Interpretations:Cowtown

From This Might Be A Wiki

I think this song is reminiscent (in lyrical theme) of "Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles.

it's about manatees. The cows beneath the sea, sea cow, manatee. I forgot how the rest of the song went, but there wasnt anything here so i figured id fill with with something.

I found a delightful interpretation at: http://blog.23ae.com/index.php?m=200402

For posterity (the linked site is sometimes down when I try it...), here's the text, so it won't be lost:

There was found an esoteric text which held within it great esoteric eristic secrets, disguised as a popular song by the great Discordian Esoterics "They Might Be Giants".

I'm going down to Cowtown

The cow's a friend to me

Lives beneath the ocean and that's where I will be

Beneath the waves, the waves

And that's where I will be

I'm gonna see the cow beneath the sea

Here in the first verse, we are told that we are entering the realm of Eris herself, The Void, or 'Chao'Town. Obviously, the writer feels kinship with her sacred symbol, since "The 'Chao's a friend to me."

Now what of the next lines? If you examine the cover of the Great Principia Discordia, you will find that the Sacred Chao is centered beneath the title, placing the "Chao" beneath the 'c'.

The yellow Roosevelt Avenue leaf overturned

The ardor of arboreality is an adventure we have spurned, we've spurned

A new leaf overturned

It's a new leaf overturned

First, we have a fantastic example a Discordian statement. Words hidden in words, "The Yellow Rose" "Roosevelt Avenue" and "A new leaf overturned" are mashed into a single sentence, hidden between the actual words written. A wise reminder to never believe what we read (In this case what we hear and what we read are different).

The Ardor of Arboreality, of course refers to the "Love of A bor(ing) reality" something which is spurned by the Discordian, who prefers overturning new leaves and exploring different realities.

We yearn to swim for home, but our only home is bone

How sleepless is the egg knowing that which throws the stone

Foresees the bone, the bone

Our only home is bone

This verse contains two seperate esoteric messages:

First, we see that the writer sees his life as "egg" to "bone" or birth to death. There is no escaping this, for our only home (our final home) is 'bone' or death.

Of course, there is also the idea of creation, for bone can refer to the bone of Osris. Osris, of course was killed and reborn, killed and reborn again (though this time without his bone). The egg would obviously refer to the Great Mother Isis. Thus we have the story of constant rebirth and life, couched in words that speak of the unavvoidable end of our lives.

Ratatosk, Squirrel of Discord

Sjaantze, Harbringer of Distraction

Cheers!

While I think the song is basically just a stream-of-consciousness thing, there seems to be a general theme of returning to previous evolutionary states. The first verse says that we've spurned "the ardor of our arboreality," i.e., love of trees. So that could refer to humans evolving from apes, and "coming down from the trees," as they say. Even before that, however, our ancestors came from the sea, and I've heard some talk about how we'll eventually return to the sea, or something like that. The word "cowtown" is sometimes used to refer to isolated rural towns, so "going down to Cowtown" could mean returning to an earlier, and perhaps simpler, way of life. I think "our only home is bone" is a reference to the inevitability of death, a favorite TMBG theme.

I hope this comes out coherently. I'm not able to express my thoughts as well as I would like. --VoVat

Minor footnote to the Discordian interpretation: What does a cow say? Moo. Or, spell it "Mu." Mu is an interchangable name for "Mummu", the lost continent.

What's amibiguous is the line "The cows a friend to me, lives beneathe the ocean." Are the pleased with the JAMs fate? Or are they singing their solidarity?

Holy crap! I just thought there was a cow in the sea that the singer wanted to go and visit, and this was just a message to his mother (who tends to call fairly often as many mothers tend to do) so she will know where he will be as opposed to worrying when he ceases to answer his phone when she makes her routine calls. I then took the two verses which follow and ignored them completely as if they didn't exist as the confusing composition of the sentences that make up said verses frighten me simply because I am unable to make a rational interpretation from them.

I feel dumb. <--Mr. 3D PHD

One possible interpretation is that this is retelling the "aquatic ape" hypothesis, which states that some of the ancestors of humans were apes who lives partially-aquatic lives. The singer is the first ape to go down into the water to live with the manatees, the sea cows who had already done what he is doing. He has decided to spurn the "ardor of arboreality," the work that comes with living in the trees, so that he can live with the manatees.

I'm gonna have to agree with this theory!

Discordians make me laugh long and hard. Thier foolishness makes me grow a big rubbery one, too, it's so funny.

Okay, you're all being WAY too existential. The song is about cutting down trees to make room for raising cattle to provide beef. “The yellow Roosevelt Avenue leaf overturned. The ardor of arboreality is an adventure we have spurned, we've spurned. “How sleepless is the egg knowing that which throws the stone Foresees the bone, the bone Our only home is bone Our only home is bone” This is talking about raising chickens and how the embryonic chicken must be sleepless knowing its only future is being a bone on someone’s plate. That which throws the stone is the farmer throwing feed. He foresees the bone because he knows his chickens are going to end up on our plates and all that’ll be left are their bones.

Sheesh!

Satori

Cowtown

Interpretations:Cowtown

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