“Math Wiz” by Luna appeared on the band’s 1999 album The Days of Our Nights.
The song’s subject matter is opaque and the lyrics have an unsettling, almost sinister undertone.
“A 12 year old math wiz came to me in my sleep, he knew all the answers which he kept to himself, he said I’d hate to be you when the big day comes, the look on your face will be priceless.”
Filed under Blast From the Past
School of Seven Bells played Saturday at Le Poisson Rouge after EXITMUSIC.
Early in the band’s set, they played the standout track “Windstorm.” I previously posted a sonic analysis of “Windstorm” here, but what about the lyrics? What does the song mean?
Below are the song’s music video and the lyrics:
Windmills cut through the void dividing the imagined and true / The eyes neglect to see what the heart pursues / But my heart finds a dream in these unseen hues, in the untouchable
That’s not to say that I don’t feel the limitations and the drop from the expectation / It’s not naive but the heart of creation is the only thing proven true to me
When the fire’s burning from sky to ground, swing my weight around, begin the windstorm
Time past has thrown shadows over my shoulder that as ghosts owned / Movement of my desires lost like a stone cast as a wish into a well with no sound / No answer at the end
How can I say it’s wrong to feel the limitation and the drop from the expectation / It’s not naive but the heart of creation it’s the only thing proven true to me
When the fire’s burning from sky to ground, swing my weight around, begin the windstorm
Lyrics by Claudia Deheza and Benjamin Curtis © CHRYSALIS MUSIC GROUP
Filed under Concert Review
SongMeanings is my favorite song lyrics site because it has a comprehensive database of songs, accurate lyrics, people’s interpretations of songs’ meanings, and no nasty pop-up ads like so many other lyrics sites.
I’ve added the site to After The Show’s Links page.
A great case study of how fun and informative SongMeanings can be is the song “A Man/Me/Then Jim” by Rilo Kiley.
As its title indicates, the song is told from the switching perspective of three characters (a man, me, and Jim). The man narrates the first verse, “me” (meaning the song’s narrator or singer) relates the second verse, and Jim tells the third verse. The third verse also happens chronologically before the first and possibly before the second verse.
This song is a complex story and SongMeanings exposed me to new perspectives, helped me realize connections in the song’s lyrics, and created new questions. For example, maybe the “woman selling things” was married to Jim, the man’s “ex-first love” is the “me” of the second verse, and the “me” is Diana. Did the woman in the second verse come to the house or just call it?
Live version:
Filed under Music Discourse
