Anyone have any ideas on what it means? All I can come up with:
"Kingfisher" might allude to the myth of Alcyone, whose husband Ceyx was killed at sea, came to her in a dream to tell her he had died, whereupon she went to the seashore and threw herself in. They were both turned to kingfishers.
Also, I guess the whole thing is sort of like an investigation/questioning. Obviously several lines end in question marks, but the part about "The long arm of the law" and "Who has seen it all?" make it sound like they are looking for someone. A murderer, perhaps, considering later there are images of murder (not least in the dream at the end).
The lines "Blows rain upon the one you loved, and though you were only sparring there's blood on the eye, unlace the glove, say honey I am not sorry" are pretty unsettling for me, and show this overarching violence.
Of course, also the pall, which is a sheet that you cover a coffin with, is an image of death.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to put all of these things together. It's hard to tell if Joanna is switching narrators throughout the song, who the kingfisher is, how many people are asking questions and being asked questions, how many people are loving other people or killing other people, etc. The whole middle section, "We came by the boatload" to "Do you consign your soul?" really baffles me. What might the recurring images of bombs/ashes/volcanoes mean?
Also, the stanza, "Hung from the underbelly of the Earth" is one of my favorite Joanna stanzas. But I don't understand it at all.
I don't know, but this song to me is one of the eeriest, saddest songs I ever heard, for me it's not just symbolic, but also very much about atomic war and the state the world is in, or possibly could be in, where it's far too late to say sorry when the bombs have already gone off, 'the clouds tick' and everything is going to be destroyed...It's impossible to say sorry to the one you love because it's impossibly hypocritical, any involvement hurts everybody and you can't spare the one you love...
I don't know, but this song to me is one of the eeriest, saddest songs I ever heard, for me it's not just symbolic, but also very much about atomic war and the state the world is in, or possibly could be in, where it's far too late to say sorry when the bombs have already gone off, 'the clouds tick' and everything is going to be destroyed...It's impossible to say sorry to the one you love because it's impossibly hypocritical, any involvement hurts everybody and you can't spare the one you love...
The second part is like some kind of after-life, a boat to another world, post-apocalyptic... I don't know what the reference is to kingfishers is, but according to wikipedia, in Borneo the kingfisher is seen as a sign of bad luck at war and if the warrior sees it on the way to war, he should return home... Lambs are also important...There is a verse in the bible about lambs lying with lions, about the day when supposedly humans should all live in peace with one another...
The first verse is also reminiscent of the bible, being called to make the maker, there are so many themes of death... It fits, somehow, with the feeling of the whole album, so much destruction and pain and violence that the many women portrayed in the songs try to bear, but at some point it's enough, "I can bear a lot but not this pall" (pall being a cover for a coffin) --- maybe it's about the death of hope, too, as the second-last song, before she packs away her dresses, hats and shoes and gives up waiting for her lover... It's all "too late"...
I thought Kingfisher was a portmanteau of the words King and Fisher, rather than an actual living, breathing, literal Kingfisher. For example, God reigns as King over our lives, and when it's time, casts his fly, and fishes us out of earth, or the "farm" as it's referred to here.
I thought Kingfisher was a portmanteau of the words King and Fisher, rather than an actual living, breathing, literal Kingfisher. For example, God reigns as King over our lives, and when it's time, casts his fly, and fishes us out of earth, or the "farm" as it's referred to here.
Anyone have any ideas on what it means? All I can come up with:
"Kingfisher" might allude to the myth of Alcyone, whose husband Ceyx was killed at sea, came to her in a dream to tell her he had died, whereupon she went to the seashore and threw herself in. They were both turned to kingfishers.
Also, I guess the whole thing is sort of like an investigation/questioning. Obviously several lines end in question marks, but the part about "The long arm of the law" and "Who has seen it all?" make it sound like they are looking for someone. A murderer, perhaps, considering later there are images of murder (not least in the dream at the end).
The lines "Blows rain upon the one you loved, and though you were only sparring there's blood on the eye, unlace the glove, say honey I am not sorry" are pretty unsettling for me, and show this overarching violence.
Of course, also the pall, which is a sheet that you cover a coffin with, is an image of death.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to put all of these things together. It's hard to tell if Joanna is switching narrators throughout the song, who the kingfisher is, how many people are asking questions and being asked questions, how many people are loving other people or killing other people, etc. The whole middle section, "We came by the boatload" to "Do you consign your soul?" really baffles me. What might the recurring images of bombs/ashes/volcanoes mean?
Also, the stanza, "Hung from the underbelly of the Earth" is one of my favorite Joanna stanzas. But I don't understand it at all.
Any feedback/thoughts/ideas?
I don't know, but this song to me is one of the eeriest, saddest songs I ever heard, for me it's not just symbolic, but also very much about atomic war and the state the world is in, or possibly could be in, where it's far too late to say sorry when the bombs have already gone off, 'the clouds tick' and everything is going to be destroyed...It's impossible to say sorry to the one you love because it's impossibly hypocritical, any involvement hurts everybody and you can't spare the one you love...
I don't know, but this song to me is one of the eeriest, saddest songs I ever heard, for me it's not just symbolic, but also very much about atomic war and the state the world is in, or possibly could be in, where it's far too late to say sorry when the bombs have already gone off, 'the clouds tick' and everything is going to be destroyed...It's impossible to say sorry to the one you love because it's impossibly hypocritical, any involvement hurts everybody and you can't spare the one you love...
The second part is like some kind of after-life, a boat to another world, post-apocalyptic... I don't know what the reference is to kingfishers is, but according to wikipedia, in Borneo the kingfisher is seen as a sign of bad luck at war and if the warrior sees it on the way to war, he should return home... Lambs are also important...There is a verse in the bible about lambs lying with lions, about the day when supposedly humans should all live in peace with one another...
The first verse is also reminiscent of the bible, being called to make the maker, there are so many themes of death... It fits, somehow, with the feeling of the whole album, so much destruction and pain and violence that the many women portrayed in the songs try to bear, but at some point it's enough, "I can bear a lot but not this pall" (pall being a cover for a coffin) --- maybe it's about the death of hope, too, as the second-last song, before she packs away her dresses, hats and shoes and gives up waiting for her lover... It's all "too late"...
I thought Kingfisher was a portmanteau of the words King and Fisher, rather than an actual living, breathing, literal Kingfisher. For example, God reigns as King over our lives, and when it's time, casts his fly, and fishes us out of earth, or the "farm" as it's referred to here.
I thought Kingfisher was a portmanteau of the words King and Fisher, rather than an actual living, breathing, literal Kingfisher. For example, God reigns as King over our lives, and when it's time, casts his fly, and fishes us out of earth, or the "farm" as it's referred to here.