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imoveritfosho
01-15-2006

Rated 0 
jesus. its official...

this song is my number one most beautiful of all time... not favorite... but most beautiful for sure.

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cutie_carnivore
01-25-2006

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I would say this song is definitely apocalyptical.
Emmanuel was sent to help the Isrealites repent for their sins and return to God.
"He comes dividing man from brothers" probably meaning at judgement day, when God divides the righteous from the evil, and evil dies forever. Brothers would maybe mean brothers to Jesus, i.e. friends/supporters. "I see the fire, I see the end" i'm guessing would refer to something in the book of revelation.
I couldn't begin to guess about the relevance of "Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us." But it is a really powerful line.
I love the last two lines, they just sound sort of sad and wistful.

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floydeye
01-27-2006

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it seems to me "he comes dividing men from brothers" is death and how everyone is alone in death, divided from his brothers.

but this is such a lovely song. i cant stop listenning to sufjan. i heart him way too much.

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sensitivetofate
02-06-2006

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Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us.

i think this an almost-sarcastic reference to adam (or possibly god) and eve. i think that whoever said this song portrays a frustration with god was right. then again, saying this is just about one particular aspect of god/jesus is underestimating this dude's ability.

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tjacorn
02-12-2006

Rated 0 
I think you're all wrong.

The meaning is hidden in this:
Tower of Babel and Sears Tower. Both divided men from brothers but the symbol of the second is that of the god of Progress.
As for the rest, I'm not sure.

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hi_infidelity
03-13-2006

Rated 0 
I too think this is a play on Sears Tower, kind of relating to the Tower of Babel, but not really. The Sears Tower was the world's tallest building at one stage and sign of man's great ingenuity and accomplishment, it was a remarkable building, like the Tower of Babel was.
So putting that in context the Seer's Tower is built above the earth, it is where the Seer is, and the Seer being God and that place being Heaven. This song is quite apocalyptic and is more about the death of our lives on earth and/or the end of our earth.

In the tower above the earth,
There is a view that reaches far
Where we see the universe,
I see the fire, I see the end.

I think this is saying that God can see so much more than what we can, including the puzzling infinity of our universe and the fire represents the end days (the 2nd coming), for which God only knows the time.

Seven miles above the earth,
There is Emmanuel of mothers.
With his sword, with his robe,
He comes dividing man from brothers.

This reminds me a lot of the apocolyptic writing of Revelation. The use of the number 7, the sword, the robe. Emmanuel is a word for Jesus that means "God with us". This verse is about Jesus' time on earth, or his 2nd coming (which is what a lot of Revelation is about) but also relates to Matthew 10:34-36: "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother...
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household."


In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.

I think this relates to the building of the Kingdom of God. It's hard to explain, it basically represents Heaven and also those that follow Jesus. It does not represent anything earthly, any physical structure or church but only hearts.

In the powers of the earth, we wait until it rips and rips.

I believe this is about how the earth is decaying and will not last.

In the tower above the earth, we built it for Emmanuel.
Oh my mother, she betrayed us, but my father loved and bathed us.

Again, mother relates to earth (mother earth) and father is seen as God. Saying that the earth is a great provider but it is decaying and not worth holding on to and the Father is the one that is eternal and has shown he has loved us.

I don't know about the last two lines, they seem the most personal of the whole song.

It's quite a Christian intepretation of the song but Sufjan is Christian and I can relate to the words and the terminologies he is using. Sorry it wasn't very concise.

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gurulost
04-14-2006

Rated 0 
Joseph Smith. The Seer. We've heard quite a bit about him this last year(his 200th birthday.) He's the Prophet who founded what's now the LDS, 'Mormon' Church. He, and all the Saints, moved to Illinois, chased by their countrymen, hunted, murdered, and worse. They raised a Temple in Kirtland and then Nauvoo, both in Illinois, but Joseph never got to see the final Temple in Nauvoo, before he was gunned down, in Carthage Illinois. He was a visionary, and more. A man FAR beyond his time. The believers consider him a Prophet, no less so than Moses or Abraham, and today many more regard him as thus. He saw the end, wrote about where this life started, and where it would end, the truth of man's relationship with God, and wondered why He and 'the Saints' were persecuted and driven, betrayed, BY THEIR OWN COUNTRY, out of the states and into the far territories. The Religion he shared, both then and now, has oft been the cause of separation of brother from brother. Betrayed by their country, at the time, but as they felt, honored and held by God, Heavenly Father, as those of they faith refer to God. Joseph the Seer. In 2004 the State of Illinois issued an official apology to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's very much a part of their History, and a powerful part of the history of the LDS Church. I see it fitting, and clear, among other things, that he included such a long-reaching, though relatively unseen, both inspirational and tragic, moment of the United States History.

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hi_infidelity
04-23-2006

Rated 0 
err... I'm not sure. It's talking about a tower above the earth and it's being built for Emmanuel (God with us), that is Jesus. Tell me that you LDS people agree that Jesus is Emmanuel... I don't think so. Sufjan's lyrics are too much about Jesus being Sovereign to be talking about Joseph Smith as The Seer, in my opinion. Still confused about the last two lines, though.

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Southbound
04-24-2006

Rated 0 
In my opinion, Sufjan is definitely intelligent and brave enough to incorporate more than one meaning. After all, the whole album is all about Illinois, or is it? Everything has more than one meaning as it is. I do agree with the apocolyptical view though. Ever since I first heard this song I have gotten that feeling very strongly.

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SnwBorder52
06-12-2006

Rated 0 
i agreee with guru lost. The title, along with the rest of hte song makes more sense now.

maybe the whole song is from Mr. Smith's perspective? Since he is the "seer" and a prophet, he is prophesizinga bout the end times, but even though he prophesises, he still dies and is alone in his grave untill the 2nd coming

just a thought.

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OverMyHead
07-07-2006

Rated 0 
I found this song whilst reading a book from the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Anyone whose read the books would say that this is Ka. So creepy...anyways, i love this song and find it devastatingly gorgeous.

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