sloppyc
11-23-2002, 12:24 PM
This is pretty similar in manyrespects to The Pharoah's post (here) (http://toolshed.down.net/opinion/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=338). I justchose to start myown thread because i have a few other opinions that I'd like to explain.
I look at the lyrics to this song along with the introduction that Maynard has been giving to this song since last September. You're all familiar, I'm sure, sith the 'take this and do something positive' speech.
I can see this song as representing all of us. When we are children, we see things in black and white, right and wrong. Kids of all races,cultures can get along together. they don't care that their religions, or whatever differ. Then red and yellow (complications) come to be. I see this as 2 of the 3 primary colours - blue is left out - we have more information, but not the whole picture. We don't always know what the other side is thinking.
So we over-think things (how many times do you see politicians pull apart every word that a foreign leader utters to find its true meaning?). This whithers our intuition - we know in our concience what the right thing is, but all of the overthinking can lead us to believe that the message received actually meant something else - a missed opportunity at peace after a diplomatic exchange, possibly. So, instead of 'going with one's gut,' the over-analyzing mind takes over and well, you get the picture.
But then the 'I embrace my desire to...' part shows that the narrator wants to keep an open mind. Wants to listen to where the other side is actually coming from. the 'with my feet upon the ground' part means that he is keeping himself rooted instead of letting the complications sway his descisions as in the first part of the song. to 'open wide' and 'suck it in' he is letting all of the information in, keeping an open mind, absorbing all sides' positions.
In so doing, we may surprise ourselves, and go where no one's been (peace?). If we can all start to do this, we may be more tolerant of one another, this will have that spiral effect. more and more people will be able to understand each other's points of view, or will at least give each other a chance to express it.
Maynard's speech there and his apologizing 'for my country' when in Canada seems to support this interpretation. I'm sure this is not what was meant when the song was written, but it does seem to me like a relevant (if not well-written - at work - sorry) interpretation given the state of the world today. Israelis and Palestinians fighting, US wanting to bomb everyone, Al-Qaeda (sp?) wanting to kill those with a different beleif system, etc, etc.
Anyhoot, that's one of the applications I've found for this song, please post any comments, etc. I'm sure i've left some things out, have been writing this on and off at work.
I look at the lyrics to this song along with the introduction that Maynard has been giving to this song since last September. You're all familiar, I'm sure, sith the 'take this and do something positive' speech.
I can see this song as representing all of us. When we are children, we see things in black and white, right and wrong. Kids of all races,cultures can get along together. they don't care that their religions, or whatever differ. Then red and yellow (complications) come to be. I see this as 2 of the 3 primary colours - blue is left out - we have more information, but not the whole picture. We don't always know what the other side is thinking.
So we over-think things (how many times do you see politicians pull apart every word that a foreign leader utters to find its true meaning?). This whithers our intuition - we know in our concience what the right thing is, but all of the overthinking can lead us to believe that the message received actually meant something else - a missed opportunity at peace after a diplomatic exchange, possibly. So, instead of 'going with one's gut,' the over-analyzing mind takes over and well, you get the picture.
But then the 'I embrace my desire to...' part shows that the narrator wants to keep an open mind. Wants to listen to where the other side is actually coming from. the 'with my feet upon the ground' part means that he is keeping himself rooted instead of letting the complications sway his descisions as in the first part of the song. to 'open wide' and 'suck it in' he is letting all of the information in, keeping an open mind, absorbing all sides' positions.
In so doing, we may surprise ourselves, and go where no one's been (peace?). If we can all start to do this, we may be more tolerant of one another, this will have that spiral effect. more and more people will be able to understand each other's points of view, or will at least give each other a chance to express it.
Maynard's speech there and his apologizing 'for my country' when in Canada seems to support this interpretation. I'm sure this is not what was meant when the song was written, but it does seem to me like a relevant (if not well-written - at work - sorry) interpretation given the state of the world today. Israelis and Palestinians fighting, US wanting to bomb everyone, Al-Qaeda (sp?) wanting to kill those with a different beleif system, etc, etc.
Anyhoot, that's one of the applications I've found for this song, please post any comments, etc. I'm sure i've left some things out, have been writing this on and off at work.