Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Blind Pilot - Oviedo

Blind Pilot.  Stripped down songwriting with lovely lyrics.  Here's my take on the opening track to the bands debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, Oviedo.   For a listen, make the click.  My scratch notes pasted below, enjoy.


As always (or not as always, but going forward), leave comments and thoughts below.

9 comments:

  1. I love this. Kind of like a rapgenius for indie music. Is it possible that the whole song is about a girl he met that he actually was in love with but didn't realize at the time? Here's my argument:
    - "4 times is once too much for love" I love you is three words, and 4-1=3. Israel is a math genius, but also I think he's walking home around 4am and wondering "am I in love?" But at the time, he decides he's not (too much for love)
    - he then talks about cathedrals making you feel small, hearing the president, but he's "full as it is." Life is essentially a personal drama which has a larger global drama surrounding it. I think he's saying that even major events (perhaps he was in Spain during 9/11) aren't really hitting him, because his current personal drama is overwhelming him (btw, if major shit is going down but you're fully focused on your own world, you're either in love or a narcissist)
    - "you'll be having my head big as a birthday" He's working with his mind not his heart, which is why he doesn't express to Gabriela that he's in love
    - "some things are better left unsaid" clearly he's justifying the fact that the "i love you" bomb wasn't dropped, but also admits that she could have said it
    - "I didn't know the way of my tongue" he didn't know how to express his feelings
    - "I didn't know it was you" He was feeling all these transcendent things in Spain, at the time he would have attributed it to the sights, the experiences, but now looking back, it was Gabriela, he was in love

    I realize my argument has flaws (Israel has an equation in this song? Blind Pilot's lead singer admits to not caring about 9/11?). But I humbly submit this as a slight variation on your argument.

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  2. Vimspot, I like your take. I think your take on the president line is pretty insightful. I'd like to get a better timeline of exactly when Israel was there as I think 9/11 or the kick off to the Iraq war are all real possibilities. It's also possible that he's referring to the Spanish president following the Madrid train bombings.

    Also I think the "I love you" bomb was probably dropped because he says the line as expressing the alternative to what actually happened. But I think the question is who said it?

    Glad you liked my first post!

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  3. You're brilliant! I also do this in my mind when I'm listening to songs sometimes but I cannot show you that.
    I'll suggest you stuff with beautiful imagery like go for Vashti Bunyan stuff or Sun Kil Moon (moorestown/alesund/glen tipton) ..

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  4. Great post! This has been my favorite song for a while now. Your analysis revealed some new points that I hadn't noticed before, but I also noticed an extra detail about the last verse.

    "If my eyes were on my back, I know what I'd be looking at, Through every shade of brown and green" Is a reference to the peacock line from before. Peacocks have what looks like eyes on their tail and have brown and green feathers.

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  5. Excellent, excellent catch! Love the new final line interpretation!

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  6. Very nice post! Good luck w the blog.

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  7. this is wonderful. I also studied in Oviedo for a semester and i will tell you that when he says "they're pouring the wine from over their heads" he is talking about Sidra (the typical drink of the province of Asturias, of which Oviedo is the Capital). It is very strong and easy to get drunk off of in a short amount of time.

    i absolutely love how he talks about the Cathedral because I fell in love with that very cathedral...it makes you feel so small, but there is something about it that also fills your soul. it is an amazing feeling.

    im not sure if the "im full as it is, so dont feed me more" part is referring to a figurative fullness about the politics and such, or literal. because i always told my host family and their friends that i could not possibly eat more, but they always insisted that i did....they are always trying to feed you more and more food. so that was how i interpreted it, but then again, i have a bit of a bias.

    i believe the line about the peacocks in the trees is referring to the wild peacocks that live in "el parque de san francisco" and how at night they are hiding amongst the trees and you wouldnt know they were there. but during the day you are able to see them walking about and experience the fullness of their beauty.

    this song literally takes me back to Oviedo and makes me cry every time because of how much i miss it.

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    Replies
    1. **the sidra is poured from above their heads so as to give the drink carbonation.

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