"Eight of Nine" Analysis
From an email to Amaya:
I LOVE THE ATARIS! AND KRISTOPHER ROE IS A GENIUS!!!
Okay, first the lyric itself. For your reference and guide throughout my analysis.
These hospital walls are the palest of white
Here in this desert they're reciting my last rites
The smell of these halls
Brings temporary comfort
As the oxygen flows through my blood
"El Corazon" was poisoned tonight...
She's on her eight of nine.
When half of all your prayers are insincere,
The other half are lies.
Here is this watermark under this bridge.
The point where it all crested,
Rolled back and drifted into the sea.
A climb from this wreckage
As the smoke begins to clear from my lungs.
The closest of close calls has happened tonight.
It's time that I made things right
For the first time since the last time.
Let this moment of clarity
Lift this curse that has been cast upon me.
Appreciate the good times, but don't take the worst for granted.
'Cause you only get so many second chances.
Now, I actually found a different version of the excerpt from Richard Hell (I almost put excerpt from Hell...interesting in context, eh?) which reads as follows:
"You take for granted what you have and you can't take it with you when you die. There is never enough and you will always want more. No matter how much you learn, no matter how much you earn, you are still yourself and exactly as close to the edge as where you began. And all you can ever learn is what you already know. You will always want to know what the ending is, but you can't because you're dead. Dear God, I'm on my knees before you. The words are on their knees. Ready to go. All the words. All the words. The ending is words."
Kinda different. What is your source? Because I kinda like the "still yourself...close to the edge" part better than the circle thing.
Anyway, I don't really know what to think of this song, other than how sad it is that Kris has a tattoo of the Arizona state flag with a horseshoe that says "Lucky" so that he doesn't die when he goes to Arizona. Heh, yeah, I do my research as well.
But from a more artistic point of view, the beginning of the song shows that the narrator knows that he's/she's about to die, or rather that this latest trial in life is possibly fatal. Recently, I can relate to that more than ever in my life, which is what makes this so interesting. More on that later. Also, the hospital is described as the palest of white. Here in this place (where ever or what ever "here in this place" could be), the narrator is forced to face reality, and see himself/herself as he/she truely is. This face-off is even more eniment in the reference to a desert.
Sorry to reference it, but more "Matrix: Revolutions" conversation with the Oracle. Neo asks why he could control some sentinel machines. She explains, "For a moment you connected with the Source, but you weren't ready for it. You should be dead. But apparently you weren't ready for that, either."
The narrator should be dead, but he's not ready for it. Just like me, for the past while: I connected for a moment to Light. But with all the darkness in me, the way I did it all at once wasn't good, and I wasn't ready for it. Spiritually I should be dead, and physically my mind believes that now, more than ever, is a good time to commit suicide. (THIS IS NOT A SERIOUS CONTEMPLATION; IT IS A RESULT OF THE MECHANICAL PROCESSES MY MIND'S LOGIC HAS BEEN CALCULATING. IT'S JUST THE WAY MY MIND WORKS.) In a way, I should be dead right now. But apparently, I wasn't ready for that either.
So the narrator realizes, just as I do, that this is really the "last chance". Even though there have been several "last chances" before, this has to be the one. There's been seven previous close-encounters with death. If he doesn't straighten his act, he's dead for sure. I'll come back to this. But for now, think of it as a cat with nine lives...and by the way, I love cats more than just about any other household animal, did you know that?
The narrator notes how all his prayers to God seem fake, forced, etc. They are insincere or lies. The next description seems to be some symbolic/metaphoric way of describing something/someone that attacked the narrator. It has left a scar/“watermark” of sorts. Water, a purifying/cleansing agent, can be a destructive/chaotic agent as well. Which is interesting given how much water I’ve had lately, both the physical and spiritual, trying to cleanse myself. However, the narrator also hints at fire, which is a destructive agent, is a spiritual symbol of rebirth. And lets not forget that the flaming death is a broken “El Corazon”. A broken heart. Perhaps the narrator is describing a spiritual journey or process not unlike a phoenix? And in the past, Preston has called me a phoenix. By the way, there’s no need to point out all my personal allusions to the element of fire, right? But the watermark is interesting. Also, on the subject of water, there is a song called “Flood” by a Christian band called Jar of Clay. (Draw your own conclusions about their name.) Preston may be familiar with it. The first verse withheld, it goes:
Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, I’m losing control
Dark sky all around
I can’t feel my feet touching the ground
Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me
[chorus:]
But if I can’t swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up—when I’m falling
Lift me up—I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up—I need you to hold me
Lift me up—keep me from drowning again.
One of the best acoustic songs I’ve ever heard. So there's a reference and connection to Roe's waves and ocean. By the way, recall my excerpt from "Les Miserables" about the man overboard? It's on "Blue and Yellow", and I think the post itself is called "You've Gotta Help Me Out" from late November.
The narrator knows that this is the closest call ever yet experienced. Here is the apostrophe (from now on, that's my word for "epiphany") for the narrator summed up in the lines, "It's time that I made things right for the first time...since the last time.") It is time that I made things right for the first time. Also, I need to do it for the first time since the last time. There have been failed attempts before for the narrator, and he/she knows it. He wants this realization/revelation/apostrophe, his "moment of clarity", to "lift this curse". We all have our little gifts and curses, don't we...
*Again, recall that I (almost) called it the excerpt from Hell.
The theme and final lesson for the entire lyric is contained in the final verse, in traditional Ataris/Roe style:
Appreciate the good times, but don't take the worst
[or maybe words, referencing Hell/Richard Hell?] for granted,
'Cause you only get so many second chances.
I LOVE THE ATARIS! AND KRISTOPHER ROE IS A GENIUS!!!
Okay, first the lyric itself. For your reference and guide throughout my analysis.
These hospital walls are the palest of white
Here in this desert they're reciting my last rites
The smell of these halls
Brings temporary comfort
As the oxygen flows through my blood
"El Corazon" was poisoned tonight...
She's on her eight of nine.
When half of all your prayers are insincere,
The other half are lies.
Here is this watermark under this bridge.
The point where it all crested,
Rolled back and drifted into the sea.
A climb from this wreckage
As the smoke begins to clear from my lungs.
The closest of close calls has happened tonight.
It's time that I made things right
For the first time since the last time.
Let this moment of clarity
Lift this curse that has been cast upon me.
Appreciate the good times, but don't take the worst for granted.
'Cause you only get so many second chances.
Now, I actually found a different version of the excerpt from Richard Hell (I almost put excerpt from Hell...interesting in context, eh?) which reads as follows:
"You take for granted what you have and you can't take it with you when you die. There is never enough and you will always want more. No matter how much you learn, no matter how much you earn, you are still yourself and exactly as close to the edge as where you began. And all you can ever learn is what you already know. You will always want to know what the ending is, but you can't because you're dead. Dear God, I'm on my knees before you. The words are on their knees. Ready to go. All the words. All the words. The ending is words."
Kinda different. What is your source? Because I kinda like the "still yourself...close to the edge" part better than the circle thing.
Anyway, I don't really know what to think of this song, other than how sad it is that Kris has a tattoo of the Arizona state flag with a horseshoe that says "Lucky" so that he doesn't die when he goes to Arizona. Heh, yeah, I do my research as well.
But from a more artistic point of view, the beginning of the song shows that the narrator knows that he's/she's about to die, or rather that this latest trial in life is possibly fatal. Recently, I can relate to that more than ever in my life, which is what makes this so interesting. More on that later. Also, the hospital is described as the palest of white. Here in this place (where ever or what ever "here in this place" could be), the narrator is forced to face reality, and see himself/herself as he/she truely is. This face-off is even more eniment in the reference to a desert.
Sorry to reference it, but more "Matrix: Revolutions" conversation with the Oracle. Neo asks why he could control some sentinel machines. She explains, "For a moment you connected with the Source, but you weren't ready for it. You should be dead. But apparently you weren't ready for that, either."
The narrator should be dead, but he's not ready for it. Just like me, for the past while: I connected for a moment to Light. But with all the darkness in me, the way I did it all at once wasn't good, and I wasn't ready for it. Spiritually I should be dead, and physically my mind believes that now, more than ever, is a good time to commit suicide. (THIS IS NOT A SERIOUS CONTEMPLATION; IT IS A RESULT OF THE MECHANICAL PROCESSES MY MIND'S LOGIC HAS BEEN CALCULATING. IT'S JUST THE WAY MY MIND WORKS.) In a way, I should be dead right now. But apparently, I wasn't ready for that either.
So the narrator realizes, just as I do, that this is really the "last chance". Even though there have been several "last chances" before, this has to be the one. There's been seven previous close-encounters with death. If he doesn't straighten his act, he's dead for sure. I'll come back to this. But for now, think of it as a cat with nine lives...and by the way, I love cats more than just about any other household animal, did you know that?
The narrator notes how all his prayers to God seem fake, forced, etc. They are insincere or lies. The next description seems to be some symbolic/metaphoric way of describing something/someone that attacked the narrator. It has left a scar/“watermark” of sorts. Water, a purifying/cleansing agent, can be a destructive/chaotic agent as well. Which is interesting given how much water I’ve had lately, both the physical and spiritual, trying to cleanse myself. However, the narrator also hints at fire, which is a destructive agent, is a spiritual symbol of rebirth. And lets not forget that the flaming death is a broken “El Corazon”. A broken heart. Perhaps the narrator is describing a spiritual journey or process not unlike a phoenix? And in the past, Preston has called me a phoenix. By the way, there’s no need to point out all my personal allusions to the element of fire, right? But the watermark is interesting. Also, on the subject of water, there is a song called “Flood” by a Christian band called Jar of Clay. (Draw your own conclusions about their name.) Preston may be familiar with it. The first verse withheld, it goes:
Downpour on my soul
Splashing in the ocean, I’m losing control
Dark sky all around
I can’t feel my feet touching the ground
Calm the storms that drench my eyes
Dry the streams still flowing
Cast down all the waves of sin
And guilt that overthrow me
[chorus:]
But if I can’t swim after forty days
And my mind is crushed by the thrashing waves
Lift me up so high that I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up—when I’m falling
Lift me up—I’m weak and I’m dying
Lift me up—I need you to hold me
Lift me up—keep me from drowning again.
One of the best acoustic songs I’ve ever heard. So there's a reference and connection to Roe's waves and ocean. By the way, recall my excerpt from "Les Miserables" about the man overboard? It's on "Blue and Yellow", and I think the post itself is called "You've Gotta Help Me Out" from late November.
The narrator knows that this is the closest call ever yet experienced. Here is the apostrophe (from now on, that's my word for "epiphany") for the narrator summed up in the lines, "It's time that I made things right for the first time...since the last time.") It is time that I made things right for the first time. Also, I need to do it for the first time since the last time. There have been failed attempts before for the narrator, and he/she knows it. He wants this realization/revelation/apostrophe, his "moment of clarity", to "lift this curse". We all have our little gifts and curses, don't we...
*Again, recall that I (almost) called it the excerpt from Hell.
The theme and final lesson for the entire lyric is contained in the final verse, in traditional Ataris/Roe style:
Appreciate the good times, but don't take the worst
[or maybe words, referencing Hell/Richard Hell?] for granted,
'Cause you only get so many second chances.
posted by Alexander at 8:30 PM
2 Comments:
You do know that "El Corazon" is their van, though, right?
Sorry to "ruin" the special symbolism.
I know, though, the literal meaning never does equal what we each pull out of symbols. I think Marcus is right. I love his "Analyse".
Je pense que si tout le monde pourrait parler le français, tout serait bon, mais alors . . .nous serons le même. Quelle angoïse! Peut-être on devrait "stick to the status quo".
Amicus:
To quote The Kite Runner:
"But the most impressive thing aout your story is that it has irony. You may not even know what that word means. But you will someday. It is something that writers reach for their entire careers and never attain."
It's ironic: A car accident turns into a spiritual metaphor.
Perhaps it is not so ironic after all...
The beauty of the written word, especially poetry/songs, is not what a writer can acomplish on his own. It is found in the coincidences, the accidents, the car crashes... I could put quotations around all of those. When life presents you with a glimpse of that veiled universal muse, you have to give yourself up. Take it, don't understand it, hold it dear to your heart and let it hurt... We all burn for something.
Men du sier det bare fordi du kan. ;)
Marcus:
You know that you are brilliant.
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