01-11-2018, 12:00 AM
4) Art is not as 'alive' as it could (should) be
(I am assuming that this one might be the hardest to spot in the song, so I am going to do a bit of linking to the song parts where I see/was reminded of this)
In stanza 2 we have a flashing artificial light. And this light is there at night and touches the silence.
In stanza 3. We have a situation where many people talk without speaking and hear without listing. And write songs that other voices don't share. -- here I see the link to art
We could link this to the medium of say TV. People watching monitors, say TV in their living rooms or phone screens on the street etc, being silent. The sounds from these monitors is the only thing that touches the silence that the spectators are in. (I am also reminded of the way we traditionally are when we are in the theatre or listening to a classical concert, where everyone needs to be as quiet as possible vs. how people used to experience and share art in the past - laughing and talking and throwing stuff at artists lol)
In stanza 3 the song continues "People talking without speaking / People hearing without listening"
there is a difference here between talking and speaking, between hearing and listening. How is that possible? And here we shift to the point I want to make with art. Say there is a movie on, the actors talk, but they are removed from us the viewers (plus ofc they are playing roles that are not real). They are not speaking to US even though they are talking at us. And we are hearing it but there is no need to listen cause we are not in a dialogue/communication situation with these actors on TV. It is passive therefore and the audience is passive (can hear it without listening). Do I mean the audience should talk and interfere in the performance? not necessarily thought there are such types of acting too. But if you are part of a live performance of any kind, music, poetry, theatre etc, you are there part of the atmosphere and you shape it too and, most importantly, if the artist is accessible one can share impressions and experiences with them. This is something that was accessible to communities and the performances they had. Now in our global world, we just have screens and we are removed from the actual most living part of the art. It is still nice but it is much nicer to be a bigger part of it. And there is still the option of those kinds of performances where say someone sings a song and another one tells a tale while keeping the frequency/feeling of the song just transforming it into a story, and then another one can dance it out, or whatever.
Similarly "People writing songs that voices never share" is about how we cannot share the songs with the artists because they are removed from us. But ofc it is also about how it gets so removed that the song never makes it anywhere anymore. As this link between the author and actual people petrifies and dies.
Stanza 4 goes on:
“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence"
The people prefer the removed situations on their monitor to an actual person who wants to have an active interaction with them.
Link to shamanism, as mentioned above: I was made aware of how important it is to have art that is alive in the moment close to you, in a way that you can interact with the poets or singers etc. How the songs and movies and such we see are disconnected from us and from a dynamically active sharing situation. We cannot give our opinion to the author or communicate with him or her. It could happen that we can write a review or something but it might never reach the author etc.
Another level of interpretation could be linked to how the people he sees are actually like the actors on say tv that speak lines, hear lines, and don't express actual real things (they have stopped to be capable of actual interaction due to how they get their art). And it is also why he cannot interact with them.
Anyway, the spectators become hollow, cause there is no reason to interact with a screen, or way to interact with that art.
plus, on a side note, there is the neon god kinda thing, like those are the gods people listen to and follow. Whatever is on the screen (linked to how people prefer to eat up the news instead of actually looking around them to make their own opinions)
(I am assuming that this one might be the hardest to spot in the song, so I am going to do a bit of linking to the song parts where I see/was reminded of this)
In stanza 2 we have a flashing artificial light. And this light is there at night and touches the silence.
In stanza 3. We have a situation where many people talk without speaking and hear without listing. And write songs that other voices don't share. -- here I see the link to art
We could link this to the medium of say TV. People watching monitors, say TV in their living rooms or phone screens on the street etc, being silent. The sounds from these monitors is the only thing that touches the silence that the spectators are in. (I am also reminded of the way we traditionally are when we are in the theatre or listening to a classical concert, where everyone needs to be as quiet as possible vs. how people used to experience and share art in the past - laughing and talking and throwing stuff at artists lol)
In stanza 3 the song continues "People talking without speaking / People hearing without listening"
there is a difference here between talking and speaking, between hearing and listening. How is that possible? And here we shift to the point I want to make with art. Say there is a movie on, the actors talk, but they are removed from us the viewers (plus ofc they are playing roles that are not real). They are not speaking to US even though they are talking at us. And we are hearing it but there is no need to listen cause we are not in a dialogue/communication situation with these actors on TV. It is passive therefore and the audience is passive (can hear it without listening). Do I mean the audience should talk and interfere in the performance? not necessarily thought there are such types of acting too. But if you are part of a live performance of any kind, music, poetry, theatre etc, you are there part of the atmosphere and you shape it too and, most importantly, if the artist is accessible one can share impressions and experiences with them. This is something that was accessible to communities and the performances they had. Now in our global world, we just have screens and we are removed from the actual most living part of the art. It is still nice but it is much nicer to be a bigger part of it. And there is still the option of those kinds of performances where say someone sings a song and another one tells a tale while keeping the frequency/feeling of the song just transforming it into a story, and then another one can dance it out, or whatever.
Similarly "People writing songs that voices never share" is about how we cannot share the songs with the artists because they are removed from us. But ofc it is also about how it gets so removed that the song never makes it anywhere anymore. As this link between the author and actual people petrifies and dies.
Stanza 4 goes on:
“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence"
The people prefer the removed situations on their monitor to an actual person who wants to have an active interaction with them.
Link to shamanism, as mentioned above: I was made aware of how important it is to have art that is alive in the moment close to you, in a way that you can interact with the poets or singers etc. How the songs and movies and such we see are disconnected from us and from a dynamically active sharing situation. We cannot give our opinion to the author or communicate with him or her. It could happen that we can write a review or something but it might never reach the author etc.
Another level of interpretation could be linked to how the people he sees are actually like the actors on say tv that speak lines, hear lines, and don't express actual real things (they have stopped to be capable of actual interaction due to how they get their art). And it is also why he cannot interact with them.
Anyway, the spectators become hollow, cause there is no reason to interact with a screen, or way to interact with that art.
plus, on a side note, there is the neon god kinda thing, like those are the gods people listen to and follow. Whatever is on the screen (linked to how people prefer to eat up the news instead of actually looking around them to make their own opinions)