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New way to listen to Elderly Woman......

prince119prince119 Posts: 104
edited December 2007 in The Porch
Perhaps I am stretching. Perhaps someone else has already said this or posted this and if that is the case, I am sorry if I am stepping on someone else's post, but I have been re-visiting all the PJ albums again and I found myself listening to Elderly Woman.... in a whole new way than I ever had. I assure you I was not under the influence of chemicals when I hear it this way and I wanted to get some thoughts on the subject or some opinions.

I am sure some of you have thought this all along but this really got me thinking how timeless and important this music is. For me to be a fan from the beginning and for me to have heard this song probably hundreds of thousands of times, to hear it in a whole new way really impacted me. THANK YOU PJ!!

Anyway, I heard this song for years and years as a mental soliloquy "spoken" to and by the Elderly Woman....... I know what the song is about, but this particular listen I heard it as an actual VERBAL discussion between the Elderly Woman....and the patron who is the object of her musings.

I am not one who ever demands that other fans see the songs the way I do so I am about to print the lyrics as I heard them on this particular listen through. If you have not ever heard this song in this fashion and would like to not be predisposed to hearing it in this way please do not read further. For those that are interested in how I personally heard the song this time around here it is:




*the capitalized words at the end of each lyric are who I heard saying it to the other*

i seem to recognize your face: PATRON
haunting, familiar, yet i can't seem to place it: PATRON
cannot find the candle of thought to light your name: PATRON
lifetimes are catching up with me: ELDERLY WOMAN
all these changes taking place, i wish i'd seen the place: ELDERLY WOMAN
but no one's ever taken me: ELDERLY WOMAN
hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
i swear i recognize your breath: PATRON
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising: PATRON
me, you wouldn't recall, for i'm not my former: ELDERLY WOMAN
it's hard when, you're stuck upon the shelf:PATRON
i changed by not changing at all, small town predicts my fate: ELDERLY WOMAN
perhaps that's what no one wants to see: PATRON
i just want to scream...hello...: ELDERLY WOMAN
my god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return: ELDERLY WOMAN
but now here you are, and here i am: PATRON
hearts and thoughts they fade...away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
hearts and thoughts they fade...away...PATRON
hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...ELDERLY WOMAN
hearts and thoughts they fade... PATRON

Like I said before this was just the way I heard it this time and I thought I would share it. I dont believe there is a right or wrong way to listen to music, so I am not sharing this to tell people "I know how to listen to this song" I just wanted to share it with other Jammers and see what they thought.

It really makes me happy to know that, at least for me, the songs keep changing and challenging me to hear them in different ways as time goes on. That to me is the measure of a great band and great music.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • randaldoesjerseyrandaldoesjersey Posts: 151
    lol what.
  • pearljgirl2010pearljgirl2010 Shillington, PA/Tuckerton, NJ Posts: 3,428
    took me a couple of minutes, but I understand what you mean...kinda cool actually...more of a dialog.
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  • Kilgore_TroutKilgore_Trout Posts: 7,334
    i see what you're going for... not sure how much it really heightens the song experience for me tho... it just doesnt really read as well as most dylan or springsteen songs do in that sense... all that matters is that you get more out of it now
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  • ramborambo Posts: 170
    what the fuck
    st. john's newfoundland, sept 24/2005
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  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    yeah Pearlgirl.....that is what I should have said a dialog. Thanks for the correct wording.
  • VEDHEAD27VEDHEAD27 Posts: 3,091
    Your words are beautiful prince119, and I get what you are saying completely. I've never heard the song like this before.... but now I totally can! A conversation back and forth between the elderly woman and the patron. Yes! Thank you for pointing this out.

    Reminds me of a post where someone mentioned Ed changing his voice from high to low in Nothingman to reflect the masculine and feminine characters in the song. How brilliant. :o I never even thought of that before! Made me fall in love with the song on a whole new level.

    I love it when people point things out like this. Even if you dont always hear what they hear, or feel what they feel, it makes you think nonetheless. And if you do wind up 'getting it'....it makes the song reborn in a sense, ya know? I love that!

    Thanks again for this prince119. I think I'll go have me a fresh new listen. ;)
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  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    vedhead,

    Thanks for the post. I agree that it is so difficult to have someone else "hear what you are hearing" but that is the beauty of music.
    I am just so happy that the music from yesteryear continues to stimulate me and can bring out these discoveries, I felt that I had to share it with others to see if they felt similar.
    I appreciate that you are going to give the song a listen with "new ears". I don't expect the same reaction, but I appreciate any comments you may have.
  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    PS

    Im going straight home to listen to Nothingman tonight.

    That is one my favs already so a new way of hearing it would only give it more life
  • pjfan31pjfan31 Posts: 7,335
    where does the 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3 come into it? (i know its just a count in for all those smart arses out there) But on the plus side i love it when u make a really deep connection with a song. At the moment the latest one i connected to was Footsteps. Good luck with it all.
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  • michaeljamesmccabemichaeljamesmccabe Posts: 109
    I've always heard this song as a dialog. Mostly as more of an internal dialog, as opposed to an actual spoken conversation. Like if you think back on a conversation and fill in what you remember with what you are feeling, or the feelings that you are reading off of the other person.

    But it works both ways (and all ways).

    I see the chorus "hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away..." as more of a reflection of the knowledge that was gained from the conversation.

    Cool post though.
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  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    Michael,

    I always heard it as an internal sililoquy until that one moment that it all changed.....I actually listened to it 3 times in a row that night just to see if it stuck and at that time it did.

    As for the 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3..........maybe that is the bell on the door into the shop she works at ha ha ha ha KIDDING

    I always saw this as taking place in a convenience store that sells quirky tourist trinkets that is attached to a gas station somewhere in Eastern Montana or something. Just my little story ha ha.

    Thanks for the feedback all
  • cropdustresscropdustress Posts: 4,339
    This makes sense, it does.
    And I've never read that thread about Nothingman, that makes sense too.
    Esp on bootlegs. I will keep that in mind, makes a lot of sense and
    makes the songs even awesomer. ;)
    "I surfaced and all of my being was enlightened"
  • ThecrownofthornsThecrownofthorns Posts: 319
    Nice find man, I love the dialog with it.

    I totally digg what this is about!

    Gj :D
  • Strangest TribeStrangest Tribe Posts: 2,502
    YES.......I've thought this before also...but like you I didn't catch it until I'd heard the song many many times.

    YES...I agree


    especially because Ed's intonations change as he sings the different lines as if it were a dialog. They're subtle though... so you wouldn't notice immediately.
    the Minions
  • iamsampjiamsampj Posts: 784
    i've always heard it as an internal dialog...i'll have to "listen" through the different perspective. makes sense...seems as though i've read about this take on the song before...hmmm!?
    yes...i do feel like a human. i do not feel like a tree.
  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    I figured I was not the only one to ever think this before, but I just found it to be so interesting that after so many times through this song for me that I caught on to it.

    I LOVE THIS BAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • MCGMCG Posts: 780
    That was really interesting.
    Which came first,
    the bad idea or me befallen by it?
  • chadwickchadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    i see it, hear it, feel it..
    good job @ explaining it out man.
    i'll listen it to it today on repeat for awhile.
    try and be among the conversation.
    thanks.
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  • halszka123halszka123 Posts: 1,109
    michaeljamesmccabe wrote:
    I've always heard this song as a dialog. Mostly as more of an internal dialog, as opposed to an actual spoken conversation. Like if you think back on a conversation and fill in what you remember with what you are feeling, or the feelings that you are reading off of the other person.

    But it works both ways (and all ways).

    I see the chorus "hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away..." as more of a reflection of the knowledge that was gained from the conversation.

    Cool post though.

    I agree with your version. I feel it the same.
    But the real dialog is interesting as well.

    By the way i have to admit it - i don't really like this song... is so long..life is not so long, even passing time. Or maybe that was just PJ wanted to be - to catch the moment and make this little moment a long journay in the past, only just for saving it in memory. Anyway - rather sad song.

    Can anybody explain me, why PJ (Ed especially, because he sings) dislike so much small towns? I'll be appreciate
    Not 10c member? Have sth to say? write to me - I'll put it on the forum
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  • WobbieWobbie Posts: 30,315
    prince119 wrote:
    listening to Elderly Woman.... in a whole new way than I ever had.

    i seem to recognize your face: PATRON
    haunting, familiar, yet i can't seem to place it: PATRON
    cannot find the candle of thought to light your name: PATRON
    lifetimes are catching up with me: ELDERLY WOMAN
    all these changes taking place, i wish i'd seen the place: ELDERLY WOMAN
    but no one's ever taken me: ELDERLY WOMAN
    hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
    hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
    i swear i recognize your breath: PATRON
    memories like fingerprints are slowly raising: PATRON
    me, you wouldn't recall, for i'm not my former: ELDERLY WOMAN
    it's hard when, you're stuck upon the shelf:PATRON
    i changed by not changing at all, small town predicts my fate: ELDERLY WOMAN
    perhaps that's what no one wants to see: PATRON
    i just want to scream...hello...: ELDERLY WOMAN
    my god its been so long, never dreamed you'd return: ELDERLY WOMAN
    but now here you are, and here i am: PATRON
    hearts and thoughts they fade...away...:ELDERLY WOMAN
    hearts and thoughts they fade...away...PATRON
    hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away...ELDERLY WOMAN
    hearts and thoughts they fade... PATRON

    I thought the "new way to listen" was with (a shot of) PATRON, where indicated....:D
    If I had known then what I know now...

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  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    imalive wrote:
    I thought the "new way to listen" was with (a shot of) PATRON, where indicated....:D


    oh good, so it wasn't just me.....:p :D:D


    interesting take on the song.....:)
  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    I can see where the shot of patron theory could be thought, but I was sober as could be.....ok that isn't true I was drunk as hell on the music as usual.
  • prince119prince119 Posts: 104
    I just listened to nothingman and I "heard" it.

    Thanks for that. I love to hear music in new ways.
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