Personal tools
The TMBG Knowledge Base

Interpretations:Microphone

From This Might Be A Wiki

Is it just me, or is this song basically just "Hovering Sombrero '07"? It has similar instrumentation, rhythm, and tempo, and the same lyrical themes: personification of inanimate objects and the decay of things over time.

This actually reminded me of Unrelated Thing. I kind of like the idea of the first part about being owned, and the second of being free, but I think they could have done something a bit better with that concept.

It sounds to me like the new version of No Answer. -Mudbuck

To me, it seems to be its own incredible entity. I tried writing out an interpretation, but I can't find the thread connecting each situation and can't penetrate through the strangeness of it... yet for some reason I'm positive that the song isn't void of meaning. Too thick. ~ magbatz

This is what I was thinking, and it might be a stretch.

A man made a recording of his himself talking to be played over and over to keep his dog company after he dies.

During the recording with the mircophone, he is still a live and owns the mic. But the mic is not a live and doesn't know this.

Later the tape is played for his dog after he has died. The dog hears his voice and hears his master's voice, and thinks he is still there and is still owned by the man even though he is free.

- Hallopino

Freaky-- this morning I came to just that conclusion and was going to change my little comment. Except, in my interpretation, the cassette machine is playing a string of commands or something like that, so he really does not have the opportunity to be free. I still think this ties into stanza 1 in some more profound way than just to lead to recording the dog's voice; there must be some reason that it makes him sick. Maybe it has something to do with the strange man-machine-animal ownershippy-hierarchy dealio that's present in the song. ~ magbatz 23:27, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
If I had to guess, I'd say that talking to the microphone being like talking to a wall brick is, in a sense, precisely what makes it sickening. I don't know about you guys, but I've had times (and observed others doing the same) when I got frustrated with some sort of inanimate object and started taking my frustration out on the object verbally. It certainly couldn't care less what you say, technically it's doing precisely what it's supposed to.
As for the string of commands, it may well just be the voice calling the dog to it (calling from beyond the grave). Just a thought.
Anyway, when I listened to this I mostly picked up that in the case of the microphone it isn't loyal to any one person as such; it "wants" to be free, it doesn't understand the concept of ownership. The dog, on the other hand, is loyal as most dogs are, and although it has the opportunity of freedom it would prefer to stay with its master. After all, I've heard stories of dogs that simply stayed at their late masters' graves (not sure if any of those were true, but the sentiment remains regardless). ~JazzJesus

---

The recording could be a suicide note. The guy in the first verse seems to be in a distraught state of mind.

The second verse is a slightly modernized reenactment of Francis Barraud's "His Master's Voice", the painting that was the basis for the old Gramophone/RCA Victor mascot.

Yes, the famous painting is being referenced. See this link: His Master's Voice. Summarizing: the dog is really hearing his dead master's voice from the phonograph's trumpet. --Nehushtan 18:27, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://tmbw.net/wiki/Interpretations:Microphone"