[relient nelson]

Okay, I'll take a little bite.

caught up for Massachusetts in a double-stacked train
through the adirondacks spinning like a weathervane
gathering and cutting and splitting and stacking the wood
our fuel is neatly piled and we all feel good

I'm intrigued by the "double-stacked train" bit. I am fairly certain that those exact words were used very intentionally.

I'm thinking it's possible those four lines reference an orgy, as well as the male genitalia. I might be way off, but it seems possible to me.

I also noticed "double-stacked" and "piled" are both used in this section. What's a possible correlation in theme between the two?

[tenwatt]

Originally Posted by relient nelson

Okay, I'll take a little bite.



I'm intrigued by the "double-stacked train" bit. I am fairly certain that those exact words were used very intentionally.

I'm thinking it's possible those four lines reference an orgy, as well as the male genitalia. I might be way off, but it seems possible to me.

I also noticed "double-stacked" and "piled" are both used in this section. What's a possible correlation in theme between the two?

Hmmm...I can buy that. Sort of. Seems like a stretch. The "gathering and cutting and splitting and stacking the wood our fuel is neatly piled and we all feel good" lines were obvious to me that he was talking about surrounding himself with pleasurable things but I'm still not sure about the train thing.

[aaustinmathiss]

okay... here i go. (i'm not very good at these type of things, but the king beetle on a coconut estate is my favorite song by mwY and possibly of all time, and i have my theory on it...) I think that it's about how only God really knows it all. He is the only one that you could fall vulnerably and dependently on, and will make everything go smoothly. He's the only thing that knows everything about everything.

I think the King Beetle is like a false god. He claims to have all of the answers and know all of the solutions to the other insects' problems, but he really doesn't. Only the real God has that knowledge, obviously. The "Great Mystery" that was lit was all the dried leaves that were burned in a pile by the lake... which is pretty straight forward in the song. haha. The little insects don't know what it is. they just see a huge light, and they're freaking out about it. So they ask the King. The King doesn't know either, and he starts sending people to go find out what it is and bring it back to the rhododendron stem. When the professor steps up, and claims to have the knowledge that only God has, he comes back in defeat. I think that was the Great Light really is a metaphor for is the light of Jesus. Or more just the knowing that He is the real solution. He describes what he's seen, and even in the finest detail of what he's learned, he spoke neither of light nor heat. This, i think, is representing how for some people, the evidence of God can be so obvious, right in front of their eyes, and yet they still deny Him in their stubbornness. Then, the King gets mad and all and sends someone else, and when the Lieutenant steps up, and tries to be stronger than God, he too comes back in defeat. BUT, when he describes the Great Mystery, he says it was BRIGHT AS THE SUN BUT WITH TEN TIMES THE HEAT! (that's pretty bright and hot...) When the professor came back, he failed to see ANY light or ANY heat in the Great Mystery, much less as bright as the sun and ten times hotter than it. That's how blind some people can be with the truth. As for the lieutenant, i think he's representing how you can't find God if you go in trying to be greater than him or if you're so obsessed with wealth, as the lieutenant was with the King's wealth... that's all he wanted. Another reason i think that the Great Light refers to Jesus is that it says "it cracked like the thunder and bloodshot my eyes." and it also says it was bright as the sun. In Matthew 24, it says that "Just like a summer thunderstorm that lights up the entire sky, everyone will see Jesus coming."... eh? i think that's pretty cool... thunderstorm... cracks like the thunder... and then when he comes back in defeat too, the King is outraged, and also knows he has to leave and admit that he is not the real Father. Jesus is the Father. The Light within all that you see. and then it goes on to say how "He fills up the ponds as He empties the clouds, He holds without hands, and He speaks without sounds." which is pretty obvious that he's talking about Jesus... or God... that's all i got on that song.

and as for the fig with a bellyache, i don't know about the train, but something i think that he says that i really don't get and kind of concerns me, is how he says "the dog below our waist aroused, when arms embraced the pretty gals. it came more of a surprise, it happened while i hugged the guys." .................

so i think that when he says the dog below our waist aroused, he's talking about him having an ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺ because of his lustful thoughts as he hugged a pretty girl, but then it came as a surprise that it happened while he hugged a guy... and so i'm kind of worried about that... sounds like he's having fears that he might be homosexual. also in a much earlier album, A to B: Life, he says "young man come and lead me to your bed." i don't get this either... so that's all i have to say about that...

[tenwatt]

Originally Posted by aaustinmathiss

okay... here i go. (i'm not very good at these type of things, but the king beetle on a coconut estate is my favorite song by mwY and possibly of all time, and i have my theory on it...) I think that it's about how only God really knows it all. He is the only one that you could fall vulnerably and dependently on, and will make everything go smoothly. He's the only thing that knows everything about everything.

I think the King Beetle is like a false god. He claims to have all of the answers and know all of the solutions to the other insects' problems, but he really doesn't. Only the real God has that knowledge, obviously. The "Great Mystery" that was lit was all the dried leaves that were burned in a pile by the lake... which is pretty straight forward in the song. haha. The little insects don't know what it is. they just see a huge light, and they're freaking out about it. So they ask the King. The King doesn't know either, and he starts sending people to go find out what it is and bring it back to the rhododendron stem. When the professor steps up, and claims to have the knowledge that only God has, he comes back in defeat. I think that was the Great Light really is a metaphor for is the light of Jesus. Or more just the knowing that He is the real solution. He describes what he's seen, and even in the finest detail of what he's learned, he spoke neither of light nor heat. This, i think, is representing how for some people, the evidence of God can be so obvious, right in front of their eyes, and yet they still deny Him in their stubbornness. Then, the King gets mad and all and sends someone else, and when the Lieutenant steps up, and tries to be stronger than God, he too comes back in defeat. BUT, when he describes the Great Mystery, he says it was BRIGHT AS THE SUN BUT WITH TEN TIMES THE HEAT! (that's pretty bright and hot...) When the professor came back, he failed to see ANY light or ANY heat in the Great Mystery, much less as bright as the sun and ten times hotter than it. That's how blind some people can be with the truth. As for the lieutenant, i think he's representing how you can't find God if you go in trying to be greater than him or if you're so obsessed with wealth, as the lieutenant was with the King's wealth... that's all he wanted. Another reason i think that the Great Light refers to Jesus is that it says "it cracked like the thunder and bloodshot my eyes." and it also says it was bright as the sun. In Matthew 24, it says that "Just like a summer thunderstorm that lights up the entire sky, everyone will see Jesus coming."... eh? i think that's pretty cool... thunderstorm... cracks like the thunder... and then when he comes back in defeat too, the King is outraged, and also knows he has to leave and admit that he is not the real Father. Jesus is the Father. The Light within all that you see. and then it goes on to say how "He fills up the ponds as He empties the clouds, He holds without hands, and He speaks without sounds." which is pretty obvious that he's talking about Jesus... or God... that's all i got on that song.

I don't really buy that the King Beetle is against God in any way. I believe that he may have felt foolish in not educating his colony about God but that over all it was a lesson that he hoped would lead them to a relationship with God.

Originally Posted by aaustinmathiss

and as for the fig with a bellyache, i don't know about the train, but something i think that he says that i really don't get and kind of concerns me, is how he says "the dog below our waist aroused, when arms embraced the pretty gals. it came more of a surprise, it happened while i hugged the guys." .................

so i think that when he says the dog below our waist aroused, he's talking about him having an ☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺ because of his lustful thoughts as he hugged a pretty girl, but then it came as a surprise that it happened while he hugged a guy... and so i'm kind of worried about that... sounds like he's having fears that he might be homosexual. also in a much earlier album, A to B: Life, he says "young man come and lead me to your bed." i don't get this either... so that's all i have to say about that...

Yeah...he's obviously talking about being arroused while hugging guys. I don't know that it's clear that he is saying that HE personally is but I believe he is talking about the world as a whole. I think the song is just about the world becoming more and more perverse.

The quote from "Silencer" that you're worried about is a bit out of context too, I believe. I have always felt that the lyrics to that song were conversations between a girl and a guy and narration by Aaron. I've always assumed it was the girl that said "lead me to your bed".

Nevertheless, I'm certain Aaron has dealt with a multitude of sins (as we all have) and I don't see how homosexuallity is anymore shocking than any other sin.

[NapkinBob1]

Originally Posted by Ethan.Bassist.

"King Beetle..." is I'm pretty sure is about a bug zapper. Literally of course. Not metaphorically.

It's definitely not. He's referring to the fire burning by the lake, as described in the first verse.

The fire represents God.
The song is about becoming one with God (as in the line "just as a flower and its fragrance are one"). The professor tried to study God by analyzing him, and through what he KNOWS. The Lieutenant tried to understand and control the fire (God) through strength. You can't study God in that way. You have to just dive in to the relationship and give it your ALL as the king does at the end. You have to give up your strings to this world (in the song represented by the family)

You have to give up yourself, your life. That doesn't mean you have to die. "Our beloved's not dead, but his highness instead has been utterly changed into fire." ("Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39) This is the meaning of beaing "utterly changed into fire". This same line is used in other songs, such as four word letter, and another that I can't recall at this moment.