Spoon – Before Destruction

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  General Comment:every time i hear the line "They feast on the abundance of your house" i can't help but think of The Odyssey.
  perhaps the album could be a transference from this ancient text to that of a modern concept album?!?!? just a thought.

  Flag johnathonfiskon March 16, 2010   Link

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    I googled the sentence "They feast on the abundance of your house...". It seems to be from the bible. It continues "...and you give them drink from the river of your delights." It is a psalm to praise God.
    
    Therefore I guess the song might have a religious interpretation. It also fits with "I want to believe." Maybe it is sort of a conversation with God?
    
    It begins with "Before destruction a man's heart is haughty,", which is also an unfinished sentence from the bible and the continuation is "but humility goes before honor." Proposed meaning: if you are haughty/arrogant you can be destroyed more easily. But it is difficult to stay humble. Maybe that's why the second part of the sentence misses (?).
    
    "Everyone loves you for your black eye." If you fail, people admire you for your courage and for the fact that you could bear the bad stuff. So even if bad things happen to you there is a positive side: you will receive more love. Maybe the author also thinks about himself: he can make better music, if he is sad and thus "everyone loves him for his black eye".
    
    "They feast on the abundance of your house" also this part from the bible. In the psalm the sentence might mean: The world that God has created is very rich and abundant. Humans use these resources extensively (they "feast"). But in the context of the song it sounds as if some people profit from the guy whose heart was destroyed (and who has a black eye). Maybe it's us the people that hear the music that came out of sadness(??).
    
    "Your love", the love of God(?), of a woman, of the fans/audience of the band (maybe all at once)
    
    "Just as you're leaving you turn around and take a cold shot, just as your turning your back..." A person is about to leave, but just before leaving, the person takes a shot at the author (?). Interpretation: heartbreak-theme relates to the beginning. The girlfriend was just leaving but before leaving betrayed him/was unfair. This was the thing to make him unhappy.
    
    To summarize, I think there are probably different layers. Although there are allusions to the bible it seems that the general theme is a faded love story.
    
    

    Flag SiggyRon April 02, 2010  

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    That's interesting, Siggy! It probably doesn't much, but I Saw the Light is also the name of an old gospel song.

    Flag LoserNo1on April 05, 2010  

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