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Topic ClosedI'm Translating YES 《close to the edge&#122

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Davesax1965 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 09:47
Each to his own ! ;-)

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BaldFriede View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 09:59
Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

I always found a bit of Siddhartha in the Remembering:
 
"As we shall speak to differ also
The ends meet the river's son
So the ends meet the river's son"
 
which isn't a compliment, that book is absolute rubbish.

My favourite book by Hesse, followed by "Steppenwolf". Ah well, how opinions vary.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 09:59
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 
 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 10:00
Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

I always found a bit of Siddhartha in the Remembering:
 
"As we shall speak to differ also
The ends meet the river's son
So the ends meet the river's son"
 
which isn't a compliment, that book is absolute rubbish.

My favourite book by Hesse, followed by "Steppenwolf". Ah well, how opinions vary.
 
Perhaps it reads better in the original language.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 10:06
Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 
 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.

Did you read it in the German original? If not you may have come across a bad translation.


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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 10:36
Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 
 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.
 
Of course you do....
Wink
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 12:20
Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 
 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.

Did you read it in the German original? If not you may have come across a bad translation.
 
I did like both Demian and The Glass Bead Game, and Steppenwolf as well, so I think it was just Hesse's misappropriation of Eastern mysticism that annoyed me.
 
Also that you can't sing along with it while driving.


Edited by emigre80 - November 16 2015 at 12:21
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 16 2015 at 12:21
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 
 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.
 
Of course you do....
Wink
 
did you expect any other result?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2015 at 11:46
Originally posted by Manuel Manuel wrote:

Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Finding a sense in Jon's lyrics? Good luck ! Wink


Yes, Even Chris Squire once said he did not know what Jon Anderson was singing about most of the time.
Harrumphh!
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Angelo View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2015 at 11:50
Originally posted by Manuel Manuel wrote:

Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Finding a sense in Jon's lyrics? Good luck ! Wink

Yes, Even Chris Squire once said he did not know what Jon Anderson was singing about most of the time.

John Bollenberg of ioPages magazine talked to Jon Anderson last week (interview, I guess) and Jon told him that he is in touch with Chris on a daily basis. Maybe they are sorting that issue out now...Clown
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2015 at 11:51
Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:


^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 

 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.
I enjoyed the hell out of the book as a generally bored teenager looking past a lot of young adult literature that couldn't cut it for me. Siddhartha cast a spell, and I soon sought out other Hesse novels.
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2015 at 12:35
Originally posted by Angelo Angelo wrote:

Originally posted by Manuel Manuel wrote:

Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Finding a sense in Jon's lyrics? Good luck ! Wink

Yes, Even Chris Squire once said he did not know what Jon Anderson was singing about most of the time.

John Bollenberg of ioPages magazine talked to Jon Anderson last week (interview, I guess) and Jon told him that he is in touch with Chris on a daily basis. Maybe they are sorting that issue out now...Clown
 
I'm sure they have lots to talk about.  I'm equally sure that Jon believes this most sincerely.
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emigre80 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 17 2015 at 12:36
Originally posted by Rednight Rednight wrote:

Originally posted by emigre80 emigre80 wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:


^It's interesting that you think Siddhartha (from an award winning Nobel author) is Rubbish, yet Anderson's lyrics aren't......
LOL
 

 
Siddhartha isn't well written, and the theories espoused in it are sophomoric.  Anderson's lyrics, on the other hand, you can sing along with while driving. 
 
I stand by my original assessment.
I enjoyed the hell out of the book as a generally bored teenager looking past a lot of young adult literature that couldn't cut it for me. Siddhartha cast a spell, and I soon sought out other Hesse novels.
 
I did like it when I was 15.  Now, not so much.  There was a great parody of it in the New Yorker back in the 1970s.
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novasolis View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 18 2015 at 04:14
I think it's a reference to mary witnessing jesus ("Domain" ?) be crucified, and a crowd of onlookers too, a google search says the Bible refers to a large crowd of women there. I mean, the I Get Up section uses a western church organ for a reason, right? Which meshes with the whole books/songs theme of western meets eastern spirituality (the coral guitar, enlightenment, etc).

I think the "Two million" refers to the majority of people in the world who are unhappy, compared to the "two hundred" who are now followers (the "Interest could be laid upon the children of her Domain/followers of her son" line). 

Then the last stanza, Jon speaks of himself: In charge of who is there in charge of me" is jigsaw grammar, but together with "Do I look on blindly and say I see the way?", it seems to refers to his confusion and uncertainty "who's in charge of me". The last lines say the truth is right in the scriptures, but when will I reach enlightenment and see you for myself? I'm assuming the valley/the man with his arm is that person. Or whatever figure Jon thinks up. And then the song's music seems to reach a high state too, so I think that's the intended message. 

This has some direct Jon quotes too: http://genius.com/Yes-close-to-the-edge-lyrics/

“The song came about because Steve was playing these chords one day, and I started singing, ‘Two million people barely satisfy.’ It’s about the incredible imbalance of the human experience on the planet.” – Jon Anderson

“There are several lines that relate to the church. Churchgoers are always fighting about who’s better and who’s richer and who’s more hip. So at the end of the midsection there’s a majestic church organ. We destroy the church organ through the Moog. This leads to another organ solo rejoicing in the fact that you can turn your back on churches and find it within yourself to be your own church.”

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