PunBB

ok, so here's a thread where i/wee can try to figure out what the hell it is Gord is actually writing about in our favourite hip songs (warning if you think that knowing what the lyrics are about would ruin the hip for you in any way don't read any further):

here's one i figured out (i think) (please don't bitch me out or laught at me if you already knew this)

New Orleans Is Sinkin'

i'm pretty sure this one is about going to hell, or paying the price, facing consequences ect. ect.

Gord is singing this song as if he was a dead body, that had been washed out to the river. as you probably know, New Orleans is a city full of old cemeteries, and sometimes during floods, corpses are carried away from their graves by the waters, which would explain "i had my hands in the river, my feet back up on the banks"; he's describing the position the corpse wound up in, "i looked up to the lord above and said hey man thanks" is pure GD sarcasm/humour at it's finest, "sometimes i feel so good i gotta scream" he's not enjoying being removed from what was supposed to be his peaceful final resting place, "she said gordie baby i know exactly what you mean, she said, i swear to god she said AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he's describing how horrified the woman that discovered his corpse washed up on the banks was, and then he's mocking her by screaming as she most likely did, and all of that sets up the chorus, my memory is muddy (which is another GD punchline i think, as a washed up corpse would be very muddy, and probably wouldn't remember anything at all for obvious reasons) what's this river that i'm in (river has strong symbolic ties to hell) New Orleans is sinking man and i don't wanna swim, he can't swim, and he's trying to but because he's dead it's too late, there's nothing that he can do about it, then when he's screaming "SWIM" he's trying desperately to command his body to swim as he's drowning in the river.

that's just my take on it though, if anyone has ever thought of something similar and has something to add please do, or if you have another theory about the meaning of NOIS please share it with us, most importantly though, if anybody knows or thinks they know what other songs are about please let us know :thumb: .

I think if new orleans is beat is not only about New orleans sinking, but also Gord saying something like the song has had enough..you know? and where would that leave us (the band's realtionship to the fans) if they stopped playing it?

perhaps,

it seems to me that Gord has reoccuring symbols/objects/themes in lots of his lyrics.

i've noticed:

lots of death/muder/killing/corpses/ect. ect. ect.

lots of vehicles cars, planes, trains, boats,

lots of referrences to mexico or mexicans

lots of animals

and of course there's always referrences to specific places/people that i can never seem to put into context with the rest of the song...

Thehip21 Wrote:I think if new orleans is beat is not only about New orleans sinking, but also Gord saying something like the song has had enough..you know? and where would that leave us (the band's realtionship to the fans) if they stopped playing it?

i'm still trying to absorb IBE.

The Darkest Canuck Wrote:

Thehip21 Wrote:I think if new orleans is beat is not only about New orleans sinking, but also Gord saying something like the song has had enough..you know? and where would that leave us (the band's realtionship to the fans) if they stopped playing it?

i'm still trying to absorb IBE.

Hell I'm still trying to absorb DFN haha.

yeah, i'm still pretty in the dark when it comes to GD's lyrics, i think most of us are.

In The Dire Wolf there is a reference to Canada Lee. Canada Lee was an actor in Hollywood during the McCarthy witch-hunts and was black-listed.

I've been trying to find the meaning of that link, but I just can't figure it out. Any input?

well it says in the liner notes that the song is inspired by Wallace Steven's "Sea Surface Full Of Clouds"

"n that November off Tehuantepec,

The slopping of the sea grew still one night

And in the morning summer hued the deck

And made one think of rosy chocolate
And gilt umbrellas. Paradisal green
Gave suavity to the perplexed machine

Of ocean, which like limpid water lay.
Who, then, in that ambrosial latitude
Out of the light evolved the morning blooms,

Who, then, evolved the sea-blooms from the clouds
Diffusing balm in that Pacific calm?
C'était mon enfant, mon bijou, mon âme.

The sea-clouds whitened far below the calm
And moved, as blooms move, in the swimming green
And in its watery radiance, while the hue

Of heaven in an antique reflection rolled
Round those flotillas. And sometimes the sea
Poured brilliant iris on the glistening blue."

there was a bit of an explanation from gord about the song on thehip.com shortly after IVL was released but what was said about it escapes me...

There are some obvious allusions and blatant story songs that we can all agree on: Wheat, Nautical and 38 Years for instance... but most songs are intended to be taken as paintings from Gord's mind. It all depends how you look at it.

Most of the greats mean different things to different people... and that's the great thing about Gord's poetry.

most of the oldies still come across to me as being about one specific thing, Gord's grown as a lyricist over the years, but no matter how elaborate he gets with his lyrics i still think there has to be one theme or idea that he's trying to get across to us with every song, i mean otherwise the hip would be like seinfeld, songs about nothing...hehe

Stephen Dame Wrote:There are some obvious allusions and blatant story songs that we can all agree on: Wheat, Nautical and 38 Years for instance...

... which is interesting, because Wheat Kings is obviously based on a true story, while 38 Years Old isn't... but if you didn't know that, they could both seem like made up stories or both seem like true stories. The Nautical one, I'm up in the air on. I've heard Gord say it's very loosely based on a true story, but so loosely based that you wouldn't know what it is... but yet other people are so certain about it. I'm still deciding the verdict.

Stephen Dame Wrote:Most of the greats mean different things to different people... and that's the great thing about Gord's poetry.

So true.

38 Years Old is a fake story that Gord concocted in his head. He got so tired of people coming up to him after shows (back in the day of course) and sympathizing with him about how sorry they were to hear that story, that he just decided he wasn't going to sing it anymore. 38 Years Old is nothing but a made-up story, but a damn good one!!!!

This song is a metaphor for being stuck in a relationship that was very tough to get out of.

akoso Wrote:

Stephen Dame Wrote:There are some obvious allusions and blatant story songs that we can all agree on: Wheat, Nautical and 38 Years for instance...

... which is interesting, because Wheat Kings is obviously based on a true story, while 38 Years Old isn't... but if you didn't know that, they could both seem like made up stories or both seem like true stories. The Nautical one, I'm up in the air on. I've heard Gord say it's very loosely based on a true story, but so loosely based that you wouldn't know what it is... but yet other people are so certain about it. I'm still deciding the verdict.

Stephen Dame Wrote:Most of the greats mean different things to different people... and that's the great thing about Gord's poetry.

So true.

Nautical is about the link between one man's bad break up and the Bismark. It's been discussed in great detail here before. Once you know that story, it's hard not to have an even greater appreciation of the tune...

As far as Canada Lee goes, he was in Lifeboat with Tallulah Bankhead (who is also mentioned in the lyric). So my assumption is that this is another semi-inscrutable Gord ships-in-trouble metaphor thingy. Although from the lyrics it appears they're either safe now, or dead ("they learn to love sleep") or something.