Arms

[Dark]

Wow. And people complain about Wayne's lyrics...

[7anthea7]

Wow. And people complain about Wayne's lyrics...

At least Von's aren't sappy...



(ducks and runs...)

[Moakahontas]

US, honey..everyone around here which is not interested in some wet dreams..

Look, honey. The fact that I spend my hard earned money on going to Sisters gigs is partly about their music, but mostly about my wet dreams. Consequently, since 2003, 99% of what I've posted here is about my wet dreams. I'm afraid that your sudden appearance (and, I suppose, equally sudden disappearance) in 2009 cannot make a difference to it.

Look too, darling..*laughs*..this board is too big to find simply erverything you wrote..that´s a fact, too..just by the way..

[Moakahontas]

Live your life in a parallax
Live a life through the lens
Live your life in a Range Rover
or the Mercedes-Benz

and it's:

...locked and loaded
with a man on the door

certainly.

Well a Range Rover would e better than a mercedes...

[euphoria]

I very much doubt that two car brands are there just to prove the point. I don't think he's singing Range Rover. M-B could fit in though.

I also doubt there are any "alms" in this song.

[eotunun]

After having it on repeat last night I heard the last two lines of the first verse as

Live your life on the fence
live your life in a big rumour
for all the mercyless fans

If I keep it on repeat another day it'll probably turn into a recipe for an exotic dish.
I'll have some Devin Townsend now.

[mugabe]

I very much doubt that two car brands are there just to prove the point. I don't think he's singing Range Rover. M-B could fit in though.

I think the MB might be there, but also doubt the Rover now. Sounds like "reed roman" (Dresden), "roman" the German word for "novel", and "vague remorse" (Berlin), respectively, but I can't make any sense of anything.

[mugabe]

Incidentally, here is a Reed Roman:



The Date - September 3, 2005 A top secret intelligence communique delivered to the oval office unfolds a chilling scenario for a proposed nuclear strike against the United States. The target, though undisclosed, is an all but sacred American institution - The United States Military Academy at West Point. Reed has imaginatively hypothesized a confrontation between the Government and a terrorist conspiracy that threatens an all but sacred U.S. Institution - The United States Military Academy at West Point. Respectful and sensitive to the history and traditions of the Point where the major part of the story takes place, Reed's edge of seat telling manages to enhance the stature, glamour and romance of the Nation's oldest and most highly esteemed military institution of higher learning while at the same time demonstrating the highly-honed efficacy of government security measures to protect our homeland.

[mh]

Dammit, I'm hearing "Range Rover" (on Dresden) now.

[Bartek]

now after few listening more time it doesn't sounds like range rover 'cause this "rover" got - for me "m" instead "v" , but doesn't make sens.

[mugabe]

now after few listening more time it doesn't sounds like range rover 'cause this "rover" got - for me "m" instead "v" , but doesn't make sens.

Definitely. Hence the "roe-mahn". It's not unusual for Von to sneak in the odd German word. Also, I think that "Parallax" title of Reed's is a bit too fitting to be a fluke, as is the theme about "government security measures" and thermonuclear terrorist threats. Never heard of it before, though.

[euphoria]

Must say after a number of listenings to the Dresden version, Reed Roman comes very close to how it sounds.

Reed -could- be "rage" something, but ...no, not quite. I'm almost prepared to bet some money it is the reed roman.

[mugabe]

Let's close the book on that, then. There's more to be done - "call her some day" is a bit shaky, and I'm beginning to doubt the "stay away" line a bit. Still sounds like an 'l' in there, as in "steal/steel/stale", and also like an extra syllable after "away". Not sure the "over the wisdom..." part is 100 % correct either. I reverted the alms, anyway.

Arms, v.8.0

Live your life in a parallax
Live a life through the lens
Live your life in a Reed roman
Or a Mercedes-Benz

All signs say stay away
Throw a key and call her some day

Come feel the arms around you
I'm gonna be the arms around
I'm gonna be the arms around you
Over the wisdom, feel is real, come feel

Throw away the underclasses
Throw your love under law
Everybody got locked and loaded
With a man on the door

Those signs say stay away
Throw a key and call her some day

Come feel the arms around you
I'm gonna be the arms around
I'm gonna be the arms around you
Over the wisdom, feel is real, come feel

[stufarq]

I hadn't listened to Dresden before. It's a lot clearer but there are some differences between the two, just to confuse us.

Live your life in parallax No "a" in Berlin

Live a life through a lens [Dresden]
Live your life through a lens [Berlin]

The stress is all wrong for "Range Rover" - it'd have to be "Range Rovohhhhrrr". Dresden sounds like "Raith Roma" - whatever that means. Could be "rumour" but Berlin doesn't sound like it. The first word definitely starts with an "r".

For all the Mercedes-Benz Definite "f" sound at the start. Berlin has "For all the", Dresden doesn't.

All signs/senses Definite "e" sound in Berlin but clear "i" in Dresden! Maybe it's senses but in Dresden he sings it like an Alabaman.

Throw a key and call her some day
Berlin - Definite "c" or"g" at the start; "p" after "kee".
Dresden - "th" or "d" at start; clear "p" after "kee" the second time but it's indistinct the first time; definite "and".
both - possible "n" at end of last word, which doesn't begin with a hard consonant - I think it's either an "r" or "l". Except for the second time at Dresden, which does sound like "some day"! Is he doing this deliberately to confuse us?

In Berlin the second line of the first chorus definitely has a "c" in the middle of it - hence "comes around"; but it's definitely "arms" in Dresden.

I don't think "alms" makes sense anywhere in the song. Alms is money for the poor - you can't "be" alms and woudn't really "feel" it around.

Over the wisdom, feel is real, come feel I don't really think this makes much sense, I'm afraid. The first word starts with a short "o" as in "of" and I can only hear two syllables, not three, before the word that could be "wisdom". I'm now pretty sure that it starts "All there is". The next bit could be "Do you feel this real". In Berlin the first chorus ends "come on", not "come feel" as in Dresden.

Good call on "Throw away the underclasses
Throw your love under law ", although I think it might be "For your love".

Everybody got locked and loaded There's no "d" in the first word in Berlin but maybe he's just singing it oddly. I can hear "locked and loaded" at Dresden but it's something very different in Berlin. The second last syllable has a definite "i" rather than "oa", hence "a lot to live with/for" - I can't make out the last word. But overall, "locked and loaded" makes more sense (see below).

With a man on the door It's "With a hammer drawn", which would fit with "locked and loaded".

Those signs say stay away Possibly "though" rather than "those".

So with all that in mind, I've now got:

Live your life in parallax
Live your life through a lens
Live your life in a
For [all] the Mercedes-Benz

All senses steal away
????

Gonna feel the arms around you
I'm gonna feel the arms around [what comes around]
I'm gonna be the arms around you
All there is
Do you feel this real, come feel

Throw away the underclasses
For your love under law
Everybody got locked and loaded
With a hammer drawn

Though senses steal away
????

Gonna feel the arms around you
I'm gonna feel the arms around
I'm gonna be the arms around you
All there is
Do you feel this real, come feel

[mugabe]

Good suggestions, stu. I'm pretty sure about the "Reed roman" stuff, though, strange as it seems. It has distinctly German diction. The two "signs/senses"-"call her some day" lines remain obscure. I agree with your observations and I still think there's a syllable after "away", but I left them in anyway. This is the Dresden version, btw.

Arms, v.9.0

Live your life in a parallax
Live a life through the lens
Live your life in a Reed roman
For the Mercedes-Benz

All signs say stay away
Throw a key and call her some day

Come feel the arms around you
I'm gonna be the arms around
I'm gonna be the arms around you
All there is, do you feel this real, come feel

Throw away the underclasses
For your love under law
Everybody got locked and loaded
With the hammer drawn

Though signs say stay away
Throw a key and call her some day

Come feel the arms around you
I'm gonna be the arms around
I'm gonna be the arms around you
All there is, do you feel this real, come feel

[stufarq]

I'm pretty sure about the "Reed roman" stuff, though, strange as it seems. It has distinctly German diction.

Could be and certainly the Parallax book you've tracked down would fit nicely. Also, Mercerdes-Benz is a German car so there might be a deliberate connection. I'm still hearing a slight "th" sound at the end of the first word in Dresden but it's not clear and could just be down to mumbling.

I've gone off the idea of it being about celebrity now and it could fit with the themes of the book. Maybe the first line should be "Live your life in Parallax". (And. to be picky, wouldn't "Roma" have a capital if it's a German noun?)

By the way, can we find a way of convincing him to make the sound this clear at all the shows?

[road_kill]

Dresden sounds like "Raith Roma" - whatever that means.

A gypsy from Kirkcaldy, presumably.

And "Reed roman", FFS? What s**t are you guys smoking?

[stufarq]

Dresden sounds like "Raith Roma" - whatever that means.

A gypsy from Kirkcaldy, presumably.

I was going to make a similar joke but didn't know if anyone would get it.

[mugabe]

And. to be picky, wouldn't "Roma" have a capital if it's a German noun?

I'm a bit confused when it comes to this. A word like doppelgänger doesn't, usually, when used in English.

By the way, can we find a way of convincing him to make the sound this clear at all the shows?

I'll semaphore him a few pointers during the Stockholm show in two weeks.

Now I'm going to throw a fit and call it a day.

[stufarq]

And. to be picky, wouldn't "Roma" have a capital if it's a German noun?

I'm a bit confused when it comes to this. A word like doppelgänger doesn't, usually, when used in English.

True, but we don't use "Roma" in English whereas we do use doppelganger as an English word and so adapt it to English conventions (no capital or umlaut). Presumably "Roma", an untranslated German word, would still obey German conventions. But as I said, I'm being picky.

It just occurred to me why the "Throw a key" line might start with different sounds in the two concerts. Maybe in Berlin it's "Gonna keep" and Dresden it's "Though I keep". I'm not convinced of this but it would at least make some sense and might be worth considering. (On the other hand, right at the start I thought it sounded like "goalkeeping", which would fit with road_kill's Raith Rovers theory. )

[Bartek]

so everyone with recorder got a mi5sion: stand next to vocal speakers and record "Arms" during whole tour, is seems that Von likes to freestyle.

[euphoria]

From the Vienna thread:

arms was good, even better than on the dresden recording as the vocals did sound more homogenous with the music.

...so now we can hope somone made a good recording of that gig as well.

[Chairman Bux]

Range Rovers and Mercs?

That book looks like an interesting read though. I'll see if I can pick up a copy....

[psycosister]

spoilsport today ..... it´s better to relax on sundays ..

[lachert]

psycosister, nice avatar