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Out in the garden
There's half of a heaven
And we're only bluffing
We're not ones for busting through walls
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all
He's gonna wangle
A way to get out of it
She's an excuse
And a witness who'll talk when he's called
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all
We can't have it all
"I caught a glimpse of a god, all shining and bright..."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
I try to get nearer
But as it gets clearer
There's something appears in the way
It's a plank in me eye
With a camel
Who's trying to get through it
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now?
I pull out the plank and say
"Thank you for yanking me back to the fact that there's always something to distract..."
But sometimes it's hard
To know if I'm doing it right
Can I have it all?
Can I have it all now?
We can't have it all
"We all have a dream...maybe..."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
I won't open boxes
That I am told not to
I'm not a Pandora
I'm much more like
That girl in the mirror between you and me
She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all
Not anywhere at all
No, not a thing
She can't have it all
"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes"
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
There's half of a heaven
And we're only bluffing
We're not ones for busting through walls
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all
He's gonna wangle
A way to get out of it
She's an excuse
And a witness who'll talk when he's called
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all
We can't have it all
"I caught a glimpse of a god, all shining and bright..."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
I try to get nearer
But as it gets clearer
There's something appears in the way
It's a plank in me eye
With a camel
Who's trying to get through it
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now?
I pull out the plank and say
"Thank you for yanking me back to the fact that there's always something to distract..."
But sometimes it's hard
To know if I'm doing it right
Can I have it all?
Can I have it all now?
We can't have it all
"We all have a dream...maybe..."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
I won't open boxes
That I am told not to
I'm not a Pandora
I'm much more like
That girl in the mirror between you and me
She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all
Not anywhere at all
No, not a thing
She can't have it all
"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes"
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don't know why I'm crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 03:55
"Suspended in Gaffa" as written by Kate / Bush
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Someone once mentioned to me that the two sides of "The Dreaming" album reflect each other thematically: the search for wisdom (Sat in Your Lap) is answered by entering the spirit world (The Dreaming); The botched bank robbery (There Goes a Tenner) matches with the crime about to take place in "Night of the Swallow," and etc through the final tracks, "Leave it Open" vs. "Get Out of My House."
If this theory is true (and it seems plausible), there may be some clues about Gaffa's meaning in the song "Houdini," about the magician contacting his wife from the afterlife. I don't know, I still can't get a handle on it, and maybe that is the point of the song?
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud.
It all goes slo-mo.
I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
As a result that self-doubt begins to creep in:
That girl in the mirror.
Between you and me
She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all.
It's not all doom and gloom though, as we are gently reminded that it will happen but "not until i'm ready for you". I have taken to singing this line to my very ambitious artist boyfriend who at times feels like he is wading through mud in the pursuit of his dream.
It's a plank in me eye
With a camel who's trying to get through it,
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now.
I pull out the plank"
These are also biblical references, in addition to the aforementioned "Garden"...Eden
And she being the excuse (Adam blames the woman for his sin, saying she forced him to eat of the fruit of the tree)
"The plank" is refering to judging others in hypocrisy: But why lookest thou on the mote that is in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam that is in thine eye? Mat 7:3
and the camel refers to
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Mat 19:24
This song is a masterpiece.
Maybe that's the power of a good song: that you can project your own fears and sorrows into it...
My lines were:
I'm not a Pandora
I'm much morc like
That girl in the mirror,
Between you and me
She don't stand a chance of
Getting anywhere at all,
"We're not ones for busting through walls
But they've told us unless we can prove
That we're doing it
We can't have it all.
He's gonna wangle a way to get out of it
She's an excuse"
This first section, or stanza, represents her wondering why women are literally being blamed for destroying that "heaven in the middle of the garden"
She is trying to find her own path to God, not through Christianity or any kind of organized religion.
'Out in the garden There's half of a heaven'
- the garden - Eden? = earthly paradise; the original Eden was very likely in heaven, which agrees with the view on the subject held by the Arabs (wiki). The serpent tempts Eve, saying that she will not die, but would become like a god, knowing good and evil. Moreover, some traditions maintain that Cain was the serpent's first born son begotten over Eve.*
- 'Out in the garden' - a) the protagonist is out in the garden, in Eden, half of a Heaven; or b) feels dislocated both 'out' and 'in' the Garden. (In Breathing, the phase 'Out in...' signifies danger.);
'And we're only bluffing'
- We = exterior-self & interior-self (i.e. the divided self)?
- The exterior alter-ego is a 'bluff,' a defensive mask?
'We're not ones for busting through walls'
- Breaking through psychological defense-mechanisms to un-repress/recover the (unconscious) truth? Breaking the silence? Facing really challenging and difficult issues?
'But they've told us Unless we can prove That we're doing it We can't have it all'
- 'it all' - In TKI, the protagonist is giving 'it all' (committing suicide; 'it all' = life)...
So, in SIG could it be that 'it all' = wanting to feel they have their life back? a sense of autonomy, control, Freedom, etc.
'He's gonna wangle A way to get out of it'
- The offender?
She's an excuse And a witness who'll talk when he's called
- 'She' = mother?
- or the Lolita-esque groomed inner child?
"I caught a glimpse of a god, all shining and bright"
- The protagonist remembers the Garden of Eden/Innocence? before knowing good and evil?
'Suddenly my feet are feet of mud It all goes slo-mo I don't know why I'm crying'
- Frustration, anger and surfacing memories are often too much to take. A fog makes everything slow. Alienation from self and others.
'Am I suspended in Gaffa?'
- Withdrawn and caught up in psychological torment?
'Not until I'm ready for you Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all'
- Not until she feels ready to deal with issues can she have life/freedom/etc ('it all').
'I try to get nearer But as it gets clearer There's something appears in the way
It's a plank in me eye With a camel Who's trying to get through it'
- When the protagonist gets nearer to dealing with one set of issues, she faces difficult Religious issues (vis a vis the confessional, etc), and other problematic barriers kick in?
- The (confusing) mixed metaphor (plank/camel) shows how heavy, daunting and confusing these hindrances are.
'Am I doing it?'
- Confiding in another, seeking help, busting through (Religious) walls, etc.?
- Constant motivational and identity challenges.
'I pull out the plank...'
- But the protagonist rejects Christian religious biblical teaching?
'and say "Thank you for yanking me back To the fact that there's Always something to distract" '
- Self-determined clarity and guidance? Search for distracting/sublimated venture?
- 'Thank you' is used with courageous irony.
'But sometimes it's hard To know if I'm doing it right'
- Constant self-doubt and bewilderment re: 'sublimated' (distr)action?
'Can I have it all? Can I have it all now? We can't have it all'
- Constant battle with progress, stress and focus.
- Resignation; 'learned helplessness'.
"We all have a dream...maybe"
- or maybe not?
[Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
...Langston Hughs]
'I won't open boxes That I am told not to I'm not a Pandora'
- In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. She is most famous for carrying a box containing all the world's evils. She releases these evils, but closes the lid before Hope can escape. (In Christian religion, Eve was the first woman; and because Eve tempted Adam to eat of the fatal fruit, also the first sinner and responsible for the Fall.)
- The protagonist is not a Pandora/Eve. (Eve is not mentioned, further suggesting the protagonist has rejected Christian biblical teaching.) But neither is she prepared for disclosure. There is fear and she will do as she is told.
'I'm much more like That girl in the mirror'
- Is the 'girl in the mirror' a reference to ISOPP?
"Dennis loves to look In the mirror He tells me that he is beautiful
So I look too, and what do I see?
My eyes are full But my face is empty"
- The bluffing, exterior mask conceals the injured, empty interior self (i.e. divided self).
'Between you and me'
- Only herself and her reflection understand the situation.
'She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all Not anywhere at all No, not a thing'
- Trapped inside herself, unable to be a free-spirited seeker in the world, unable to find it a fulfilling place.
- The inner-self cannot achieve; a defensive, sublimated alter-ego is necessary for getting on in life.
'She can't have it all'
- The protagonist speaks of her inner-self in the third-person.
"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes"
- The protagonist is scared of dealing with puberty, physical changes, and growing up generally.
* 'So if the "setting" of the song, or the general orientation, is more or less autobiographical... and, specifically, based on some of Kate's early childhood experiences, then what if "half of a heaven" really is a reference to Kate's own childhood barn out "in the bottom of our garden," the place of the old broken-down organ which was the home of countless mice?** ...I think that that same old disused barn was later used as one of Kate's early demo studios, where she would have done some of her first musical creations [and SIG video?]' - gaffa.org/dreaming/…
** "Wide eyes would clean and dust
Things that decay, things that rust" - 'Leave It Open'.