Song Dissections

[HoursOfDebt]

Post your song dissection or your favorite from songmeanings, songfacts etc...

Alice in Chains - Angry Chair
This song is pretty obvious, but there are a couple parts that really jumped out at me the last time I heard the song. It was weird, I have heard the song thousands of times but I never really figured out what this part was about,

"serenity is so far away" and "pink cloud has turned to grey"



Sitting on an angry chair
Angry walls that steal the air
Stomach hurts and I don't care

:::the early parts of the song paint the scene of somebody sitting alone, going through drug cravings/ withdrawals:::


Candles red I have a pair
Shadows dancing everywhere
Burning on the angry chair

::: in this part he could possibly be looking at a table next to a chair with his drug paraphernalia and the candles needed to heat the heroin::::

Little boy made a mistake, hey
Pink cloud has now turned to gray, oh
All that I want is to play, hey
Get on your knees, time to pray, boy

:::The "Pink Cloud" layne is talking about is the feeling you get after you quit drugs and then start to feel better, or "the pink cloud at the end of recovery".:::


Loneliness is not a phase
Field of pain is where I graze
Serenity is far away

:::this is the part where he starts to lose control to his addiction. The previous "Get on your knees, time to pray" line goes along with "Serenity is so far away". "Serenity" is the prayer drug addicts recite every time before, and after class for addiction recovery, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_prayer

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference. "

he is also alone with nobody to help him through this craving:::

Saw my reflection and cried, hey
So little hope that I died, oh
Feed me your lies, open wide, hey
Weight of my heart, not the size, oh

::: in this part he sees himself in the mirror, all wasted from years of drug abuse, and keeps telling himself that he could do it (drugs) one more time, he is lying to himself saying "its not that bad":::

Pink cloud has now turned to gray
All that I want is to play
Get on your knees time to pray, boy

::: the endless cycle of his heroin addiction continues as he sits in torment:::

I also heard that this song, starting with "junkhead" is a story about somebody going through the cycles of drug addiction. ending with "angry chair".

Anywhoo... I love over analyzing songs. if you have any good dissections post them here!

 

[Frosties]

Here is something I wrote years ago about Dark Tranquillity's "The Gallery", of the album of the same name. It's been a while since I looked this over so I don't know how accurate it is:

I believe this song to be sort of a battle with the mind against anything that suppresses the mind from being creative. The Gallery is the creative part of his mind, and his paintings are metaphors for his creations; so the artist draws inspiration from his own personal gallery in order to create new art and show it to the world.

Come and dance through my vanity's halls
Welcome...
Welcome to my exhibition..

Here the artist starts to create something, or at least tries to start, so he goes into his mind's "halls" --the halls where he expresses himself to the world, wanting them all to see and taste his art (which is why he calls them "vain")--, searching for inspiration in the "exhibition".

Ornaments fall
The fate of my art condemned
And the creative seed
That grows to the tune of the harvest song
Embodies my lifelong passion
Intertwine with the structures of my art
Those empty frames staring at me...

Now he realizes that "the frames are empty" and that something is wrong with his Gallery (the creative part of his mind). Try as he might, he can't seem to find inspiration to create somethng new, therefore ruining his future art ("...condemned"); even-though it's his "lifelong passion", he still has trouble. There is chaos in his Gallery, as the ornaments fall and his art is ruined; and something is wrong with his creativity ("seed").

One lonely portrait
Covers the love-starved canvas
In honor of the birthless rebellion within me

The only thing left of his Gallery is one portrait. I think that he is sort-of-yearning for creation, so he created a portrait (something that takes skill and yet isn't too-creative; it just mirrors real life; which is why it is "love-starved"). His mind is "rebelling" against his will to create, though here he hints that it is something that has always been there: he is saying that it is always hard to create.

Every picture holds a tale
Every shade tells of a thousand words

This part shows the worth of those pictures which he is missing. With each picture his Gallery is missing he could create "a thousand words".

The artistry of living chaos
Is pictured in the poet's tears
'Cause everything burns
The final concept is all but a thought away...

Now the artist starts to despair and just creates chaos. Nothing in particular, just chaos. The last two lines show that he feels that he is capable of creating beauty and that it is close but still he is unable to do so.

Be gone, you foul enchantress of decay!
My thoughts and words will come to right
In my chambers where chaos conveys
Kneel down to my desires..

Now the artist is fighting that "foul enchantress" (who can be thought of as anything that blocks inspiration) who is responsible for his inability to create. In other words, he is forcing himself to create ("Kneel down to my desires"). He is making "thoughts and words" out of the chaos that was in his Gallery -- he is finally creating beauty.

Deep in the vaults of my carnal agony
Emptiness!
Orchestration through colors
Colors..

Here, through agony, he is creating. "Orchestration through colors" means he is painting, filling up his Gallery. "Deep in the vaults of my carnal agony / Emptiness!" means that where once was emptiness now stand his paintings -- his creations.

The gallery
To never return be my framework!
Burning the trust
Burning my art

Now he is finished. His works are no-longer his own, since he set them out to the world. Now, after all his pain, the works that he created are out of his hands, and now it is up to the world to do with them what it pleases. The last sentence, "Burning my art", means that he doesn't get appreciation for his works or the pain he puts into making them, and they are just disregarded.

 

[soundave]

Weight of my heart, not the size, oh

From Egyptian mythology, the weighing of the heart after death to determine your fate in the afterlife.

 

[Blackwater Demon]

I have one, Parabola by Tool

This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality embrace this moment remember we aare eternal all this pain is an illusion

These are some pretty strong lyrics. After the song and the video to me this songs mans that when you die your soul lives on through energy. For any Tool fan I think this song meaning is obvious but for those who havent heard it, it really makes you think about things.

 

[HoursOfDebt]

From Egyptian mythology, the weighing of the heart after death to determine your fate in the afterlife.

ahhh. that was a part that i was having a hard time with.

thanks!

 

[HoursOfDebt]

Here is something I wrote years ago about Dark Tranquillity's "The Gallery", of the album of the same name. It's been a while since I looked this over so I don't know how accurate it is:

.....

i gave this song a spin. very good analysis.

 

[Frosties]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Stanne is probably my favorite lyricist - especially on that album.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

I have one, Parabola by Tool

This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality embrace this moment remember we aare eternal all this pain is an illusion

These are some pretty strong lyrics. After the song and the video to me this songs mans that when you die your soul lives on through energy. For any Tool fan I think this song meaning is obvious but for those who havent heard it, it really makes you think about things.

Oh, I thought that song was about run-on sentences