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Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying, trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together, you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over Sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, 'You'd better look alive.'
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
There's people always dying, trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together, you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over Sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, 'You'd better look alive.'
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
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Four winds- This is also applicable to the four colors of the medicine wheel and what that represents (research it)
Black Hills, and Badlands are both very close to the Pine Ridge reservation. And yes, the Oglala Lakota were moved from the Black Hill to Pine Ridge when they discovered Gold.
So "Old Dakota where the genocide sleeps. Black Hills, Badlands, Caloused east (?perhaps east coast?).... Burried my ballast (figuratively - Anything that steadies emotion or the mind), made my peace, heard four winds leveling the pines"....
There's an old church on the Pine Ridge reservation - at wounded knee, that's been destroyed and torn down. There's actually been at least 2 massacres at wounded knee. 1 in the 1800s that movies are made of, and the other in the early 1970s, where again many innocent native americans died at the hand of US Marshals. This church still has a foundation and a couple walls, the dirt floor is now a mass grave. Many famous artists (such as Johnny Cash and the Beatles) have come to wounded knee, to this very church, to "pay their respects" to the injustice done to Native Americans.
It's a very spiritual, sacred and symbolic place. I met and talked to an older lakota man there who's older and younger brother were shot by marshals in the '70s and are buried just outside the foundation of the church. I got some of this information directly from him. Anybody can go, walk on the the grounds, and see the monuments. It's free.
The first time I was at Wounded knee, I actually slept in the sanctuary of "First Church of Wounded Knee", and there's still bullet holes in the ceiling from the US Marshals in the '70s.
So, unless you've been to pine ridge (four winds, leveling the pines), buried your ballast and made your peace at wounded knee, it's difficult to know what he's talking about.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
Im not sure of the history on this song, whether or not Conor wrote it and his religious views. Especially since many do not interpret the book of revelation and its metaphors correctly or at all itd be hard to think that he would see it this way. But possibly this is what the song refers to.
Basically that the corrupt religions run by Satan, which in his view could be what the world views as Satan or evil, destroy every part of the world. The verses are fillers, basically adding to the central theme which is expressed in the chorus.
Id appreciate feedback. Maybe on Conor Oberst's background and knowledge or whoever actually wrote this.
What's worse: the heartache that a purely rational, secular approach to life cause (for both individual and society), or the inordinate amount of energy that gets wasted on myth and magic?
I see "bodies decomposing" this way: we waste energy defending the status quo, yet we can't spare any to stop human rights violations.
So, comforting idealism vs. depressing reality. The "book" religions are three wise monkeys, avoiding evil rather than doing something about it. Less orthodox "schools of meditation" offer adherents the ability to find their spiritual center, smack in the center of Yeats' widening gyre. It's a bit like finding your musical center while Rome burns. And the scholars get mired in Sanskrit, trying to glean future guidance from civilizations that weren't smart enough to prevent their own demise, much less ours.
Ever seen the Voyager picture that inspired Sagan's Pale Blue Dot? "Our hearts just can't contain all that outer space." The universe is unimaginably big, and we don't even show up on the radar. You can accept that as true, but it's still difficult to deal with. Just because you put Yahweh in his proper historical context doesn't mean you suddenly lost the desire for spiritual faith. "It breaks." It breaks easily.
Compare with "Classic Cars": "I keep looking for that blindfold faith." Not blind, blindfold. It's bull, but it's comforting bull. There are those nights when you can't live on bread alone, and in the United States of Babylon, on the morning of the 21st century, we still haven't found a way to cope.
Which isn't so different than what Yeats said.
...twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
"I guess I’m just conflicted. I mean, I want to find something like that. Badly. But in all the forms where it’s been offered to me, they seem fraudulent, you know? And so, yeah, I guess it’s one of those topics that keeps coming up. My family is Catholic. I went to a Catholic school, that kind of thing, so that was my childhood for sure. And not that I’m an expert on all these religions, but what I know about all the other major religions kind of all just fall a little flat in their—I guess, just in their kind of narrowmindedness. I feel like there’s something much more basic than what all these people are worried about. I find it really shocking that two groups that are, from an outsider’s perspective, almost identical—you know, Shiites and Sunnis, or Catholics and Protestants—can actually kill each other over these minor details. And dogma and all that stuff, to me it’s anti- whatever I would consider god-like. Which is, I think, a connectedness and an all-encompassing sort of love for things. I suppose that’s a lot of what Buddhism is, but I haven’t found anything that really hits the mark for me. But it’s fascinating—what people believe in.”
For me, this song is not anti-religion or pro religion, it is about religious doubt, which is something I can very much relate to. Connor often writes about the theme religion vs science and I therefore think this is about his own religious doubts and the role of religion in our world today, and not about the conflicts in middle east; he rarely writes about politics. I think this is about him seeking comfort in religion, but he only finds doubt. However, he needs peace, so he keeps coming back again and again to different philosophies of life but he's unable to find an answer.
"Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight" This is fairly self-explanatory, but they're very important for the song as a whole. As these are the opening lines of the song, they pretty much introduce to us what the entire song is about - All these different things people hold on to and believe in. Religion and culture defines people and they way they live their lives, and a lot of people are willing to die for these values. There are so many different philosophies of life and everybody is so convinced that they and nobody else is right. The bodies decomposing are the ones who have sacrificed their life for their religion and are now lying a container, such as a coffin, according to the christian ritual for example.
Connor then tries to reason with himself and the world. At the same time as he despises religions and the scriptures "The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute
If you burned them all together you'd be close to the truth still" he, or possibly just the rest of the world, can't live without their religious belief "A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks". I think he's talking about how a lot of people are religious because they need something to fill their hearts with and something to hold on to. They need meaning to be able to keep on living, and they find it in religion. This song is about the struggle to find that meaning.
"Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet" In these lines I think he is trying to describe how he gives up his religious beliefs as a result as his reasoning in the previous verses. So he goes back to materialism, which is almost like a religion for a lot of people in the west. If you can't find a spiritual meaning, then buy yourself a material one. He feels "Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps". We often talk about God as our "father", he is now without a father and he is on the run from religion and the chaos/conflicts created by it, going back to square one.
I could have made this analysis a lot more elaborate by analyzing the song line by line by I pretty much believe this is the essence of this song - the role of religion in our contemporary world and his own doubts.
Mmmmm....so simple and clever. Should've used it as my senior quote!
This dumbass has the guts to criticize three books he has probably never read or simply did not understand them.
I've studied all of them and, unlike him and all those so proud anti religious and atheists people here, I do respect anyone belief.
My main problem with this track lyrically wise (I do find it excellent instrumentally and that I was brought to it via The Killers cover which is as good instrumentally but different).
It's one thing to not "believe" into G.OD and labouring yourself an atheist.
It's another thing insulting HIM.
As a strong believer I've never insulted any atheist and their own beliefs, to each his/her own.
So why insulting other people beliefs ?
Religion IS the reason why there are wars and death in the world REALLY ?
If there are wars in the world its because Humanity is plain dumb right now , plain and simple.
Racism is everywhere and it has nothing to do with religion, all of you so called atheists here sound "racist" to me, racist to religion and believers, plain and simple.
Tolerance, love and both yourself and others and sharing your knowledge and what you own to help others and mainly poorer people (both spiritually, physically and materially) are what The Torah and The Old Testament (I don't believe into the New One) are.
That's what Religion taught me, to have respect for any creature in the world be it a stone, a tree, an animal or another human being.
That's what G.OD is all about, PEACE, LOVE and UNDERSTANDING.
The so called people who do kill others like Al Quaida, Hamas and Hezbollah via suicidal terrorists acts are just that terrorists who do find and use RELIGION as an EXCUSE and a way to express their anger and intolerance towards other ethnicities and people who do think differently than them, plain and simple.
Those ones are scum of the universe and an insult to humanity, plain and simple.
You cannot make a fuckin generalization about The LORD HIMSELF and BELIEVERS based on a minorty of retards whom are creating wars and chaos in his name.
Plain and simple.
You have the choice between acting "good" or "evil" in life and I ve never felt more at peace since I was born than since The LORD found me back a few years ago.
I'm a former atheist and agnostic just in case you're wondering, So I can relate to anyone here BUT I've never felt the need to insult believers when I was an atheist.
That's the big difference.
That's called tolerance, plain and simple.
Something many of you should study, learn and practice big time cause you badly need it.
Same "bright eyes" himself...
Get off your soapbox and get over yourself please. Life is too short to bitch and moan about someone saying what he feels.
He is not really insulting anyone, if you take that lyric in isolation then maybe you can come to that conclusion. Focusing on that alone just shows how simplistic your analyzation of the song is.