MACGOWAN@NIC.DDN.MIL (Douglas MacGowan) (01/13/90)
I asked this a little while ago, but I think in the flurry of TSW excitement, it got kind of lost in the shuffle. Kate has admittedly said that the tracks on TSW are individual "stories" - and many of her songs are just that -- tales of love, tales of strangeness, or usual things looked at from a different perspective. There are no songs of hers where I don't have some idea of what it is about. With one exception. What the heck is "Sat In Your Lap" about? I don't have a clue as to what is happening in this song, and since it is one of my favorites, I would like to have some idea what the thing is about. In the KB Fan Club Newsletter write-up she did for The Dreaming album, she never really explained what it was about, just parts of how it was done and how it was changed from the original single track. I have heard vague comments saying the song is about modern culture, the inability to fit in, etc. But nobody has ever really clearly explained the meaning of phrases like "just when I think I'm king - I just begin" and "some say knowledge is something sat in your lap". I appeal to those wiser than me to give me some interpretations of this song - although I don't want to start anything :-). Please. Let me be able to sleep at night.... Douglas MacGowan MACGOWAN@NIC.DDN.MIL "I worry that the people who thought up Muzak are busy thinking up something else." - Lily Tomlin -------
jsd@GAFFA.MIT.EDU (one two stupid three four dumb) (01/15/90)
This is one of my all time favorite KT songs, but I still don't profess to have any absolute definition for the lyrics. I think it's about bogus spirituality and the futility of attempting to achieve anything worthwhile without great personal effort/sacrifice. "I want to be a scholar, but I really can't be bothered." You see? The speaker desires something (knowledge) but won't work for it. Thus, "some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap." She hopes it will just come to her without any effort. "I've been doing it for years, my goal is moving near It says 'look i'm over here' then it up and disappears." She keeps thinking she's close to the end of her quest, but she'll never get to the end because she can't make the effort. The deception is her fault. "In my dome of ivory; a home of activity I want the answers quickly, but I don't have no energy." This should be pretty clear, if you subscribe to the rest of my theory. She won't exert herself, and thus will never get anywhere. Kate said that she wanted the song to sound like someone on top of a windy hill - the fool on the hill, shouting into the wind, feeling self-pity without good reason. It's actually a kind of negative song, probably why I like it so much. Also, I can relate to the narrator - I want the answers quickly, but I don't have no energy!! (note the incorrect grammar - this is a brilliant stroke on Kate's part, showing the false learning which the narrator is stuck with... i'm in awe...) +---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+ | | |\ | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "Suck on this, | | \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet | planet of noise bimbo!" | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
nessus@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Doug Alan) (01/17/90)
I think that Jon's comments on "Sat in Your Lap" are all good. I
think that there is also a more metaphysical component to them.
Some say knowledge is something sat in your lap
Some say that knowledge is something that you never have
This refers, of course, to the millenia-old philosophical debate on
just what knowledge is. Some philosophers think that you can't really
know anything at all. Some philosophers think that every human is a
well-spring of knowledge.
Just when I think I'm king, I must admit (I just begin)
Kate wants knowledge, and she works for it. She works to climb to the
top of an intellectual mountain, but when she gets there, she finds
that there's an even taller mountain behind it.
I've been doing it for years, my goal is moving near
It says "Look I'm over here" then it up and disappears
Kate works hard to achieve something and finally when she's learned
enough to do it, she finally knows enough to see that this goal is not
the one she really wanted. But to achieve what she really wants, she
will have to start from the beginning again.
I hold a cup of wisdom, but there is nothing within.
When Kate was younger and more naive, she looked up to people with
more knowledge than her -- thinking of them as wiser. Now that she's
learned what they know, but she feels no wiser than before. All this
knowledge has done her no good.
I think that it is this pattern of becoming disillusioned through
gaining knowledge -- of climbing mountains only to find even taller
mountains -- that has made the character in the song lazy:
I see the people working and see it working for them,
And so I want to join in, but then I find it hurts me.
|>oug
"C is for CHRIS who's VCR failed") (01/17/90)
In article <9001162320.AA00745@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> Doug Alan <nessus@athena.mit.edu> writes: >I think that Jon's comments on "Sat in Your Lap" are all good. Thanks |>oug. I too appreciate your insights, since I never thought that the character had actually *tried* to achieve anything, but now I see the error of my ways. I had interpreted the following line: > I hold a cup of wisdom, but there is nothing within. to mean that she held what she thought to be something concrete while in reality it was just false knowledge, but your interpretation works well within your scenario as well. >When Kate was younger and more naive, she looked up to people with >more knowledge than her -- thinking of them as wiser. Now that she's >learned what they know, but she feels no wiser than before. All this >knowledge has done her no good. > >I think that it is this pattern of becoming disillusioned through >gaining knowledge -- of climbing mountains only to find even taller >mountains -- that has made the character in the song lazy: This is great. I hadn't considered this before, but it really makes the song much more poignant. Although I still can't understand why the music is so frenzied if the character is so lazy. "I got so much trouble on my mind - refuse to lose Here's your ticket; hear the drummer get wicked!" +---------------------- Is there any ESCAPE from NOISE? ----------------------+ | | |\ | jsd@gaffa.mit.edu | "Suck on this, | | \|on |/rukman | jsd@umass.bitnet | planet of noise bimbo!" | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
nessus@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Doug Alan) (01/17/90)
>> [|>oug:] I think that it is this pattern of becoming disillusioned >> through gaining knowledge -- of climbing mountains only to find >> even taller mountains -- that has made the character in the song >> lazy > [Jon Drukman:] This is great. I hadn't considered this before, but > it really makes the song much more poignant. Although I still can't > understand why the music is so frenzied if the character is so lazy. Well, actually, I think "lazy" was the wrong word to use. I don't think that the character is really all that lazy at all. Rather, she is weary and frustrated. The tone of the music, I think, perfectly captures the frustration. |>oug "E is for ED whose fingers fell off"