Marker in the Sand

2

Comments

  • cornnifer
    cornnifer Posts: 2,130
    gleemonex wrote:
    This song is best in the context of the album. I see this song as Eddie's plea to God to help out on Earth. There's this war going on right now in Iraq that can't be won because we are so fundamentally different, both sides are fighting in the name of God. All these people have delusions that what they do will get them into Heaven (falling up somehow). I see the Marker in the Sand as Ed raising his hand waiting to ask God how we can make this all better and the point of this song is to get everyone else to raise their hands as well. If God looking down on Earth sees 6 billion markers in the sand maybe He'd give us an answer.

    i like this interpretation and agree. i think some people hear this song as a challenge to the very notion or idea of God, and i just don't hear that at all. i think it points to the hypocrisy of some people who do bad things in God's name. i think it is ringing acknowledgement of God, and, for lack of a better term, prayer for God to show us the error of our ways and straighten us out.

    "do come down, with the living, let what is living love..."
    "When all your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse... better find yourself a place to level out."
  • korby
    korby Posts: 298
    i finally got it. all of it. took me long enough. it shook me...fuck.

    what happened there? what went wrong ?
    its ok
  • michaelcassio
    michaelcassio Posts: 72
    gleemonex wrote:
    This song is best in the context of the album. I see this song as Eddie's plea to God to help out on Earth. There's this war going on right now in Iraq that can't be won because we are so fundamentally different, both sides are fighting in the name of God. All these people have delusions that what they do will get them into Heaven (falling up somehow). I see the Marker in the Sand as Ed raising his hand waiting to ask God how we can make this all better and the point of this song is to get everyone else to raise their hands as well. If God looking down on Earth sees 6 billion markers in the sand maybe He'd give us an answer.

    well said. i really like your interpretation, especially " All these people have delusions that what they do will get them into Heaven (falling up somehow)." hadnt thought about it that way before.
  • korby
    korby Posts: 298
    like praying. saying "i am christian" i believe. i even go to church sometimes.

    and then hurt the person you are closest too. like cheat on a spouse
    its ok
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    I kind of think of "a marker in the sand" as a take on "the writing on the wall." The observer of this "sign" identifies with the character, ponders the meaning, and asks himself, "what went wrong?"
    I tend to think of the observer as a soldier looking over a fallen comrade, or even more simply, a failed war, a failed leader.
    "God, what do you say?" means: "I'm calling you out..." to the godless one, the dead.
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  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    Damn, that's a good song. I just listened to it for the first time in awhile.

    Q: er, that was an interesting interpretation you gave.
    A: well, i was tired, i could have worded it better, i guess.
    Q: what do you mean by "calling out" to "the godless, the dead"?
    A: well, i understand the general idea of the song. that being that there is no god to say anything at all. i mean, that's what i think most people pick up on. i see it a little differently.
    Q: how so?
    A: the war isn't over, so i don't really align myself with the people who see this song in an attitude that is in a "haha, i told you so" kind of way, or a taking sides sort of way. we're all soldiering on, collectively, through this mess.
    Q: hmmm.
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  • korby
    korby Posts: 298
    i thnik im getting a clearer interpretation of the song now. and it probly hits home closer to different people. sometimes the music is so layereed its takes a long time for the lyrics to become clear. did for me anyway. maby im just reading into it, my own peronal feelings . especially lately. im feeling its a war at home. not the battlefield
    its ok
  • augustwest
    augustwest Posts: 739
    The music on this song is really what gets me going :)

    Lyrically, I don't spend a lot of time over analying any lyrics, but the central theme I lean towards is the very fine line between right and wrong and the judgment process around which makes one person lean one way vs the other
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    augustwest wrote:
    The music on this song is really what gets me going :)

    Lyrically, I don't spend a lot of time over analying any lyrics, but the central theme I lean towards is the very fine line between right and wrong and the judgment process around which makes one person lean one way vs the other

    It's razor thin, isn't it?

    The horror, the horror. I mean of the snail in Marlon Brando's Apocalypse Now.

    I think there's a good fight to be carried that doesn't absolve itself in madness.

    What does this mean?
    You want real answers?

    Funny thing is, you are, you're looking for answers.
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  • korby
    korby Posts: 298
    gue_barium wrote:
    It's razor thin, isn't it?

    The horror, the horror. I mean of the snail in Marlon Brando's Apocalypse Now.

    I think there's a good fight to be carried that doesn't absolve itself in madness.

    What does this mean?
    You want real answers?

    Funny thing is, you are, you're looking for answers.


    you know. messages that are that deep about the meaning of the lyrics in some rock song. people r gonna start calling you nuts. they already tell me that
    its ok
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    korby wrote:
    you know. messages that are that deep about the meaning of the lyrics in some rock song. people r gonna start calling you nuts. they already tell me that

    I dunno. I remember reading something Ed said about not wanting to do the album. He'd rather be surfing. There's something about this song that tells me he did the work.
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  • korby
    korby Posts: 298
    well since were on the topic. im going throught the worst time in my life. i ignored problems in the past and now they have bottled up and im dealing with everything . its overwhelming. i cant sleep, eat. i been looking for answers, praying if you will. seems the people who know more things from an outsiders prospective are maby akward about not interviening soon enough. i guess nobody thought this problem would end up so serious. and the people who dont know, tell me im a crazy. paranoid or something. well she is gone from my life now. i dont know if she can come back
    its ok
  • TofuDownUnder
    TofuDownUnder Posts: 10
    Well Korby, don't worry, at the end of it everything will be OK :)

    Back on topic - this song seems to me like an assault on fundamentalist religion and moral absolutism, a very prevalent phenomenon going on in the world right now :(

    Maybe Eddie proposes athiesm at the answer, the line "But God is nowhere,.. to be found conveniently". The fact that god doesn't exist would stem all this fucking violence!

    Is he atheist??
    Just support Obama, damn it.
  • gue_barium
    gue_barium Posts: 5,515
    TofuDownUnder wrote:
    Well Korby, don't worry, at the end of it everything will be OK :)

    Back on topic - this song seems to me like an assault on fundamentalist religion and moral absolutism, a very prevalent phenomenon going on in the world right now :(

    Maybe Eddie proposes athiesm at the answer, the line "But God is nowhere,.. to be found conveniently". The fact that god doesn't exist would stem all this fucking violence!

    Is he atheist??

    The beauty of the song, on that front, is that it lets you form your own answer. I agree with the believers that it is a prayer, even though I'm an atheist.

    I don't know if Eddie is.

    Actually, I think he is.
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  • Michael McPherson
    Michael McPherson Posts: 7
    If Eddie Vedder is an atheist then why would he write a song that is a prayer? I believe that Eddie Vedder is a christian personally, because he believes in all the basic christian valuse, Love, Hope, Peace. God should not be mixed in with politics, because then you get clueless christians voting for Bush, who claims to stand for christian values (like bombing Iraq hospitals and schools....the idiot) instead of thinking about what God would want... which is to not have a war. Leave your hatred, on the cross...thats my favorite line from any song ever written, because thats what christianity is supposed to be about.
  • Michael McPherson
    Michael McPherson Posts: 7
    Also the "and God is nowhere to be found conveniently" I took that not as God doesn't exist but as God has nothing to do with this war.
  • Michael McPherson
    Michael McPherson Posts: 7
    In the "Live at the Garden" DVD Eddie says "Faith in something bigger" then later (as not to offend any atheists) he says "I said faith in something bigger, but i don't know about that, it's faith that its all going to work out"...which I believe to be the same thing as faith in something bigger, other wise how can you have faith it will work out?
  • slightofjeff
    slightofjeff Posts: 7,762
    I've got tons of thoughts on this song, which lyrically is probably my favorite on Avocado. I'll stick with this one for now though:

    I love the imagery in "falling up somehow."

    It brings to mind two things: The Christian belief in the rapture, in which God will literally one day suck the faithful up into the heavens. And it also brings to mind a core belief in jihadist Islam, that those killed in defense of Muhammed (including suicide bombers) are immediately transported to heaven.

    And I love the narrator's (ed's) advice to to these people: Do come down with the living, and let what is living love.

    In ed's view, apparently, the people perpetrating this war should care less about heaven, and more about Earth.
    everybody wants the most they can possibly get
    for the least they could possibly do
  • jamjam
    jamjam Posts: 491
    Michael McPherson wrote:
    God should not be mixed in with politics, because then you get clueless christians voting for Bush, who claims to stand for christian values (like bombing Iraq hospitals and schools....the idiot) instead of thinking about what God would want... which is to not have a war. Leave your hatred, on the cross...thats my favorite line from any song ever written, because thats what christianity is supposed to be about.

    i personally don't believe in any religion...it's man-made..
    but i definately agree with the above statement.
  • blue roses
    blue roses Posts: 49
    korby wrote:
    This song has layers of an onion i believe.

    Its about "holy wars" .

    It Also about people who would put themselves and others in harm or bad situations because thier faith tells them." over moral ground" do come down

    Others agree that people shouldnt stay in hopeless situations for thier faith. Sometimes its better to walk away.

    What do you say ?
    thinking positive is always the best but sometimes ı feel like life is too bad to think positive especially mine
    but this is my favorite in the new album

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