Song Discussion: You are my face

[shabba rich]

Do you not often see similarities in the faces of family members?

 

Our faces stitched in sewing

Our houses hemmed into homes

[Oranje Spur]

his love ones his family his community his world I think this song speaks to all of these people past and present.

[drag ass snag]

I think this is Wilco's masterpiece. If I was to pick one song to show somebody what Wilco was all about, this would be it.

 

I think the song is about family, and how modern-day alienation impacts our relationship with family and loved ones. With T.S. Eliot taking a bow in the wings....filing into tight lines, ordinary beehives, no current through the water wire, in the dirt and the dust.....classic imagery from a classic theme. But updated for post-modern family life, including teenage melodramatics ("the door screams i hate you hanging around my blue jeans"), and the cold anonymity of technology ("trying to be thankful our stories fit into phones").

 

In the end, there are no certainties, even with loved ones, and we are left wondering, worrying, and quietly asking to be loved. That last verse is so achingly beautiful, and so beautifully human, and I cry every time I hear it.

 

And then there's the incredible arrangement and musicianship of this piece, not just the three sections, but the brilliant transitions between the sections. The middle section, with its power and virtuosity, should startle being sandwiched between the softer sections, but it never does because those transition sections are so skillful, meshing what comes before with what comes after. Being a Cline/Tweedy composition, I'm guessing that these transitions, with which the song would not work without, are the contributions of Mr. Cline. Plus that unfuckingbelievable guitar solo. What a song.

 

Great analysis!

 

But I hope for your sake you don't really cry everytime you hear this song. That sounds emotionally exhausting.

[W(TF)]

>Question for folks... the title "You Are My Face"...

usually somewhere within a song you hear the title, but not on YAMF, it's not mentioned.

Where do you think the title comes from?

 

the same place Dylan got "4th Time Around."

 

-justin

 

Dunno about that. I think it's generally believed Dylan coined the name 4TA as a retort against Simon & Garfunkel or the Beatles, who (he felt) kept ripping off his tunes.

[merkattack]

shabba rich, that's exactly my interpretation. Great summary.

 

Question for folks... the title "You Are My Face"...

usually somewhere within a song you hear the title, but not on YAMF, it's not mentioned.

Where do you think the title comes from?

 

I can add this: I think the title refers to one not being able to define oneself without others - that it is community that makes us who we are. The lines "Now everybody

[What Light?]

Great song.............not my fav off the new one but a great one..........

[jhh4321]

Question for folks... the title "You Are My Face"...

usually somewhere within a song you hear the title, but not on YAMF, it's not mentioned.

Where do you think the title comes from?

 

i remember jeff said something in an interview about this being a song that he was singing to himself into the mirror...hence the title

[shabba rich]

his love ones his family his community his world I think this song speaks to all of these people past and present.

 

 

exactly. family writ large.

[shabba rich]

But I hope for your sake you don't really cry everytime you hear this song. That sounds emotionally exhausting.

 

it is exhausting, but honestly, i try not to pay attention to the lyrics when i want to avoid blubbering like an idiot. but they're not sad tears, they're the happy tears that come with hearing such truth and beauty, and I always feel better afterwards.

[shabba rich]

shabba rich, that's exactly my interpretation. Great summary.

I can add this: I think the title refers to one not being able to define oneself without others - that it is community that makes us who we are. The lines "Now everybody

[a.miller]

i remember jeff said something in an interview about this being a song that he was singing to himself into the mirror...hence the title

Yep. Or that he wrote it while looking at himself.

[cmackey34]

I, too, think this is one of the strongest Wilco songs ever. The beautiful intro/verse is just broken in a million pieces by the searing Nels solo and then the band puts the pieces back together for the outro. Everything about this song is fantastic. By the way, after reading the liner notes for SBS I believe that Nels did play the solo. They list him as playing lead on the 12-string electric (the one he uses in concert). I think for a guitarist as talented as Mr. Cline that it was really easy to nail the "Jeff Tweedy Solo" sound (which seems to be the debate).

[PigSooie]

Should have been "You Are My Phace."

[MattZ]

Songs like this, and threads like this, are why I can't understand when people lament the "direct" and/or "lazy" lyrics on this album. I think this album has the best lyrics Tweedy has ever written.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

"I have no idea how this happens

All of my maps have been overthrown

Happenstance has changed my plans

So many times my heart has been outgrown"

 

I really love these lines. We can try to plan and map out every little thing in our lives, and even when we believe we've got everything figured out, chance can change everything. Sometimes things take a turn for the worst, but often good things happen when we least expect them to. I think this song is a lot about the conflict a lot of us might feel in these situations--it's hard to just trust fate, but good things can happen if you do.

[PigSooie]

Phace!

[u2roolz]

shabba rich, that's exactly my interpretation. Great summary.

 

 

 

I can add this: I think the title refers to one not being able to define oneself without others - that it is community that makes us who we are. The lines "Now everybody�s feeling all alone/Can�t tell you who I am" say to me that without community it's difficult to know who we are as individuals because we have no mirror with which to see ourselves. In the modern age there's danger of losing community in the hectic pace of life ("I believe in locomotion"), but at the same time new toys like cell phones actually work to connect people so we can share our stories even if we're not actually with someone we know. We're thankful for what little shred of communal connection we have left, for otherwise we'd lose everything, even ourselves.

 

Great song.

 

OK. I'm digging up a 2 year old thread. Pretty much to give credit to this analysis above. Also, to throw out something else out there.

In another thread I mentioned that I'm reading No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. I couldn't help but think about the idea in the play that there were no mirrors at all.

That is and can be hell to almost anyone.

 

Some talking points from the play. Honestly brought to you by Spark Notes. (Hey, I did actually read it. I found it easier to copy and paste)

 

Since there are no mirrors, Garcin must decide if Inez is right or what he thinks himself is right. In this case, Garcin believes Inez rather than his own judgment. He lets her define his essence, or personal characteristics, and thus, in Sartre's definition, has "bad faith."

 

Estelle does not think that she exists unless she looks in a mirror, seeing herself as others do. She does not trust her own judgment. She instead relies on an external object to both create her essence and verify her existence. When Inez pretends to be her "mirror" and says Estelle has a pimple on her face, Estelle's bad faith causes her to accept someone else literally creating her essence.

 

Inez can't stand Garcin looking at her because she thinks that he is automatically judging her. Since she thinks that is her own role, she accuses him of "stealing" her face. Garcin's mere existence thus reduces Inez's feelings of autonomy.

 

Sartre believed that human consciousness was free to choose its own character or essence but must also assume responsibility for this freedom. Estelle is unable to do this, asking Inez to be her mirror so she can create Estelle's essence for her. Inez revels in her power, even telling Estelle she has a pimple when she really doesn't. As for Inez, she refuses to let other people define her essence. She claims that she is always "painfully conscious" of herself.

 

Edit: I'm reading the lyrics. I'm debating to put certain lyrics on here to further show my angle.

But this line sticks out like a sore thumb:

"No feelings I can see

I trust no emotion"