This is a follow up to an earlier thread (Destroyer Music (The Move: What?)), in which I shared a song with a destroyer/end of days type theme. Please see that here: http://culdiantrust.org/culdianforums/index.php?topic=290.0
What?, tended to look at the subject lyrically through a 3rd person perspective, distancing oneself from the experience somewhat, and focusing on a society-wide blame and unbalance which necessitates a type of ‘reset’.
Below, the subject is treated differently, from a 1st person perspective in which metaphysical and psychological causes and effects are at center stage. This type of focus requires more metaphor and interpretation, and likewise puts the listener in the place of the lyric and music itself. Doing so thus allows the listener to process fears and trauma within, without having to experience the events themselves. This process, if internalized correctly, may immunize or strengthen the listener in the way of difficult truths, or even catastrophic events. In other words, this can be somewhat like a kind of therapy upon awakening to darker realizations.
The music selections are taken from two different bands, on two separate albums. Both, however, share the same frontman/singer/lyricist, Chris Cornell.
The first selection is the latter released in terms of age. It is taken from the last track of the self titled debut album, Audioslave, called The Last Remaining Light. This song is a realization of darkness coming (but also alluding to after the fact), not fully here, in which the lone awakening soul steels oneself for the storm that is looming. Audioslave, the band, combines the instrumental players of the then defunct Rage Against the Machine with the frontman/singer of the then defunct Soundgarden, Chris Cornell. They made three albums together before splitting, of which this selection is taken from the first. Their second album, Out of Exile, is perhaps their best and most mature work, while their third album, Revelations, is mostly an album of previously unreleased tracks and outtakes.
The second selection, 4th of July, is somewhat ironically named, as it is the date of America’s Independence Day (Another symbolic theme which needs unraveling). This song takes us into the destruction, metaphorically, in which the The Last Remaining Light prepares us for. This song is taken from one of the bestselling albums from any genre released in the 90’s, Soundgarden’s Superunknown. This was one of the few albums released during this decade that truly deserved its success, and was, at the time of its release, the band’s most mature production. Soundgarden was initially known as the first ‘grunge’ music, or Seattle music band that signed to a major record label, paving the way for other Seattle based bands in the early 90’s such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and others. My opinion remains that Soundgarden was not only the first, but the best of them, and have since reformed in their classic line-up in recent years, while continuing to evolve musically.
Below, the two selections are shared with lyrics.
(On a side note, I have together a selection for a ‘Destroyer Music #3’ thread. However, the content is longer and heavier than these preceding selections, and I hesitate to presently share it on a public forum. I may change my mind on this score, but for those with above average interest in this material may PM me to have the selection shared privately.)
[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSI3w9ryYog[/embed]
The Last Remaining Light
Roll me on your frozen fields;
Break my bones to watch them heal.
Drowned me in your thirsty veins,
Where I’ll watch and I’ll wait, and pray for the rain.
Curl like smoke, and breathe again,
Down your throat, inside your ribs,
Through your spine, and every nerve,
Where I watch, and I wait, and yield to the hurt.
And if you don’t believe the sun will rise,
Stand alone and greet the coming night,
in the last remaining light.
Seven moons, and seven suns.
Heaven waits, for those who run… down your winter, and underneath your waves,
Where you watch and you wait, and pray for the day.
And if you don’t believe the sun will rise,
Stand alone and greet the coming night,
in the last remaining light.
And if you don’t believe the sun will rise,
Stand alone and greet the coming night,
in the last remaining light, light, light, light.
[embed=425,349]http://youtu.be/EU4L6THYAbM?list=RDEU4L6THYAbM[/embed]
4th of July
Shower in the dark day
Clean sparks diving down
Cool in the waterway
Where the baptized drown
Naked in the cold sun
Breathing life like fire
Thought I was the only one
But that was just a lie
Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July
Pale in the flare light
The scared light cracks & disappears
And leads the scorched ones here
And everywhere no one cares
The fire is spreading
And no one wants to speak about it
Down in the hole
Jesus tries to crack a smile
Beneath another shovel load
And I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July
Now I’m in control
Now I’m in the fall out
Once asleep but now I stand
And I still remember
Your sweet everything
Light a Roman candle
And hold it in your hand
Cause I heard it in the wind
And I saw it in the sky
And I thought it was the end
And I thought it was the 4th of July