Lyrics
The Quickening
The quickening is an ephemeral thing
That only happens in the dark
Like catching lightning in a jar.
And the pain that it brings
Is just the promise of Spring.
It’s madness on the wing.
Oh, what does it mean...
To come alive?
To come alive!
To come alive!
The entering is soulful conjecturing
* Oh lost and by the wind-grieved ghost
Come back to me again.
Because the way that she bleeds
Is in the law that he reads,
Confusing words and deeds.
So what does it mean...
To come alive?
To come alive!
To come alive!
To pierce the vein of the sacred and profane,
Poor science in service of a faith,
But who will bear the mark of Cain?
To come alive?
To come alive!
To come alive!
* Look Homeward Angel from Thomas Wolfe
Versions & recordings
Grouped by recording
First released on The Empire Strikes First · 2004
Song Interpretations
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This song is about the mind-body problem: Asking the question "What does it mean to come alive?" is asking about whether or not consciousness is some kind of spiritual, non-material presence, or whether it's purely physical. To put it another way, does life spring from something immaterial or something organic? The "poor science in the service of a faith" line refers to people believing, despite scientific evidence,…
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The "poor science in the service of a faith" line refers to people believing, despite scientific evidence, that there's an immateriality to life, or consciousness. "Who will bear the mark of Cain?" is asking the question "Who will come out victorious?"
The title, "The Quickening", obviously refers to something springing to life, which can be confirmed by looking the word "quickening" up in a dictionary.
[quote=Guests]I don't think this an anti-abortion song, but the opposite. "What does it mean to come alive?": especially when you're "not wanted", but authority forced it. "The way that she bleeds is in the law that he reads": law dictates if we will have kids or not. "Poor science in service of a faith": we can't use the science available to us because a religion says so.[/quote] Interesting take, but the tit…
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"What does it mean to come alive?": especially when you're "not wanted", but authority forced it.
"The way that she bleeds is in the law that he reads": law dictates if we will have kids or not.
"Poor science in service of a faith": we can't use the science available to us because a religion says so.[/quote]
Interesting take, but the title of the song does give it away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickening
"What does it mean to come alive?": especially when you're "not wanted", but authority forced it.
"The way that she bleeds is in the law that he reads": law dictates if we will have kids or not.
"Poor science in service of a faith": we can't use the science available to us because a religion says so.
Brett said on the official message board that it's his take on abortion. The first verse seems to just be about the broad definition of the term 'quickening'. The second verse is about conception (the Thomas Wolf quote perhaps representing the new embryos calling out to the life-spirit about to come into being) and the 'confusing words and deeds that result'. The bridge seems to address the stem-cell research controv…
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