You are my face- i cant relate

[adjason]

So there are many songs on the new album that I really like but there are some that I really don't. You are my face- for the first time in all my listening and studying Jeff Tweedy lyrics these read like he randomly picked phrases from one of those magnetic boards. There is nothing in this song that i realte to and I guess it surprises me because just about every song jeff has written I relate to. This one has no lines that I relate to- that I think about, that resonate with me, that make me think of something from my own life or at least paint a picture or an image. This song does not do it for me.

[Kicking_Television]

So there are many songs on the new album that I really like but there are some that I really don't. You are my face- for the first time in all my listening and studying Jeff Tweedy lyrics these read like he randomly picked phrases from one of those magnetic boards. There is nothing in this song that i realte to and I guess it surprises me because just about every song jeff has written I relate to. This one has no lines that I relate to- that I think about, that resonate with me, that make me think of something from my own life or at least paint a picture or an image. This song does not do it for me.

 

To each their own, it might be my favorite track.

[bobbob1313]

So there are many songs on the new album that I really like but there are some that I really don't. You are my face- for the first time in all my listening and studying Jeff Tweedy lyrics these read like he randomly picked phrases from one of those magnetic boards. There is nothing in this song that i realte to and I guess it surprises me because just about every song jeff has written I relate to. This one has no lines that I relate to- that I think about, that resonate with me, that make me think of something from my own life or at least paint a picture or an image. This song does not do it for me.

 

I feel like it's about having a family. "You are my face" refers to that his children remind him of himself.

"The Door screams I hate you hate you" reminds me of a kid locking himself in his room and yelling at his parents.

[quarter23cd]

first time in all my listening and studying Jeff Tweedy lyrics these read like he randomly picked phrases from one of those magnetic boards.

I had the same initial response to IATTBYH. By the time he got to "I assasin down the avenue" I wanted to shout at the radio "Come on, you're not even trying!" Eventually I came to dig it, of course, but I'm still not convinced there weren't refrigerator-magnets employed in the writing of that song.

 

I don't know what this has to do with anything. You Are My Face is arguably my favorite Wilco track in years, but I think that has more to do with the sound of the middle section than anything. Lyrically, it has some tremendous lines such as "I trust no emotion/I believe in locomotion" which just strikes me as a great line. (additionally, regarding the mellowness of the album, it could also be "I believe in low commotion"--I dunno why I've started hearing it that way lately) And "working in the gold mine full time/filling in for sunshine" is a tongue twister of great imagery. What's the overall meaning of the song? Hard to say. (I agree that there are a lot of references to family running through it--a lot of the songs here seem that way)

[yermom]

When we

[yankhotelfox]

Probably my favorite track on SBS. But, different strokes for different folks, as "they" say. I like how after the guitar distortion ends, they go back to the mellow part that starts the song. Good stuff.

[Kicking_Television]

When we

[TheMaker]

for the first time in all my listening and studying Jeff Tweedy lyrics these read like he randomly picked phrases from one of those magnetic boards.

 

-"Crawling is screw, faster lash, I blow it with kisses."

-All of Wishful Thinking

-Etc.

 

I love this song, incidentally.

[bjorn_skurj]

I love this song too:

 

" I trust no emotion

I believe in locomotion

But I've turned to rust as we've discussed

Though I must have let you down

too many times

In the dirt and the dust."

[jimmyketchup]

"I trust no emotion

I believe in locomotion

But I've turned to rust as we've discussed

Though I must have let you down

too many times

In the dirt and the dust."

 

Great song. For me his lyrics here are about creating a mood and emotion. And they do that in a pretty amazing manner. It's not just about a literal meaning. Dylan is probably best at doing this. I mean, what the hell does 'Desolation Row' mean? The answer is immeterial in my opinion, it's more about the feelings and mood that is awoken inside the listener.

 

I can't wait to hear 'You Are My Face' live.

[you ever seen a ghost?]

you guys talking about refrigerator magnets needs to think learn about impressionistic lyric-writing. the words are there more for the way they sound and the brief images you get subconsciously than any literal meaning. that being said, he's definitely done this before, "Via Chicago" and "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" being two notable examples.

 

-justin

[jakobnicholas]

Wasn't it on Summerteeth that the band made phrases by using the magnetic board technique? (Actually, they just wrote words down on paper, cut them out, and tossed thme in a bag or something).

 

I think it was the genesis of lines like, "beware the quite front yard"......a great lyric, in my opinion.

[WilcoFan]

Wasn't it on Summerteeth that the band made phrases by using the magnetic board technique? (Actually, they just wrote words down on paper, cut them out, and tossed thme in a bag or something).

 

I think it was the genesis of lines like, "beware the quite front yard"......a great lyric, in my opinion.

 

 

It think they actually had an old time typewriter on the bus and somebody would just come along and add one line at a time. There's an article out there somewhere that describes this process.

[Sir Stewart]

you guys talking about refrigerator magnets needs to think learn about impressionistic lyric-writing.

Did you throw magnets at the fridge to write that sentence?

 

(just a joke, a joke...)

[you ever seen a ghost?]

close. random word generator on the computer. damn, you're good!

 

-justin

[welch79]

two words:

 

lyrical impressionism

 

also:

 

each song means something different to each one of us.

 

that's the beauty of it all, really.

[Papillon Parade]

You are my face is not only my fave on this album, it's become one of my fave Wilco songs to date.

[LouieB]

It think they actually had an old time typewriter on the bus and somebody would just come along and add one line at a time. There's an article out there somewhere that describes this process.

There is also a technique the Surrealists used called "exquisite corpse" where all collaborators add a line to a poem. (Also they used it for drawings as well...) Collective poems can be an interesting way to teach poetry...see Kenneth Koch...

 

LouieB

[quarter23cd]

you guys talking about refrigerator magnets needs to think learn about impressionistic lyric-writing.

Don't make me bust out my English degree. I got credentials and shit. I majored in American Magnetic Poetry of the 21st Century. Jeff Tweedy was my academic advisor.

[Beltmann]

There is also a technique the Surrealists used called "exquisite corpse" where all collaborators add a line to a poem. (Also they used it for drawings as well...) Collective poems can be an interesting way to teach poetry...see Kenneth Koch...

 

LouieB

Exquisite corpse has been applied to filmmaking as well. A recent example is The Orange Thief.

[Sir Stewart]

They Might Be Giants also got in on the fun awhile ago

[yermom]

Cut up technique on Wiki is a good place to start finding out a little more about this type of writing for those who are unfamiliar with it.

 

Gysin introduced writer William S. Burroughs to the technique at the Beat Hotel. The pair later applied the technique to printed media and audio recordings in an effort to decode the material's implicit content, hypothesizing that such a technique could be used to discover the true meaning of a given text. Burroughs also suggested cut-ups may be effective as a form of divination saying, "When you cut word lines the future leaks out." Burroughs also further developed the "fold-in" technique.

 

Burroughs has cited earlier works as proto-cut-ups: T. S. Eliot's long poem, The Waste Land, and portions of John Dos Passos' works. In 1977, Burroughs and Gysin published The Third Mind, a collection of cut-up writings and essays on the form.

From at least the early 1970s, David Bowie has used cut-ups to create some of his lyrics. It is a technique which came to influence Kurt Cobain's songwriting.

 

Other musicians working in sample-based music genres, such as hip hop and electronic music, employ a similar technique. DJs may spend hours in record stores looking ("digging") for LP records featuring obscure or interesting breaks, vocals, and other fragments to meld together in new compositions. Musique concr

[welch79]

sorry you don't relate.

 

tough break.

 

better luck next time.

 

(p.s. - i got a snicker out of the hootie remark)

[msewell]

I feel like it's about having a family. "You are my face" refers to that his children remind him of himself.

"The Door screams I hate you hate you" reminds me of a kid locking himself in his room and yelling at his parents.

 

I've been wondering if the title is from Toni Morrison's Beloved. There too the line is about a family resemblance. In the book a (ghostly) daughter returns to her mother and her sister. At one point (page 216 in my edition), the three of them trade off speaking the following lines:

 

Beloved

You are my sister

You are my daughter

You are my face; you are me

I have found you again; you have come back to me

You are my Beloved

You are mine

You are mine

You are mine

 

I have your milk

I have your smile

I will take care of you

 

You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?

 

--

 

Or maybe it's just a coincidence?

[lost highway]

If the song was concerned about Toni Morrison there would have been at least 3 suicides, a couple murders, and Oprah would put a sticker on SBS reccomending it. And a freshman lit class would tell you you're a dumb bitch if you don't like it. Wait.....maybe I'm projecting. Sorry.