The infinite waltz, welcome home, ladies and gentlemen
#68775 by Greg Reason
Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:57 pm
Now the album really takes off.... It starts getting into more intellectual and philosophical territory, and musically becomes a bit more expansious also. Every track up to this point has been fairly compact, but War starts to stretch things out a little.

"In the morning 'bout three or so
Can't stop thinking about what I know
In the morning 'bout three or so
Can't stop thinking of the universe"

This seems to be the genesis of the whole album, really, is Dev's tendencies to think perhaps a little more than he would have liked. The album certainly has all over it that it is the work of a man who contemplates the universe and the deeper meanings behind things. Infinity, more than perhaps any album I have ever heard, seems to take what is inside the heart and mind of the artist and put it right there in musical form.

"I keep rocking, I keep rolling
Trade in the minute for the minute that isn't there
Keep dropping, keep rolling
Put out the water with the fire
Thinking creosote"

I don't really know how to interpret this verse. Perhaps he keep rocking, he keeps rolling, he keeps moving forward in life no matter what happens around him... Trade in the minute? Perhaps this is a comment on time, how we move through it like water, trading the minutes that were there for minutes that are ther eno longer by filling them in with activity. Perhaps simply by rolling through life we are automatically trading minutes? I don't know where to go with that one...

Put out the fire with the water? Obviously a metaphor, but for what? For growing awareness as to how to react in life? Getting to the crux of the issue? You don't see a fire, sit and think, get some mittens on, grab a bucket, fill the bucket making sure not to spill any water, carefully take it to the flame and stand back some distance so as not to be burnt when you're trying to extinguish it.... You get the water and you fuckin throw it on the fire! Perhaps he's saying he's cutting through the bullshit in his life and trying to be more efficient. You might be interested in the following:

Creosote is the name used for a variety of products that are mixtures of many chemicals; those products include wood creosote, coal tar creosote, coal tar, and coal tar pitch. Creosotes do not occur naturally in the environment; they are created by high-temperature treatment of beech and other woods (wood creosote) or coal (coal tar creosote), or from the resin of the creosote bush (creosote bush resin).

Wood creosote (CAS #8021-39-4) is a colorless to yellowish greasy liquid with a characteristic smoky odor and sharp burned taste. The major chemicals in wood creosote are phenol, cresols, and guaiacol. It has been used as a disinfectant, a laxative, and a cough treatment; it is rarely used today in the United States, but is still used as an expectorant and a laxative in Japan. Synonyms are Creosote, beechwood; beechwood creosote; creasote; creosote; creoeote beechwood; creosote,wood; liquid pitch oil; and wood creosote.

Coal tar creosote (CAS #8001-58-9) is the most common form of creosote in the workplace and at hazardous waste sites in the United States; it is referred to by EPA as creosote. It is a thick, oily liquid that is typically amber to black in color, and is a distillation product of coal tar. It has a burning, caustic taste. Coal tar creosote is the most widely used wood preservative in the United States, and is used as a wood preservative and water-proofing agent for log homes, railroad ties, telephone poles, marine pilings, and fence posts. It is also a restricted-use pesticide, and is used as an animal and bird repellant, insecticide, animal dip, fungicide, and a pharmaceutical agent for the treatment of psoriasis. About 300 chemicals have been identified in coal tar creosote, but there may be as many as 10,000 other chemicals in the mixture. Synonyms are creosote, [coal tar]; AWPA #1; brick oil; coal creosote; coal tar creosote; coal tar oil (DOT); creosote; creosote (wood); creosote oil; creosote P1; cresote, coal tar, creosote, from coal tar; creosotum; cresylic creosote; dead oil; heavy oil; liquid pitch oil; naphthalene oil; preserv-o-sote; RCRA Waste number U051; sakresote 100; tar oil; UN 1136 (DOT); and wash oil.

A disinfectant, a laxative and as cough treatment? As fungicide? Thinking creosote? Is he using a nicer term hiding a brutish term that effectively means he's trying to get rid of the crap in his life and clean it up so he can function better?

"In the morning with a beat up bud
I know I can't fight a war without losing blood"

A nice way of saying there are no fights without losses. Perhaps this goes deeper than we think even and touches on Buddhist type philosophy, in that there should be no negativity because like attracts like and so the only possible outcome of a conflict is to recieve negative energy in return.

"In the morning 'bout three or so
Can't stop seeking what I need to know
God is in the mountain as is in the rock
And God is not concerned about keeping stock"

I love these lines. Besides the first part admitting Dev's drive for knowledge - be it for intellectual padding or for the right way to live - the verse says wonderful things about Devin's view of God. It's a profound understanding to have when one acknowledges God in every thing that exists, from the mountains and rocks to the animals and even each and every human being... This is what I was touching on in my analysis of Truth, the idea that God is all, that every being is comprised of Him.

God is not concerned about keeping stock. Damn right! God is not personal. God is not a puppet master taking Johnny to the store and taking Sue to the laundromat.... God is everything. He is not an intelligence any further than our collective subconsious is, he is not a man whom we turn to in our times of despair.... He is energy, he is the life force that is within each and every one of us. He is you and he is me, he is Devin and he is Tracey. What happens will happen, and when people die it's not God thinking "ok, I think it's this fellas time to go"... That is a little bit extreme.

As omnipotent as God is - being each and every thing in the universe - he is not a large personable force that can suddenly reach out and save an individual. What happens is what we create. Our thought determines our reality, and if we surround ourselves with positive energy then we cruise through life untarnished. When we allow ourselves to be enveloped in sadness or negativity, that is what we get reciprocated.

"All he ever wanted was to be alone
But you can't feel love without being loved...
All we ever wanted was love"

We all go through hard times, and I'm pretty damn certain that Dev has gone through some harder times mentally and emotionally than a lot of us. I know I've certainly had periods where I have felt so effectively isolated by my way of thinking that the idea of company seemed laughable... How could other humans relate to me? How could I be loved by these beings? lol.... We get crazy in our self delusion. But sometimes, as I was saying in the Christeen discussion, we need to be shown by another human that it is possible for us to be loved, and we take it from there. It's hard to get through and make sense to ourselves when we're in such extreme mental states.

The doo-wop-boddoms are wonderful, they start to establish the mood of someone who is perhaps not so together mentally... A wonderful aspect of Dev's music, his ability to translate feelings into sound. And now, the legendary missing lines that are left out of all lyric sheets (I asked Dev a while ago, note his caps emphasis):

"YOU SAY YOU WANNA GET HIGH?
Higher still is the rain on the hill
Harder still is the war against the will
Higher still is the rain on the hill

We can see the enemy they say hey! We don't want your war!"

I don't know what he's saying by that first part, really... Perhaps a far reaching cry for sanity and reason in the midst of a warring society? Maybe in saying "you say you wanna get high?" he's not refferign to drugs or even happiness, perhaps he's asking whether we wanna grow up and be mature beings of light, and to do so we can't allow ourselves to indulge in war, and we certainly shouldn't be dragging people into it who want no part of it. Harder still is the war against the will..... I think the last line there is fairly straight forward!

"It's quite nice! It's white light!
It's quite, it's quite extraordinary!"

Now the track descends into chaos both lyrically and musically. Infinity seems to me to be the only Devin album where he has truly taken this liberty of bringing it to the boil, of just delving down into the insanity that he comprehends.... I know I've certainly had some scary experiences contemplating the void when I've been tripping, and I know that when one stumbles upon an understanding of insanity it gets pretty trying. I toyed with the idea for countless mind-bending instances even so near as a few weeks ago, and it shakes you around....to say the least....

I think that any big thinker would get to this point, with or without psychotropic assistance, where one would contemplate insanity and examine it until it seems to make sense... and that is the scariest moment, when you realize that you understand the level they're on and you start to get scared that it will become you and you will be unable to function properly as a social being again.....

And perhaps this was just out of Dev's control at this point in his life. Maybe, due to his supposed bipolarity he could not influence the paths his mind travelled, and maybe it got to him... I remember tripping on New Years Eve and it just started bringing me down whenever I thought about humans, about this stupid social system we have established, about war, about jail, about all the wrongs that our governments unleash upon the world.... It was driving me up the fuckin wall. Maybe the natural road that Devin mind followed upon contemplating war late at night was to get into a scary psyche place as demonstrated at the end of this song....

"God just a little bit of quiet please, just stop the noise for once, please!"

#68827 by psychotic
Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:20 am
That main hook to it is as catchy as it gets, but when they break out of it for that one part in the chorus it's absolutely stellar as well. Can't really say too much more for this one, those two main things and what you've said are really all I can think of for now.

#68829 by STS
Tue Jan 25, 2005 2:45 am
my fav part is this:
"We can see the enemy they say hey! We don't want your war!"

and

"It's quite nice! It's white light!
It's quite, it's quite extraordinary!"

and it's magic moment, when it go Soul Driven Cadillac:

"Now that the love is gone
What's still holding on?
If all that was said was true...
What's still holding you?
If ever, you need someone there
Who's been there for ever
And ever, will waken the dawn
Awaken the dawn for you..."
#68845 by Blazingmonga
Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:57 am
Greg Reason wrote:"I keep rocking, I keep rolling
Trade in the minute for the minute that isn't there
Keep dropping, keep rolling
Put out the water with the fire
Thinking creosote"

I don't really know how to interpret this verse. Perhaps he keep rocking, he keeps rolling, he keeps moving forward in life no matter what happens around him... Trade in the minute? Perhaps this is a comment on time, how we move through it like water, trading the minutes that were there for minutes that are ther eno longer by filling them in with activity. Perhaps simply by rolling through life we are automatically trading minutes? I don't know where to go with that one...


Interesting read there dude...and I have more comments to make on this, but I just wanted to add something to this part.

Have you considered that when he says 'rolling' or 'dropping' that he is talking about drugs? He keeps doing them, he keeps being this 'rock star' character. Just a thought!

And I have only ever heard of the word 'creosote' being used to refer to wood preservative. If you have ever had the luck of being forced to 'creosote the sheds David' then you will know how foul it is.
#325499 by iceblink
Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:32 am
I have to admit i've hardly ever cared what the lyrics are to most songs, the singer could be singing about teabags and it wouldn't matter to me.
So many songs that i ever listen to[by anyone, not only Devin] have singing that is hard to decipher imo. [Maybe thats why i like the Cocteau Twins and Elizabeth Fraser's words.]
And i've never been into songs with a 'message' either.
The first time i heard one of Devin's albums, [can't recall which one, possibly The Physicist] i was surprized at how far back his vocals were in the mix, i'd not heard anything quite like it before. However I think my ear has grown used to his singing over time and is more tuned-in.

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