English native speakers: Please help me understand

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Arrian
I think that was the point, LS.

I know, I just wanted to bump the thread

[meharriso]

I know it's an old post but....

So I heard this song about a thousand times, but today I finally got myself to search for the lyrics; And how surprised have I been to find that Miss Tanita Tikaram has sung "twist in my sobriety" and not "twisted misoriety"... (Yes, I do know now that such a word doesn�t even exist...)



But: I cannot understand the chorus of that song. I mean I can read the text and I know the meaning of each individual word, but the meaning of the sentence absolutely escapes my grasp. Could you ever-knowing, always-friendly, loving-to-help native speakers please rephrase the chorus?

This is a song I loved when it was released and have only recently redisovered it. I too wondered about the true meaning of the lyrics, and so found your post! I have also found what I believe to be the true meaning of this song.

It is alledgedly about renouncing one's religous faith; particularly Catholic. The metaphors discuss the struggle to come to terms with what that means. I've now drawn my own, further conclusions, based on that philosophy.



"All God's children need travelling shoes" because life is long and hard and there's no distinct difference between believers and non-believers.



"All good people read good books / Now your conscience is clear." She's questioning life. She's trying to justify it to herself by saying
that "good people" have a thirst for knowledge and that the bible is not the only "good book".

"I like to think I can be so willed / And never do what you say / I'll never hear you / And never do what you say" This is her saying enough is enough. I don't want to be controlled and want to make my own choices about what is right and what is wrong.



The chorus is really saying that despite following "God's word" bad things still happen.
"My eyes are just holograms" Her eyes are empty, lifeless resemblances of the real thing.
"Look your love has drawn red from my hands" referring to the crucifiction and the perception of pain or suffering by being a believer.
"From your hands you know you'll never be" My interpretation of this is known as "poetic licence"! Essentially, try moving the "from your hands" to the previous line, preceeded by a pause and add emphasis. It makes much more sense that way.
"More than twist in my sobriety" I think that the use of "sobriety" or "the state of being sober" is different to what most people (including native speakers) would interpret. It doesn't only mean "not drunk". It also means dull, plain or solemn. So she is saying that her faith is not making her any happier; it doesn't have the answer to all lifes problems. It may make some improvement, but it's only temporary or only "on the surface".

"I don't care about their different thoughts / Different thoughts are good for me / Up in arms and chaste and whole / All God's children took their toll" I think this refers to her constantly being ridiculed or segragated perhaps even bullied, probably as a child, for questioning God and his actions.

"Cup of tea, take time to think, yea / Time to risk a life, a life, a life"
I think this is her vision of God pondering over a cup of tea that it's
time for a natural disaster; famine or drought, perhaps.
"Sweet and handsome / Soft and porky / You pig out 'til you've seen the light / Pig out 'til you've seen the light" I think that this refers to her being forced to follow the religion as a child, despite the questions she raised.



If you watch the original video clip, there are also references that confirm this theory; Jesus-like imagery, the gun hanging over the rearview mirror (as opposed to
rosary beads). Plus the impression of devastation from drought and asking why would God do this?


Well, those are my thoughts on what the song could mean. But interpretation of creative wording is one of the beauties of the english language!

[The Mad Monk]

A very interesting interpretation.

[Cort Haus]

These bots are getting scarily sophisticated these days.

Ancient thread necro'd: check
First post: check
Gibberish username: check
Incredibly long post that seems to be on-topic, with no obvious product reference (I didn't look very hard tbf) : wow

[The Mad Monk]

No chance of stumbling upon this thread by googling the song, then wanting to contribute?

[grumbler]

I think the keys to the chorus are:
(1) eyes = holograms As people have noted, this means the eyes (usually considered the "doors to the soul" are, in her case, fakes. They don't reveal about her soul.

(2) "Look your love has drawn red from my hands" I think this is a reference to the idiom "caught red-handed" which means caught, literally, with blood on one's hands and figuratively, caught with clear evidence that one has committed a violent act. This also relates back to the gun images and the "risk a life" and "Up in arms" lyrics. Whose love has caused her to do whatever she was caught at red-handed? My guess it is either Christians in general or her parents in particular, depending on whom you think she is aiming these words at; both claim to be "loving" but their intolerance has caused her to resort to (at least symbolic' violence.

(3) "From my hands you know you'll never be
More than twist in my sobriety"

Since her red hands show that she has reacted (at least figuratively) with violence to the love, her audience now knows that they are not central to her life any more. "Twist in my sobriety" means that her audience is just a momentary relapse from what she considers her "sober" state (presumably the analogy is that being religious is like being drunk, while those who have recovered from religion are sober). The term sobriety is generally used in English to refer to the condition of not being intoxicated when it would be expected that one would be intoxicated. "I remained sober last weekend" would clearly imply that one did not do so on most weekends.

So "a twist in my sobriety" would mean that any religious thoughts she might have were slips, to be contrasted to her general condition of having achieved sobriety. The analogy is a recovering alcoholic having (or being tempted to have) a drink during a time when he or she has achieved sobriety.

Just my two senses' worth.

[Cort Haus]

No. We only ever get bots here. I should know - I am one.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

It's just bad 6th Form poetry.

I remember her singing that on "Top of the Pops". She kept rolling her eyes back into her head throughout. I think she was aiming for a look of Serious Artistic Intensity, but she just looked like she had severe cerebral palsy.

[The Mad Monk]

There's a difference?