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Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 18:15
by howwerealized
Two things maybe clarifying some of the lyrics.

From Mitchel's wiki:
John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the mayor of New York from 1914 to 1917. At age 34 he was the second-youngest ever; he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York."


so there's the boy reference.

Also
to which a hunter,
a hundred years from now, may look and despair


Mitchel died in 1918 which is almost 100 years ago- I think here Joanna is speaking about herself/the listener/anyone who looks to the past.

This song is astounding. While the theme (I think) is clarifies in the first line (Ozymandian at best), it doesn't stop there/isn't flat. It goes further- it's life-affirming and terrifying at the same time.

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 18:24
by claire
Geez louise, you guys work fast!

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 18:52
by under a CPell
What an absolutely gorgeous and fascinating song!

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 18:53
by Ann
Andrew wrote:from Ann's article, which I think is probably the key text here, alongside the two competing Ozymandias sonnets:

"My one wish," he added, "is to get over to the western front, where I can do some work that will count"


So I think the line is "for the western front where my work might count". Explains the cunt confusion...


I think you're definitely right. Good catch.

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 18:55
by Wanbli
this older man, confounding Tammany Hall,
In whose employ King Tamanend himself preceeded John’s fall. (trying to suss out the grammar here - king tamanend preceeded him by centuries, perhaps both chronologically and in ethos, making it ironic that his statue is in tammany hall's employ? and mitchel is called a boy despite being an older man? eeh)


Just FYI- Tammany Hall or Tammany Society was named after a native american leader, a Lenape of the NY area - Tamanend. (Euros would refer incorrectly to him sometimes as King of the Indians)

Also- the Rembrandt - re: Tobias and Angel is in the Met museum in NYC adjacent to central park.

so the song was inspired by/about/related to/etc - this monument in central park
Image

his granite and bronze monument is known well to runners and walkers who enter its terrace stairway to the Reservoir. The story of its namesake, however, is probably less familiar.

The monument honors John Purroy Mitchel, who became New York City’s youngest mayor in 1913 and was credited for ferreting out Tammany Hall corruption. After his failed re-election bid, Mitchel enlisted in World War I to serve in the Army aviation corps in 1918. He was killed only months later when he fell 500 feet from his plane during a training flight.

Dedicated in 1928, the memorial’s expansive granite stele was designed by architects Thomas Hastings and Don Barber. German-born sculptor Adolph Alexander Weinman created its gilded bronze portrait bust.

The Conservancy conserved the monument in 1986 and regilded the sculpture in 1998.

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 19:17
by Ququuluru
:redx:

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 19:53
by queenofnerds
Oh god I can't listen yet :( can't wait....

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 19:53
by Andrew
Chords for the bridge/ending are Bb, C, Am, Dm and the bassline is just the root and the fifth. The song is in 6/8

@Ann yeah so I think the next line has to be different to what we have. I've been scanning through the article to find a word or phrase that might slot in (like some weird jigsaw) but to no avail.

Wanbli wrote:Just FYI- Tammany Hall or Tammany Society was named after a native american leader, a Lenape of the NY area - Tamanend. (Euros would refer incorrectly to him sometimes as King of the Indians)


yeah which is why I think King Tamanand is in Tammany Hall's employ - not just because of the use of the name, but also I think there's supposed to be a statue at the sight?

also more possible alternate lyrics;

"I will the hunter to decipher the stone
And what lies under the city is done"

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 20:26
by Ann
Andrew wrote:"I will the hunter to decipher the stone
And what lies under the city is done"


Ooh, that's good. I was thinking story, which doesn't rhyme at all. This makes sense.

There are some lyrics I'm trying to figure out that make sense within the song but still sound off to me. Like:

The cause is Ozymandian.
The map, all sapped of content,
is sanded and bevelled,

It sounds more like "oh sacka conten" but I really can't glean any words from those sounds and I always feel like throwing out possibilites can get us closer to the actual line. I keep thinking maybe it's a location I don't recognize -- map of _____.

The snow falls above me,
around and then around us.

Again, seems off, but eh.

(Still no clue on ol' flurry walker. It's driving me crazy.)

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 20:42
by rainbowdash
Maybe it's just differences in our own pronunciation of words but there are instances where I here more of a "G" sound than what's there in the lyrics:
The second line sounds more like "gone again" to me (not "continent")
and what lies under the city is "gone"

I also thought it was "through parks where pale colonnades"

And as for the "ole Florrie Walker" problem, I heard "all florid water" but tbh I don't know what is going on in there

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:03
by Andrew
I'm pretty sure the consonant at the end is a d, maybe a t, but definitely not a g, but yeah. I think it is through.

in regards to continent/content It's hard to work out whether there are three syllables going on or two, because what sounds like an unstressed syllable could just be the changing pitch in her voice, and it's obscured by somebody's cough anyway.

I can't really work out why a map would be sanded and bevelled, unless she means literally covered in sand and is using some meaning of bevelled that I don't know.

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:28
by ursulabear
When do you think well hear talk of a new record?

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:42
by teenagelightning
Does anyone notice the juxtaposition of the words "ran" and "sang", like in Only Skin's "run, sing"?

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:47
by dwaink
Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.


didn't see a post of the poem so added

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:48
by ribbonbows
i must say, i feel as if i'm the only person who isn't in love with this song.

just feels kind of all over the place--a bit disorganized, a first draft. of course i'm so curious to see how it evolves and tightens. i admire its ambition (vocal acrobatics), but it just doesn't work for me yet. but of course it is very interesting.

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 21:54
by Jordan~
Ann wrote:It sounds more like "oh sacka conten" but I really can't glean any words from those sounds and I always feel like throwing out possibilites can get us closer to the actual line. I keep thinking maybe it's a location I don't recognize -- map of _____.


I actually thought I heard "Osaka" first. I thought "continent" was a good fit because it rhymes very well with "monument".

And damn that Ol' Flory Walker! Damn her!

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 22:25
by dwaink
could it be "mapa sacro imperio romano" or some variation?

on an aside i keep getting an SQL error trying to log in

btw thanks an kuddos for the youtube ichi!!!!

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 22:40
by dwaink

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 22:47
by dwaink
kinda getting some first impressions from this tune, she seems to be dealing with the "works" of man in relation to their standing up against the hand of the "maker" (and in this respect the un-maker). How little we leave behind and how even less that stands the test of time, where does the hand of the maker start and end and is this maker visable or nature(or a combo of both)? it's god and nature and wiping out the works of man...except love?

which i think u pointed out quite well Qug(if not overtly verbaged to death :) )

Re: New Song at Treasure Island (Look and Despair)

PostPosted: 15 Oct 2012, 23:12
by Weirdelves
Wow guys, so impressive how you've all been finding these references. Gotta say I don't love this as much as the diver's wife, but any new material is exciting enough for me! Plus I've just listened a few more times and it's already growing.