Song Meanings: Heir Apparent

[ramses]

Fine, but I don't think they'll have a constant, consistent screw up list like GW Bush's.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

Only Hoover is comparable. Guys like Millard Fillmore have nothing on Bush.

 

[Shredzilla]

Please read into people like Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Millard Fillmore, among others, before attempting to label Bush our worst president. I don't want to fuel this argument, but that can't go ignored.

Don't forget the joke that is known as Jimmy Carter.

 

[anarchy420]

getting back on the topic of the meaning of the song "heir apparent", by opeth...

i've given this a lot of thought and i may be flamed for this but anyway, i consider myself to be an "heir apparent", in the fact that i am the only child born of either of my parents. my dad never married again, my mom remarried to a man who didn't have any kids and she got her tubes tied, and in all probablity i will never have any offspring of my own, so in that way, i consider myself an apparent heir to my family's gene pool or whatever. basically it ends with me. which is no big loss to the whole of humanity in the long run, but i just felt a connection to the song title.

 

[Opethian666]

The first thing I thought of when I read the lyrics was religion rather than politics, which is also more in agreement with personal lyrics (Mike's an atheist).

"Sew lies
Sow hate"

Religious lies are one of the greatest causes of hate in the world

"So many years to clean the slate
Endless despair within its wake
His touch soiling what used to be clean
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams no more"

Religion has demanded a huge toll of blood and misery in the past, and although in modern times it could be expected it would change to something more positive, this has proven not to be the case. "His touch" and "His gaze" could be interpreted as the touch and gaze of the deity that controls the believers. His "touch" can cause them to do horrible things (soiling what used to be clean), and his gaze (believers think he's watching their every move, and are afraid of judgment at any moment) makes sure they won't be able to accomplish their dreams.

"Now came
Dark days"

Pretty obvious (maybe even a reference to the dark ages).

"he covets the gullible"
"A thousand lies, cast from the throne of secrecy"

The gullible are the believers, the throne of secrecy in reference to the deity or important religious leaders.

"Hear him spewing forth meaning to miserable lies
See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair
The insect trust
Believer
Your body a vehicle to ?"

Religious beliefs are basically the result of cognitive dissonance causing people to find meaning in lies, in which doubt plays an important role to allow you to even consider the irrational (believers might see that something is incredibly unlikely to be true, but what if it is true...).

Well, it's more of the same later on

"they are nothing but blind"
"Submit to nothing"
"Invisible king"
"Procession of woe"
"A burden so great weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs"
"Spiralling judgement"
"drowned in the levee of deception"
"Rid us of your judgement
Heir apparent"

It's really mindboggling how no one has even considered this possibility...

 

[Labyrinth of Blindness]

The first thing I thought of when I read the lyrics was religion rather than politics, which is also more in agreement with personal lyrics (Mike's an atheist).

"Sew lies
Sow hate"

Religious lies are one of the greatest causes of hate in the world

"So many years to clean the slate
Endless despair within its wake
His touch soiling what used to be clean
His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams no more"

Religion has demanded a huge toll of blood and misery in the past, and although in modern times it could be expected it would change to something more positive, this has proven not to be the case. "His touch" and "His gaze" could be interpreted as the touch and gaze of the deity that controls the believers. His "touch" can cause them to do horrible things (soiling what used to be clean), and his gaze (believers think he's watching their every move, and are afraid of judgment at any moment) makes sure they won't be able to accomplish their dreams.

"Now came
Dark days"

Pretty obvious (maybe even a reference to the dark ages).

"he covets the gullible"
"A thousand lies, cast from the throne of secrecy"

The gullible are the believers, the throne of secrecy in reference to the deity or important religious leaders.

"Hear him spewing forth meaning to miserable lies
See the twisted hand of doubt seal the affair
The insect trust
Believer
Your body a vehicle to ?"

Religious beliefs are basically the result of cognitive dissonance causing people to find meaning in lies, in which doubt plays an important role to allow you to even consider the irrational (believers might see that something is incredibly unlikely to be true, but what if it is true...).

Well, it's more of the same later on

"they are nothing but blind"
"Submit to nothing"
"Invisible king"
"Procession of woe"
"A burden so great weighs heavy on old and withered beliefs"
"Spiralling judgement"
"drowned in the levee of deception"
"Rid us of your judgement
Heir apparent"

It's really mindboggling how no one has even considered this possibility...

Yea man, I was wondering that myself. I didn't really know what Mike's beliefs were though so I wasn't sure. For some reason I thought he was agnostic...

It would also make sense that Mike would want to keep this to himself, as he probably doesn't want to offend any of his listeners that may be religious. Or maybe he doesn't give a shit? Who knows...

 

[Crepuscularia]

Maybe this could be tied in with the 'family' concept by assuming that the father was some sort of prominent religious figure in the community, and the son is lashing out at his father's hypocrisy in this song? Perhaps the father is a church leader who hides his dark nature from his congregation but is a different man at home.....

 

[Opethian666]

^Might be possible, hard to tell since we don't know anything about his parents/childhood.

I also noticed something about the title in reference to a specific line:
"So many years to clean the slate"
This would suggest that in spite of so many chances to stop the misery and deception, the religious figure rules his believers in the same way as the ones before him, thus making him a "heir apparent". Don't know if this is just seeing connections were there aren't any, it just struck me as plausible.

 

[BefriendedUnit]

That's a really interesting take! I think it's slightly more ambiguous than my interpretation, because the political route gets to point out terms like Septermber and Levee (which are ambiguous anyway), but all you get is abstractions. It being a song about religion is definitely more likely, thought, I agree with you on that. I think we can all agree that it's totally anti "The Man", and whatever it's about, it's about rebelling against it. That's why I love this song.

 

[ramses]

I still think it's about a piece of shit father, talking shit, and charming his way back into his wife's life. The wife/mother seems to be a very lonely woman that clings to any form of attention she can get. Dark days can refer to anyone that recalls times/days when they were at their personal worst. I remember some of my darkest days involved my worthless father trying to talk his way back into a marriage that even I, at age 6 could see was a mistake from the start. Those were dark days for me, yet I don't come from the middle ages. Seems to me the father preys on the gullible and lonely nature of the mother/wife, and is defending his exposed lies, and reversing the blame upon her. All people in charge...political or religious leaders, oppressive parents, covet the gullible. The trusting or gullible people let their guard down, in faith and hope that those in charge that potray themselves as all seeing, all knowing ,charismatic and "born leaders", will provide the answers they long for. Good lyric writers such as Mikael, know it's more beneficial to write a little vague-ish for the sake of those that admire Opeth's music. The more varied the interpretation of the lyrics, the more appreciated your words will be, by obviously more people. The songs in turn can be enjoyed longer than the typical straightfoward Poison-AC/DC type lyric writing. I don't think there's too many people out there that dicuss lyrics from those bands. And, you can only listen to Shook Me all Night Long, and Talk Dirty to Me only for a short while.....it's really "low brow" obvious what the words are about!

 

[Mantraschism]

I still think it's about a piece of shit father, talking shit, and charming his way back into his wife's life. The wife/mother seems to be a very lonely woman that clings to any form of attention she can get. Dark days can refer to anyone that recalls times/days when they were at their personal worst. I remember some of my darkest days involved my worthless father trying to talk his way back into a marriage that even I, at age 6 could see was a mistake from the start. Those were dark days for me, yet I don't come from the middle ages. Seems to me the father preys on the gullible and lonely nature of the mother/wife, and is defending his exposed lies, and reversing the blame upon her. All people in charge...political or religious leaders, oppressive parents, covet the gullible. The trusting or gullible people let their guard down, in faith and hope that those in charge that potray themselves as all seeing, all knowing ,charismatic and "born leaders", will provide the answers they long for. Good lyric writers such as Mikael, know it's more beneficial to write a little vague-ish for the sake of those that admire Opeth's music. The more varied the interpretation of the lyrics, the more appreciated your words will be, by obviously more people. The songs in turn can be enjoyed longer than the typical straightfoward Poison-AC/DC type lyric writing. I don't think there's too many people out there that dicuss lyrics from those bands. And, you can only listen to Shook Me all Night Long, and Talk Dirty to Me only for a short while.....it's really "low brow" obvious what the words are about!

+1 Good post. This is a great interpretation.

 

[Opethian666]

I still think it's about a piece of shit father, talking shit, and charming his way back into his wife's life. The wife/mother seems to be a very lonely woman that clings to any form of attention she can get. Dark days can refer to anyone that recalls times/days when they were at their personal worst. I remember some of my darkest days involved my worthless father trying to talk his way back into a marriage that even I, at age 6 could see was a mistake from the start. Those were dark days for me, yet I don't come from the middle ages. Seems to me the father preys on the gullible and lonely nature of the mother/wife, and is defending his exposed lies, and reversing the blame upon her. All people in charge...political or religious leaders, oppressive parents, covet the gullible. The trusting or gullible people let their guard down, in faith and hope that those in charge that potray themselves as all seeing, all knowing ,charismatic and "born leaders", will provide the answers they long for. Good lyric writers such as Mikael, know it's more beneficial to write a little vague-ish for the sake of those that admire Opeth's music. The more varied the interpretation of the lyrics, the more appreciated your words will be, by obviously more people. The songs in turn can be enjoyed longer than the typical straightfoward Poison-AC/DC type lyric writing. I don't think there's too many people out there that dicuss lyrics from those bands. And, you can only listen to Shook Me all Night Long, and Talk Dirty to Me only for a short while.....it's really "low brow" obvious what the words are about!

Yeah, that seems very plausible as well. It also makes sense in context of the "heir apparent". In this case, instead of a followup of religious leaders, it would refer to a followup of oppressive parents, with the abuse of one child leading to another oppressive adult later on etc... It's a heritage of misery and pain that causes the victim to pass it on later in life.

 

[ramses]

And you guys have to take note of the pictures/artwork in the booklet . I would think that helps convey the theme that there seems to be on Watershed. I mean, if it was about political or religious leaders, it would probably be in the artwork, right? Like it was on Still Life, and Ghost Reveries....

 

[Theophage]

Once again, have we been attacked by Al Qaeda since 9/11?

wait, which administration more or less allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place?

now, I'm a libertarian, and I hate the two-party system as much as the next guy, but to say that bush has done more for "homeland security" than anyone previous is just fuckin' retarded.

by your logic, since there were far fewer american civilians killed during the clinton administration than the bush administration, that obviously makes clinton the far superior president.

also, lolz political thread!

 

[ConX]

I dunno about you guys but rather than "His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams", I hear quite unmistakably: "His case burning on the edge of the desk" - perhaps this will affect your interpretations of the song?

 

[Opethian666]

And you guys have to take note of the pictures/artwork in the booklet . I would think that helps convey the theme that there seems to be on Watershed. I mean, if it was about political or religious leaders, it would probably be in the artwork, right? Like it was on Still Life, and Ghost Reveries....

Indeed, you've convinced me with your interpretation, I think the religious and political interpretations can be discarded. Even when the artwork is left out of consideration it makes a lot more sense in context of the other songs' lyrics, and family is of course one of the most personal things in life.

 

[fifthwinter]

Damn, I listened to this again today and all I could think of was George Dubya.

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

I dunno about you guys but rather than "His gaze burning on the edge of our dreams", I hear quite unmistakably: "His case burning on the edge of the desk" - perhaps this will affect your interpretations of the song?

wrong. the lyrics about gazing are directly from the code in the booklet.

 

[badabiing]

I still think it's about a piece of shit father, talking shit, and charming his way back into his wife's life.

My first thoughts also. I think it suits the rest of the songs too.

Although you can interpret this in many ways, it's defo not about G.W. Bush...

 

[Defluo]

Good ideas guys - that was an interesting read.