Author Topic: Voices lyrics question  (Read 10542 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Ruba

  • Posts: 4431
  • Gender: Male
Voices lyrics question
« on: May 31, 2012, 01:44:24 AM »
Hi.

So, I've been wondering, what does the first sentence in Voices mean? "Love, just don't stare." Is it like "Love, but please don't stare at me" or "Love, but don't just look stupid and watch, do something!"?

Offline erik16

  • Posts: 251
  • Gender: Male
  • The one on the right
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2012, 07:30:55 AM »
I think it means that don't crave for sex by staring, simply love sentimentally. If it were "love, don't just stare" then it would mean something like "don't simply stand there watching, come and get some."

Offline Mladen

  • Posts: 15203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2012, 12:49:36 PM »
I think it means that don't crave for sex by staring, simply love sentimentally.
That's a shitty message.

 ;D

Offline MoraWintersoul

  • Gloom Cookie
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 6737
  • Gender: Female
  • welcome to the wasteland
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2012, 01:21:07 PM »
I think "love" is a noun there. He says "my love, please don't stare at me". Or that's just what I think.

Quote
Don't try to BS her about Kevin Moore facts, she will obscure quote you in the face.

type : mora : and delete the spaces for a surprise

Offline seasonsinthesky

  • roo)))m noise
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 1483
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2012, 03:57:16 PM »
it looks like the stanza is about the (female?) narrator facing "the old man taking the poison," so the first line would be said old man's words to her before he does. when it reappears later, it seems to double as a warning of her relationship with religion: 'don't just stare at the message, believe in it, do what it advises, it will help' ("reveal the word when you're supposed to").

Offline SeRoX

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2425
  • Gender: Male
  • The VoiceMaster
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2012, 04:04:07 PM »
It can be understood clearly if you read following sentence.

"Love, just don't stare" ... he used to say to me every sunday morning.
Quote from: Plasmastrike
SeRoX is right!
Quote from: Nihil-Morari
SeRoX is DTF's JLB!
As usual, SeRoX is correct.

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2012, 04:40:44 PM »
Some people in this thread have got the right idea. "Love, just don't stare" is

A) said to the narrator by a man, probably an authority figure, and
B) probably meant to reflect on romantic relationships in the context of the church. Consider it analogous to "love, just don't lust".

Offline bosk1

  • King of Misdirection
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 12786
  • Bow down to Boskaryus
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2012, 04:47:28 PM »
It can be understood clearly if you read following sentence.

"Love, just don't stare" ... he used to say to me every sunday morning.

This.  As usual, SeRoX is correct.

Basically, although the lyrics are incredibly cryptic and symbolic, the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.  The context of that line is that the fictional protagonist is likely hearing the message, "love, just don't stare" from the pulpit at church.  In other words, the message being preached is, "love, but don't lust," which the protagonist is struggling to put into perspective.
"The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie."

Offline Sir GuitarCozmo

  • Official Forum Sous Chef and broler5
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 13979
  • Gender: Male
  • Kelly Clarkson BEEFS
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2012, 05:08:01 PM »
the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.

DT wrote a song about AndyDT?

Offline Ħ

  • Posts: 3247
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2012, 05:11:54 PM »
I always thought it was "love, just don't stare," as in "honey/baby/etc, just don't stare." So "love" is a noun for the protagonist.
"All great works are prepared in the desert, including the redemption of the world. The precursors, the followers, the Master Himself, all obeyed or have to obey one and the same law. Prophets, apostles, preachers, martyrs, pioneers of knowledge, inspired artists in every art, ordinary men and the Man-God, all pay tribute to loneliness, to the life of silence, to the night." - A. G. Sertillanges

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2012, 05:18:26 PM »
the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.

DT wrote a song about AndyDT?
:clap:

Offline bosk1

  • King of Misdirection
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 12786
  • Bow down to Boskaryus
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2012, 05:28:17 PM »
the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.

DT wrote a song about AndyDT?

Why, yes.

I always thought it was "love, just don't stare," as in "honey/baby/etc, just don't stare." So "love" is a noun for the protagonist.

Possible, but I don't think so.  Again, it wouldn't really fit with the next line of the song.
"The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie."

Offline Ħ

  • Posts: 3247
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2012, 05:32:06 PM »
Speaking of the lyrics, there's the one line "these voices in my head tell me to". I always hated how James says it in the studio version...he says "tell to me" and it is phonetically awkward.
"All great works are prepared in the desert, including the redemption of the world. The precursors, the followers, the Master Himself, all obeyed or have to obey one and the same law. Prophets, apostles, preachers, martyrs, pioneers of knowledge, inspired artists in every art, ordinary men and the Man-God, all pay tribute to loneliness, to the life of silence, to the night." - A. G. Sertillanges

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2012, 05:34:17 PM »
^???

Do you mean the "these demons in my head tell me to" lyric? He says the words correctly there.

Offline Ħ

  • Posts: 3247
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2012, 05:40:17 PM »
I don't hear it. He sounds like he fumbles the words.
"All great works are prepared in the desert, including the redemption of the world. The precursors, the followers, the Master Himself, all obeyed or have to obey one and the same law. Prophets, apostles, preachers, martyrs, pioneers of knowledge, inspired artists in every art, ordinary men and the Man-God, all pay tribute to loneliness, to the life of silence, to the night." - A. G. Sertillanges

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2012, 05:53:26 PM »
Nope, it's definitely there, though it's pretty quiet and is pronounced just as unusually as JLB normally pronounces things. Remember that, given that this is a studio recording, they would just re-record it if he stumbled over a lyric.

Offline Ħ

  • Posts: 3247
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #16 on: May 31, 2012, 05:55:26 PM »
I dunno, it still sounds weird. I actually think that the editing of the vocals on Voices is kinda sloppy. You know the part "enough to staaaay"? It sounds like he says "enough to -taaaay". It's choppy. Pretty sure he didn't sing it continuously and they just slapped two takes together. That's how it sounds at least.
"All great works are prepared in the desert, including the redemption of the world. The precursors, the followers, the Master Himself, all obeyed or have to obey one and the same law. Prophets, apostles, preachers, martyrs, pioneers of knowledge, inspired artists in every art, ordinary men and the Man-God, all pay tribute to loneliness, to the life of silence, to the night." - A. G. Sertillanges

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2012, 05:57:11 PM »
Yep, you're right about that one. Never really noticed that before.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17544
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2012, 07:06:48 PM »
the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.

DT wrote a song about AndyDT?
:clap:
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline snapple

  • Dad-bod Expert
  • Posts: 5144
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2012, 07:25:28 PM »
the song is basically about someone with some level of psychological issues who is struggling with understanding religion and sex.

DT wrote a song about AndyDT?
:clap:

Offline RaiseTheKnife

  • Posts: 1600
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #20 on: May 31, 2012, 11:11:48 PM »

I always thought it was "love, just don't stare," as in "honey/baby/etc, just don't stare." So "love" is a noun for the protagonist.

Possible, but I don't think so.  Again, it wouldn't really fit with the next line of the song.

Agreed.

Offline Lowdz

  • Posts: 10378
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #21 on: June 01, 2012, 03:01:42 PM »
My opinion, for what it's worth,

Having worked extensively in Mental Health I don't get the big religion/sex connection in the song, certainly not as a big theme anyway. There are references, yes, but to me it's a song about schizophrenia, which often has an obsessive religious element to it. I see lots of "typical" schizophrenic ideas here. I read on the net a long dissection of this song talking about religion all the way through and I found it hilarious really. I think the writer had issues of his own.

I've always taken the first line to be the "mother" figure talking to a child/adolescent, telling him not to stare at his father who has mental illness. The father (in my interpretation) kills himself, leaving the boy alone with his mother. The boy develops mental health issues (fairly standard schizophrenic symptoms)- there's an ongoing dialogue with the voices- his psychosis.

Not saying it's right but that's how I see it. JP at his best though. I think it's a similar approach as 6DOIT where JP allegedly rewrote a medical textbook in lyric form- this seems based on psychotic  case studies and lyric-ised. It's done well though.
 

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52780
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2012, 03:13:26 PM »
It's about anal.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline Scorpion

  • Unreal Heir
  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 9908
  • Gender: Male
  • Ragnarök around the Clöck!
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #23 on: June 01, 2012, 03:41:36 PM »
scorpion is my favorite deathcore lobster
Hey, the length is fine :azn: Thanks!

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52780
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2012, 03:55:36 PM »
I did.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline Rob24

  • Posts: 116
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #25 on: June 02, 2012, 04:12:02 PM »
Could anyone clarify why "stare" is equal to "lust" in this context? Not a native speaker, I apologize.

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2012, 08:18:30 PM »
I've always taken the first line to be the "mother" figure talking to a child/adolescent, telling him not to stare at his father who has mental illness.
Then why is the next line "he used to say to me every Sunday morning"? And why does the mother only say this on Sunday morning?

Offline Lowdz

  • Posts: 10378
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #27 on: June 03, 2012, 01:37:45 PM »
I've always taken the first line to be the "mother" figure talking to a child/adolescent, telling him not to stare at his father who has mental illness.
Then why is the next line "he used to say to me every Sunday morning"? And why does the mother only say this on Sunday morning?

weird, I've always heard it as "she" as in the 2nd stanza but it's obviously not. There goes that theory then. But the sunday morning thing could just be some weird religious thing the guy does. In fact I haven't a clue what he's talking about. I much prefer these modern lyrics that read like the History Channel. No ambiguity there.

Offline Tomislav95

  • Posts: 6308
  • Gender: Male
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #28 on: June 03, 2012, 03:34:34 PM »
Maybe this line is told by a priest in church every Sunday morning :\
...the years just pass like trains
I wave but they don't slow down...

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #29 on: June 03, 2012, 03:35:16 PM »
That's the idea.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17544
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #30 on: June 03, 2012, 04:18:07 PM »
I much prefer these modern lyrics that read like the History Channel. No ambiguity there.

I'm breaking my head over this sentence. What?
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline theseoafs

  • When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on the bayyyyy
  • Posts: 5573
  • Gender: Male
  • Hello! My name is Elder Price
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #31 on: June 03, 2012, 04:23:44 PM »
If I'm not mistaken, he's talking about DT's more recent lyrics which lack subtlety/mystery.

Offline Elite

  • The 'other' Rich
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 17544
  • Gender: Male
  • also, a tin teardrop
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #32 on: June 03, 2012, 04:31:15 PM »
Yeah, I was thinking that too, and I disagree sort-of. Granted, the lyrics on Awake and Images & Words are more 'mysterious' and 'subtle', but the lyrics on ADTOE aren't as straightforward as he insinuates.
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
Squ
scRa are the resultaten of sound nog bring propey

Offline The King in Crimson

  • Stuck in a glass dome since 1914!
  • Posts: 4002
  • Gender: Male
  • Mr. Sandman, Give Me A Dream
Re: Voices lyrics question
« Reply #33 on: June 03, 2012, 04:39:12 PM »
Yeah, I was thinking that too, and I disagree sort-of. Granted, the lyrics on Awake and Images & Words are more 'mysterious' and 'subtle', but the lyrics on ADTOE aren't as straightforward as he insinuates.
The lyrics on SC and BC&SL on the other hand are pretty straightforward.