Hi!
I guess it's my second post.

I need some help from you nice people as I've been trying to translate Kula Shaker songs into my language. Since English is a foreign language to me, I've encountered problems understanding some parts of the lyrics. I'm currently translating "Ol' Jack Tar", could somebody help me with a few phrases? Thank you.

"Slow on my armour, cool on my mind"
Because there's no subject, I have difficulty to guess the meaning.

"I've counted the stars, in degrees, in degrees"
What does "in degrees" mean? Does "counting stars" have a significant meaning?

"Now your love, blows gently, and hauls my sails, cross the sea, endless sea."
'Haul' means 'to change sailing direction'? So the person never returns home?

I think the subject of "slow on my armour/cool on my mind" is the breeze/his love, as in the first part of the song - I think he's just describing how his love and the breeze itself is bringing him home, which brings him peace. In this song, the breeze and his love are compared all the way through.

I think the lyric is "I have waited so long that I can't take the stars in degrees." There are lots of slightly different meanings for 'degrees', and I think Crispian is playing on a couple.

Firstly, a circle is divided into 360 parts that we call degrees, and navigators (people who tell a ship where to sail at sea) would use degrees along with the night sky to make sure they stayed on course. He seems to be saying that he's needed love (or, a reason to return home) for so long that he can no longer do the navigating himself.

Also, it suggests that he is impatient to return to love, so cannot even take in the night sky - even in small pieces - a degree is technically a small piece.

Finally, hauling is like pulling - so the breeze and his love are pulling his ship/himself across the endless sea to return him back to the one he loves.

I could be terribly wrong, of course! I hope that helps a little!

Hi Exodia!
Thank you so much for all this. It's been lovely.

I'd contemplated on this whole night, and when I woke up this morning, I had understood the counting stars part to a better level. I was very confused last night, as I couldn't decide which meaning for "degree" was the one described in the song. The number "360" reminded me of something, yeah, cool!

Could you explain more about this phrase "slow on my armour"? Does this have something to do with "disarm" or "protection"? Is the "slow" here an adjective, adverb or a verb?

I feel like asking one more question. It's about "ocean and foam." Can the "foam" here mean "spoondrift" or "white water"?

Gosh I've got so much to ask. I also need some help with other songs, but maybe not for now. ^^"

Thanks again, Exodia

Yeah, I thought the 360 would help explain it - mathematics is the universal language!

It's hard to know what the exact meaning of 'slow on my armour' means - literally, armour is this:



I don't think he means that he is wearing this though (although I wouldn't put it past him), so I think you're right on it being related to protection. I imagine he means self-protection that he has made in his mind. Perhaps his love is slowly breaking through that barrier, so that he can return home. This is the problem with lyrics, they can mean different things to different people, but this makes sense to me!

I think the foam is describing how the sea looks when there are waves - foam is white bubbles...

Feel free to ask any more - I'm not sure how well I'm explaining it, but it's fun to look a little deeper...it's easy to take phrases for granted!

Hi Exodia!

It's so wonderful that you're still here to help with this.

Thanks so much for showing me the picture. This helps because I wasn't quite sure whether "armour" means the same thing to everyone. I thought of that thing in the picture at first, but later I actually got more confused with the phrase "slow on my armour."

I agree with that. A song(and its lyrics, of course) is just like a piece of art that each viewer expresses his or her own perception that may differ from person to person.

It makes sense that "his love is slowly breaking through that barrier, so that he can return home." so I figure that "slow on my armour" means something of a process of recovering, which gives an optimistic idea about the person's feeling? I hope I haven't misread your words.

I'm currently stuck with "Be Merciful" lyrics. It's this part:
-----------------------------------------------
I wish I could trust you but your crooked smile
Dances on a serpent for your lovers eyes
-----------------------------------------------
Does a crooked smile mean "wicked"? Is it "lover's" or "lovers'"? I actually have problem understanding the whole sentence. At first the sentence seemed to be easy to understand (literally), but then when I thought about it more deliberately, it doesn't sound logical at all. Does it say that her crooked smile dances on a serpent, and that this is for her lover(s) to see? Or, from her lover's eyes, he sees her crooked smile, and then sees her dance on a serpent for her lover's pleasure? Ahhh, have I made this too complicated? @@"

That's alright dude - I am trying to avoid my work, and this is far more interesting! I think you understand Ol' Jack Tar now, although if anyone else has any ideas, they should bring them in!

As for the lines in Be Merciful - if a person is crooked, then it means they are untrustworthy. So, the girl's smile shows that she is not to be trusted! I don't think that her smile literally dances with a serpent, but in the Bible, the serpent tricks Adam and Eve into eating an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, so has associations with being deceptive and untrustworthy. My guess is that the girl's smile is being compared to that representation of the serpent.

I think the line is "...lover's eyes," although I don't have the lyrics with me, so I can't check that for sure...I think Crispian is referring to himself there!

|This is probably my own personal associations, rather than anything Crispian actually meant, but I've always had the idea of an illusion attached to the "dances on a serpent for your lover's eye" line. It'd be a bit hard exactly the association process and I doubt that was what Crispian meant, but...

(that was so unhelpfull.)

Isn't it more likely that the song is about spiritual love? He's talking about Krishna who danced on the serpent demon when he was a child.

In the Faith and Music doc, he was talking about the song and how he likes writing songs that have a double meaning. He specifically talks about love songs that can just as easily be about girls or God.

Yeah there is sort of a song cycle. Hurricane Season - Ol' Jack Tar - Dr.Kitt

Hurricane Season about running into trouble at sea, Ol Jack Tar sounds like drifting at sea in the aftermath of the storm. the horizon lyric and the breeze lyric made me think of it especially, - and the water lyrics - plus the music of the song, and the way it flows out of Hurricane Season. Then he's washed up somewhere for Dr.Kitt (the Dr refers back to the storm, in fact.. it's exactly the storm that gives the singer the chance to meet the Dr, so maybe it was where he washed up or something, and it feels like the natural conclusion of that) just seemed natural to me (that it was a sort of a three song cycle there) from the first time I heard it.

Yeah 6ft Down Blues is in the way but it wasn't on the album's original running order anyway, it could be a flashback interlude! (the final doubts before facing Dr.Kitt)

I'm probably extrapolating too much, but those three songs did seem to make a natural trio to me. And that would put the emphasis on spiritual love I guess, since whether you include Ol Jack Tar in the combo or not, the Hurricane Season - Dr.Kitt thing definitely has the emphasis on the spiritual.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 2-J,

quote:

Originally posted by Sun Of Surya:
Isn't it more likely that the song is about spiritual love? He's talking about Krishna who danced on the serpent demon when he was a child.

In the Faith and Music doc, he was talking about the song and how he likes writing songs that have a double meaning. He specifically talks about love songs that can just as easily be about girls or God.

Ah, this is why it's so good to discuss these things... ...I haven't read that tale, and I agree that this is more likely to be his inspiration for the line! In what sense did he dance on the demon - what did the dance mean?

I felt like the songs belonged together too - I have to admit, I never brought Dr. Kitt into it, but Hurricane Season and Ol' Jack Tar, yes.

quote:

Originally posted by 2-J:
Yeah 6ft Down Blues is in the way but it wasn't on the album's original running order

It wasn't?

I think I'm a bit reluctant to throw these three together in the same pack as a trio - I can definitely see Hurricane Season and Ol' Jack Tar as a duo, and Hurricane Season and Dr Kitt as a duo as well, as they both have quite a big component of doubt in them.
But findin the same line going through all three of them pushes it a bit, methinks...

In the stories of Krsna's childhood, many demons are sent to try and kill Him. He destroys them all using many different tactics. When the Demon Kaliya shows up, Krsna uses a powerful dance to subdue each of the serpent's heads.
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/HE69/

I also thought it was strange that water/wreckage/salvation theme of the seond half of the album was broken up by 6ft Down. Unless it's meant to represent the middle, the point in life where you feel lost and you don't know what you're looking for. And then of course comes Dr Kitt to show you the way *L*

quote:

Originally posted by Sun Of Surya:
I also thought it was strange that water/wreckage/salvation theme of the seond half of the album was broken up by 6ft Down. Unless it's meant to represent the middle, the point in life where you feel lost and you don't know what you're looking for. And then of course comes Dr Kitt to show you the way *L*

Originally of course 6ft Down Blues wasn't there in the tracklisting:- http://kulashakermusic.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8...971013791#1971013791 I think it wasn't a wise choice to shoehorn it in there at the 11th hour. Granted, Strangefolk isn't a long album as it is, so maybe a 12th track was a welcome inclusion. Just might have been nice to have had it somewhere else. Then again maybe Crispian did have a wonderful vision for why 6ft Down really did fit in there, and it's too subtle for us to appreciate fully

quote:

Originally posted by Sun Of Surya:
In the stories of Krsna's childhood, many demons are sent to try and kill Him. He destroys them all using many different tactics. When the Demon Kaliya shows up, Krsna uses a powerful dance to subdue each of the serpent's heads.
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/product/HE69/

Ah, OK, I understand now! I wonder how that figures into the song itself? I have no doubt that this is where he got the 'dances on a serpent' image from now that you've mentioned it, but I'm not sure how that meaning of the original tale fits in contextually. Maybe I'm thinking too much...

That's probably got to do with the fact that Krsna devotees base their beliefs on love of God (Krsna). With every feat performed by Krsna there was always people around to see them and of course retell them and remember them with love and devotion. Basically the only way to get back to any form of spiritual freedom is to have deep love for God.

... Well I don;t know maybe I'm reading into this too much too *L* But this certainly is one of my favorite songs by the band so far and i really love that set of lyrics