Listening to and reading: Meaninglessness
Apr 27th, 2007 by Sally
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless”. So writes the author of Ecclesiastes. It’s a sombre book, and pretty sobering - to put it mildly. If this was the only revelation of God’s I’d be most depressed. Maybe that’s because I live in a time where there’s so much effort made to persuade me to set goals, live prosperously, aim high, keep busy, excercise more, buy more, look better, work harder, be happy. I suppose these can all be good things, but as the Teacher says… meaningless. It’s uncomfortable to think that my life will be so short and, in the light of eternity, forgettable.
Oddly enough my album of the moment, Memories and Dust by Josh Pyke, resonates with Ecclesiastes a bit.
But if I speak to you of days upon the ocean
I can speak to you of memories and dust
There won’t be time for all us,
I know there won’t be time for all of us
The music and lyrics are great - if you’re a sucker for vocal harmonies, this one is for you.
And speaking of things without meaning, my other recent album purchase is The Shins Wincing the Night Away.
I love the music, but I confess I am at a complete loss to understand the lyrics. Excuse my ignorance.
Any thoughts on the possible meaning of the following lyrics from the song Phantom Limb? Reading through the possible meanings at www.songmeanings.net only made me more confused.
Frozen winter coats,
White girls of the North,
Filed past one, five and one
They are the fabled lambs of Sunday ham,
The ancient snow.And they could float above the grass,
In circles if they tried,
A latent power I know they hide,
To keep some hope alive,
That a girl like I could ever try,
Could ever try.So we just skirt the hallway signs,
A phantom and a fly,
Follow the lines and wonder why
There’s no connection.
I think it’s possible that the lyrics are meaningless. At least I enjoy the music.
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Hey Sal,
It’s great to read that we’re listening to the same music. I have to admit I haven’t given the Pyke CD a run for my money, but The Shins are my favourite band of the moment and I’ve been playing Wincing heaps lately too. I think you’re right about the lyrics. I think James Mercer is one of those songwriters who’s happy to be completely oblique. His songs obviously mean something to him, but whether we can work out precisely what that is is another thing - but I really dig that. I think he’s one of my favourite songwriters right now. The lyrics for New Slang and A Call To Apathy (on Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow respectively) are bloody brilliant.
Have you heard their stuff when the band was called Flake Music?
And on good lyrics, the album by the new band Jackson Jackson is packed with great stuff. It’s Harry from the Cat Empire’s side project. I can’t find any lyrics online and i’m too lazy to transcribe some for you, but they’re brilliant; songs against materialism (’i want to take off my pink polo shirt with the collar turned up’), songs for being bad dancers, etc. It’s uplifting fun music, fusing afrobeats, rap, blues, a little dance and who knows what else. It’s called The Fire Is On The Bird.
Thanks Pete! Oblique is a great way of putting it - I totally agree with you. And, you’re right, the puzzle is part of the charm.
Haven’t heard of Jackson Jackson but I’ll give it a run.
Also - saw that the shins are out in Australia later in the year (3-9 August)
Yo, Petey.
Dave Matthews Band rocked, dude. It was sweet. I’ll make a post with some (dodgy mobile phone) photos soon.
What’s with calling a band Flake Music, by the way? That’s a shocker. Almost as bad as Radiohead’s original name: On a Friday - that’s when they rehearsed. Bleeecchh!