Regina Spektor Regina Spektor Forums This is a place where i hope people will write their ideas and share... Lyrics Man of a Thousand Faces
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Okay, so I'm really liking this song "Man of a Thousand Faces" but I am having an issue. I'm trying to figure out what the lyrics mean. I keep thinking that it has to do with drugs of some kind, but I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. The lyrics are below, and I made the sections that I made some drug-related areas bold. ALSO: I made a portion of the song into italics. This section is particularly baffling to me. I know that songs don't have one meaning or anything, I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.
The man of a thousand faces Sits down at the table Eats a small lump of sugar And smiles at the moon like he knows her He begins his quiet ascension Without anyone's steady instruction To a place with no religion He's found a path to her likeness His words are quiet like stains are On a tablecloth washed in a river Stains that are trying to cover For each other Or at least blend in with the pattern Good is better than perfect Scrub till your fingers are bleeding And I’m crying with insight I tell others to do without crying He used to go to his favorite bookstores And rip out his favorite pages And stuff 'em into his breast pockets The moon, to him, was a stranger And now he sits down at a table Without anyone's steady instruction Begins his quiet ascension To a place with no religion He's found a path to her likeness He eats a small lump of sugar Smiles at the moon like he knows her This message has been edited. Last edited by: mod, |
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Well it's a beautiful song, and there's much leeway for interpretation. The sugar lump references struck me too – but I don't think she's implying drug-use. Because surely the only interpretation of that would be, “he sits at a table and takes some drugs”, and I'm not sure that's the profound poetic insight she was going for.
If I could theorize for a moment I'd suggest that the creature most known for eating lumps of sugar is a horse. (Normally given as a reward.) For the most part horses have been depicted in literature and art as honest and noble; whose character traits are exemplified by loyalty and strength – think of Boxer in Animal Farm or the titular donkey in Robert Bresson's utterly sublime Au hasard Balthazar. For this song at least, perhaps she views this man in that rather stoic light. Or maybe she doesn't, I mean not all of them are noble beasts. And in 20 Years of Snow she says something about “pissing on sugarcubes” and I literally have no idea what that means. Also, I'm not sure if Regina was influenced by this book, but as a point of interest, you guys might want to have a look at this thing. It's an interesting read. |
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I’m going to go out on limb and put a random thought out there on this one. Let’s just say if she is being “literal” with that lyric it could be referring to some military guys like from the Navy (she does say navigators with their mappy maps) and their moldy bathrooms. Since I guess they called them heads. Where they piss on sugar cubes… Not so sure about the sugar cube part really. But maybe something like urinal cakes to make the moldy bathrooms smell nicer. Not an expert on urinal cakes but don’t they make some of them smell fruity? If she was being figurative well, moldy heads could just mean stupid old men. And by pissing on the sugarcubes they “melt” something good. I dunno. I love you, that's why I'm here. |
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has anyone read this book???? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
something tells me Regina has. Wow. I made a discovery. and are we positive that she says "found a path to her likeness"? I love you, that's why I'm here. |
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What are you suggesting it might be instead? |
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I dunno exactly. I just need some objectivity. Not that i don't think it could say that. But I listend to it about 20 times on repeat and then every youtube vid and I'm really having trouble hearing the word "her" for some reason.
Studying does make you go insane btw. I love you, that's why I'm here. |
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i've always thought it was about a drug induced epiphany.
Man of 1000 is my fav. regina song ever, and i just love it. It is common to take LSD with a sugar cube. And never personally taken acid, i hear it is abolutely nuts. It can make you feel really close to nature and want to go back to nature. "He's found a path to her likeness." His quiet ascension is his trip. It all seems like a really philosophical trip where a man comtemplates nature and religion. Also sometimes on acid people get paranoid, and the scrub till your fingers are bleeding reminds me of that. In the song I always heard "and I'm crying over things i tell others to do without crying." His trip has made him see his flaws. He remembers his life before the trip and how he was so far from nature. and at the end he trips again. For me, the "good is better than perfect" part is a completely magical experience. this is gunna sound like i'm on drugs lol, but i just want to live in that one phrase. the passion she has in that one phrase is.... better than anything i've ever heard in my life. I think if there were 5 seconds of music i would hear over and over again for the rest of my life it would be that. This truely is the best song i've ever heard. ---------------------------- we'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose. Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days. |
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Great song and good analysis by brumstixers! This is the kind of post which should happen more often around here.
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i think we'd all be happy if you took your own advice, too, musiclover =)
-jesus, the bringer of ghosts. |
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Jess, I know we share a mutual love for this song, as it is my favorite too, and I agree--I've always seen it as a drug reference. The bit about "his words are quiet like stains are/one a table cloth washed in the river/stains you try to cover for each other/ or at least blend in with the pattern" Holy cow, so amazing. I see it as a man who is outwardly withdrawn and just "one of the crowd," an average joe, but is secretly slightly insane (like so many of us are) and the only way he can find the release to the true him is through drugs. |
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This song is what brought me to the Stix.
I heard her play it at Messiah College, where she debuted it (she has since changed the melody a little). I thought it was sublime and came home and went crazy trying to figure out the lyrics using a couple of not-very-clear Youtube videos shot that night. I kept posting versions of the words on the livejournal regina (spektoritis) site, asking for input, until someone involved in running the site told me to stop. He said, "You know, you should go post about this on the Stix." I assume he meant that Stixers would be obsessed enough to endure endless conjecture about the lyrics of one song. LOL, he was right!!  |
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I've never been to Spektoritis, but what kind of Regina loving place would be irritated about lyrics talk? That's blasphemy!
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got that tattoo yet? i fear mine...it's gunna be so painful! i love your interpretation of that verse! i think it fits perfectly! ---------------------------- we'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose. Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days. |
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No I haven't gotten yet, I think I might be getting a Morstad illustration on my arm first...but eventually...and its so worth the pain!
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"Like the demon-youth, the Master flew with his eyes fixed on the moon, but he was smiling at it as if it were someone he knew and loved..."--Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
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Interesting ... though perhaps she just had those lines floating like flotsam and jetsam in her mind, so when she started to write the song, up they popped!
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Reginas favorite book.... hmmmmmm, GREAT POINT --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  THE FAMOUS FLOWER OF MANHATTAN..... Don't you ever miss me? Don't you ever miss meat? Don't you ever mince meat? Don't you ever mincth meat? |
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I've decided that i'm suggesting it it might be "found a path to aura-likeness" I love you, that's why I'm here. |
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I always thought it was:
'He begins his quiet ascension without anyone's steady/sturdy instruction, to a place where no religion has found a path to our a-likeness' ______________________________ 'I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired, I thought it classic.' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://amanda.morningrain.net/blog/ |
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The latest live versions sounds like she's saying: "...without anyone's sturdy instruction, to a place that no religion, has found a path to OR a likeness" ------------------------------------------------- I'll believe it all. I won't let go of your hand. |
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"He used to go to his favorite bookstores and rip out his favorite pages." Sounds like he's not the only one.  - "You peer inside yourself..." |
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Regina has obviously read a lot of Bulgakov.
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For me personally, this song is about a man who is an addict who is struggling to come to terms with his addiction and daily life. He tries to make sense of the little things (individual pages from books, the moon, decides that 'good' is more desireable than 'perfect' because it's more easily attainable) in order to make sense of the big picture. I think the small lump of sugar represents his vice, his addiction, his drug, the thing that he covets, and he just takes a little to take him where he needs to go.
It's a sad but beautiful song. ~~~~~~~ God, I pity the violins In glass coffins They keep coughing They've forgotten, forgotten how to sing |
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Hey mod, Could you please move this to the lyrics section?
Thanks, Jared. - "You peer inside yourself..." |
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Regina Spektor Regina Spektor Forums This is a place where i hope people will write their ideas and share... Lyrics Man of a Thousand Faces
Regina Spektor Forums This is a place where i hope people will write their ideas and share... Lyrics Man of a Thousand Faces