Personal tools
The TMBG Knowledge Base

Interpretations:The Songs Of The 50 States

From This Might Be A Wiki

I'd say it's just about John writing all these songs and introducing them to the world and how he can't wait to do it. Pretty up front I think.

Ostensibly an introduction to State Songs, the reference in the lyrics to people who live under the ground, and the men controlling his mind seem to reference a paranoid conspiracy involving the power brokers in the US military and their secret mind-control projects they operate on John Linnell. This seems to be added to throw another bit of perspective on the US, as well as a disclaimer that whatever is on the album, Linnell cannot be blamed for it, or even praised for it, since he is under the influence of mind-control. This is evidenced in the line "I'm not gonna say they're great, I ain't gonna say they ain't." Being trapped in the role of the conduit for the expressions, Linnell here indicates that he cannot really judge the songs for worse or better from such a vantage point. At the end, he sings, "I can't wait for my favorite one," and a prefrain of Arkansas closes the number. Arkansas then, is Linnell's favorite song on the album, and that is as far as he will go in clueing us in on the album.

In general, the song is preparing us to search for secret, hidden meanings in the songs. These meanings may be hidden from the artist himself, as he is more of a receptor of the music, which is designed by the men living under the ground. This encourages the listener to embrace strange ideas and lyrics that don't really make sense on their face. --Pandastan 18:57, 16 Jan 2006 (EST)

Perhaps the ones in control are our dead ancestors. The ideas of Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln, etc. are still controlling the country, guiding our thoughts. --Nehushtan 12:55, 10 Feb 2006 (CST)

Sounds to me like John is going insane trying to write all thos songs of the fifty states- drworm818

Retrieved from "http://tmbw.net/wiki/Interpretations:The_Songs_Of_The_50_States"