Drums begin the song, the guitars enter with the separate parts they play during the verse. The bass entrance marks the transition into the first verse, during which it plays a little groove with starts and stops. After the verse, we get a transition of three slammed notes three times followed by a drum break with vocals previewing the full “in my little world” section later on in the song. This transition leads to what I’ll lightly refer to as the chorus, which adds in the guitar in the right ear over the drums. At the end of the chorus, we get the unforgettable “SHHHH!!!”, some unplugging sounds, followed by a quiet “listen to it!”, straight into the next verse. At “you can’t yet appreciate harmony”, replacing the “in my little world” slammed section from the first time around, we get a vocalless dissonant buildup with high hat and one snare before the next chorus. 

In that next chorus, the right guitar is playing the same dissonant part it was playing in the first chorus, only louder this time. Everything else seems louder too and there is something extra going on with the left guitar between the three note slams but I can’t figure out what it is. There’s definitely extra noise coming from that side. After the chorus, there is what I’ll call a bridge section, which picks up the “in my little world” bit from earlier. After that we get a section featuring drums and percussion with some guitar overhang from the last section and ambient feedback noises. The percussion ends but the drumset keeps going as the background vocals come back in chanting. Jeremy Enigk from Sunny Day Real Estate returns for the “In darkness a light shines…” part. Guitar feedback leads the transition into the new big closing section with Jeremy Enigk continuing but with background vocals. A short instrumental section rolls right into “Brownish Spider”.

Without a queen the locust swarm    
Turned the ground to black   
Descending like a shadowy tower on a fish’s back   
And scattered the sticks who crawled   
Like snakes in the sand   
As the red clay took the form of a lizard   
Who rushed like a moth to the flame of my open hand

(while, in my little world   
My sad, little world…)

There is a lot going on here. I take it to mean that Aaron is witnessing some momentous things but at the same time, part of him is still stuck in his sad little world. As the song goes on, the imagery continues with other major events in the Bible (the exile of the Israelites to Babylon and the Agony in the Garden).

The locust and lizard references are from Proverbs Chapter 30, which is full of sayings from Agur, son of Jekah. Not much is known about Agur. The lizard and locust are in Agur’s list of creatures that are small but wise.

“The locusts have no king, yet all of them go out in ranks.” Though there is no king to direct the locust, they all work together as one.

“The lizard you may grasp with the hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.’ Though the lizard is small enough to grasp in the hand, its small size can provide tremendous opportunity. 

Regarding “red clay”, from Wikipedia: “Adam literally means ‘red’, and there is an etymological connection between adam and *adamah*, *adamah* designating ‘red clay’ or ‘red ground’ in a non-theological context.” 

——————-

A speckled bird humbly inspired   
Ran across the road when it could have flown   
And it made me smile   
And at the water’s edge, Babylon   
As we laid and slept, the river wept   
For you, O’Zion!   
The stones cry out   
Bells shake the sky   
All creation groans…

SHHHH!!!

Listen to it!

Here we get references to another critical occasion, when the Israelites were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon.  I think this section is about not being in union with God, which causes all of reality to shake and beckon you towards union with God.

“Speckled bird”: This is from Jeremiah before the Babylonians took Jerusalem. The “speckled bird” was in reference to the Jews. There are conflicting interpretations of what this means. The bird is considered to be a vulture, but the “speckled” bit could mean any of the following: the Jews were mixing together different religious practices, the Jews stood out as being special but hated by other nations for it, that the speckles came from blood due to past cruelty. The bird is considered to be a vulture. Jeremiah 12:9 (NIV): 

“Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.” 

“At the water’s edge…O’Zion!”” Psalm 137:1: 

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” Where the Jeremiah reference was a prophecy, this quote is from the time period when the Israelites were exiled and dreamed of returning to Zion. Zion itself can have various meanings from Solomon’s temple, to all of Jerusalem, to “the World to Come”.

So I take the sleeping and the exile in Babylon to mean that he is not in union with God. Meanwhile, the stones cry out and all of creation groans. Based on the following quotes, I take this part to mean that while he may not be in union with God, the whole of creation is alive beckoning him toward that union.

“The stones cry out” is from Luke 19:37-40 (NIV):

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

“All creation groans” is from Romans 8:18-22 (NIV):

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 

——————-

Messes of men in farmer poverty;   
Not much for monks but we pretend to be   
Share a silent meal and a pot of chamomile   
Gypsies like us should be stamped in solidarity

“Messes of men” is obviously the name of the first track on this album. There is a distinct shift between the isolation expressed in that first song and the community expressed here. Aaron in an interview:

I went to live in a religious community and they were very intent on trying to live out the teachings of the sermons of Jesus and trying to love each other and put their faith into practice and work towards social justice and bring heaven to Earth and living on Earth as a kind of heaven.

——————-

*I held you in my fond but distant memory   
While waiting for the Mother Hen to gather me   
Who regretfully wrote   
“you have a decent ear for notes   
But you can’t yet appreciate harmony.”*

I take this as a reference to a human person, probably female based on the use of “sister” later in the song, who he previously had a relationship.

“You have a decent ear for notes… harmony”: I have always taken this line to mean that though he may understand a lot of things, he still has a lot to learn. Specifically, the difference between notes and harmony suggests that what he doesn’t understand has to do with unity, or when separate notes come together to form a harmony.

——————-

O’ porcupine perched low in the tree   
Your eyes to mine:   
“you’d be well inclined not to mess with me.”   
And at the garden’s edge beneath a speechless sky   
As his friends slept, Jesus wept   
And it’s no wonder why   
You wanna be set free?   
You wanna set me free?   
Well that can only come from   
A union with the One who never dies

The porcupine seems plainly symbolic of a temptation. This porcupine is low in the tree, so graspable from his perspective at eye level. A porcupine has quills, which ties in with the lines later about picking figs and grapefruit in sharp environments.

“At the garden’s edge… Jesus wept” is a reference to “The Agony in the Garden” before crucifixion (Matthew 26:36-46). Jesus felt sorrow when faced with his own death.

The lines “you wanna be set free? You wanna set me free?”: Along with the last section of this song suggests to me that someone is trying to offer him salvation though it’s clear to him that it would not be a good idea since salvation can only come from union with God.

——————-

(while, in my little world   
In my sad, little world   
I patched a plaster wall in my little world   
And in my little world, I was waiting (just dying!)   
To take offence at something in my little world   
In my little world   
In my sad, little world   
This is all there is in my little world.)

Back to his little world, where he’s making a big deal out of small things like a hole in a wall or a careless comment because that’s all there is. But in that darkness…

——————-

In darkness a light shines on me   
In darkness a light shines on you

I never gathered figs from a thorny branch   
I never picked a grapefruit off a bramble bush   
And for the past five- almost six years now!-   
You know you haven’t once looked at me   
With kindness in your eyes   
You say Judas is a brother of mine?   
Oh, but sister in our darkness a light shines   
And all I ever want to say for the rest of my life   
Is how that light is G-d   
And though I’ve been mistaken on this or that point   
That light is G-d

He’s applying the wolves in sheep’s clothing teaching from Matthew 7:15-20:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

He reasons that he should not go along with this porcupine because she has not looked at him with kindness in her eyes in a long time. At some point, perhaps to hurt him, she must liken him to Judas, saying Judas is a brother of his. He responds by calling her “sister”, which would make her a sibling to Judas as well. But the good news is that in our (shared) darkness a light shines. And though he hasn’t been perfect in his understanding, he believes that light is God.