I am moved by an unbearable sadness whenever I listen to this song. It touches something deep inside me, it's roots in experience...far too close to home. Beautiful genius.
The stanza "Will you tuck your shirt?/Will you leave it loose?/You are badly hurt/You're a silly goose" is such a tender, small-detail-aware demonstration of love and intimacy, reminiscent of HOOM's lines "I remember everything/Down to the sound of you shaving/The scrape of your razor/The dully-abrading black hair that remained/When you clutched at me" (some of my favorite lines ever, I think, along with No Provenance's "I essayed that high sashay which in my mind, was my way/You hung behind, in yours"). And it's immediately contrasted with somewhat resentful, hurt, and disdainful lines: "Chew your bitter cud/Grope your little nurse," and the effect is striking, making the previous lines sound so sad, hopeless, and heartbroken. And the next lines lead to a strange, animalistic depiction of sex. Full of movement and contradiction, as it should be. Emotions are always complex in Joanna's writing, always self-aware, and never prone to oversimplification. That's why it rings so true to me. Anyway, so much can be said of this wonderful song, or any song of hers. This is just something that was on my mind today.
Hearing those lines makes my eyes moist. She's seriously such a modern genius. I can think of 100s of times in my own life where I've thought the same thoughts
"Well I have never seen such a terrible room, gilded with the gold teeth of the women loved you!" That's a direct reference to the legend of Bluebeard where one of his wives find the room filled with the bodies of all his last wives on hooks. The mental image of walking into that room filled with decaying bodies is so close to the revulsion and shock I felt when I discovered I'd been cheated on in my last relationship. How can you describe something like that? She's amazing.
Margaret Atwood tells a wonderful version of that tale as a short story. I believe it is called simply "Bluebeard." It was my introduction to the myth and it varies a little bit, but I highly recommend. Struck me to the spine.
I personally think this song is about Bill Callahan, her ex lover of many years. He is a gifted songwriter but has his demons. I don't know what caused their break up, but he is a very emotional man, and perhaps an alcoholic. I have struggled with depression, I tried to get my wife at the time to listen to these songs so she could understand what was happening inside me. But she blew it off,.
@@jeremiahkinnamon7530 I always thought so too, especially when she mentions "with your... guitars, and pens..." The song reminds me of my musician ex who I was off and on with for many years, and who would just go through periods of blowing me off saying he needed to focus on his music career, but there was obviously some kind of psychological shielding going on. Makes me sad about my ex again whenever I listen to Go Long.
This is the best song every written about the nature of men from the perspective of a woman, in my opinion. I am a man in the strictest sense of the word, but have also never really been to the fire pit. This song means the world to me.
@@AllWordsAreDust There has never been a song I identified with more than this one, except maybe "Chamber of 32 Doors" by Genesis. Outside I may not be, but inside "by any other name a jay is still blue".
@@AllWordsAreDust I feel like the song is being sung to the worst parts of me. Like Paarthurnax I struggle to overcome my evil through great effort, but it is still there, gnawing at me, longing to "master everything that such men may know." Less poetically, I am a shitty person who is trying real hard not to be.
@@websterhunt2508 Ah interesting! To me, the song captures a kind of byronic hero, the kind of guy I would never want to be with in real life, but is the epitome of a certain romantic aesthetic - the unattainability is part of the appeal, I suppose.
He won't be alone if you are there take care if him become friends cook his food clean his house okay him music make him laugh. Ty that you care. Few do. We speak in code but it's a language that you understand. Believe you can fly abba
I started listening like mad to Go Long while I lived abroad and fell in love with someone who lived elsewhere. ( we both love her music ) and we were separated for months. I listened to Go Long nonstop. And now when we are no longer together, I again started listening to it and it fills me with much sorrow and beauty. Thinking a lot about the Blue Beard and his devouring energy, self-harm and love and my love for him.
Ive just now started listening to her and such a unimaginable talent She describes men and there’s violence such a intelligent way and im just amazed by her talent how they always tryna prove there worth but the woman can already see there beauty already
I’ve loved this song from the first time I heard it but never really looked at the meaning until now.... this is so much more painful (though also more beautiful) now. Her lyricism is once again unparalleled.
"And though I die, Magpie, this I bequeath: By any other name a Jay is still Blue." She referring to the Magpie and Blue Jay birds. The Magpie finds a mate and stays with her while a Blue Jay mates many and stays alone. She's saying that she's the Magpie and he's the Blue Jay. :C WHO HURT YOU, JOANNA? WHO HURT YOU?!?!?!
I disagree? The way the sentence is constructed leads me to believe that when she says "Magpie" she is addressing her Bluebeard (and not referring to herself), i.e. I bequeath to you, Mr. Magpie, this one word of wisdom. "By any other name"-one may call him Magpie, or (Blue)jay, but he is still fundamentally Bluebeard, eternally damned in his folly. Why a magpie? For their kleptomaniac tendencies-Bluebeard here is effectively collecting women for their gleaming hearts and stealing them away into a mansion of his own for his butchery and perverted pleasures.
@@AlaastChen though I so see where you're coming from Joanna does say "thought I die a magpie" meaning she's the magpie and he's the bluejay / Bluebeard
I think the Magpie reference is also continuing the metaphor about the guy collecting gold teeth (shiny but morbid/postmortem souvenirs, trophies) of all his other women in that terrible room (his mind). As well as the reference to the mating/monogamy habits of the two birds. Makes me think a lot about relationship my own masculinity. I love diving into Joanna's discography every couple of years and finding so much more than the last time and alsonhow i can feel into myowm life and relationships through the music. Also this breathtaking combination of lyrical beauty, emotional depth and musical virtuosity..!
100% about Will Oldham. she even throws his own album titles in the last verse: "backing slowly down the road" (his album Ease Down the Road), "may he master everything" (his album Master and Everyone), "about loving and then letting go" (his album The Letting Go)
kind of like a ghazal-- a poetic form where the author throws a reference to their identity in the last two lines. insane how much of a genius this artist is
_when you leave me alooooone in this ol’ palace of yours.....it starts to get to me I taaaake to walking_ ugh. so exquisite. one of my fav Joanna songs for sure 💓
I really love the musical-box-like sound of all her songs. It sounds so medieval and beautiful. Her lyrics, though even better, remind me of Tori Amos, while her voice reminds me of Kate Bush. How can those women can create such beauty? I mean, listen to Kates Albums "Aerial" or "50 Words For Snow", or Toris Albums "From the Choirgirl Hotel", "Boys For Pele", "Under The Pink" or "Native Invader"...The only man that comes to my mind that is able to create this beauty is Warren Ellis together with Nick Cave. "GHOSTEEN" is maybe the most beautiful album I have ever listened to.
And mind you dear listeners, I'm a happily married woman with 2 kids constantly arguing, how I love to be dragged out of this world once in a while, be it in Switzerland or not.this is Music for every soul, tortured, happy, hopeful, wanting and whatnot
And suddenly I knew what love was. But not the kind of love you’re thinking of. For I have not experienced that yet. No, it’s the kind love that brings you closer to art. Something so favorable it affects you on a deeply personal and spiritual level. For me it’s Joanna Newsom. So I’m taking a bath and relaxing while listening to this and I start to really feel the music. My body moved in such a fashion (albeit weirdly or what have you) that felt fucking fantastic. And it made me realize that we can get to those mind altering and expanding places without the drugs or alcohol. It’s really not even that difficult. But that attachment is perhaps something to be wary of, for example you don’t want to love something so much that it takes over the part of you that only you know how to do. You don’t wanna become dependent on it so much so that it changes your identity. Having a connection with another human being is a different story. You can love someone so much that the love transcends into enlightenment with each other. And maybe that’s perfect. Idk. I feel like this is the difference between your definition of love in the internal world and love in the external world. Whatever interacts with you or rather has an impact in either of those two realms, determines how much love you project onto them. And that in turn will decide what kind of life you will lead. Anyways, I’m really just rambling here. This topic is complex as fuck. And could certainly be covered so much more than a few paragraphs in a TH-cam comment. I’m at a point in my life where I can tell change is coming but I’m afraid I’ll try an force it. And I’m not sure if it’s external or internal. Maybe both. But, I don’t know if I can last much longer. I’ve been yearning for external love myself for so long.
Good point brother! Don't know now where I got capo 4 from, but capo 5 and then we are playing the same chords ;) I will however play it your way from now on, so cheers! :)
Benedict H While it's probably easier to play Am, C etc I think those chords are all one semitone to high, shouldn't it be Abm, B, Abm, B, Abm, B, Gb, E? Otherwise it sound off to me on my piano (*my piano is in tune).
i dont think this song is specifically about the Bluebird. It's more about the distance between men and women. Essentially, it is a very heartbreaking and bittersweet song.
It's not about toxic masculinity nessesarly.Maculinity and feminity and people who get to constitute what it means for the sake of society in and of its self is toxic and diminish people to a lower form of them selves.
Agreed agreed. Who else is there? Radiohead as a group of artists? Tori Amos? I know it's outside the genre here but...Tool? Joanna has reinspired me to add vibrance and care in my own crafts and i am so thankful. My cat (nerd that I am) is named Cosmia. ~le sigh~ I do want to know about other artists that are as sensitive and intentional and passionate.
this song makes me realise what an as hole I can be. my wife and son came to see me in hospital this morning, she is sick of me being si miserable and bitter when they visit, and most if the time this morning I was being showered by a cute student nurse I kept thinking of the line "chew your bitter cud grope your little nurse. I don't think new some is talking about a literal nurse here bug to it still resonates with me ad I am being cared for by these beautiful young women and not properly making an effort with the one I love when she comes to visit. does not suffice has a similar effect as I imagine her singing it to me before leaving me
The Mekong, is I believe pertaining to the legend of the Nāga/The Curse of Kadru, which deals with sacrifices & saviors of women from the torment of men. The line "Caked in mud & blood" I personally get the impression is about wearing the stains & scars of fights as a medal of honor & being proud of your visceral nature. "Grope your little nurse" could be in reference to subverting the nature of a relationship with someone trying to help you by making it sexual. This is all speculative at best.
Thanks for the clarification, great interpretation! As a women listening to Joanna Newsom, who write so beautifully on the experiences women can relate to, I wonder if men appreciate the quality and thoughtfulness of her lyrics, or if it too elicits some sort of emotion and feelings.
@@deer8678 Coming in 2 years late on your comment lol but as a gay man I absolutely relate to this song, but also recognize that I have the potential as a man to act like the subject of the song...so it's cathartic but also a warning/reminder to never make any man I love feel this way
@HillaryClinton My favorite as well. Joanna Newsom is the perfect artist for someone who completely understands music, someone who likes to pick apart lyrics, and someone who knows emotion's relationship with music. Those artists are nearly impossible to find these days which is why she is so mystifying. She has the ability to surprise and enchant those who are literate, those who are musically inclined and everything in between. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
@SupineMonkey I am listening to the album at the moment (on vinyl which I strongly recommend). After umpteen listens my view is still as above. I for one love the harp and kora coda on "Go Long". Hopefully it doesn't mar your enjoyment too much. What I now want is a Toumani Diabete and Joanna Newsom album. That could be magic...
I heard her play this live a couple of days ago and suddenly came up with the theory it might be about Will Oldham. In the last seven lines are "..down the road", "master everything" and "...letting go". I thought they were all references. And, if you squint and read the other lyrics with this in mind you can make other obscure references, there's a blue, a beard, a palace. I'm probably reading too much into it.
This song brings my thoughts to the current of today's social and relationship connectivity. The variants of close yet separate inbetweens of men and women today, specially the young. Connections that are made strangely with such desire but lacking something short of the completeness seeked. Things like tinder, snapchat, and other apps could be easily be the intermediate subject as well. Looking through cellphone history can be the same as opening doors, its not a question of locking or unlocking. A song this grand can transcend historic age, at least that's how I feel and I love it.
Sister ... Moses: There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri. Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand.
Every night is a dreamscape lived either through a parallel life or in an awakened state of a clone body. Ancient ritual feels so modern with these hands. This body among the other bodies, floating up and down. I cant tell if he's friend or foe. Im a Capture, always capsized, always dreaming of rich men down and up, not knowing when it will end....
I don't think it is quite as simple as 'toxic masculinity'. I think that there are elements of people that are both good and bad that can't always be divorced from one another. I think this song is more a testament to, what I would regard as the divine aspect within woman; the ability to reply to cruelty and bitterness with sincerity and compassion, which is certainly something about some women that has never ceased to amaze me. I think that is what the story of Bluebeard (which is somewhat reminiscent of beauty and the beast) is trying to get at, that it's not that the man is just cruel for petty reasons (and he cruel is by all accounts), it is that he is hyper-aware of his cruelty, and that is why he wants to be cruel, because he knows he can't be anything other than cruel. It's a devastating cycle, I'm sure many understand the feeling of 'I'm so pathetic, how could anyone ever love me', this story is about that feeling taken to the absolute. Love in many ways is about self-sacrifice, because people depend on you and it's hard to believe that someone depends on you if you can't even depend on yourself. You need to sacrifice that part of you that says 'I'm not good enough' and you have to replace it with 'I have to be good enough, because if I'm not, a lot of people are going to suffer because of it' (and trust me, if you can't make the sacrifice you are going to hurt a lot of people). Bluebeard can't make that sacrifice, he thinks 'I am pathetic', so 'how pathetic you must be if you depend on me'. It is this sort of perverse externalised expression of self-loathing. You can call that toxic masculinity if you want to, I would agree that it is largely a problem with the male psyche even if I wouldn't exactly characterise it in the same way as you. However I think the greatness of the song comes from the fact that Joanna does not look at this and condemn it. She says; 'you have been wronged', 'you are badly hurt', 'you don't even know you own violence', even 'have I had a hand in your loneliness'. She's being compassionate, she's even willing to take responsibility for his cruelty, she humbles herself so that he may do the same (which is why I would characterise it as a divine act, she is taking other's sins upon herself). She tells him to look at what harm he is doing and get over himself, that he is a terrible person, but that doesn't mean he has to be. To say that she is condemning him is missing the point the song is trying to convey. She should undoubtedly condemn him, but she doesn't, instead she trys to help him, even at her own peril she shows great compassion towards him.
I feel like you're missing a key element of this song, namely, how tenderly the narrator refers to men and all of masculinity's less-chivalrous expressions. She's not condemning, or condoning, she's expressing her understanding, and at the same time mourning that such things are happening, while comparing and contrasting men and women
You're dead fucking wrong dude.It's just about the two extremes that men often times find them selves if not saved by romantic love than they become broken hearted and bitter like Blue beard or they go the other way and become the kind of man that often times becomes a Buddhist monk or christian monk or just homeless if they don't become artists and sometimes gangsters that pride them selves on scamming the system and not paying their taxes to something they find grotesque in other words a non joiner of society in general in it's various forms .A lot of people don't choose to become homeless and economic situations based on where you live and things going on that weigh on people emotionally and or financially.But yea it's about the fairy tail of blue beard as a possible way men turn out to be or they end up like the kind of men walking backwards slowly down the road speaking in code about things that such men like that know as in loving and letting go.Duh!!!!! I grew up in special ed dude and never looked up the song meaning or anything and didn't put much thought into it and it's obvious and yes sometimes in individuals people who are insecure about their own perseeved masculinity maybe push their insecurities onto others in various ways but as society as a whole with how it use to regard masculinity and what it means to be a man and still to this day is pretty bad but not like it use to be for men in general but still bad for the men.You should feel sympathy for them as a whole not look at them as a problem like how you wouldn't look at a woman who has certain societal pressures put on them as a woman to go their roll.Men even today even with me in certain regards where women can get away more easily on average than men expressing their emotions most of all threw crying or just pooring your heart out.Some men if they have the right kind of character maybe vaugely reminds other men and or women of some stupid character in a movie may let them get away with it cause sadly and i guess in a good way that certain kinds of art can have certain effects on people but i see people conveniently to easily controlled by simply image and what looks good with in the times we're living in and not looking deeper into a situation and just react mindlessly like some Pavlovian response and thinking about the other person not the man on the inside before someone cringes and awkwardly walks away at a faster pace than if it were a woman having an emotional break down in public people flocking to make sure she's alright and even today it's probably not as common and with women some people probably do the same thing but not nearly as often as with men or other situations where men cry.Thats why men kill people at higher rates than women i would bet cause of holding to much shit inside. People would tell me commonly in various ways "YOu have to stop acting with a victim attitude" Well i don't see it as being a victim than addressing shit and if i were playing the victim at certain points and thought to my self "I'm not gonna allow my self to feel like a victim or victimized by this" is the day people around that person starts dying typically or people directly associated with key pains in someone's life. And i doubt women get treated with the same attitude to shut up in various situations cause men aren't supposed to complain but just take shit and not let it get to you even though it obviously would if their human and have feelings.
Run over stiles, across fields Turn to look at who's on your heels Way ahead of the field The line is getting nearer But do you want the glory that goes? You reach the final stretch, ideals are just a trace You feel like throwing the race It's all so futile Run, on and on Run, on and on The loneliness of the long distance runner
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for? Get up, get out, get out of the door You're playin' cold music on the barroom floor Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town Takes a whole pail of water just to cool him down Fire! Fire on the mountain
I see, but still don´t understand, Why does she mention the Mekong? and the parts that say "you are caked in mud and in blood." and "Grope your little nurse"?
Also many references to the story of bluebeard who married a woman and gave her keys to all the rooms in his manor. He told her not to use a certain key. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door to find the bodies of his previous wives that he had killed.
Metaphor for a man who has had lots of female interests/companions and her despair in the fact that she may not be as significant to him as she wants to be and her perceived impotency as a woman. Most poetic song about a lady-killer I ever done heard
Interesting... But you´re right, my head might explode so I will just enjoy the beautiful music, there are too many ways to interpret it, I guess everyone has their own n.n
SupineMonkey, I don't go that far, I think it's a great album with some wonderful tracks (of which this is also my favourite) but it is not a patch lyrically on Ys and doesn't have the ambition and audacity of that release. It's still one of the best recordings I have heard this year though...
It's been a while hope you are still wondering questioning as blank as a box. Consider the resonance instruments of the baroque period. Lyric wise you are like looking at the night sky in June.
While we're happy it's Friday, @NOAA satellites never rest, keeping a constant and vigilant watch over Earth's weather. We were surprised to see this interesting pattern in the marine stratocumulus clouds off the coast of Chile today, that appears to form the letter "G." , the clouds seem to form the word "GO."May 7, 2022
I am moved by an unbearable sadness whenever I listen to this song. It touches something deep inside me, it's roots in experience...far too close to home. Beautiful genius.
I loved this for years and just realized how much it applies to my situation with my deeply insecure, toxically masculine, npd father.
@@Meanie74 I hear ya. Goddamn song really puts things into perspective.
The stanza "Will you tuck your shirt?/Will you leave it loose?/You are badly hurt/You're a silly goose" is such a tender, small-detail-aware demonstration of love and intimacy, reminiscent of HOOM's lines "I remember everything/Down to the sound of you shaving/The scrape of your razor/The dully-abrading black hair that remained/When you clutched at me" (some of my favorite lines ever, I think, along with No Provenance's "I essayed that high sashay which in my mind, was my way/You hung behind, in yours"). And it's immediately contrasted with somewhat resentful, hurt, and disdainful lines: "Chew your bitter cud/Grope your little nurse," and the effect is striking, making the previous lines sound so sad, hopeless, and heartbroken. And the next lines lead to a strange, animalistic depiction of sex. Full of movement and contradiction, as it should be. Emotions are always complex in Joanna's writing, always self-aware, and never prone to oversimplification. That's why it rings so true to me. Anyway, so much can be said of this wonderful song, or any song of hers. This is just something that was on my mind today.
Hearing those lines makes my eyes moist. She's seriously such a modern genius. I can think of 100s of times in my own life where I've thought the same thoughts
Its the previous that always gets me. "You have done harm, others have done worse."
You posted this a year ago, I couldn't agree more, what poetry.
to underlined whatever luke😊
Every sentence has a story. Just amazing.
Yes, that's exactly so !
The info goes so fast it's unbelievable
will this song ever NOT give me goosebumps? all these years and still
"Well I have never seen such a terrible room, gilded with the gold teeth of the women loved you!" That's a direct reference to the legend of Bluebeard where one of his wives find the room filled with the bodies of all his last wives on hooks. The mental image of walking into that room filled with decaying bodies is so close to the revulsion and shock I felt when I discovered I'd been cheated on in my last relationship. How can you describe something like that? She's amazing.
Margaret Atwood tells a wonderful version of that tale as a short story. I believe it is called simply "Bluebeard." It was my introduction to the myth and it varies a little bit, but I highly recommend. Struck me to the spine.
I personally think this song is about Bill Callahan, her ex lover of many years. He is a gifted songwriter but has his demons. I don't know what caused their break up, but he is a very emotional man, and perhaps an alcoholic.
I have struggled with depression, I tried to get my wife at the time to listen to these songs so she could understand what was happening inside me. But she blew it off,.
The Angela Carter version, 'The Bloody Chamber' is my favourite retelling of the Bluebeard myth if people are interested.
@@jeremiahkinnamon7530 I always thought so too, especially when she mentions "with your... guitars, and pens..." The song reminds me of my musician ex who I was off and on with for many years, and who would just go through periods of blowing me off saying he needed to focus on his music career, but there was obviously some kind of psychological shielding going on. Makes me sad about my ex again whenever I listen to Go Long.
“It is not a matter of locking or unlocking, what a woman does is open doors”
That rad harp solo at the end blows my mind every time
The Kora part that coincides is especially gorgeous. Love hearing my two favourite instruments playing together!
I love her harp playing so much on this one (not that I don't on others;). It sounds like the ultimate otherworldly music box.
This woman is a genius.
i agree and i like your profile picture.
I just want to comment about how direct and personal and real this comment is.
And beautiful too
I too like your profile picture. Are u hot or somethin
Music for smart people except me
This woman is pure genius, oh how she drags me thru lonely nights
This is the best song every written about the nature of men from the perspective of a woman, in my opinion. I am a man in the strictest sense of the word, but have also never really been to the fire pit. This song means the world to me.
I wouldn't say it's about the nature of men in general, just the nature of a certain kind of man. Agree with what you're saying otherwise though.
@@AllWordsAreDust There has never been a song I identified with more than this one, except maybe "Chamber of 32 Doors" by Genesis. Outside I may not be, but inside "by any other name a jay is still blue".
@@websterhunt2508 Identified with the narrator, the subject, or the vibe in general?
@@AllWordsAreDust I feel like the song is being sung to the worst parts of me. Like Paarthurnax I struggle to overcome my evil through great effort, but it is still there, gnawing at me, longing to "master everything that such men may know." Less poetically, I am a shitty person who is trying real hard not to be.
@@websterhunt2508 Ah interesting! To me, the song captures a kind of byronic hero, the kind of guy I would never want to be with in real life, but is the epitome of a certain romantic aesthetic - the unattainability is part of the appeal, I suppose.
There is so much wisdom and perspective in this song. It's rhymes are timeless
i cry every time. makes me think of my lonely dad.
oh my gosh, me too. "Who will take care of you when you're old and dying?"
He won't be alone if you are there take care if him become friends cook his food clean his house okay him music make him laugh. Ty that you care. Few do. We speak in code but it's a language that you understand. Believe you can fly abba
It makes me cry every time, as well. I am becoming this man.
I started listening like mad to Go Long while I lived abroad and fell in love with someone who lived elsewhere. ( we both love her music ) and we were separated for months. I listened to Go Long nonstop. And now when we are no longer together, I again started listening to it and it fills me with much sorrow and beauty. Thinking a lot about the Blue Beard and his devouring energy, self-harm and love and my love for him.
Ive just now started listening to her and such a unimaginable talent She describes men and there’s violence such a intelligent way and im just amazed by her talent how they always tryna prove there worth but the woman can already see there beauty already
The simplest of things are the most beautiful, "when you leave me alone in this old palace of yours".
Them: why is Joanna Newsom your favorite artist?
Me: *sobbing uncontrollably*
Too meaningful and gorgeous to put into words.
"may he master everything that such men may know
about loving and then letting go"
the greatest lyric of all time perhaps?
Among the best of her works.
I’ve loved this song from the first time I heard it but never really looked at the meaning until now.... this is so much more painful (though also more beautiful) now. Her lyricism is once again unparalleled.
This song reminds me so much of Heathcliff and Catherine.
The way she sings "and your sugar lips" slays me!
Real quick
"And though I die, Magpie, this I bequeath: By any other name a Jay is still Blue." She referring to the Magpie and Blue Jay birds. The Magpie finds a mate and stays with her while a Blue Jay mates many and stays alone. She's saying that she's the Magpie and he's the Blue Jay. :C WHO HURT YOU, JOANNA? WHO HURT YOU?!?!?!
This song is about Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy. The lyrics have a handful of references to him.
I disagree? The way the sentence is constructed leads me to believe that when she says "Magpie" she is addressing her Bluebeard (and not referring to herself), i.e. I bequeath to you, Mr. Magpie, this one word of wisdom. "By any other name"-one may call him Magpie, or (Blue)jay, but he is still fundamentally Bluebeard, eternally damned in his folly.
Why a magpie? For their kleptomaniac tendencies-Bluebeard here is effectively collecting women for their gleaming hearts and stealing them away into a mansion of his own for his butchery and perverted pleasures.
Joshua Hartwell no it’s bill callahan. this is well known. you got the wrong bill
@@AlaastChen though I so see where you're coming from Joanna does say "thought I die a magpie" meaning she's the magpie and he's the bluejay / Bluebeard
I think the Magpie reference is also continuing the metaphor about the guy collecting gold teeth (shiny but morbid/postmortem souvenirs, trophies) of all his other women in that terrible room (his mind). As well as the reference to the mating/monogamy habits of the two birds. Makes me think a lot about relationship my own masculinity. I love diving into Joanna's discography every couple of years and finding so much more than the last time and alsonhow i can feel into myowm life and relationships through the music. Also this breathtaking combination of lyrical beauty, emotional depth and musical virtuosity..!
I don’t believe magic but the power in this song is as close as we get to it
You think you can just stop when you’re ready for change. Who will take care of you when you’re old and dying?
Your music, your voice, your beauty.. Thebbest thing is how you make your songs long, I personally enjoy every second of it!
I found my boyfriend cheating on me and this song has never sounded so painful to me before now
Hopefully you’re happy now. ☺️
Oh it's full to the brim with pain
Gives me chills every time.
This song let's me feel just a sliver of what it is to suffer as a woman
Lol.
You get it 👍
100% about Will Oldham. she even throws his own album titles in the last verse: "backing slowly down the road" (his album Ease Down the Road), "may he master everything" (his album Master and Everyone), "about loving and then letting go" (his album The Letting Go)
i think the "you"/subject of the song is bill callahan, but the man she mentions in the last verse is will oldham!
kind of like a ghazal-- a poetic form where the author throws a reference to their identity in the last two lines. insane how much of a genius this artist is
Also throws in a Kentucky reference, where he’s from.
"this old Palace of yours"
@@CowwToools wow, how did i not catch that one lol. good catch!
This song is so much better when you actually listen to/read the lyrics (I am an idiot)
The suspension on "a Jay" is fucking masterful
_when you leave me alooooone in this ol’ palace of yours.....it starts to get to me I taaaake to walking_
ugh. so exquisite. one of my fav Joanna songs for sure 💓
One of the most magical songs ever made..
I really love the musical-box-like sound of all her songs. It sounds so medieval and beautiful. Her lyrics, though even better, remind me of Tori Amos, while her voice reminds me of Kate Bush. How can those women can create such beauty? I mean, listen to Kates Albums "Aerial" or "50 Words For Snow", or Toris Albums "From the Choirgirl Hotel", "Boys For Pele", "Under The Pink" or "Native Invader"...The only man that comes to my mind that is able to create this beauty is Warren Ellis together with Nick Cave. "GHOSTEEN" is maybe the most beautiful album I have ever listened to.
Pink Moon album- Nick Drake
Bryter Later for other reasons but that pink, pink, pink, pink moon...... "now I'm weaker than the palest blue"....
And mind you dear listeners, I'm a happily married woman with 2 kids constantly arguing, how I love to be dragged out of this world once in a while, be it in Switzerland or not.this is Music for every soul, tortured, happy, hopeful, wanting and whatnot
100% agreed
Joanna is a prophetess.
We are both praying I’m the one to save you.
spine-tingling... good lord
And suddenly I knew what love was. But not the kind of love you’re thinking of. For I have not experienced that yet. No, it’s the kind love that brings you closer to art. Something so favorable it affects you on a deeply personal and spiritual level.
For me it’s Joanna Newsom.
So I’m taking a bath and relaxing while listening to this and I start to really feel the music.
My body moved in such a fashion (albeit weirdly or what have you) that felt fucking fantastic. And it made me realize that we can get to those mind altering and expanding places without the drugs or alcohol. It’s really not even that difficult.
But that attachment is perhaps something to be wary of, for example you don’t want to love something so much that it takes over the part of you that only you know how to do.
You don’t wanna become dependent on it so much so that it changes your identity.
Having a connection with another human being is a different story. You can love someone so much that the love transcends into enlightenment with each other.
And maybe that’s perfect. Idk.
I feel like this is the difference between your definition of love in the internal world and love in the external world. Whatever interacts with you or rather has an impact in either of those two realms, determines how much love you project onto them. And that in turn will decide what kind of life you will lead.
Anyways, I’m really just rambling here. This topic is complex as fuck. And could certainly be covered
so much more than a few paragraphs in a TH-cam comment.
I’m at a point in my life where I can tell change is coming but I’m afraid I’ll try an force it. And I’m not sure if it’s external or internal. Maybe both.
But, I don’t know if I can last much longer.
I’ve been yearning for external love myself for so long.
Damn.
I fell the need to express how deeply in love I am with her voice. It's become obsessive, idk who to go to for help...
Capo 4 : Em G Em G Em G D C.
Whole song, genius.
Good point brother! Don't know now where I got capo 4 from, but capo 5 and then we are playing the same chords ;) I will however play it your way from now on, so cheers! :)
Benedict H While it's probably easier to play Am, C etc I think those chords are all one semitone to high, shouldn't it be Abm, B, Abm, B, Abm, B, Gb, E? Otherwise it sound off to me on my piano (*my piano is in tune).
relievingdeath1234 or G#m, B (3x) F# E
so haunting, and beautiful!!
i dont think this song is specifically about the Bluebird. It's more about the distance between men and women. Essentially, it is a very heartbreaking and bittersweet song.
and the title, 'go long' and later 'right over the edge of the earth'...so much in this image
its a pretty big power move on joanna’s part to write a song about toxic masculinity and have the title be football terminology
It's not about that. She doesn't care about idiotic woke shit. Also she's a Christian, I know that must hurt you.
It's not about toxic masculinity nessesarly.Maculinity and feminity and people who get to constitute what it means for the sake of society in and of its self is toxic and diminish people to a lower form of them selves.
Also football can be fun, done hate the pigskin, hate the right wing dickbag who watches!
Just beautiful, what heaven sounds like I believe
It's funny 'cause most of Joanna's songs are sad, -at least most of them are sad for me, including this one- but you can't stop listening to them.
Agreed agreed. Who else is there? Radiohead as a group of artists? Tori Amos? I know it's outside the genre here but...Tool? Joanna has reinspired me to add vibrance and care in my own crafts and i am so thankful. My cat (nerd that I am) is named Cosmia. ~le sigh~ I do want to know about other artists that are as sensitive and intentional and passionate.
michaelschell Anais Mitchell might tickle you, but nothing compares to Joanna.
Try Moses Sumney! I know this was 9 years ago and the chances of you reading this are slim but if you do, I‘d recommend you check him out.
Broke my young heart.
This is woman code. The trials of loving a man.
this is one of my favourites!
this is on repeat.
My favorite so far.
absolutely savage..a capricorn move
Or a scorpio... A scorpio I know is like this...
lmao
Hehehe or a Ravenclaw move
Norah Nightingale or a capricorn with a Scorpio moon (that’s what Joanna is).
My favorite musicians are Capricorn.
dont call us twins call us trophy kids
dont even ask fella what we did
the fucking end gets me every time
Every Time. I cry.
this song makes me realise what an as hole I can be. my wife and son came to see me in hospital this morning, she is sick of me being si miserable and bitter when they visit, and most if the time this morning I was being showered by a cute student nurse I kept thinking of the line "chew your bitter cud grope your little nurse. I don't think new some is talking about a literal nurse here bug to it still resonates with me ad I am being cared for by these beautiful young women and not properly making an effort with the one I love when she comes to visit. does not suffice has a similar effect as I imagine her singing it to me before leaving me
Insight brought upon by the poetic words of a songwriter and nestled in the mind tightly by the strings of her harp.
Don't do meth kids.
The Mekong, is I believe pertaining to the legend of the Nāga/The Curse of Kadru, which deals with sacrifices & saviors of women from the torment of men. The line "Caked in mud & blood" I personally get the impression is about wearing the stains & scars of fights as a medal of honor & being proud of your visceral nature. "Grope your little nurse" could be in reference to subverting the nature of a relationship with someone trying to help you by making it sexual. This is all speculative at best.
this is very good!
Thanks for the clarification, great interpretation! As a women listening to Joanna Newsom, who write so beautifully on the experiences women can relate to, I wonder if men appreciate the quality and thoughtfulness of her lyrics, or if it too elicits some sort of emotion and feelings.
also being dominating and exploitive towards those who try to support you
@@deer8678 Coming in 2 years late on your comment lol but as a gay man I absolutely relate to this song, but also recognize that I have the potential as a man to act like the subject of the song...so it's cathartic but also a warning/reminder to never make any man I love feel this way
@HillaryClinton My favorite as well. Joanna Newsom is the perfect artist for someone who completely understands music, someone who likes to pick apart lyrics, and someone who knows emotion's relationship with music. Those artists are nearly impossible to find these days which is why she is so mystifying. She has the ability to surprise and enchant those who are literate, those who are musically inclined and everything in between. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
@catholicknees Me too! I love her delicate innuendo. It reminds me of my favorite line in Only Skin- 'In my doorway we shucked and jived'
@SupineMonkey I am listening to the album at the moment (on vinyl which I strongly recommend). After umpteen listens my view is still as above. I for one love the harp and kora coda on "Go Long". Hopefully it doesn't mar your enjoyment too much. What I now want is a Toumani Diabete and Joanna Newsom album. That could be magic...
daegrant this is the best comment I have ever read
I heard her play this live a couple of days ago and suddenly came up with the theory it might be about Will Oldham. In the last seven lines are "..down the road", "master everything" and "...letting go". I thought they were all references. And, if you squint and read the other lyrics with this in mind you can make other obscure references, there's a blue, a beard, a palace. I'm probably reading too much into it.
Andy Samberg is a lucky man.
That fuck is married to this angel?
That makes me sad. but this song makes me happy, but that makes me sad, but this song makes me happy...
I'm stuck.
oh god, hope she divorces him asap
DREAM Corp they just became parents so I dont think that will happen anytime soon lol
lol andy samberg is awesome and his dad's not a phone.
how DARE YOU?????? I love them both with my whole heart
My heart is melting. ... help.
This song brings my thoughts to the current of today's social and relationship connectivity. The variants of close yet separate inbetweens of men and women today, specially the young. Connections that are made strangely with such desire but lacking something short of the completeness seeked.
Things like tinder, snapchat, and other apps could be easily be the intermediate subject as well.
Looking through cellphone history can be the same as opening doors, its not a question of locking or unlocking.
A song this grand can transcend historic age, at least that's how I feel and I love it.
Jon Jcc thanks for this :)
ohmygod this is great
Sister ... Moses: There is a beauty beyond the senses, Nefretiri. Beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand.
Every night is a dreamscape lived either through a parallel life or in an awakened state of a clone body.
Ancient ritual feels so modern with these hands. This body among the other bodies, floating up and down. I cant tell if he's friend or foe.
Im a Capture, always capsized, always dreaming of rich men down and up, not knowing when it will end....
This is a condemnation of toxic masculinity, and it is so fucking good. Joanna Newsom is an incredible songwriter.
I don't think it is quite as simple as 'toxic masculinity'. I think that there are elements of people that are both good and bad that can't always be divorced from one another. I think this song is more a testament to, what I would regard as the divine aspect within woman; the ability to reply to cruelty and bitterness with sincerity and compassion, which is certainly something about some women that has never ceased to amaze me. I think that is what the story of Bluebeard (which is somewhat reminiscent of beauty and the beast) is trying to get at, that it's not that the man is just cruel for petty reasons (and he cruel is by all accounts), it is that he is hyper-aware of his cruelty, and that is why he wants to be cruel, because he knows he can't be anything other than cruel. It's a devastating cycle, I'm sure many understand the feeling of 'I'm so pathetic, how could anyone ever love me', this story is about that feeling taken to the absolute. Love in many ways is about self-sacrifice, because people depend on you and it's hard to believe that someone depends on you if you can't even depend on yourself. You need to sacrifice that part of you that says 'I'm not good enough' and you have to replace it with 'I have to be good enough, because if I'm not, a lot of people are going to suffer because of it' (and trust me, if you can't make the sacrifice you are going to hurt a lot of people). Bluebeard can't make that sacrifice, he thinks 'I am pathetic', so 'how pathetic you must be if you depend on me'.
It is this sort of perverse externalised expression of self-loathing. You can call that toxic masculinity if you want to, I would agree that it is largely a problem with the male psyche even if I wouldn't exactly characterise it in the same way as you. However I think the greatness of the song comes from the fact that Joanna does not look at this and condemn it. She says; 'you have been wronged', 'you are badly hurt', 'you don't even know you own violence', even 'have I had a hand in your loneliness'. She's being compassionate, she's even willing to take responsibility for his cruelty, she humbles herself so that he may do the same (which is why I would characterise it as a divine act, she is taking other's sins upon herself). She tells him to look at what harm he is doing and get over himself, that he is a terrible person, but that doesn't mean he has to be. To say that she is condemning him is missing the point the song is trying to convey. She should undoubtedly condemn him, but she doesn't, instead she trys to help him, even at her own peril she shows great compassion towards him.
Vidua mea animae well said.
Great rebuttal m8
I feel like you're missing a key element of this song, namely, how tenderly the narrator refers to men and all of masculinity's less-chivalrous expressions. She's not condemning, or condoning, she's expressing her understanding, and at the same time mourning that such things are happening, while comparing and contrasting men and women
You're dead fucking wrong dude.It's just about the two extremes that men often times find them selves if not saved by romantic love than they become broken hearted and bitter like Blue beard or they go the other way and become the kind of man that often times becomes a Buddhist monk or christian monk or just homeless if they don't become artists and sometimes gangsters that pride them selves on scamming the system and not paying their taxes to something they find grotesque in other words a non joiner of society in general in it's various forms .A lot of people don't choose to become homeless and economic situations based on where you live and things going on that weigh on people emotionally and or financially.But yea it's about the fairy tail of blue beard as a possible way men turn out to be or they end up like the kind of men walking backwards slowly down the road speaking in code about things that such men like that know as in loving and letting go.Duh!!!!! I grew up in special ed dude and never looked up the song meaning or anything and didn't put much thought into it and it's obvious and yes sometimes in individuals people who are insecure about their own perseeved masculinity maybe push their insecurities onto others in various ways but as society as a whole with how it use to regard masculinity and what it means to be a man and still to this day is pretty bad but not like it use to be for men in general but still bad for the men.You should feel sympathy for them as a whole not look at them as a problem like how you wouldn't look at a woman who has certain societal pressures put on them as a woman to go their roll.Men even today even with me in certain regards where women can get away more easily on average than men expressing their emotions most of all threw crying or just pooring your heart out.Some men if they have the right kind of character maybe vaugely reminds other men and or women of some stupid character in a movie may let them get away with it cause sadly and i guess in a good way that certain kinds of art can have certain effects on people but i see people conveniently to easily controlled by simply image and what looks good with in the times we're living in and not looking deeper into a situation and just react mindlessly like some Pavlovian response and thinking about the other person not the man on the inside before someone cringes and awkwardly walks away at a faster pace than if it were a woman having an emotional break down in public people flocking to make sure she's alright and even today it's probably not as common and with women some people probably do the same thing but not nearly as often as with men or other situations where men cry.Thats why men kill people at higher rates than women i would bet cause of holding to much shit inside. People would tell me commonly in various ways "YOu have to stop acting with a victim attitude" Well i don't see it as being a victim than addressing shit and if i were playing the victim at certain points and thought to my self "I'm not gonna allow my self to feel like a victim or victimized by this" is the day people around that person starts dying typically or people directly associated with key pains in someone's life. And i doubt women get treated with the same attitude to shut up in various situations cause men aren't supposed to complain but just take shit and not let it get to you even though it obviously would if their human and have feelings.
This is gold
Run over stiles, across fields
Turn to look at who's on your heels
Way ahead of the field
The line is getting nearer
But do you want the glory that goes?
You reach the final stretch, ideals are just a trace
You feel like throwing the race
It's all so futile
Run, on and on
Run, on and on
The loneliness of the long distance runner
Beautiful.
song of the summer
" eye know what to do it's just I'm afraid" to open my eyes. The love train rides from coast to coast." Magical mystery tour"
embrace me death and take me away from this world that does not belong to me
hey, are you doin ok?
May we Master everything that men may know. About loving them letting go.
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?
Get up, get out, get out of the door
You're playin' cold music on the barroom floor
Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core
There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town
Takes a whole pail of water just to cool him down
Fire! Fire on the mountain
Lawl, my cat is named Cassiopeia. I named her for the constellation, but I love the song too.
@squirtgunrobbery she performed this live at green man festival, it left a very deep impact on me
Fucking masters piece. Unfathomably good.
How did I only just find this?
Just genius!
I love the bluebeard reference
so jealous of Andy Samberg, indeed.
The legend of Bluebeard was the inspiration for the song
This song is supposedly about her relationship with the great Bill Callahan (Smog). Which to me, seems to make it even more poignant.
Wil you tuck your shirt / will you leave it lose / you are badly hurt / you are a silly goose .
I see, but still don´t understand, Why does she mention the Mekong? and the parts that say "you are caked in mud and in blood." and "Grope your little nurse"?
there be references in this song to will oldham who sings under the name bonnie prince billy. he has a blue beard.
Also many references to the story of bluebeard who married a woman and gave her keys to all the rooms in his manor. He told her not to use a certain key. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door to find the bodies of his previous wives that he had killed.
Metaphor for a man who has had lots of female interests/companions and her despair in the fact that she may not be as significant to him as she wants to be and her perceived impotency as a woman. Most poetic song about a lady-killer I ever done heard
Sarah Matthes And the very real pain that can cause. Also works for lots of kinds of deception and abuse.
hmmm, I think most of the song is in reference to her former BF Bill Callahan within the allogorical framework of the legend of Bluebeard...
Definitely appropriate for handplates...
same....
Interesting... But you´re right, my head might explode so I will just enjoy the beautiful music, there are too many ways to interpret it, I guess everyone has their own n.n
P.S. i will love you forever
SupineMonkey, I don't go that far, I think it's a great album with some wonderful tracks (of which this is also my favourite) but it is not a patch lyrically on Ys and doesn't have the ambition and audacity of that release. It's still one of the best recordings I have heard this year though...
I normally listen to rap... like kendrick lamar and joey badass, but i love this
BON SANG
It's been a while hope you are still wondering questioning as blank as a box. Consider the resonance instruments of the baroque period. Lyric wise you are like looking at the night sky in June.
While we're happy it's Friday, @NOAA satellites never rest, keeping a constant and vigilant watch over Earth's weather. We were surprised to see this interesting pattern in the marine stratocumulus clouds off the coast of Chile today, that appears to form the letter "G." , the clouds seem to form the word "GO."May 7, 2022
So then who is the fifth?
Read The Tale of Blue Beard. Perrault's Fairytales, I believe and come back and listen to this song.