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I immediately took Ballroom to be a war reflected song... from the first line "Here comes a country are you in or are you out... It doesn't matter what you use to do now..."... but I hadn't read that much into... nice reflection...
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Thanks Dyers , I do tend to take things literally sometimes , I could make Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer sound like the Four Horseman of The Apocolypse , and make Rudolph the Fifth Horseman :lol: . Having said that I do believe it is a song related the Iraq conflict . As for Joe , I have an idea or two that are probably so far off...Now it's time for bed , maybe i'll have a poke at it tomorrow night , there are some intrigueing lines in that song . And thanks for the compliment Das Hips.
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Les , thanks alot for the compliments you are too generous :oops: . You make some good points on how the fabric of society is formed through mass culture , largly formed for profits as opposed to the purity of art or any kind of higher purpose . How individuality is really an obscurity in the face of the corporate machine . It's no wonder us Hip fans , and DMB fans , Pearl Jam fans etc...Cling so tightly to our music with such passion , I think it's a balance to the bombardment of the media driven crap we recieve on a daily basis . Music brings a little sanity to the abandonment that the daily dose of what you "should be" is fed to us in every medium that can be exploited. I'll cut myself off before I seriously start to rant . :rambo: Anyways it was an angle I never thought of , good job :thumb: and keep up the rambling . :wink:
Well Dyers , i've been looking and listening to Joe , it's a tough one , i don't have a clue , so i'll just say what comes to mind when I listen to it . To me Joesphine is a prostitute with a drug problem .
This verse could be how Joesiphine was before her life changed , carefree with friends , happy. Talking with friends with optimism about how there is someone who will take care of her and her son .
Joe
i remember a girl on a cell phone
surrounded by her friends
eyes flickering
she's trying to smother a smile with her hand
"maybe there's someone for us
someone overly free
someone who can say just
leave the worrying about him to me"
Joesphine
The next verse , next line I think is a time later in her life , when someone to take care of them hasn't appeared . "I remember you there in the last rays of night at diplomacy's end " In other words , near morning and "diplomacies end" is her getting paid for sleeping with a john , the end of the negotiation . "she's crying" as i'm sure a life like this would bring . "but isn't this when the crimes begin" beats me , could be the degradation of dealing with a pimp , getting a hit of heroin or simply referring to the night as the time when she's on the street .
I remember you there in the last rays
of night at diplomacy's end
eyes flickering
she's crying
but isn't this when the crimes begin
when the people you want to talk
and the people who do
you don't believe
you do
joesphine
awww
la la la la
na na na na -na na na na na
laaa na na na laaaa
Alright ," surrounded by all your days plans " says maybe a sense of optimisim from "Joesphine" planning for a better life , to quit drugs , and prostitution . " you're trying to let that coffee cup warm your hand " I just get a visual agirl in a coffee shop , cold and tired looking , beaten down by life yet resiliant. "maybe we're born lost or born to perservere" I think tells of her situation in life , that it isn't easy . And now my favourite line "but honey i'd walk into that painting until i reappeared " I think in this line he's speaking to her , a word of advice . "i'd walk into that painting" is to me the vision that Josephine has of a better life , a painting , something beautifull and better . " Until I reappeared " In other words strive for that dream until you find yourself , what you used to be , beat your cicumstance , keep searching for that peace until you find it , "Walk into that painting until you reappear"
i remember you there at your table
surrounded by all your days plans
eyes flickering
you're trying to let that coffee cup warm your hand
maybe we're born lost
or born to perservere
but honey i'd walk into that painting until i reappeared
just wait til karma tempt us................????
help to bring more than life................????
flickering just
your eyes keep past real things................????
good night good night joesphine
joesphine
good night
good night
josephine
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
joesphine
goodnight goodnight
I guess that's what I take from it . A story that has three distinct moods , through each verse , from happiness to despair and finally hope . What's your take on it Dyers ?
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Great job Canuck, wow you have a great thinking process :thumb:
Ok, so here it goes...and remember I said I am not very good at these things!
To me when I hear it and read the lyrics I think that it is about someone, that maybe Gord likes or fantasizes about.
Joe
i remember a girl on a cell phone
surrounded by her friends
eyes flickering
she's trying to smother a smile with her hand
maybe there's someone for us---Thinking about being with this person
someone overly free
someone who can say just
leave the worrying about him to me-possible someone who is also involved Josephine
I remember you there in the last rays
of night at diplomacy's end
eyes flickering
she's crying
but isn't this when the crimes begin-affair?
when the people you want to talk
and the people who do
you don't believe
you do
Josephine
awww
la la la la
na na na na -na na na na na
laaa na na na laaaa
i remember you there at your table
surrounded by all your days plans
eyes flickering
you're trying to let that coffee cup warm your hand
maybe we're born lost
or born to persevere
but honey I'd walk into that painting until i reappeared- wants to be with Josephine
just wait till karma tempt us................???? ---attraction to each other
help to bring more than life................????
flickering just
your eyes keep past real things................????
good night good night Josephine --on his mind as he is going to sleep.
Josephine
good night
good night
Josephine
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
goodnight goodnight
joesphine
goodnight goodnight
So how did I do? Am I completely off or what?
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[quote="Great thing about music , a song can tell a different story to different people , especially with Gord's lyrics . It's fun putting a vision to a verse . :wink:[/quote]
Yes exactly! It is fun! Maybe we can tell more when we have the written lyrics from the liner. :thumb: It will be interesting to see if there are other songs on the album that relate to an affair.
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I'm going insane trying to find the meaning behind Nautical Disaster, I mean, I know it's about a Red Cross boat sank by the Germans in WWII, but some things are bugging me. For one, who is Susan? What's the name of the boat? What's the deeper meaning behind the end of the song (phone call)? :?
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I thought I read somewhere on this forum that "Nautical Disaster" is a methaporical title for the ending of a relationship... I also read on someother website that it was about a Canadian ship off the coast of Dieppe that got gunned down, but Gords statistics are off.. only 3400 people were killed... its probably both...
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Gord being the magical story teller he is, wouldn't be surprised if he made up a story about a relative of someone on the boat, or something to the sort. We assume that all of Gord's lyrics refer to something real, but I'll bet he makes up a ton of stories that evolve into our favourite songs....either way, I challenge anyone to find a better lyricist than him. :thumb: Me, I think Nautical Disaster is about a girl who wanted to end a relationship with one of the sailors, but as he was killed, she didn't get to do it, but because of his tragic and untimely death she regrets ever feeling that way, and has to live with herself forever.
"Anyway Susan, if you like, our conversation is as faint as a sound in my
memory, as those fingernails scratching on my hull."
Their last conversation before he sailed out was most likely a fight, and he speaks to her from beyond, telling her everything is alright. Just a thought, the rest of the lyrics are pretty deep, quite tough to analyze...I just think it's about these two lovers thinking about each other, one being deceased and the other living with the pain, but as the song closes, as I said, he speaks to her, telling her, basically, not to worry.
Am I way off????
Escape Is At Hand-Tales of a Boy and a Band due June 2013 from Eternal Cavalier Press
http://eternalcavalierpress.com
http://www.twitter.com/eternalcavpress
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I think that's very good! That really makes a lot of sense to me :thumb:
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This probably belongs under Gord solo , but I think it makes sense to put it here . This is a exerpt from an interview with Don Zulaica of Live Daily about how Trick Rider came about . <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.livedaily.com/news/3312.html">http://www.livedaily.com/news/3312.html</a><!-- m --> Gives you an idea of how Gords songs come about .
I think I hear kids in the background, which leads me to one of the songs on "Glow." Tell me about "Trick Rider," which deals with parenting.
I think I probably saw some trick riding going on at the Calgary Stampede--it probably just flashed on the TV or something. And it was just one of those days, really raining and snowing, and yet they were continuing on with it. It's not so much a competition, I think, as it's more of a demonstration kind of sport. So it's a girl on a horse doing--it's all a matter of balletic pose, while the horse gallops at a pretty good clip, in a circle. And you're, I guess, judged on your ability and poise. You're hanging upside-down, head within inches of the hooves.
And on this particular day, my first thought is all, "Jesus. There's nobody in the stands." And the announcer is like, "Please put your hands together for these pretty young ladies!" "F---, why don't you cancel it. If that horse goes over on the girl ..." It could very easily slip, you know. Totally horrible conditions. I don't know anything about it, obviously, which is why I'm a songwriter.
So in other words, [for the song] I just started coming up with this list of things that you would do for your kid--you know, if you asked me to eat a tarantula, I would--and then dreamed of many verses. "I'll be your spy, your Ondaatje, when you become a lie, when you don't play"--which is a line from [Michael] Ondaatje's book "Coming Through Slaughter." So there's all these different verses about what I would do for you. But if you're going to do something like that ... if I see you on TV trick-riding in the rain, and there's nobody in the stands, you know, I won't be there for you. I guess it's the continual lines in the sand that parents draw .
:thumb: 
hock: 
