Monday, October 18, 2010

Tenuousness; Andrew Bird

I skipped “Effigy” because I don’t know where is the album here in my archive, so I couldn’t upload the song. In fact, I also don’t know if it’s a whistling song as well. So I’ll let you with “Tenuousness” today and tomorrow I come back with “Effigy”.

This is an odd one. Definitely not a story song, but one that tries to create a sense of tenuousness with syntax. The word ‘tenuousness’ itself is clearly onomatopoeic, like a frayed rope bridge. Traveling the world for most of a year tends to make me amazed that things hang together as well as they do considering how divisive and chaotic even the smallest countries can get. And knowing that everything is connected and propped up by imaginary things like, oh, credit for instance. Is there order in the universe? What’s to keep this planet from spinning off its axis to be lost?

Tenuous at best was all he had to say
when pressed about the rest of it, the world that is
from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to Porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and harbor-sorts who hang around in quotes a lot

Here’s where things start getting weird
while chinless men will scratch their beards
and to their minds a sharpened axe
is brushed upon the Uralic syntaxes

Love of hate acts as an axis
Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes
So procreate and pay your taxes

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven thank the heavens for their elasticity
And as for those who live and die for astronomy

Know when to stand or when to sit
Can’t stand to stand can’t stand to sit
Now who would want to know this

Click
Click
Click

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell

Who wants to look upon this
Who wants to look upon this
Pray tell
Pray tell

Tenuousness
Less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven comes just shy of infinity
and as for those who live and die from numerology





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