Post
by honkyjonk » Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:00 pm
Okay, for everyone's benifit, here's the lyrics copied off of the first google link I found:
I told you about strawberry fields,
You know the place where nothing is real
(potentially interesting, a continuing commentary concerning his childhood. Not off limits to me to return to the strawberry fields)
Well here's antoher place you can go
Where everthing flows.
(Filler. Makes me say "uggg. let's see what's next," not, "ohh, what's next?")
Looking through the bent backed tulips
(the point of view of looking through a pedal of a flower is interesting and so is the forshadowing concerning trying to see through a murky or distorted object, but this line doesn't flow that well, and it reminds me of the indie rock tendency to mention things that are broken because that is somehow aesthetically cool. Jack White anyone? Not that he could forsee the most recent indie idiot writing and avoid resembling it, so . . .)
To see how the other half lives (This is what the song should have been about. Peering through a glass onion, a new take on the train tracks devide, even potentially more than just a class/race devide, an age, awareness, consciousness divide, who knows. But it has potential, especially if kept surreal.)
Looking through a glass onion.
I told you about the walrus and me-man
You know that we're as close as can be-man. (Pretty lame. You and Paul are tight. Hooray)
Well here's another clue for you all,
The walrus was Paul. (Who knows how into deciphering the Beatles I would have been concerning the Paul is dead thing if was around. This seems like a context thing, whether or not it bears any validity)
Standing on the cast iron shore-yeah, (I like this line. Just good classic one-additional-step-removed surrealism)
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet-yeah. (More filler)
Looking through a glass onion.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Looking through a glass onion.
I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he living there still.
Well here's another place you can be,
Listen to me. (More boring recycling)
Fixing a hole in the ocean (This is kind of interesting, just it's reference to the water that get's into the hole in the original song being something more than rain. hmmm. . . )
Trying to make a dove-tail joint-yeah
(This just sounds like he was done writing the song, and wrote one more lyric that has nothing to do with anything other than what he felt like doing instead of finishing a song)
Looking through a glass onion
My first reaction to this post was that it was blasphemy, but since I basically, given the mood I'm in, think John Lennon is God in terms of lyricists, am partially in agreement with the original posters sentiment. There is a bunch of throwaway stuff here. Not that Lennon throwaway stuff is necessarily bad. But it seems like it was written in about 20 minutes to half an hour.
I think it just is what it is. When compared to Happiness, I'm So Tired, Strawberry Fields, A Day in the Life, a number of others I'm not thinking about right now, this doesn't measure up. But we tend to hold people to their best work I guess. On the other hand, compared to a lot of rediculous modern indie rock bullshit nonsense lyricism that gets worshipped around here, this is still head and shoulders better.
But I do think the self-referential stuff is the worst part of the song, but not because it's self-referential, just because it's lazy riffing off of better prior songs. Just bad choice for recycling.
Stilgar, we've got wormsign the likes of which God has never seen!
