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I love this song so much. One of my all time favourites. Three things:
Does anybody know what's it's about? I mean, I doubt it's literally a day in the life of a penguin. It must represent something. Has anyone ever heard anything about it?
Also, I can't stop listening to the demo version on the Phantom Power demos. I think this version is better than the album version...I really, really wished they'd left that bridge in there! Something about it just seems to fit so perfectly in the song. Does anyone else prefer one version or the other?
And thirdly...are these the lyrics to the unreleased bridge? I did it by ear and this is the closest I can come:
...And be tossed up and washed up
Naked on the beach
And find you one like the sun,
Accessible and hard to beat
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I am a HUGE fan of the song. One of my top three without a doubt. I've never heard the demo version though...think you could send it along at some point...I'd be forever grateful!!
As for the meaning...there are parallels between the family life depicted in the song, and the burden of the emperor penguin...perhaps hinting at the idea of deep paternal responsibility? Maybe that's just my overly skewed take...
-Jenna
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Yeah I always thought it was about family also. I just happened to read a book about emperor penguins a few years back. I know that the male emperor penguin is the one that will take care of the egg while the mother is at sea looking for food. The male balances the egg on his feet and covers it with a warm layer of feathered skin. He will stand there for about 65 days through icy temperatures. O yeah and does not eat anything the whole time. So I would think that it's just about love that Gord has for his children. Great song for sure! :thumb:
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Yeah I agree, they should have kept it in for sure! It really makes the song that much more amazing.
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i have always been a big fan of this song for three reasons
1) its named after my favourite animal
2) it rocks
3) love the lyrics
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I think the song is also about marriage. I feel that he is talking to his wife in the song. In the verse:
Your voice is all detached on a radio-wave breeze
we have another caller with a bachelor degree
talking alien invasion as the only chance for unity
well sorry to interrupt your caller
but it's a physical impossibility
I get the feeling that the alien invasion is a marriage councellor or something like that, suggested by a so-called expert on a radio show. Apparantly this doesn't fly with Gord
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Hey David, I've never thought about that..Great way of thinking!
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maybe im not looking deep enough but... What brings a group of people together is when they all have to band together for a common cause...Kinda like 9/11 in the us..the country was together and fighting a common cause bringing everyone close. "talking alien invasion as the only chance for unity" ....That would be the only way to unite the world, a conflict with another world..or aliens..something like that....
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Love that song, I once wrote "don't wipe your asses with your sleeve" on my buddies wedding book....had a few beers in me.
Where would one find that version of the song on the FTP?
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Totally love the song, one of my top 3 for sure. I used to play it at open mikes and talent shows in undergrad but haven't plucked it in a while, maybe i will today. The boys don't play it nearly enough.
I used to work in a toy store and went so far as to buy an Emperor Penguin figure (it goes along with my Killerwhale that I got for a birthday one year....good present) and it sits on my desk at work and used to come to shows with me but has since been retired.
All for now,
Aaron
Off to find the tab for EP so I can break out the guitar and play
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Is there some source for Hip demos in general? I love demos as a rule; they usually have more energy than the finished product.
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Emperor Penguin, Sharks, The Bear, Gus, Problem Bears, The Dire Wolf, Pigeon Camera, Tiger the Lion ... something about the animal kingdom brings out some of Gordie's best zoological/mythological lyricism.
Emperor Penguin -- one of the best and quintessentially Hip
CT
