Is there ANYONE who understands ANYTHING of DT's lyrics?

[Child of Time]

I must admit that Dark Tranquillity's lyrics doesn't make any sense to me.
I love their music anyway, but sometimes I wonder from which dimension or galaxy Mikael Stanne and Niklas Sundin comes from.
Is there someone here who thinks that they understand any of Dt's lyrics? Tell me, then. Which song, and what is the lyrics about?

 

[Malaclypse]

i think quite a loet of people here understad the lyrics, but they understand it their way. so do i. i could give you an interpretation of some songs, but that information could as well be wrong in other's eyes. and that's the point: you have ro think about it. if someone tells you his/hers interpretation, it's rather useless

 

[Siren]

@Child of Time: Do you always understand poetry?

I'll go with VultureCulture on this one, you have to spend time thinking about them, and then you will surely get something out of it.

Btw, best way ANY lyrics start to make ANY sense to me is when I listen to the song and read the lyrics at the same time. Music helps me a lot to get the meaning.
On the contrary, when I just read the lyrics of any song, I don't understand shit.

 

[Alfred]

Originally posted by Siren
ANY lyrics start to make ANY sense to me is when I listen to the song and read the lyrics at the same time

Quite interesting, I think. Please, would you mind explaining me the details of how Hedon made sense to you in the field of topological manifolds when you listened to the song and read the lyrics at the same time?

Alfred

 

[terria]

as the dear vulture just said, the thing with UNDERSTANDING their lyrics is a bit difficult...
i draw muchmuchmuch energy out of their lyrics by understanding them my way. this is not to say that i understand the lyrics as they were ment to be (if they were ment to be understood but that's a different topic) but i think i got at least the general gist of some of them...

i know it's blasphemy, but zeus (hohoho! the son of cronos! haha! a pun! a play on words!!! hargh...) asked for it so here is what I PERSONALLY think constant (from TMI) to mean:

the beginning is imho about art and the act of creation as such, being a constant source of energy and stability giving man the power to build them walls against the outer worlds ("let art once again be a WEAPON"); the "errors" of this outer world having been shaped into FORM then stay unheard by the world gone BLIND again which shows the in a way ridiculous position of an artist to the world: the oversensivity of the artist forces him to form the overflow of information he receives into art which is then consumed by the masses that forced him to create it in an indirect way...
err, the last sentence is the most important one for me:
he says that one should not give a name to the magic, one shouldn't try to define it, one shouldn't destroy the beauty of some moments with ratio (at least that's what i get out of it).

he asked for it

 

[Siren]

Originally posted by Alfred
Quite interesting, I think. Please, would you mind explaining me the details of how Hedon made sense to you in the field of topological manifolds when you listened to the song and read the lyrics at the same time?

Alfred

Uhm, in which point exactly did I say that I understand Hedon (or all DT songs)?

Anywayz, it's not exactly a rational procedure, it just helps me understand better the gist of a song.

 

[Alfred]

Well, you said any song (thus, I presume, including Hedon) and any meaning, so I just sat down, looked at you amazed and picked up my notebook, ready to learn... well, anything D

Alfred

 

[Siren]

Argh! You are twisting my words
I said any not every
(that will show you rusty hook! [j/k] )


Siren

 

[Alfred]

Originally posted by Siren
Argh! You are twisting my words

And what did you expect from such a twisted accessory, exactly?

I said any not every

But you said it in an assertive sentence, this is not the same to say that some songs start to make some sense or that any song starts to make some sense... )

(that will show you rusty hook! [j/k] )

At this point "almost gleaming in full moonlight", please (after two days of accurate polishing)... D

Alfred

 

[Melancholia]

yup ,i agree with Vulture!
we have to give our own interpretations to the songs...

hmm from some songs i don't udnerstand a lot,from others i have come to some conclusions...but mostly i don't like to share them unless the message on the song is quite clear....
i actually don't like to say my ideas on a song cause sometimes i have a feeling i am thinking the ultimate crap or the super-weird stuff about it and actually feel ashamed
but well if some people come up with some interpretations maybe i'll feel like speaking my mind a bit...

hmmm sometimes i feel so stupid when i don't understand lyrics....

 

[FatherVic]

alfred: you don't look that twisted in your avatar but rather plastic

and yep, as everyone, I'm agreeing Vulture too....
the great thing is that sometimes, when you have listening a song for 2 years and you are quite sure it talks about something in particular, one day you listen to it, and somehow you come to see it clear that means other diferent thing (not necesarily the correct one of course)

fathervic (in an urge for some good lyrics)

 

[Thanatos]

maybe if you're in the right mood while reading the lyrics and listening to the music...

 

[Metal88]

I agree with vulture to the extent that poems including DT's stuff can have different meanings.....anyone should know that. The oldest poems we would study back in high school....the teacher would let the kids interpret them and all sorts of different ideas were thrown out for discussion. The point was simply that a poem doesn't have mean something in particular, though it does sometimes. I do not agree with vulture that it is "useless" to post our interpretations here. Why did I use to do it back in HS if it was useless? Damn, I wasted lots of time. It's kinda cool to discuss personal meanings of poems or songs. That's how we learn about this sort of thing; communicating our own individual feelings and insights and putting others with our own to get a maximum understanding of the work. In this particular thread, there was no particular song given just "anybody know anything??" Perhaps child of time should give us a particular song to discuss.

 

[rahvin]

i think some songs by dt have a very definite, understandable meaning that has very little to do with interpretation, although of course there are ways to feel and discover their words that make them a very personal journey.

i also think that all songs by dt are so cleverly conceived that their meaning could actually point different ways at once without contradiction.

as for understanding what they actually mean, i'd suggest anyone who's in doubt to just ask straight away on this thread about any lyrics they're interested in. i'm sure we'll make something out.

rahvin.

 

[Child of Time]

Well, I think you're right about that we all have our own interpretations of their songs. But I'd like to know what Stanne and Sundin thought about when they wrote the lyrics.

Hmm, let us discuss....Zodijackyl Light! (I love that song.)

 

[rahvin]

on to zodijackyl light, then.

the overall feeling i get from this song is that of a double movement: one starting from the earth/mankind and going upwards through everything that is man-made, the other starting from the stars and descending upon us.
the reason/structure of this motion might reside in the jackal/revenge theme we've already seen in '...of melancholy burning' (definitely a song about paybacks): for everything that happens on the inside/human level, there is some sort of counterbalance/retaliation on the cosmic side.
i think zodijackyl light particularly deals with some negative aspects of the 'what goes around comes around' principle, i.e., there is a strong pressure superimposed on us by myth, gods, the afterlife, transcendence. and that - well - really pisses us off.

the first two strophes seem to merely depict the circularity of the movement rising up and falling down, pointing out that this was intended from the start:
... the impulse that deliberately fall ... spiritless action ... a world that was left behind ... might be related to mankind's will being kinda nihilist in nature even when it seems to be directed towards good and progress. people did burn the greenwood order of the vertical path, tearing down trees to build tools and instruments, and they crawl in the remnants of one thousand lies, because the result of their efforts wasn't exactly as happy as expected.
in short, evolution was doomed to fail. the actual zodijackyl light looks like a metaphor for our destiny (zodiac/predictions/fate) written in the light of an evil star (jackal/revenge, again).

and as soon as we go wrong, as soon as sin is committed (waiting for ... the spark of sin), punishment from above will arrive (the beast of heaven) crushing down faith and painting our world in chaos.

then, what went (ethically) wrong will burn: oppression, as in slavery, inventors, as in building machine against nature's laws, the killing hand, as in murder. what was good might ultimately be destroyed as well, by the sheer strength of this celestial retaliation. mankind might try and resist, but only if it doesn't close its eyes and accepts the misery inherent in the process (... i shall not be blinded ... feasting on debris from celestial wars...).

after that, we get to a more 'technical' part where we see how this wreckage might be brought upon us. we have the sequence of the nucleus, burning with glowing dust: this is probably about nuclear reactions and stars bursting (it's a very common theme in dt anyway).

the last verses hint at the fact that light/darkness polarities in truth support each other since recognition with dichotomies happen this way: you know what one thing means because there is the other to compare it to. punishment/faith may be seen as being in the same situation.

maybe there's more to it than this, and maybe i'm dead wrong, but that was just a try.

rahvin.

 

[Villain]

An interesting interpretation, Rahvin. I, for one, never bothered myself with the ZL lyrics, as I find the song one of the worst of the band (as you all well know...). However, now that I checked the lyrics a while ago, the image I got is pretty much unlike yours, dear cynic.

For me the song tells more of the longing for a clearer vision, an easier world to approach, with less choices to be made, so that right and wrong could be separated from each other. It is as if Stanne was frustrated with the modern, multi-sided and complex world (crawl in the remnants of one thousand lies) and wants to destroy it to start anew. He wants a new ideology to reign (crown the impulse that deliberately fall) in a straightforward way (order of the vertical path).

Also, instead of truly waiting for the beast of heaven to descend from the skies above, I find it only as a metaphor for inner awakening (waiting for the call within), which is longed for - more a state of mind than an actual event. When it is found, it is used to bring the world down (burning..., etc; where the inventors could be seen more as those who try to blur the world even more - be they media, politicians or whatever) and no-one can stop the change at this point (I shall not be blinded / I shall not be forced). The result is a destroyed, yet much simplified world, where even the debris is worth a feast.

I can see my interpretation is still rather unstable, but I'll think of it for a few days and come back at it (perhaps) later.

-Villain

 

[rahvin]

@villain: i checked the lyrics with your view in mind but wasn't really convinced of its general consistency...
it's ok what you say about frustration for the modern world, i agree that the will to destroy in the author is something i probably missed, but i just can't see the 'clearer vision' since: a) the impulse falling deliberately doesn't look like a very good thing no matter how much i look at it. it just seems too early to be so nihilist. b) the greenwood order has got to burn: this would actually go against straightforward ways if we see it as such.
as for the 'call within' part, i see it more as a matter of syntax: i thought 'the beast' was 'waiting'. it sure might mean what you think, but i also find that 'ever reminiscent of the coming of storm' (which is in the same position as the 'waiting' part) makes much more sense when related to the beast, who has got the 'cosmic face in which disorder lies'.
i do agree with you on the inventors, the unstoppable force of change and the world resulting being much simplified.

rahvin.

 

[Child of Time]

I think both rahvin's and Villain's interpretations are very interesting though I think Villain's is more "right" than rahvin's. (But since there's no right or wrong in this subject, you could think about it as I like that version more)
My own too hasty interpretation is that the song is about science going too far and/or going astray.

Sorry for rather bad english.

 

[rahvin]

@child of time: no need to say sorry for your english, really. besides, i'm gonna do you in anyway since you said you like villain's rendition better.

if anybody wants to comment on any other song or would like any other song commented upon, we're still here to read and to serve.

rahvin.