Amazing Lyric

[sbiederman]

I have noticed a lot of people have submitted posts about the lyrics “Angels on the sideline”. Although very significant, I found that the lyrics:

“How they survive so misguided is a mystery. Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability, To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here.”

to be by far the most powerful lyrics in the song / album. I think this is because of the amazing musicianship that accompanies those lyrics, but never the less, I found them to be incredibly moving. The real question is, what do they mean?

[Ranger10000]

I have noticed a lot of people have submitted posts about the lyrics “Angels on the sideline”. Although very significant, I found that the lyrics:

“How they survive so misguided is a mystery. Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability, To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here.”

to be by far the most powerful lyrics in the song / album. I think this is because of the amazing musicianship that accompanies those lyrics, but never the less, I found them to be incredibly moving. The real question is, what do they mean?


Thats funny cause i dont hear that at all. I hear "Repugnant dissent creature who would squander the ability to lift an idle hand, unconscience of his fleeting time here.

[Light Reflections]

The "Repugnant is a creature..." line is definitely one of my favourites on the album.

[mjr]

disagree...

"Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to live tonight in heaven conscious of his fleeting time here."

What would it mean in your interpretation? We are to acknowledge God in heaven and realize he has power over our time here? Fuck that. There is no way Maynard believes that.

He is saying we shouldnt be killing each other, we should live every day to the fullest because we are living a precious life and we only get one chance. why waste it with hatred and fighting. live tonight in heaven means to live TODAY in the metaphorical place of all the religious people. don't wait until your death and your decomposition by bacteria and small creatures to live in happiness and "paradise". Thats what I think at least. "An eye to" and "tonight in", especially the way he says it (sort of flowing and by syllabel not word) are very close. We won't know till Maynard tells us...but I seriously doubt its the first one.

[sbiederman]

I do agree with the previous post. The lyrics I’ve been hearing seem to contradict other points presented in this song. I could very well be wrong, which is the reason I posted in the first place. It definitely seems to make sense in that the song is called Right in Two, as in, splitting our view on life in two, heaven and earth, which seems to dilute our time on earth. One thing I find very interesting is that, despite the heavy climax, I find the moment where Maynard sings “How they survive so misguided is a mystery” to be the focal point of this song. It seems to be the only place where the guitar and bass come together before the climax. (listen again if you missed it, truly amazing) Of course this is only how I feel, and many others may feel different. And we are all right, as long as we all feel something.

[swampyfool]

Totally. Very well said, all. I had a friend who turned me on to a very profound insight on this topic, once (RIP Rustin, you big, dumb idiot . . . you shouldn't be gone). I can't quote chapter and verse, and this may be slightly paraphrased due to an eroding memory, but Jesus once said, "The way to the kingdom of heaven is through me." This line has been used to justify the authoritarian structure of Christian (anti)spirituality for over a millenium: give your precious, god-given free will back to the church and you shall be rewarded with the kingdom of heaven in the afterlife. However, given the metaphorical context of the bible, this line could just as easily be interpreted to mean that if we live our lives in the hopes of bettering humanity (as the historical- not biblical- record of Christ's works shows), we will live our lives in the kingdom of heaven. It's a concept that also reminds me of "Ishmael," by Daniel Quinn. Has anybody ever read it (and/or its sequels)? It puts the mythology of Christianity into a different light; a light which allowed me to see that mythology existing outside the oppressive dogma of organized Christianity. When I listen to this song- this album- my thoughts are constantly drawn to concepts in these books. If you haven't read them, I reccomend them highly.

[bmeason]

Agreed.

Awesome lyric, and it goes along with "holy garden" in the song. He is saying Heaven is earth, this time we have here is fleeting, so don't waste the preciousness on things that make no sense.

Our animal instinct, or ego, to control and be number one? Can't we all just get a bong? Or something like that.

Of course we would be viewed as repugnant creatures to the "Angels", or "Extrademensional Beings" or "Whatever".... We have been given a gift that no other creation (or metamorphasis) on earth has. "Free Will" and we just kill each other, and fuck everything up, dividing our conscious (one mind) and bodies... "Right in two"

Amazing song.

I believe it is whole heartedly true. All encompassing. "And you will come to find that we are all one mind. Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable." It goes along the same lines as that quote from Reflection (The fluxerpretation of 10,000 Days - reflection connection).

Just my two cents, but a dollars worth in thought.

[slicknickshady]

"Monkey Killing Monkey Killing Monkey"

[Sasha]

What would it mean in your interpretation? We are to acknowledge God in heaven and realize he has power over our time here? Fuck that. There is no way Maynard believes that.
Um, to an extent it's a great influence to the band. The whole dimensional pull into a higher consciousness thing is one of the main themes of this song, and of this band. Taking "heaven" and turning it into our "next level", might be a bit more approachable but he's a writer who wants you to think for yourself. So please, do so.

It could be approached from both aspects, as taking the present to be our "little piece of the divine", our glorious home as referenced in Parabola, but then again he could mean that we need reason in our lives and that we need to find it in order to understand the next consciousness in order to fully prosper in it when we do reach it. I fully believe that Maynard and the others in the band whose impact on the lyrics ways greatly believe in a higer power, not so much as one referenced by religion or certain other belief systems as they are against that, but that something divine, if you will is for the lack of a better word, controlling this, this reality, our other levels of life. Because, if this is it, then there is not much to it. Sure, there are prosperous moments, and one must welcome this first and foremost and indulge in them but there are things wrong with the world, especially at this point in our history that would cause it to seem kind of pointless at times, and maybe "not enough." But then, that's the whole ego thing, and the whole have a positive outlook 100% of the time thing. Either way, [/endrant]

[fraz]

i think it's pretty clear he's refferring to angels, heaven etc from their perspective. As in: their father blessed them all with reason ....

[dude3390]

It seems like he's speaking from the perspective of the angels. Like

Angels on the sideline (are) baffled and amused.

"Why did father give these humans free will? Now they're all confused."

Then later on, it's:

"Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven conscious of his fleeting time here."

Now, I think there are two interpretations of this line that depend on whether or not he says "lift an eye to heaven", or "live tonight in heaven".

The first, I think, refers to the angels dissing us talking monkeys, that we can't/won't look to the father for guidance, even though we've got so little time to be here in beautiful eden.

Under "live tonight", we must assume that heaven IS earth, and that the angels find us repugnant because we can't appreciate the earth for what it is, we can't live on earth as a paradise, when we're not gonna be here much longer.

Now, I think the "live tonight" seems more consistent with the song, but it really sounds like he says "lift an eye" to me.

[GPrimeAlpha]

I agree with mjr's interpretation of these lyrics; we (society) are living foolishly, squandering our short existance with the expectation of something later.

And I resonate SuccessfullyPriedOpen's call for others to read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael. Reading it will change your outlook on the entire Catholic (and most other) religious doctrine. I too am reminded of Ishmael's teachings when listening to this song.

Further, anyone who shares my terrifying, and ever increasing acceptance of nothing after death, probably better understands these lyrics. I don't exactly know what we should be doing with our lives (assuming oblivion after death), but what we are doing is not correct.

GPrimeAlpha

[Mukedek]

I agree that those words together are a powerful statement and create some very awesome open ended thoughts.....

I believe that Maynard is showing the pride of the world and the unwillingness to look towards Heaven and their failure to do so is the cause if the worlds problems.