Modest Mouse – Education

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  General Comment:I will call this education song, good meanings. anyfreepapers.com">anyfreepapers.com

  Flag Madiksonon May 23, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:"All these dense distractions
  So beautifully complex (???)"
  
  I think this line could mean technology, we're distracted from living by computers, TVs etc. and it is difficult to understand how they work, so they are complex.

  Flag Suhmeron January 26, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Pertaining Nostradamus, I wouldn't quite say he's mocking him. I think it could be a reference to the fight between our primitive selves and our civilized selves. Or even if he is talking about the actual world wide disagreements, war is still in a sense a struggle between civilized and primitive nature.

  Flag dearvon January 24, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:i think its about how much humans dont learn from past wars and such and how easily we could learn if we just payed more attention to books and such:
  
  Call it education
  It was somewhere in between (education= one teaching, another learning. its not quite education becuase no one is learning anything)
  
  You gave me some sound advice
  But I wasn't listening (even when someone tries to warn us, we dont listen)
  
  After we had capsized
  I could tell you how you'd fall (i think he saying "tell you how you thaught", but he can tell afterwards because someone was telling him about some sort of human caused disaster (such as a large war))
  
  Well, I'm not sure if I'm laid to rest 
  On the ceiling or the wall (even though they caused the mess, they arent done making things worse)
  
  Not quite conversation
  It was somewhere in between (its not conversation because hes not really listening, even though he says he is)
  
  You said everything is taught
  And I listened patiently ( hes saying "you said everything you thaught"
  
  All this dog and pony
  Still monkies the whole time (here, he says "all these dark components", which means thet we are fighting for reasons that are dark and evil)
  
  We could not help from flinging shit
  In our modern suits and ties (even though we're doing it a different way, we've still been fighting for the same reasons and over the same stuff for thousands of years)
  
  Our instincts, they were cringing
  About how we lived our lives (says "our instincts that we're cringing", we are relying too much on instinct and we need to think before we fight)
  
  It didn't seem we'd lived enough
  To even get to die (cool line, i dont need to go any further)
  
  All these dense distractions
  So beautifully complex (???)
  
  Well, I loved life's surprises so much
  I don't want to know what's ahead (hes just too stubborn to think of the consequences of war and global warming and things)
  
  Stubborn shouting said
  "I don't do what you do" (we think we're more civil than we were back during past wars, but we arent)
  
  I don't know
  Could it really hear highly if you hardly care?
  And you don't ("could it really hit hardly" if you cared and didnt start these wars, things wouldnt be so hard in the world)
  
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  I've been away ( instead of ive been away, im pretty sure he says "aw very well")
  
  Hardly education
  It was somewhere in between (you know)
  
  Oh, I hit the roof but I had
  Aimed for the ceiling (like when a country starts a war and it gets way out of hand and things go too far, he went way too far while hitting the ceiling and is now out of the house)
  
  Hardly education
  All them books I didn't read
  They just sat there on my shelf
  Looking much smarter than me (it is as it sounds)
  
  Good old Nostradamus
  He knew the whole damn time
  There'd always be an East from West
  And someone in them fighting (i think its mocking nostradumbass, i mean nostradamus saying that everyone thinks he is a genius for thinking that wars are going to happen again, anyone could tell you that)
  
  Stubborn shouting said
  "I don't do what you do"
  I don't know
  Could it really hear highly if you hardly care?
  And you don't
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  I've been away
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  I don't know anyway
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  I don't know
  Could it really hear highly if you hardly care?
  And you don't
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  Uh, I fell away
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  Oh, very well, then
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  Oh, very well, then
  Stubborn beauty, stubborn beauty
  Oh, very well, then
  
  anyways, this is probably one of my favorite somgs ever, it reminds me of fallout 3, becuase it kind of follows that same theme, we let our wars get out of hand and we dont stop even after its over with. basically: we are too stubborn to learn from out mistakes

  Flag thegooodnesson January 04, 2011   Link

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  Song Meaning:"It has a strong nautical theme and was originally envisioned as a concept album about a boat crew that dies in every song." ~ found on Wikipedia, cited from the "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" article on avclub.com
  
  Of course, the word "originally" is specifically used, and so can mean that the theme and/or songs morphed and gained different inner meanings. The article then goes on to say, "...though it didn't turn out that way..." (regarding the original concept.) Sure, it's a concept album, but obviously it morphed into something quite different from the original plan, as most things with a plan do with time.
  
  In the end, it has strong political meaning and involves the flaws of the human race, among other themes - such as death, closely related to the original theme. The idea of global warming seems VERY LOOSELY related to the idea of human flaws, but I would not say that it is something that particularly came to Brock's mind. I may be wrong, I don't know. He provides highly metaphorical lyrics, and those can be open to interpretation, as it's conveyance is indirect.
  
  Regarding spittingvenom's comment, "Plus, there is no real proof that humans are causing global warming anyway. Do your homework," our planet is about due for an ice age soon. The EXTREMELY HIGH concentrations of carbon dioxide among other chemicals put into the atmosphere - usually simply called greenhouse gases - /are/, in fact, heating the polar ice caps, in particular, which is what 'global warming' is truly concerned with (not exactly the heating of the central band and nearby of the planet.) By heating the polar ice caps - among other dire consequences - the melting ice cools down the ocean, which is our most sensitive environment on the whole planet. When the ocean cools, the rest of the world will cool, and this will plummet us into an ice age. Basically, nature is taking a similar course as it would, anyway - only the consequences related to the process of getting there aren't as... desirable.

  Flag Kafkaon October 01, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I'm going to say that I think there COULD be a bit of global warming talk going on here, POSSIBLY. I definitely see it as a sad shake of the head in regards to what's going on in our world today. For any of you assholes saying that "Isaac doesn't care about blah blah blah", who are you to say what he does and doesn't care about? You're all what I am, a FAN, and just because you like something that he makes, doesn't make you an aficionado of all things Isaac Brock. Get a fucking grip.
  
  ANYHOW! I think this is a statement on what's happening on our planet, with ALL things- the wars, useless energy waste, etc. etc. Stubborn beauty, indeed.

  Flag sheionizeson June 17, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:global warming...lol ive listened to this album probably 100 times and there is no doubt in my mind that global warming has nothing to do with it. to me the album is about dealing with aging and disappointment but the beauty of it is that it is clear that brock has actually dealt with this stuff and isnt just complaining, this has really helped me personally deal with issues. its profoundly optimistic when you absolutely would think it wouldnt be and i think that's why i consider this one of MM's better albums.
  
  education is about the feeling you get after studying and reading that you really havent learned anything, asking why you did it in the first place, and realizing that everyone else is so much smarter than you, and comparing yourself to great writers and thinkers who put you to shame for not accomplishing what they did.
  
  the beautiful distractions seems to me to represent things like thought and philosophy- at least thats how i relate to it- and how what seems really meaningless and empty can for someone be full of beauty and, you know, distracting. nostradamus- well even a fraud can do it. what does that make you?
  
  the stubborn beauty, the best i can make of it, is someone who really is capable and intelligent but refuses to acknowledge it, preferring instead to feel bad for themselves and not doing anything, seeing most action as meaningless or empty (somewhere between nihilism and depression). the beauty is their potential to live out a good life, and the stubbornness is their refusal to do so.
  
  education is at bottom supposed to be a journey of self discovery, when done properly. when i listen to it this song makes me think of how easy it is for us to get overwhelmed by such things and instead pretend like we are different and choose to do nothing out of fear of failing, and deciding to stubbornly do nothing as our beauty wastes away.
  
  the greatness of this album is how good it can make you feel about life. modest mouse is truly a gift.

  Flag modestmouseketeeron September 29, 2008   Link

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    I completely agree with just about everything you said, only my take on "stubborn beauty" more or less corresponds with what modecode said: "... i think stubborn beauty meaning that even though we know we will all end up the same we still dress up and work "
    Like, all the actual knowledge (aka. thought and philosophy) is beautiful, as is all we can potentially be, and although in the end it means nothing, we still strive for our best, stubbornly. We are being stubbornly beautiful.

    Flag betsapp91on June 30, 2010  
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  General Comment:seventynine, about stubborn beauty
  
  these lines give me chills every time I hear them. I think it's a marginally more optimistic version of the title "exit does not exist" in that "exit does not exist" seems to mean there's no way out, especially in a religious sense. In judeo-christian beliefs there's an afterlife and in eastern religion (hinduism/buddhism) there's the endless cyle of death and rebirth of samsara leading to reincarnation. Either way the message is that as there has always been awareness, so there will always be. The message of "exit does not exist is that it's an unfortunate situation, that he wants out to no avail. With "stubborn beauty" the message seems to be that everything-as difficult and unpleasant as it may be-is inherently beautiful, but there's still no escaping it, which is the stubbornness of it. He's not necessarily happy about it, but has at least come to terms with it.

  Flag TheJesteron September 27, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:line 24 might be a joke, the easy and predictable rhyme for "So beautifully complex" would be
  "I don't want to know what's next", but line is explaining how he likes to be suprized. I dont know, I thought it might be intentional

  Flag eric depicon July 06, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:NIHILISM - Nothing matters because we all are going to die in the end and become NOTHING!

  Flag new1slang1on June 05, 2008   Link

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    That's not what nihilism is you halfwit. Nihilism involves the idea that there is no inherent right or wrong so morality is relative.

    Flag AnalyticalGeniuson January 20, 2010  

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