Red Mosquito

We go way back
I wonder about his insides
It's like his thoughts are too big for his size
He's been taken... where, i don't know?

seeing it in context, to me, this line isn't about the superiority of his thoughts but about the inability to cope with what is on his mind. Someone suffering from depression can be described with those lines. Those lines to me are describing an absent look or someone who isn't able to evade those thoughts that are stronger than they are. I recall hearing psychiatrist describing situations when depressed people are being told to "snap out of it" but the condition makes them unable to. I think this can be articulated as "It's like his thoughts are too big for his size".

Generally though interpreting lyrics by taking them too literally isn't a good idea. Lyrics aren't just words. When i used to write and co-write lyrics i always took in consideration they are going to be singed and took a lot of care in having them follow certain metrics. You want them to flow, essentially. I'd even chose words based on how they sound. "It's like his thoughts are too big for his size" is an example of that. This line is constructed in function of the music/singing.

Oh and Alive is about incest just slightly more than the band is named after grandma's Pearl hallucinogenic jam. Alive is about a well known part of Ed's life and is very specifically describing it. Yes he did threw 2 lines in there that make it look like if it was about incest but what he's describing isn't post incest trauma with suicidal tendencies but his own reaction to something that actually happened to him.

Mine wrote:Someone suffering from depression can be described with those lines. Those lines to me are describing an absent look or someone who isn't able to evade those thoughts that are stronger than they are. I recall hearing psychiatrist describing situations when depressed people are being told to "snap out of it" but the condition makes them unable to. I think this can be articulated as "It's like his thoughts are too big for his size".

But he's writing them about himself. A person suffering from depression doesn't have the ability to step outside of themselves and see this. That's why they can't "snap out of it." He obviously does though.

Bottom paged

McParadigm wrote:Bottom paged

Man does not get bottom-paged. Man bottom-pages himself.

theplatypus wrote:

McParadigm wrote:Bottom paged

Man does not get bottom-paged. Man bottom-pages himself.

Like he's bottom paged on a motor bike in the stippest winds

Oh and Foldback is a song, too, I guess. Who is it about?

BurtReynolds wrote:Oh and Foldback is a song, too, I guess. Who is it about?

arpeggios

Beats me. I voted for Off He Goes.

Lament wrote:Beats me. I voted for Off He Goes.

Me too

McParadigm wrote:Bottom paged

How can anyone stay sour in the face of a guy like that?

"Like a book amongst the many on the shelf"

I dont think Ed thought too highly of himself at this point, or believed his problems were any bigger than any other persons problems, or that he was some sort of messiah. We all go through this self inquiry at some point in our live. I dont think the "Thoughts are too big for his size" means anything other than "I can't handle what issues i have in my life right now. I'm not strong enough to deal with this." Whatever it may be. We all go through that (i hope) at some point in our lives.

I am certainly not saying there is a problem with self inquiry. Lament probably isn't either. I just think off he goes is a somewhat hamfisted and narcissistic way to do it.

Yea, I dont see the narcissism at all though. The record starts off saying Ed doesnt feel he's worth a darn!! Poor guy.

McParadigm wrote:How can anyone stay sour in the face of a guy like that?

Would you rather be muck jagger or jack Nicholson in 40 years?

stip wrote:I am certainly not saying there is a problem with self inquiry. Lament probably isn't either. I just think off he goes is a somewhat hamfisted and narcissistic way to do it.

Yeah, I have no problem with self inquiry. I don't even necessarily have a problem with moments and bursts of narcissism. A few pages back I posted as much...

Lament wrote:There are a lot of songs I genuinely love that have absurdly narcissistic moments in them. There are times when it's appropriate and works very well. I'm with stip in that I think the narcissism in this song is over-the-top and a bit too much for me to take, but the presence of narcissism in itself isn't something that I consider to be a necessarily bad thing. It's just the way in which it's done here. It's too much of the main point of the song to me.

I mean, if you're gonna be ridiculous, you can do it a hell of a lot better than to sit in a shitty little boat eating a sub.

Strat wrote:Yea, I dont see the narcissism at all though. The record starts off saying Ed doesnt feel he's worth a darn!! Poor guy.

Of course then the rest of that don't goes on to assert his self worth. Sometimes is about his relationship with god, and deciding that he doesn't need someone else to define himself.

No code is full of songs of self discovery. Very little of it grapples with his sense of personal value

stip, how do you feel when Ed sings "Sometimes I cringe"?

McParadigm wrote:I mean, if you're gonna be ridiculous, you can do it a hell of a lot better than to sit in a shitty little boat eating a sub.

If jack saves enough subway wrappers maybe he can party with Keith too