AJJ - Small Red Boy | Audiotree Live 

the last thing i did already. was quite nice and would do it again

Fuckin true mate

Just saw them live yesterday! They didn’t do this song but they did the crescendos of Big Bird flawlessly. Incredible live show

I honestly think they made it more intense live lol

Agreed. The lyrical symbolism is so deep and dark, yet, we can almost feel it too

@@squillz8310 between the cello, and the lyrics I was also ugly crying in the club

Just got back into listening to AJJ and this was the first time I have heard this song. I love it. His description of the growth achieved through the acceptance of the devil inside of us is so beautiful. The moral structures that we are given so often come drenched with shame, and we feel the need to repress the part of us that doesn't fit into that structure.

I see it as a story of confronting everything within yourself that you once locked away; learning to accept it and love yourself no matter how unappealing it may look from the outside, because it is the truth. Only once you do that can you truly know happiness. But that's just my interpretation.

i feel like this song is lowkey a representation of the process of incorporating your shadow that Jung outlines. the idea being that everyone has a set of evil or dark aspects of them, things they hide due to shame or fear of rejection, the small red boy is the metaphor for the shadow, once the protagonist pays attention to the shadow and goes through his childhood with the shadow, he see's the shadow within himself in the mirror and confronting and accepting the shadow, after loving it and feeding it and growing it is what set him free to be his true self, "i am the truth"

I really dig both of those takes. I personally see it as a loss of faith and coming to terms with emotional baggage from a religious upbringing. The red devil with horns is the iconic villain in Christianity, and could be a metaphor for a younger version of the protagonist, who is taught that he is inherently tainted in nature for being born under original sin, and raised to believe that his body, thoughts, feelings, desires, etc were unclean in the eyes of God. The protagonist is ashamed of his younger self and carries a burden of fear, guilt, and anger for all of the years of castigation and penance. When the protagonist first sees the devil that was cut from his belly, he realizes that he’s just a child, and began to see his innocence. This cast a seed of doubt on his worldview and through much nurturing and reflection discovered that none of it was true. The tragedy is the realization of the finality of death, but knowing the truth freed him from his burden and he was able to find power in accepting and loving his true self.

@@ParleyPCat maybe I’m projecting, but this is my favorite take

@@cosmosis9903 Thank you, friend, I might be projecting too.