Skinshifter01
01-23-2004, 08:19 PM
Okay...when I hear this song, I don't think about MJK actually hating Christiantiy in any form. I think of him using it to serve as an explanation of the song, as an explanation of his feelings at the time to those that don't like religion, or to those that could relate to religious words.
Anywho, during the first stanza, when Maynard says :
"There's a shadow just behind me,
shrouding every breath I take,
making every promise empty,"
- I think of a literal shadow...but this shadow can be so many things. With my own experience, it would be my past. MY past looms over me like a stalking butler, and it shrouds every breath I take and makes every promise made to me empty, makes me think to myself "give him/her time, he'll betray me too."
"pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler
who upon the finger rests."
- this makes me think of the story with the detective where it's a dark and stormy night and the detective has gathered everyone together in a mansion to tell who killed the mansion's owner...you know, the "I suspect you all are wondering why I've gathered you all here tonight..." thing...well, anyway, he points the finger at the butler. He did it. And in my experience, I did it. It's my fault. I should be blamed and shunned.
"Murder now the path called "must we"
just before the son has come."
-This, in my own life, is showing that before the "son" the perfect being that proceded my evil, my falling, I committed the murder, I am to blame and forever after my relationships will mirror the time before the "son"'s arrival.
"Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
something but the past and done?"
- Here, I'm begging the "son" to let it go, to let me live again, to leave my past behind me.
"Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over."
-Here, I'm begging the "son" to let me return to an intoxicated state, to let me get drunk in my sorrow, to let me start over, "I didn't mean to, let me have another chance"
"I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well."
- This is the warning I give to all those that speak to me, that befriend me, "If you trust me, if you love me, I will destroy you, whether inadvertantly or not."
"I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,"
- Here, I'm telling them that 'll heal myself in them, I'll return to my intoxicated state of mind, my realm where I'm not really hurting at all, "really!"
"I will work to elevate you
just enough to bring you down.
Trust me."
-"Yeah, I'll heal you, I'll make it look like you're rising out of your grime...and then I'll destroy you too."
"Mother Mary won't you whisper
something but what's past and done."
- I beg her to let this go, I beg her to allow me to heal, to allow me to stop the killing.
"Trust me."
-"That's all I really need, and then i can be healed, and sane again. That's all I need."
"I want what I want."
- "this is what I'll take from you, no matter how much you fight it."
And this is how it applies to my life. This may be nothing like what MJK had intended the song to be about, may have nothing to do with his idea for it at all. But this is my interpretation.
What do you think?
Anywho, during the first stanza, when Maynard says :
"There's a shadow just behind me,
shrouding every breath I take,
making every promise empty,"
- I think of a literal shadow...but this shadow can be so many things. With my own experience, it would be my past. MY past looms over me like a stalking butler, and it shrouds every breath I take and makes every promise made to me empty, makes me think to myself "give him/her time, he'll betray me too."
"pointing every finger at me.
Waiting like a stalking butler
who upon the finger rests."
- this makes me think of the story with the detective where it's a dark and stormy night and the detective has gathered everyone together in a mansion to tell who killed the mansion's owner...you know, the "I suspect you all are wondering why I've gathered you all here tonight..." thing...well, anyway, he points the finger at the butler. He did it. And in my experience, I did it. It's my fault. I should be blamed and shunned.
"Murder now the path called "must we"
just before the son has come."
-This, in my own life, is showing that before the "son" the perfect being that proceded my evil, my falling, I committed the murder, I am to blame and forever after my relationships will mirror the time before the "son"'s arrival.
"Jesus, won't you fucking whistle
something but the past and done?"
- Here, I'm begging the "son" to let it go, to let me live again, to leave my past behind me.
"Why can't we not be sober?
I just want to start this over.
Why can't we drink forever.
I just want to start things over."
-Here, I'm begging the "son" to let me return to an intoxicated state, to let me get drunk in my sorrow, to let me start over, "I didn't mean to, let me have another chance"
"I am just a worthless liar.
I am just an imbecile.
I will only complicate you.
Trust in me and fall as well."
- This is the warning I give to all those that speak to me, that befriend me, "If you trust me, if you love me, I will destroy you, whether inadvertantly or not."
"I will find a center in you.
I will chew it up and leave,"
- Here, I'm telling them that 'll heal myself in them, I'll return to my intoxicated state of mind, my realm where I'm not really hurting at all, "really!"
"I will work to elevate you
just enough to bring you down.
Trust me."
-"Yeah, I'll heal you, I'll make it look like you're rising out of your grime...and then I'll destroy you too."
"Mother Mary won't you whisper
something but what's past and done."
- I beg her to let this go, I beg her to allow me to heal, to allow me to stop the killing.
"Trust me."
-"That's all I really need, and then i can be healed, and sane again. That's all I need."
"I want what I want."
- "this is what I'll take from you, no matter how much you fight it."
And this is how it applies to my life. This may be nothing like what MJK had intended the song to be about, may have nothing to do with his idea for it at all. But this is my interpretation.
What do you think?