| Iron & Wine – Upward Over the Mountain Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It sounds to me like it's "let the creek drink the cradle" rather than "that the creek drank the cradle". Anyone else? | |
| Sufjan Stevens – Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in His Hair Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think this song is about a man losing faith in the world and undergoing something of a (to use a terrible cliche) mid-life crisis: he's realised that his life hasn't really meant anything to this point, and he tries to find meaning in an extramarital affair, but it doesn't work. "I don't care to say what I failed to recognize Every single day from the poker to the prize" I think this references somewhat subtly the viewpoint character's failing marriage. "Running out of Springfield I worked for the Capitol Air in the bags Found a woman there who said She had a mind to make me a messenger man" Offering herself? "If my father took his life for national plan I don't care I'm not about to stake my grave with a paper and a bucket of plans Never ever" I don't care. He doesn't even care about the death of his father, let alone anything else. "I can take the pillowcases off the yellow pillows Make a property line from the bed In the living room, the living room, the morning papers Make the most out of nothing at all" The reportage of the papers is all about nothing at all. The discordant guitar solo here is absolutely heartbreaking: I feel that it represents this man's internal struggle, railing against the meaningless of it all, his failed life, his marriage, etc., only ending when he makes the decision to have the affair: "So we took the room with a view of the runaway I took off my clothes and she took it for a holiday I was taken for all the things that I never had before Running out of Springfield She left me with a note saying, "Bobby, don't look back" And if my wife took a bicycle ride with a knife in her hand I saw it coming All the shadflies run at once with a trumpet or a train Oh, I'm running from it" I do agree with wanderingmounty to a certain extent. I think that Sufjan intentionally uses the shadfly as a metaphor for this man and others, but I don't think it extends as far as the 'obsession' with sex: this man tries to break out of his meaningless life (the larval stage or what-have-you) with an affair, but other 'shadflies' try to make something of their lives with music (the trumpet) or travel, or a train collection, or whatever. "Wait a minute, wait a minute Give a minute, baby, I can explain the aftershave Wait a minute, wait a minute, give a minute Bobby got a shadfly caught in his hair Yes, he does" His marriage falls apart. The one thing I'm not clear on is who Bobby is meant to be. The note 'Bobby don't look back' makes me think that it's the singer/narrator, but then it seems like the narrator is speaking when he says 'Bobby got a shadfly caught in his hair.' I realise that Bobby could be both the narrator and his son (e.g. Bobbys Jr. and Sr., whatever) but I don't think Sufjan would be that confusing. I welcome any insight into who Bobby might be, and also why Bobby getting a shadfly caught in his hair would "explain the aftershave." Oh, and by the way, this is absolutely my favourite song from the Avalanche. Just incredible, and so different thematically from most of Illinois. It has such a final down note, it gets me every time, and the guitar solo is perhaps the most emotive instrumental passage that I've heard from Sufjan. |
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