Interpretations:Women & Men
- Song
- Lyrics
- Interpretations
- Credits
- Guitar Tab
- Bass Tab
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I think it's illustrating reincarnation. At the end of a long journey, "women and men" make their way to "land", which, while it takes them by surprise, really shouldn't. They gather in the "jungle", and learn lessons of love. Their message spreads, "two by two, three by three, four by four"--- and so do they. But soon, the women and men once again return to the sea and begin another voyage.
I don't think that it's only talking about human reproduction, though. This seems really broad. It could be referencing how we damage the earth and try to live unnaturally in "the sea", and soon we are forced to return to "land"--- and yet, we end up venturing into "the sea" again after living in the jungle. This venture could take into account lessons learned from the previous voyage, or it could not. (I like to think it does, just because I'm optimistic like that.) It could be referring to a conflict (okay, so I thought of this because I'm really passionate about Israel-Palestine). Two peoples stuck on one ship cannot take it anymore, and are forced to venture into "the jungle". With this, they manage to finally find love and unity and embark on another voyage into "the sea", this time united. Basically, the solutions are endless--- but all address reincarnation and evolution.
This interpretation really came to me when I was listening to this song on repeat, and noticed how it could really just go on forever--- it's very cyclical.
This is actually one of my favorite songs by TMBG- it's very catchy ^^; Whenever I hear this song, I think of how people evolved from fish. They came out of the water and all? "Two by two they enter the jungle And soon they number more-" People came out of the ocean, became monkeys, became humans.
But that's just what it makes me think of. Re-reading the lyrics definitely makes me think of colonization; they crash there, more people blah blah blah, then they get on the boats and look for more land to over populate ^^- anonymous
I think the song, as a whole, represents the journey through life, the cycle of life, from birth to death. The "ship" could possibly be the womb, and when it "runs aground," the people are born. The "jungle" is the progression of life, and they form two-by-two groups, which is marriage or at least a pairing along the same lines as marriage. The groups become three-by-three and four-by-four, meaning children, and the large amounts of people create the "ocean" on which the new boats arrive, and the new children land on the shore to begin the life cycle once again. -Nef
A song about colonisation, sometimes confused by Europeans as being the same as civilisation. Simple really. The song is weak and overlong and is a rare clunker on Flood. Rare for "Linnell to produce a melody and lyric that is so dull. (mr Tuck)
The boat represents civilization. While some people think it will float forever, honestly we all should not feel so surprised that it will eventually hit land. We do not have to shout "Land!" Likewise, we do not have to shout "Doom!" when it comes to civilization's problems. We know our journey always brings us back to solid earth. The boat always hits land. Civilizations always end.
As we leave the shipwrecked civilization, we will form new ways of life. Some will return to the "jungle", ie normal life for everything else, in 2x2 groups. Some 3x3, 4x4, whatever. We not longer will demand that everyone will be like us. Why would it bother us that someone lives a different way? Your tribe has one way of dealing with life, mine has another. Why do we need these to have exactly the same rules?
Those of us who survive the shipwreck and walk away will have a changed view towards life. We will finally realize that love and peace can spread in our world without a "boat." We will take this as our message and you will see the looks on our faces showing we have found that love. And we will have joy and relief that the endless confining voyage has ended.
More and more people will walk away from the boat. And our movement will grow. We will form a stream, then a river, then an ocean. And our movement will bring those who have not left their boats to land. It will have love and light and all the joy in it. It will take work, though. The jungle takes more work from us and carrying the boats of the others will take work as well. But love triumphs in the end. How could we believe it otherwise?
So work in love, live for the moment, and care about the very things we have forgotten in our boat.
Women & Men.
-- EntropyFails
Women + men + love = more women and men.
This is a simple song about life. People reproduce. They enter the jungle two-by-two and soon they number more, as children are born. They soon number so many that the stream of them becomes a river, an ocean, and now there are more ships with women and men. Bringing the song around to the beginning again. There are no references to natives or imperialism or America; it's an unpopulated island; this is colonization without conquering others. More to do with people as human beings, not societies. - Youronlyfriend
Alternate interpretation:
This song seems to be a rather literal explanation of imperialism- specifically, the founding of America.
A ship of colonists comes to their destination, a new land. They discover that there are already people living there. The natives show them love and peace (Women & Men) Bringing with them messages of love And every where they go love will grow (love will grow) - but the colonists take over - they populate more and more ("three by three and four by four") until they outnumber the natives, and they begin inviting more colonists over to take over the land ("Two by two they enter the jungle"). Soon they number more Three by three as well as four by four Soon the stream of people gets wider Then it becomes a river (River becomes an ocean Carrying ships that bear Women & Men)... -Bazilisk
This song is about cycels. Primarliy, life cycles. Starts with a ship on an ocean and ends with a ship on an ocean. People come, grow, populate, then move on.
Some have said that this is a mockery of Enya's "Orinoco Flow," which outsold "Ana Ng" in 1988.--Jake Nelson 19:26, 16 Sep 2005 (EDT)
you guys are really over thinking this one it's about THE FLOOD
It's about colonialism.
My interpretation o this song leads me to agree with some others--I think this song is entirely about colonialism. I think of it as a view of humans voyaging to a new land, from the point of view of the original inhabitants, or, more likely, animals. The singer sems perfectlycontent to sit and watch the women and men coming out of the boat, and later on goes on to say that "the stream of people gets wider, then it bcomes a river, river becomes an ocean, carrying ships that bear women and men," which basically symbolizes how human populations have moved around. All it takes is that first ship nd those first few settlers, and then there were more and more people coming to the new lands. Eventually the "ocean" of people carried even more ships in, because by a certain point, there were enough people in one area to warrant regular voyaes beteen the new lands and the homeland.
Just my two cents.
~Proto~
Allusions to the bible[edit]
This might be a stretch, but it does have some interesting ties to the biblical story of Noah's arc. The fact that they "pour out the boat... 2 by 2" and that there's 2 of every animal, the obvious fact that it's a boat, "Now there's nothing unexpected about the water giving out" could be the flood ending, the water did have to go somewhere. I know it's probably not, but I thought that it was kind of cool that it could be interpreted as about a flood on the album Flood
