Interpretations:West Virginia

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Matryoshka dolls

Matryoshka dolls? Maybe? ... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.76.61.94 (talk • contribs) 21:56, 20 January 2005

More like trees. Any kind - it describes concentricity, rings, aging, and even references types of trees by name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sheep (talk • contribs) 02:50, 22 January 2005

Incest

This song is about Incest. West VA having the unflattering reputation of being a state that has a lot of family sex going on. "when it's cold you have got yourself to keep you warm"-yourself, as in a close relation to yourself, being close to you. being there when you need to be warm, close and all.

"west va, deep within ya, there is another deep inside you, and in the other there is another..." I think that explains itself.

"you'll contina, to be constantly a part of you"-constantly a part of you, constantly part of yourself, yourself or an offspring, being part of it sexually perhaps

"you'll constantly be the party that is partial to you" you'll be the party partial to you, you're you're own party, just like offspring it's all you're own party, and it will be the one partial to you.

it's a stretch but I'll put it here anyway..."why don't you cum outside with me"...why else would he ask west VA to "come" outside with him, there is no reason to go out, unless of course to look at the trees he sings about, which again, he sings about the helicopter seeds, perhaps referring to the seeds aren't falling to far from the tree, as they say...west va is the only state where the trees (family trees inparticular) don't branch out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.82.86.122 (talk • contribs) 15:03, 4 April 2005

Interpretation 3

This song is about a messy apartment. Some guy lives in it, and the mess inside reflects on what he's like because the guy is really sloppy. So, in a way, he is living inside himself. -bigblargh

Or maybe a klein bottle? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.100.123.237 (talk • contribs) 21:58, 20 July 2005

although i don't generally prescribe to any particular interpretation of a song, i love the idea of west virginia being a klein bottle. i doubt that is what Sid was thinking, but it fits in an very cool and linnellish way. awesome. --ant 23:58, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Interpretation 4

Or a mother talking to a pregnant daughter?

"WVa, Why don't you come outside with me? There's something I'd like you to see"

Consider this daughter and come see what I can see, the bigger picture motherhood brings.

"Deep within ya There's another deep inside you and inside the other one there is another in the other"

Your girl child inside you already has inside her the eggs from which her daughters will grow

"Like I told you"

In the previous sentence

"You are concentric in your form When it's cold you Have got yourself to keep you warm"

You are the container of the future daughters, and they are part of you, and will comfort you.

"WVa - You'll contin-ya To be constantly a part of you, You'll never part and you will be The party who will be partial to you"

You can never really be parted from the daughters of your body and your love of them is part of the love they will return to you.

"Sugar Maple's winged seed, Propellers spinning from the tree, Rhododendron, evergreen"

The landscape of West Virginia is one of natural beauty and fecundity.

"Think it over, No need to answer right away, I'll be over There in the state across the way"

Just consider what I am telling you daughter, no pressure, and if you need me, I am nearby.

Okay, this is a really weird interpretation, I know, but it actually fits, except in the way it is sung, the vocal style. The vocal style is kind of sexual, like a love song, but if this were song by a female in a folk style alto, it could be a mother-daughter song. --~Christina Miller June 2005

Interpretation 5

Nah... It's about the state. West Virginia has Virginia inside it. I think it's just... a love song inviting the state to be all she can be, but she'll always (weeping) be part of the other state, because it's who she is in her innermost being. HA! That's Crazy! PastaKeith

Interpretation 6

When in doubt, just take it literally. It's a fun, creative song about West Virginia having smaller and smaller West Virginias inside of it, like those Russian dolls or the girl on the Land O' Lakes butter container holding a Land O' Lakes butter container with the picture of the girl on the Land O' Lakes butter container holding a... It's a cool concept, and so Linnell wrote a song about that, just like the song Pictures Of Pandas Painting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.97.29.81 (talk • contribs) 17:37, 26 November 2005

Interpretation 7

No specific meaning, I think, just a concept song about something recurring within itself. ASL

Interpretation 8

From a 1999 online chat with John Linnell:
MacBheathain> is west virginia about one of those sets of dolls that fit inside each other?
SPEAKER_John Linnell> Nope.
SPEAKER_John Linnell> It's partly inspired by Georgie Girl, "There's another Georgie deep inside."

—Preceding unsigned comment added by TDK (talk • contribs) 15:39, 18 February 2006

Sugar maple

The reference to the seed of the sugar maple (the winged seed of which is, in fact, like a spinning propeller) makes me think that the concentricity being talked about is the fact that the trees contain seeds, and the seeds contain trees. --Nehushtan 12:42, 12 Mar 2006 (CST)

Interpretation 10

I don't know much about US states, but didn't west virginia used to be part of virginia? Like West Virginia was litterally the west part of Virginia, and then it broke off and became it's own state. So there is still a west part of Virginia, but it's east of West Virginia. and then there's an east part of West Virginia, and a west part of West Virginia, and then there's the westmost part of western West Virginia... here's where the concentric part comes in. There's always a western part of a western part of a western part of West Virginia, etc., which was once simply a western part iself. So there is always another inside the other. --Ganna

Interpretation 11

West Virginia's full of herself. --Scottus0 20:26, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Interpretation 12

West Virginia is a strange loop. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eraelan (talk • contribs) 15:43, 19 October 2009

The shape of West Virginia

I think the outline of the state kind of looks like it is coiled or wrapped around itself, like a sea shell or cinnamon roll, if you use your imagination a little. That is always how I interpreted this song. Just like the way Arkansas is kind of shaped like a boat.

Keats

Interpretation X(X)

"Virginia" is part of the two-word term "West Virginia," and West Virginia is (or at least once was) part of Virginia. So West Virginia contains another state that contains itself.

As for the sugar maple, it's the West Virginia state tree. And something had to fill out the bridge.

Female Self Pleasure

When it's cold you have got yourself to keep you warm The song is a doomed proposition to a woman who is only interested in self-pleasure.

There's another deep inside you and inside the other one there is another in the other

The narrator lectures the woman, trying to bring out the side of her (another deep inside) that is willing to welcome someone in - literally and figuratively (another in the other).

Think it over, no need to answer right away

I'll be over there in the state across the way

The narrator patiently awaits the day the woman tires of self-pleasure and seeks the company of another.

The song is rife with innuendo. Pollination, concentricity, inside, inside, inside. Linnell at his best! Cheers!

Kudzuwarrior85 (talk) 15:36, 9 June 2024 (EDT)