Modest Mouse – The Stars Are Projectors

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  General Comment:"Was there a need for creation? That was hidin' in a math equation"
  Could life start by itself or did God play a role? You need math and science to figure out how likely it is that life started without God (very, very likely).

  Flagged obitmamboon January 03, 2013   Link

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  Translation:this song, this band, their music, modes mouse they have become a part of my life, that at one point was much larger during a time i did a lot of chronic and dirt weed, the mix was amazing and the trips to this song have definitely brightened my view on life and helped me understand that issac was free from anything and everything except his own li
  fe which he could not under stand. he hated it so much, but the emotions that came with it brought with it a feeling of peace maybe, eurphoria. I'm not sure but from feeling so bad = feeling so good to him. their is beauty in destruction, beauty in pain, bad is good. good is bad. there is no difference everything is one only varying in degree. love is love and hating his live he miss understood howo he was feeling and didnt like that. it was luv ultimately.

  Flagged Myianmonikon March 21, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:The stars are projectors because they were the beginning of life because our planets were all created by the stars exploding, therefore allowing our lives to exist. Also, if we examine stars and learn a lot about them, it proves to us that there is no God because of the true majesty of how it all works. “Everyone wants a double feature,” meaning they want to live another life after this one. “They want to be their own damn teacher,” they want to make up things like religion so that they can explain to themselves how the Universe works instead of learning from the projectors, the true teachers, our stars.

  Flag Akconneron December 10, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:the words "right wing left wing chicken wing" are from a journal entry of kurt cobain. check out the biography "heavier than heaven", it talks about it in there. actually in the same sentence is kurt's classic "god is gay" line. i'm not sure what modest mouse was trying to do with the line, but its gotta be at least partly a reference to that.

  Flag blandman11on April 28, 2011   Link

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  My Interpretation:I sort of think this song is about the movie "Wristcutters: A love story". It about a seperate afterlife for people who commit suicide and at first a few lines reminded me of the movie, but then as a learnt move lyrics it seemed to fit quite well.
  
  In the last second of life they're going to show you how
  How they run this show, sure, run it into the ground
  
  In the movie the afterlife is run by "the people in charge". So in the last seccond of your life they direct you to the next life. The run it into the ground part could relate to how their is a bit of chaos like they arent doing a very good job of keeping it running smoothly.
  
  The stars are projectors, yeah
  Projecting our life down to this planet earth
  
  These lines link the stars to life. It the film the afterlife has no stars, so life isnt projected down to earth which make sense because the people are technically dead.
  
  Everyone wants a double feature
  They want to be their own damn teacher
  
  Everyone wants two lives and to learn from their own mistakes. In this film the people sort of get two lives but its not a good thing as the afterlife is worse then the real world. It kinda seems like you cant have everything - you can have two lives, but its gunna suck.
  
  
  It's all about the moderate climates
  You got to be cold and be hot for sure
  
  The afterlife is really hot and desert like. You got to be cold and hot could mean cold as in dead or feeling numb emotionally but hot as in the fact that the afterlife is hot.
  
  You've got the harder part
  I've got the easy part
  
  In the film they talk about how the afterlife is "just like earth but a lot more depressing". So these lines could relate to how they are similar but ones the hard one and ones the easy one.
  

  Flag never-had-it-at-allon February 20, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:"God is a woman and the woman is an animal
  That animal's man and that's you..."
  
  
  you are your own god?
  
  

  Flag SotallyToberon December 07, 2010   Link

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    That could be one interpretation, but from the feel of this album and modest mouse in general I take it more to mean that god is a part of you. That everything is one. He doesn't seem to believe in god as it's own entity, as evidenced in "third planet" where he criticizes the idea that people will meet god when they die that has been wattching them, like god is it's own seperate thing from existence. He seems to be saying our existence, in and of itself, is godly. This is reinforced in another song, "neverending math equation", where he says "and the plants and the animals eat eachother, and the plants and the animals they are one". Meaning we all exist in the same framework of reality, we are all connected by that, part of the same whole- were all just a piece of the same existence. No one or nothing that exists, doesnt exist.I don't think he would agree that each person is "their own god" but rather everything in it's entirity is god in some respects. Not just the physical and tangible things in existence, but rather the whole phenomena of existence is god. All the things we can percieve, and all the things we can't. Even the things beyond the understanding of our finite minds is somehow connected and relevant to us. That's just my take on that line using some other lyrics of his to go in depth.

    Flag CLUM5Yon December 17, 2010  

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    Reading what I had just posted, I wanted to add one more thing. What I was saying sort of relates to the idea of stars being connected to our lives. Had one star in our universe been located a million miles away from where it is, that could have completely changed the impact of how existence as we know it is right now. We are connected to everything. There are things that we can't see or know about or likely even undertand that are responsible for our existence, responsible for this song ever being made, and responsible for us discussing it. Things would be different here had things been different elsewhere. That interconnectedness is perhaps "god". Existence is self sustaining in a way. Everything has some impact on existence, however miniscule or significant.

    Flag CLUM5Yon December 17, 2010  
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  General Comment:So this song was definitely inspired by hallucinogens; maybe not recorded while under the influence; but no doubt inspired by them. Hallucinogens, and manic depression. Bi polars have a cosmic understanding of the universe. But the beauty is, he sums up so many parts of life with such little lyric. The song also has the structure of an acid trip; builds up really fast; levels out; builds up again; levels... you would know if you've ever taken lsd. And then seems to plateau in chaos; then falls to tranquility with the acoustic picking, like the positive, calm reflection time after coming down.

  Flag nativesolon July 02, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:The lines:
  
  "That was hiding in a math equation and that's this:
  WHERE DO CIRCLES BEGIN?"
  
  connect so many ideas into one perfect image. 3rd Planet - "The Universe is shaped exactly like the Earth, if you go straight along enough you'll end up where you where" CIRCLES. Never Ending Math Equation (Off of the album Building Nothing Out Of Something) - "The Universe works on a math equation than never even ever really has any end." CIRCLES.
  
  The idea that creation and life is one giant circle, is such a powerful and clever one.
  
  That's the best I've got, really

  Flag lui79guion April 18, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:"Mankind is made of star stuff, ruled by universal laws. The thread of cosmic evolution runs through his history, as through all phases of the universe"
  -Harlow Shapley

  Flag arrstaron January 18, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:So, just throwing it out there...what if that stars that they referred to were celeberties opposed to actual stars in the sky. modest mouse says how people want to be like the stars and they unfortunatley enstill the values in our society. Also, I think that it shows that its harder for people who are kind because there is so much anger in society. People who contribute to it, have an easier time because they are a part of the problem.

  Flag NicholasDemoon January 03, 2010   Link

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    "down to this planet, earth"
    I don't think so buddy. Nice try though.

    Flag 9timeson September 08, 2010  

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