Look at the lyrics! Look at the poetry!
Moon, a hole of light
Through the big top tent up high
Here before and after me
Shinin' down on me
You don't have to think deeply about the beauty of these words but I think you CAN and you'll be richly rewarded for it!
What is Mitski describing?
Why is the moon a hole of light through the big top tent up high???
THINK ABOUT IT!
What is a big top tent associated with?! A CIRCUS! A SHOW! I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Mitski is looking up at the moon and seeing illumination from outside of a world that Jean Baudrillard would describe as hyperreal!
What what what? What fancy words is this?
It's not that complicated! The hyperreal is simply the point when a representation or symbol of something real becomes indistinguishable or confused from reality. Something that is REALER THAN REAL! We feel this all the time when we point out something is simply a construct. Swing a dead cat in a dark alley and you'll find an example of the hyperreal.
You know what ISN'T the hyperreal?? THE MOON! The moon is outside of the circus of the hyperreal that's riddled with media and ads and the constant bombardment of information that's meant to make you forget who you are and what you're doing or could be doing!
In a moment of epiphany Mitski sees the moon and recognizes that the Moon has existed before her and will exist after her. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
What kind of mental state does the circus of the hyperreal want to cultivate?? Anxious! Self-conscious! Self-centered. It wants to keep you running! It wants to keep you worried about temporal things and always more more more!
THE MOON CARES NOT! THE MOON SHINES DOWN ON MITSKI BECAUSE IT ALWAYS SHINES AND ALWAYS HAS AND ALWAYS WILL! THE LIGHT OF THE MOON IS UNCONDITIONAL! Feeling the connection to the Moon has a profound impact on our protagonist Mitski as she goes on to explain!
Moon, tell me if I could
Send up my heart to you?
So, when I die, which I must do
Could it shine down here with you?
The line that resonates with me the most is "So, when I die, which I must do"
AHHHH!!!
I love all media and stories and songs and poems that openly confront the inevitably and certainty of death! You can find hordes and troves and piles and heaps of meditation on the importance of being mindful of the fact that one day you and everyone you know will die! I CAN'T OVERSTATE THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE OF THIS FACT! THIS IS ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PARADOXES THE DRIVES THE ENGINE OF THE SOUL!
IF ALL I'VE EVER KNOWN IS THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING ALIVE HOW CAN I POSSIBLY CONCEIVE NOT BEING ALIVE?!
I could say a lot more about this but I'll move on to the final idea which is expressed here in the verse and again in the chorus.
What is Mitski getting at? What is Mitski proposing??!
To put it simply! The feeling that resonates within Mitski upon gazing at the moment is a feeling that is BEYOND EGO. The self that calls itself the self. The ego can be thought of as linked to or an extension of hyperreality.
SIMPLER! Mitski sees the moon! Mitski feels a connection to something that is completely outside of herself. Mitski wonders if this feeling--this feeling of connection to eternity and light--can this feeling live on! Which, of course it can! It must!
I'm not explaining it well. But it leads into the chorus which I would argue the kind of love that Mitski is referring to is the love of universal consciousness. Being outside the ego is associated with this endless compassion and love and oneness with everything.
'Cause my love is mine, all mine
I love mine, mine, mine
Nothing in the world belongs to me
But my love mine, all mine, all mine
My baby, here on earth
Showed me what my heart was worth
So, when it comes to be my turn
Could you shine it down here for her?
When Mitski says 'nothing in the world belongs to me' she's saying that she is renouncing the world of things, the world of the hyperreal, the world of the ego that wants to be attached. That wants the temporal to be permanent. But what IS eternal is love.
If it feels paradoxical it's because it is. You'd think the repeated use of the word 'mine' would indicate something very selfish and self centered but it is NOT UNLIKE!
NOT UNLIKE!
NOT UNLIKE!
SONG OF MYSELF BY WALT FREAKIN WHITMAN!!!
YESSSS!! WE DID IT! WE GOT THERE! WE GOT BACK TO WALT!!
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
IT'S THE SAME THING! IT'S THE SAME THING! DON'T YOU SEE?! THEY'RE SAYING THE SAME THING BUT DIFFERENT WAYS!
In the state of mind that Walt and Mitski are in it makes no difference to say I own everything and I own nothing! Because they're talking about a boundless self!
Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth,
And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own,
And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,
And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers,
And that a kelson of the creation is love,
WHAT THE HECK IS A KELSON???
IT"S LIKE...THE LONG UNDERSIDE PART OF A BOAT! LIKE THE SPINE OF THE BOAT KINDA?!
Anyway, I just think the economy of Mitski's words are brilliant and the song is beautiful and her voice is incredible and it affirms the soul when you listen to it. Our capacity for love is what opens us up to the possibility of a world beyond the self and that is eternity and eternity is love. Right? It sounds less cool to say it that way when you can feel it in Mitski and Walt Whitman.
:P
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