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I know that aspects of the lyric deal with the Ice Storm of the late 90s in Ontario. But this doesn't seem to explain the whole lyric, e.g., 'standing at the station,' etc..
So, what's the tune about? Go.
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I don't know what the subconscious germ of this idea is, but it persists with me that the "standing at the station line" is linked to the passage in The Wars by Timothy Findley when Robert Ross, once he's signed up to go fight in France, gets off the train in Kingston and just stands there on the platform after the train comes in and everyone else has left.
has Gord ever displayed any other Timothy Findley moments in his song writing? Am I just making this up because I read The Wars in summer 1998, just before Phantom Power came out? probably.
ct
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I think the whole premise of the song is not just about the ice storm, but about how people "act, feel, basically are" when something is ....up! Like, going on. Gord goes on to sing, "I can see how your face tautens (how you are uptight, tense) when you got something on. The ice storm only served as a backdrop to the song.
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There is another Timothey Findley reference. Gord partially credits one of the cats from 'The Last of the Crazy People' named 'Little Bones' for the inspiration of the song of the same name.
Kevin
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A bit off topic, but am I correct in saying that Timothy Findley also wrote "The Last of the Crazy People" which features the line "children eat your chicken slow." And a cat by the name of Little Bones?
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I always figured it was about knowing that your partner might be up to something, or fearing it. That kind of thing seems to run through it from end to end, from "Your imagination's having puppies" to "it makes me feel just rotten / but you've got something on."
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I always thought it was sort of related to film making, the first verse is the director coaching the lead actress "look as though you're standing at the station..."
The second verse sort of the director setting a scene, describing how things should be set up.
How that all would fit into the overall theme of the song, I have no idea. It seems to me that Gord has a certain fascination with films.
Steve
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I echo Steve's comments - I've always thought that Something On was an actorial coaching debut for Gordie. Hes telling them what to do, how to act, how to portray... and then explains the effect he/she is having on those who are watching. Almost as if to say... "Act like your imagination is running wild (having puppies) and lets see what that looks like. Now... show me your disappointed look (at the station and the train is long gone)." Not sure how all of this ties into the ice storm... but that "Something" that is "On" is the actors ability to turn "it" on when the big scene arrives. And if you bought that.... something I have been having trouble with is the line from MMAW: "when the sunlight hits the olive oil, don't hesitate". Does anyone know what this is referring to? I'm stumped. When I first heard the song, my mis-hearing was: "When the sunlight hits the "all-aboard" don't hesitate"... which I thought was a great lyric. But then later I read the olive-oil thing and have since been stumped. Any thoughts?
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I like the 'actor' reading of SO, although I'm still not sure that it explains the song's emotional burden. In truth, I've never been convinced that the lyrics on PP or M@W really hang together, in many cases, and that song may be one of them.
Now then: the 'olive oil' line. Have you ever noticed the effect created when sunlight hits olive oil? It casts this gorgeous, translucent green upon the wall or floor or whatever surface is hit by the reflection. It's one of those things that makes the ordinary (olive oil) suddenly surreal.
So---bearing in mind that that whole tune seems to concern musical creation---I think the line is a metaphor for creative inspiration. When you suddenly get the idea (musical or lyrical), don't hesitate---get it down. Which is pretty typical of creativity; you don't want to waste the moment.
The metpahor is doubly clever because olive oil, of course, becomes degraded by exposure to too much light. So the longer it sits in the sun, the worse it gets---just like creative inspiration: the longer you delay in acting on it, the staler it's liable to become.
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Huh, I always heard that line as "top tens", not "tautens." I think it's cooler the other way.
And as long as we're throwing out weird ideas about Something On, I thought there were some Dark Tower references in that song.
"And hammering the Tower, and now there's nothing on" -The Crimson King's agents are destroying the tower, and when it falls the universe is toast.
"Ride the Monorail, rocking slowly home" -A sarcastic reference to Blaine the Mono?
"just stare into the camera, and pretend that you've got the flu" -Captain Trips, the superflu, which featured in "The Stand" and the Waste Lands, the most recent book when PP was released.
I'm sure i'm wrong, but it's still kinda cool.
