Right on, Kareyn. There are definitely a number of oblique references to the war in the Middle East. So riffing off your interpretation.. Let's say this is about the Iraq war:
(Persian rug being the most obvious one that focuses on this particular conflict.)
The bible and the wedding band hidden by the TV stand is slyly pointing out that both religious aversions to war as well as the bonds of marriage that should keep men and women together have been subverted by a war promoted by the television. (IE, people have forgotten their true values thanks to the propaganda of the talking heads.)
The girls by the pool would be protesting the crosses their wear (ie they would be out fooling around, not being celibate) but the men their age aren't around, so they aren't tempted. (Again, typically values like lust ("honey") have been subverted by the cause of war.)
City fathers falling off a carousel is suggestive to me of the lack of leaders anymore. All those who pushed for war (C. Powell, Rummy, etc.) have fallen and are gone. But the events they set in motion ("cruel wind") continue to unfold (blow.)
Trunk of Noah's Clothes is unusual. Not sure what to do with this one, but it's obviously important, or he'd have picked something that fit his meter better. We get a second dose of Noah as a crackhead building an ark a moment later...
"Only honored bone ... Kinship of our kids and the riot squad" is suggestive to me of our collective national memory of Vietnam War protests. Here, Beam could be pointing out that while the memory of those anti-war protest days in the late sixties are writ large in our national consciousness, they are dead; a bone. (The girls aren't protesting, they're lounging around the pool, they're dying in their sleep.)
At least, that's one way of reading this beautiful song...
@tfields You misheard it's "may our only honored bond be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad." Kinship = bond...
@tfields You misheard it's "may our only honored bond be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad." Kinship = bond...
And you're right, the lyrics as typed here are wrong (until they approve my changes) - it's "a trunk of Noah's clothes," so there are two references to Noah in the song.
And you're right, the lyrics as typed here are wrong (until they approve my changes) - it's "a trunk of Noah's clothes," so there are two references to Noah in the song.
Right on, Kareyn. There are definitely a number of oblique references to the war in the Middle East. So riffing off your interpretation.. Let's say this is about the Iraq war:
(Persian rug being the most obvious one that focuses on this particular conflict.)
The bible and the wedding band hidden by the TV stand is slyly pointing out that both religious aversions to war as well as the bonds of marriage that should keep men and women together have been subverted by a war promoted by the television. (IE, people have forgotten their true values thanks to the propaganda of the talking heads.)
The girls by the pool would be protesting the crosses their wear (ie they would be out fooling around, not being celibate) but the men their age aren't around, so they aren't tempted. (Again, typically values like lust ("honey") have been subverted by the cause of war.)
City fathers falling off a carousel is suggestive to me of the lack of leaders anymore. All those who pushed for war (C. Powell, Rummy, etc.) have fallen and are gone. But the events they set in motion ("cruel wind") continue to unfold (blow.)
Trunk of Noah's Clothes is unusual. Not sure what to do with this one, but it's obviously important, or he'd have picked something that fit his meter better. We get a second dose of Noah as a crackhead building an ark a moment later...
"Only honored bone ... Kinship of our kids and the riot squad" is suggestive to me of our collective national memory of Vietnam War protests. Here, Beam could be pointing out that while the memory of those anti-war protest days in the late sixties are writ large in our national consciousness, they are dead; a bone. (The girls aren't protesting, they're lounging around the pool, they're dying in their sleep.)
At least, that's one way of reading this beautiful song...
-tf
@tfields You misheard it's "may our only honored bond be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad." Kinship = bond...
@tfields You misheard it's "may our only honored bond be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad." Kinship = bond...
And you're right, the lyrics as typed here are wrong (until they approve my changes) - it's "a trunk of Noah's clothes," so there are two references to Noah in the song.
And you're right, the lyrics as typed here are wrong (until they approve my changes) - it's "a trunk of Noah's clothes," so there are two references to Noah in the song.
Oops got that wrong, the olive branch and the dove make that THREE references to Noah.
Oops got that wrong, the olive branch and the dove make that THREE references to Noah.