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Old 01-28-2007, 12:04 PM   #19
Spamlet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SisterMidnight
i didn't get the sand metaphor out of it at all before (and how can you tell if he's singing prince or prints spamlet?)
Well, as I said, I don't know for sure that's why I said "I hope I'm right" because I adore the haunting image that was conjured by that lyric:

Picture two dear companions who have crossed a burning desert now about to part probably forever. The one who feels he's being abandoned turns to survey the landscape and freeze a picture of it in his mind to help find perspective to make sense of the often torturous yet beautiful journey they've been through together. Inadvertently, his eye drops from the longview of the horizon and rests at the last footprint she made; already being buried by the breeze gently blowing the sand back over it to erase any record of her presence.

True, I fully admit that perhaps I'm a bit melodramatic but personally I find this heartrending and deeply profound. Although I'm actually a published, award-winning poet; I make a practice of not subjecting people to my poetry online (truly terrible amateur verse is so the norm on nearly every forum you'd care to visit nowadays that I honestly believe accomplished poets can't be appreciated and respected within such casual context). However, I will say that it's scarily similar to an event that happened to me which I once wrote about: a tiny, barely physical reminder of the love of my life (only a few months lost) unexpectedly presented itself and to my dying day it will remain one of the most significant, insignificant moments of my life.

Lawdy, I've probably just confused the crud outta this whole matter by adding that supremely vague anecdote so if anyone really wants to read my dumb little poem to attempt figuring out what the hell all that meant then PM me.

So I'm actually basing it on several things: instinct (first time I heard it I immediately thought he was contrasting the "prince" of the desert with the "prints" (or "print's") in the sand because as I said he's a writer who's style consistently shows he's particularly fond of wordplay and is obviously simply brilliant at it. So effortlessly gifted, in fact, that half of the time the implications appear accidental. For example "letters to send" again feeds into "print" if we intead first consider the idea of typeprint or the simple two or three letters which make up the one word answer he keeps probing her to answer the prince (and therefore also himself) with: a single "yes" or a "no" type-printed on a page. In Damo's character's scenario the same letters (notice how nearly identical letters to "send" and "sand" are too) could also be "the prints in the sand" having been drawn with either her finger or a stick as they neared the end of their trek. Skid Row's immortal ballad "I Remember You", anyone? Beuller? (wish I could make this smily drool)

Second of all, if he was saying "the prince of the desert" and then had the sole intention of merely continuing to define that character further for us he could make that singularity of goal much sharper by restating it "the prince of the sand" since "of" following a royal title always traditionally indicates both one's birthplace and current jurisdiction. However by using "in" with "the sand" he deliberately introduces the tactile element into our minds. The moment you hear someone is "in sand" you can't help but feel at least a slight subconscious sensorial response just as if I said someone is "in the mud" rather than said "the prince of the swamp" and followed it with "the prince of the mud" for clarification sake.

The original first verse shows a willingness to believe in the fairytale of the then unnamed prince and living happily ever after. She obviously loves the other man but the reality of love and all its faults proved too strong. Again, if Lisa instead sings this verse then another wonderfully poignant parrallel is set up. This time the extended ending where Damo tries unsuccessfully to convince us that he's likewise "all right now" will now have particularly powerful resonance. They've both chosen to accept the lie as a means of survival.

This newer first verse is all about the expectedly triumphant moment of seeing the finish line ahead, and turning to check over your shoulder only to realize that sadly you find yourself now the only runner (just like another Damo masterpiece of imperitive inquiry "Didn't Take Long") robbing you of any real sense of worth or value for your accomplishment. It's only natural to question both the boy you were when it all began so sweetly and to question the man you are now as to what you should or shouldn't have done vs. what you did or didn't do along the journey which led you to arrive at such a tragic and lonely outcome.
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Last edited by Spamlet; 01-28-2007 at 12:16 PM.
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