North is to south as the clock is to time
ladydocNYC
Posts: 635
What does this mean? My husband loves all the other lyrics to "I am mine" but this one bugs him... at first blush, it's a total mis-analogy.
The only thing I could think of to make sense of it is something like this: if you know north, you can use it to figure out south, like you use a clock to figure out time-- so it'd be a reference to the process of navigation.
Or is it not supposed to make sense? (sort of a cop out...)
The only thing I could think of to make sense of it is something like this: if you know north, you can use it to figure out south, like you use a clock to figure out time-- so it'd be a reference to the process of navigation.
Or is it not supposed to make sense? (sort of a cop out...)
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Springfield, MA 4/6/94 -- Boston, MA 4/11/94 -- Hartford, CT 10/2/96 -- Hartford, CT 9/13/98 -- Mansfield, MA 7/2/03 -- Reading, PA 10/1/04 -- Albany, NY 5/12/06 -- Milwaukee, WI 6/29/06 -- Mansfield, MA 6/30/08 -- Toronto, ON 9/21/09 -- Philadelphia, PA 10/31/09 -- Worcester, MA 10/16/13 -- Hartford, CT 10/25/13 -- New York, NY 9/26/15 -- New York, NY 5/2/16 -- Boston, MA 8/5/16 -- Boston, MA 8/7/16 -- Boston, MA 9/2/18 -- Boston, MA 9/4/18 -- London, UK 7/8/22 -- Hamilton, ON 9/6/22 -- Toronto, ON 9/8/22 -- New York, NY 9/11/22 -- Chicago, IL 9/5/23 -- Chicago, IL 9/7/23 -- New York, NY 9/3/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/7/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/9/24
"The North is to South what the clock is to time
There's east and there's west and there's everywhere life
I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine"
The first two lines possibly reference the part of the world that is out of the control of an individual, no single ordinary person can control time or direction, used in juxtaposition to the end of the verse where the individial is asserting that what they can control is themself.
Let's also not forget how many times this song has been introduced live with the intro along the lines of "This song is about feeling safe." This reminds me of the supposed impetus of the song...the September 11 attacks. That could make the "east" and "west" not stand for directions on a compass, but rather labeling the two groups of people involved in that event. The attackers from "the east" and the victims, citizens of "the west". So in that regard, the North and South may not be linked to the East and the West in this song.
I'm usually not that good at this stuff, so I'm not offering anything here as an answer, merely an attempt to further the conversation.
Eddie: I don't know whose idea it was but it was turned down.
North and south represent the physical space you occupy.
Clock and Time represent the Time in which you occupy that space.
The whole, this physical space at this specific point in time... the Here and Now aspect of our lives.
Make what best you can with your life, right here and right now because you are not guaranteed of anything afterwards.
Hail, Hail!!!
Kinda, sorta...yeah...
A day at it's most basic is the period of time from one sun-up until the next. Yes it has been measured and SET at 24 hours, but "a day" is something observable even without the label.
North and South too. Yes, while we're walking on the earth, it may not really matter except it does give humans a way of knowing which direction to go to get from one actual place to another.
Labels--yes, arbitrary, uh, sorta
but
these are ALL ways of talking about everything except the moment we are living in...which seems to be the focus of the song...
North is to South as the clock is to time...
You need a clock to tell time...and unless you know North you can't know what is South...they go together...If you know North, you have to know which way is south...if you have the have a clock, you know the time.
So, you need to understand the one and you by understanding the one, you also will understand the other.
actually, a day has 24 hours because that's how long it takes the earth to make one full revolution on its axis. So it isn't arbitrary at all.
Other than that, your analysis is spot on
for the least they could possibly do
That's a pretty cool explanation!
naděje umírá poslední
Agreed and understood. But the larger point I'm poorly articulating is that we've taken something that happens naturally (as someone below you put it - the spinning of the earth on it's axis) and broken it down into units with numbers that we've made up in order to keep things more manageable and ordered. Seconds, minutes, hours, days. An "hour" could have just as easily been 100 minutes long if we'd decided that 36 seconds was a better unit of measuring a minute. So while I'd agree that "arbitrary" might not be the best choice of words here, it's still a construct that we've chosen to operate under. Time is time and it passes whether we choose to clock it or not.
Springfield, MA 4/6/94 -- Boston, MA 4/11/94 -- Hartford, CT 10/2/96 -- Hartford, CT 9/13/98 -- Mansfield, MA 7/2/03 -- Reading, PA 10/1/04 -- Albany, NY 5/12/06 -- Milwaukee, WI 6/29/06 -- Mansfield, MA 6/30/08 -- Toronto, ON 9/21/09 -- Philadelphia, PA 10/31/09 -- Worcester, MA 10/16/13 -- Hartford, CT 10/25/13 -- New York, NY 9/26/15 -- New York, NY 5/2/16 -- Boston, MA 8/5/16 -- Boston, MA 8/7/16 -- Boston, MA 9/2/18 -- Boston, MA 9/4/18 -- London, UK 7/8/22 -- Hamilton, ON 9/6/22 -- Toronto, ON 9/8/22 -- New York, NY 9/11/22 -- Chicago, IL 9/5/23 -- Chicago, IL 9/7/23 -- New York, NY 9/3/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/7/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/9/24
I agree.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant to be suggesting. Only if this is right, what do you see as the connection with the rest of the verse? I'm thinking it relates because just as north-south and clock-time are understood together, so are life-death, hence 'I know I was born and I know that I'll die' ?
I didn't know the song was in any way connected to 9-11. If so, then I think veddhead must be right that the east-west reference is at least partly about that, and how out of control we are with respect to the complexity of our world.
Keep it coming, guys! Thanks!!
Tracking time by the sun rising and setting and the seasons changing is not arbitrary.
Deciding how long a second lasts is moreso.
It's the same with all types of measurement.
Springfield, MA 4/6/94 -- Boston, MA 4/11/94 -- Hartford, CT 10/2/96 -- Hartford, CT 9/13/98 -- Mansfield, MA 7/2/03 -- Reading, PA 10/1/04 -- Albany, NY 5/12/06 -- Milwaukee, WI 6/29/06 -- Mansfield, MA 6/30/08 -- Toronto, ON 9/21/09 -- Philadelphia, PA 10/31/09 -- Worcester, MA 10/16/13 -- Hartford, CT 10/25/13 -- New York, NY 9/26/15 -- New York, NY 5/2/16 -- Boston, MA 8/5/16 -- Boston, MA 8/7/16 -- Boston, MA 9/2/18 -- Boston, MA 9/4/18 -- London, UK 7/8/22 -- Hamilton, ON 9/6/22 -- Toronto, ON 9/8/22 -- New York, NY 9/11/22 -- Chicago, IL 9/5/23 -- Chicago, IL 9/7/23 -- New York, NY 9/3/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/7/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/9/24
Yes, that is what I think...but then again, I didn't write it.
You can't comprehend life if you don't understand death, and vice versa...they give each other their full meaning.
interesting
the song, if I've got the story right, was begun shortly after Roskilde ... and finished after 9/11 ...
for the least they could possibly do
Very much so.
Solid find.
Springfield, MA 4/6/94 -- Boston, MA 4/11/94 -- Hartford, CT 10/2/96 -- Hartford, CT 9/13/98 -- Mansfield, MA 7/2/03 -- Reading, PA 10/1/04 -- Albany, NY 5/12/06 -- Milwaukee, WI 6/29/06 -- Mansfield, MA 6/30/08 -- Toronto, ON 9/21/09 -- Philadelphia, PA 10/31/09 -- Worcester, MA 10/16/13 -- Hartford, CT 10/25/13 -- New York, NY 9/26/15 -- New York, NY 5/2/16 -- Boston, MA 8/5/16 -- Boston, MA 8/7/16 -- Boston, MA 9/2/18 -- Boston, MA 9/4/18 -- London, UK 7/8/22 -- Hamilton, ON 9/6/22 -- Toronto, ON 9/8/22 -- New York, NY 9/11/22 -- Chicago, IL 9/5/23 -- Chicago, IL 9/7/23 -- New York, NY 9/3/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/7/24 -- Philadelphia, PA 9/9/24
for all we know -- it may not supposed to make sense
interepting a single line sometimes is like interpreting a specific frame in a film
its useless and things just happen
not for any certain reason
(please note: i used the word sometimes)
ev 08/04/08 08/07/08
http://www.kevincookphoto.com
I was listening to the improv from the Charlotte 2000 bootleg again the other day. It's cool to listen to it because you can sort of map out the song I Am Mine within this improv. I've never listed to other Improvs from the 2000 tour. I wonder if there are other songs they were working out during that tour.
I've always thought of it that way too. That there are certain things in the world that just are and we can't change them, but what we do have control over is our own lives, our actions.
Never saw it that way... but I think you're right. Well done.
What amazing lyrics throughout this whole song btw.
And he who forgets, will be destined to remember...