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| Headline | Lyrics Questions For The Angels |
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| Author | Comment |
Ans
Jul-08-2009, 16:49 GMT
Netherlands
 | A pilgrim on a pilgrimage
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge
His sneakers torn
In the hour when the homeless move their cardboard blankets
And the new day is born
Folded in his backpack pocket
The questions that he copied from his heart
Who am I in this lonely world?
Where will I make my bed tonight?
When twilight turns to dark
Questions for the angels...
Who believes in angels?
Fools do...
Fools and pilgrims all over the world
If you shop for Love in a bargain store
And you don´t get what you?re bargain for...
Can you get your money back?
If an empty train in a railway station
Calls you to its destination
Can you choose another track?
Will I wake up from these violent dreams?
With my hair as white as the morning moon
Questions for the angels...
Who believes in angels?
I do...
Fools and pilgrims all over the world
Downtown Brooklyn
The pilgrim is passing a bill-board
And catches his eye
It ´s Jay-Z
He ´s got a kid on each knee
He is wearing clothes that he wants us to try
If every human on the planet
And all the buildings on it
Should disappear
Would a zebra grazing in the African Savanna
Care enough to shed one zebra tear?
Questions for the angels...
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Scaaty
Jul-08-2009, 18:07 GMT
Ireland
 | so simple yet so deep. reminds me of a discussion about save the whale and it being 2nd most intelligent being on the planet (the 1st depends on whether you´ve read hitch hikers guide or not) any way does the prospect of the whale never forming a save humankind group mean it is more or less intelligent or humans more or less worthy of saving?
Also Paul is a true green recycling rhymes from previous songs:) |
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Ans
Jul-08-2009, 19:34 GMT
Netherlands
| Right Scaaty, the lyrics make you wander around many subjects from life in your mind. About how life on this planet is and how life on this planet could be.
"If you shop for Love in a bargain store
And you don´t get what you?re bargain for...
Can you get your money back?
If an empty train in a railway station
Calls you to its destination
Can you choose another track?"
So useful for many subjects and interesting to think about.
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Ans
Jul-09-2009, 06:38 GMT
Netherlands
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I hope Mog is coming back to discuss the lyrics, I put his post here, it belongs here.
Mog wrote:
"Since my 1st listen, I am puzzled by them.
My interpretation: believing in supernatural phenomenons (or religious beliefs re: pilgrimages?) like angels might seem sort of irrational at 1st sight, although the narrator surprises us midway by revealing ´believing´ in them himself.
Maybe the song alludes to the fact that lots of people feel they have to rely on these beliefs to answer/pose some questions on themselves or how life treat themselves.
But the conclusion then...evidence that animals would necessarily live in peace without humans on earth makes me think that is a hint on the hypothesis that there is no supernatural forces at work...without us and our ´creation´ (buildings), the world and life on earth would still exist. How come if there are angels around..and supernatural forces at work?"
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Nikki
Jul-09-2009, 12:31 GMT
Australia
 | Mog that´s a very interesting interpretation. You´ve made me realise that I often do not contemplate Paul´s lyrics in their entirety - there are individual lines which stand out but I don´t always think about how they fit together in the song as a whole.
I´m not sure how the last section of this song fits with the rest either. It seems to be another train of thought that´s added to the other verses. So the first part of the song are lots of big question which seem unanswerable which makes people turn to some sort of belief in a higher authority.I agree with what you say about people feeling like they have to rely on those beliefs Mog.
But I think the last section - starting with the Jay-Z verse - aren´t necessarily meant to fit with the rest. The Jay-Z verse just seems to be one of Paul´s cynical observations about commercial society, and I think that leads nicely onto a more wider sense of cynicism in the final verse which refutes all the big questions in the first part of the song - it´s almost like Paul asks all the questions and makes them into a big deal, and then thinks ´but hang on, in the grand scheme of things, are those questions significant anyway?´ That´s my take on it :) |
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Jeroen
Jul-12-2009, 10:42 GMT
Netherlands
| I didn´t think the lyrics were overly cynical. I humbly thought that it was a song about a spiritual search for answers to unanswerable questions. Drifters and travelers who are on a quest for such answers feel they have to postpone their answers, though. That´s why they subsequently ´park´ their investigations with the hovering spirits superseding human limitations, letting their inquiries hover as a result. I thought it was a song about inquisitive minds and, more importantly, the humbleness which that entails. I do think that the JZ part was meant as fake answer to all those questions: wear his clothes, although "he wants us to try" sounds a bit skittish to me, downplaying the cynicism. The human humbleness theme is obvious in the last verse: If we vanish from the planet and our societies crumble, the universe will swirl on unperturbed.
Boy, do I Love this song. Anyone figured out the chords yet? |
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Ian
Jul-12-2009, 18:53 GMT
USA - United Staates America
 | Some of them Jeroen. I don´t know the name of the few that I have,and those I do are in a different key to the ones he used in the ´Barnes and Noble´ run-through of this progression,probably as his guitar was tuned down there. The first chord seems to be a D major7 varient with no 5th and an added 6th. X5X677 maybe? It is a great song,but certainly complex. |
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