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Into this strange elastic world
Pontus kindly gave up a pearl
Of his eternal stone and mud
And ain't she lovely bone and blood
Born of the sea
A thousand miles away from me
A court of angels
Wards of the sun
A future forming
A curse undone
Under our softly burning lamps she takes her time
Telling stories of our possible lives
And love is the ink in the well when her body writes
I've been selfish and full of pride
And she knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
A song in the tree has distracted her mind
Some other curious form of life
Has made its presence to her known
And she coos so gently, soft and low
He shining face in a million reflections
On tiny raindrops that fall in a veil
Over our city like notes from above
It overwhelms me I just ain't that tough
It's not that the darkness can't touch our lives
I know it will in time
But she's no ordinary valentine
And now when the sun goes down she sheds a darling light
I've been selfish and full of pride
And she knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
Pontus kindly gave up a pearl
Of his eternal stone and mud
And ain't she lovely bone and blood
Born of the sea
A thousand miles away from me
A court of angels
Wards of the sun
A future forming
A curse undone
Under our softly burning lamps she takes her time
Telling stories of our possible lives
And love is the ink in the well when her body writes
I've been selfish and full of pride
And she knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
A song in the tree has distracted her mind
Some other curious form of life
Has made its presence to her known
And she coos so gently, soft and low
He shining face in a million reflections
On tiny raindrops that fall in a veil
Over our city like notes from above
It overwhelms me I just ain't that tough
It's not that the darkness can't touch our lives
I know it will in time
But she's no ordinary valentine
And now when the sun goes down she sheds a darling light
I've been selfish and full of pride
And she knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
Lyrics submitted by acorvey
Track duration: 03:33
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magnetmagazine.com/2012/03/26/magnet-web-exclusive-the-shins-james-mercer-on-the-new-port-of-morrow/
In the chorus, the narrator expresses regret over his failings, but notes that the woman still loves him in spite of his flaws.
The next verse describes a scene where the woman hears birds singing in the trees, and the narrator feels overwhelmed by emotion. He explains in the following verse that although he knows there will be problems in the future, that the woman is especially important to him. The repeated chorus offers hope that love will be able to overcome everything else.
I'm not going to go into what the song is about as a whole, but wanted to provide my thoughts on the background.
I think there's a really significant mythological element here. The first stanza mentions Pontus, which is the name of an ancient Greek sea-god. The reference to giving up a pearl seems to make this a clear reference to the birth of Aphrodite, born from the ocean in a clam shell.
Adonis was born of Myrrha, who was transformed into a tree (won't go into the details here, but Google "aphrodite and adonis" and you can see the background of the myth). Aphrodite came upon the baby ("A song in the tree has distracted her mind / Some other curious form of life / Had made its presence to her known".). When Adonis grew up Adonis fell in love with her.
For the bits about him being selfish and full of pride, this could relate to how Adonis died (Aphrodite warned him to not hunt an animal who shows no fear, but he does anyway with a wild boar in the form of Ares, and dies).
I've frankly been struggling with this meaning, since there's enough in here that it seems like a clear reference to Adonis and Aphrodite, but other parts are not as clear.
All I've read from Mercer about this song is that he said it was written as a love song for his wife, so it would raise the questions about the metaphors in the Aphrodite/Adonis relationship (which is pretty complicated) and why you would use it for a love song.
I may be way off, but some of the lyrics just feel too connected to the Aphrodite/Adonis myth to be purely coincidental.
In the start he's talking about how she's basically a goddess to him, born of the sea by Pontus who was the greek (god) embodiment of the sea itself. Sort of talking in myths himself about how she was fated to find him, or that their relationship was something bigger than mere chance.
Then the first pre-chorus he is talking about them planning their lives together. This might be more sexual than it appears on first glance, which I'll come back to...
Obviously the chorus is just about how James feels loved by this woman despite all his shortcomings as a man, and how her love for him is what accounts for most of the good in him.
Getting back to the first pre-chorus, I think this verse is about a child between the two. Or at the very least they find out she's pregnant. Talking about her coo'ing and another life form making it's presence known. That's why I think the earlier verse is not just about them hashing out plans for their life but plans being made FOR them by the act of making love and creating this child. I really like the line about it overwhelming him, I think that makes sense there if they're talking about having a child.
Then the last pre-chorus is just about him being sure this is what he wants, and he knows it won't always be perfect but yada yada yada they'll get through it.
If I had to take it one step further, I'd say that September might be the month the child is due.
I have literally ZERO to go on with this but I just decided I wanted to put this all together and I think it adds up rather nicely. Thoughts?
Especially the line: "It's not that the darkness can't touch our lives, I know it will in time, but she's no ordinary valentine." They are still at the point where everything has been perfect, they haven't had any conflict between them. He knows that those little things are inevitable, but for now, she is perfect as is their relationship.