Living Pedagogues Society

[rm']

We've had threads dealing with every possible, from graphic design, to Google, llamas to the ethics of lechery. It's time now to devote an entire thread to, in my view, the highest accomplishment of man. Let this be an apotheosis to his highest art; literature.

I'd like to use this space as a communal meeting area, where we can discuss and debate the finer points of great works of literature. I can't predict how this discussion will take form, but I'll make an attempt to get things started. (I don't want to limit the discussion by clearly defining how it should be held, but one person presenting a work, and then others commenting on it is one way to do it. For a start, it will work fine)

There's been a lot of talk recently about the meaningfulness of lyrics in song. I prefer to take the side that often, it gets in the way of beauty. Sometimes, though, I can appreciate the meaning, and poetic elegance that lyrics can provide. So, for our first topic of discussion, I propose Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery:


Building a Mystery
You come out at night
that's when the energy comes
and the dark side's light
and the vampires roam
you strut your rasta wear
and your suicide poem
and a cross from a faith
that died before Jesus came
you're building a mystery


You live in a church
where you sleep with voodoo dolls
and you won't give up the search
for the ghosts in the halls
you wear sandals in the snow
and a smile that won't wash away
can you look out the window
without your shadow getting in the way
oh you're so beautiful
with an edge and a charm
but so careful
when I'm in your arms


(Chorus)

'Cause you're working
building a mystery
holding on and holding it in
yeah you're working
building a mystery
and choosing so carefully


You woke up screaming aloud
a prayer from your secret god
you feed off our fears
and hold back your tears


Give us a tantrum
and a know it all grin
just when we need one
when the evening's thin


Oh you're a beautiful
a beautiful fucked up man
you're setting up your
razor wire shrine.


Chorus

Repeat chorus



To get things started, there are several excellent interpretations of the meaning of this work at the SongMeanings entry. Please, add your own views :-)

[dollerspark]

First off, this is a great song. Great thread idea, rm'

I think it's about a person who is very insecure with their true self, and so they make a seperate identity, or 'build a mystery'. And they are "...choosing so carefully," because they don't want their false image to come unraveled. He's got a big fear of truly opening up to people, and he's weaved this little world around himself that eventually skews his sense of reality, he can't look out the window without his shadow getting in the way. He's also waiting for some magnificent spiritual aid, searching for mythical crutches. He sees his only way out in something that doesn't exist, "You live in a church / where you sleep with voodoo dolls / and you won't give up the search / for the ghosts in the halls."

Anyway, that's just one of my takes on it. Songs can have so many meanings...