http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:48:08 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/27/032139.php#comment-712842 One point on the line about troubadours. I have been pondering it for a while. I believe there is a play of two different meanings, beautifully mingled. One way, the interpretation often found, it's about hippies travelling to India on a budget, looking for love and peace and a new consciousness (and maybe ganja), and getting in trouble, maybe even dying along the road: it's the mismatch between ideals and dirty reality, where the devil's tail shows up. But I think there's a subtler,cultured assonance. Besides being a metaphore for hippies, Troubadours where actually middle age poets, who sang idealized love; one of their cherished themes was "love from afar". One of them, Jaufré Rudel, is famous for the story of a man, falling in love for a lady he'd never seen, just heard about her qualities; she lived somewhere in Middle East. The lover starts on a long and dangerous journey (at the times, crusades on top of it all) to go and see her... but he dies just short of reaching the place. In the difference between ideals and dirty and sweaty reality does the devils' tail show up again. 712842@blogcritics.org Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:48:08 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/27/032139.php#comment-695495 To the person implying it was ridiculous for Jagger to equate communism with evil: the point of the song is that "moral" or "good" ideas such as, in this case, economic equality, can manifest themselves in evil ways. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" sums up the lyrical theme pretty well... I should also add that this song is in no way Christian..."...watched with glee while you kings and queens fought for 10 decades/ for the gods they made..." 695495@blogcritics.org Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:48:41 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/07/27/032139.php#comment-638055 Erwin Rommel (The Desert Fox) Drove a tank and held a General's rank (General Field Marshal) when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank. Along the same lines as Pluto above, later in the war, he was suspected of arranging the assassination of Hitler, which got him killed. Friend or foe? Perception often dictates our view of the elephant. That is an essential part of this song's message. Christ's death, although tragic, was the "greatest gift" the world has ever known if you're a Christian. Don't want to get into that whole thing- destiny, players, etc. Suffice it to say, Pilate's role was the role of man, not Roman, not Jew but all of mankind. This is a central theme in all faiths and enlightened teaching... for example it's love thy neighbor, not love thy neighbor unless he be a jew, black, small, green, etc. A story... I had a professor once ask in class, "guess who the Africans were most frightened of in WWII?" I replied, the English and Americans. She said, astounded (maybe because she was Jewish), "that's right". I said, It makes sense because they had been exploiting North Africans for centuries through the expansion of Empire. But the Nazis had no history in Africa until they came to power. Why would they be frightened by people who were there to send their oppressors packing? See the point? She brought her own baggage to the discussion, we all do, all the time. 638055@blogcritics.org Wed, 3 Oct 2007 11:29:26 EDT