Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Godin
... the "neither the brave nor bold will write us the story" line makes no sense when you consider this lyric merely in the context of the song "Vicarous" alone. When you realize that the "write us the story" notion is ALSO introduced in "Rosetta Stoned" with the "details of our ending... to WRITE THEM DOWN for all the world to see" line, one can begin to induce a sort of connection at least between these two songs.
The connection between the songs is that if the character in "Rosetta Stoned" were to successfully express his profound world-changing message in writing, people would cease with their imperfect nature of living off of tragedy. Well, that is the LITERAL message between the two songs. Translation: "If you (the anonymous listener) would finally succeed in completing your grand ambitions, you would no longer be consumed in self-pity, in the tragic circumstances of failure in your own life."
|
OK. Personally I don't see any stronger connection between the VIC and RS quotes than the fact that they both use the word "write".
In RS there is no indication given that the alien's "message" when written down would have any effect specifically on our tendency to feed on tragedy. And in VIC there is no indication that the "story" the brave and bold should write has anything to do with this message from extraterrestrials.
Also, I don't see how you are moving from your "literal message" above to your "translation" (i.e from "the RS story would end global vicariousness" to "my own brave/bold story would end my own self-vicarious nature").
I don't think this translation works, because the VIC quote distinguishes between the "brave and bold" who are not writing the story on the one hand, and WE who "won't give pause..." on the other. Your translation requires US to be brave and bold enough to write the story, but the lyric doesn't say WE are failing to write our story - it says the BRAVE and BOLD are failing to write it.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Godin
Until I hear a likely explanation for the "neither the brave nor bold line", the possibility that "Vicarious" is straightfoward is excluded.
|
"Neither the brave nor bold will write us THIS story so
We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'"
I have given you my take on this lyric in the other thread, where I claimed that this is saying that the world's brave and bold people are failing to provide us with stories that are as entertaining as those provided by tragedy and death.
Your response was to focus on the word "write" and object to my reading this as meaning no more than "provide". All I can say is that this is how I first understood this line, before I even new the rest of the lyrics or how this bit was to fit in with the rest of the song, and that nothing since has given me reason to change my view.
If there was another point in THIS song that stressed the importance of "writing" then I might be inclined to change my interpretation, but as things stand I think my view is the more natural reading in the context of the song.
One further point. On your interpretation, there is no indication (within this song) as to what THE story is that the brave & bold are not writing. In fact there is no previous mention of this "story" at all, making it a rather mysterious reference. I have highlighted "THIS" in the above lyric quote, to show that on my view this is quite straightforward. The brave & bold are not writing THIS story of entertaining tragedy and death, or anything that can compare to it, so this is why we "won't give pause..." and intead choose to ignore them.
Note that changing "THE" to "THIS" is not necessary for my interpretation, but I think it helps.
Cheers. I hope this now qualifies as a "likely interpretation" for you :)