As an American, the lines "And they're followin' me across the sea And now they're stingin' my friends and my family And I I don't know why this is happening" Always gets to me
I love this song. simple yet powerful. "Black honey" is a reference to oil. The song is apparently about the USA and it's foreign policy...how the USA goes around using military force in countries to obtain resources or just overthrowing governments that don't want to give their recourse away cheaply. "I want honey in my table" - USA need/want for accessible resource "Swinging my hand through a swarm of bees" -fighting locals over the resource "I don't know why this is happening, but I do what I want"- USA feeling confused why they must fight for the resource but ultimately feel like they deserve the rights to the resource. " now they follow me across the sea...they are stinging my friends and family... " -people from the country with the resource traveling to USA to conduct attacks in retaliation.
I really can't fathom listening to Thrice and only hearing Black Honey and Only Us. This band's back-catalogue is some of the bes music ever created on God's green Earth and that's not even an overstatement, they've dabbled in many genres, released over 10 full length albums + some, have toured with the greatest bands of our generation and Dustin's writing on previous records is the most poetic and well-penned lyricism I've ever had the pleasure of hearing/feeling. Do we need to pay you to experience this? I'm sure there are fans of your channel in a secure financial position to make that happen, friend.
It was "Only Us" Anton. So glad to see you doing more Thrice. Every album is COMPLETELY different. Every song has a double and sometimes even triple meaning. You have to peel the onion slowly. When they started, it was very punk with a very punk vocal sound. You can hear the youth in his voice. As the years have gone on you can hear his voice mature and gain that gravel. And oh boy.. go listen to "Scavengers" for max gravel. Stay on the journey old friend. And Thanks Lee for requesting this.
The Sonnets of Water, Fire, Air, and Earth from Thrice's Alchemy Index are fantastic too. They are short songs at the end of each element section of the 2 albums. The Flame Deluge Kings Upon the Main Silver Wings Child of Dust They all follow a similar tune vocally. But you would have to do all 4 together as a whole. Thrice has so many good lyrics though.
See, I'm different. I find magic in each listen, find something new, or realize I was hearing a lyric wrong so it's almost brand new again. Or it brings back memories and such that for a brief 3 to 4 minute period, I can kind of relive. Cool how everyone processes it differently
Ive heard Black Honey before and never got the meaning behind the song. This is very informative on many levels. I also at times take breaks from listening to certain bands or songs and then come back to it because (like you said) some people get annoyed or whatnot after awhile, but for me i don't because i still love the bands/songs i listen to and i appreciate music :)
The song could be about self destruction whether it be through addiction or politics, but I never watched the video thoroughly but it seems to be about parents/family imprinting upon children/the next generation especially since they all wound up walking through the family orchard.
My initial thought is that we take a narcissistic approach to everything. I don't know what the video's about, but waiting for the lyrics... Criminal justice system in the US is adversarial, and in many civilized countries it's inquisitorial and rehabilitative as you mentioned. I studied a lot about that, of course. I don't think I was too of the mark with what the lyrics are about. Neither are you. I mean, humans take a narcissistic approach to what we want, both at an individual level and a national level.
Anton, thank you for the video. I'm new to the channel, so this is my first video. You may have answered this question in the past, so I apologize if you have. What is your opinion on self-interpretation of a song's meaning? This song resonated with me due to my struggles with addiction. However, the artist's original intention was about politics and oil. I believe that the meaning of a song is subjective and depends on the listener's personal experiences. I'm just curious to hear your thoughts on this. If you're looking for a song that touches on this topic, check out "Housebroken" by The Hotelier.
Good question. I believe many things share the same "theme." Betrayal for instance, a song may be about a father's betrayal, but any of us who have been betrayed can relate to it... and more importantly each other. It doesn't matter who betrayed you, the feeling in the pit of your stomach and the shock is the same. So in relation to this, maybe the specifics are different between what he is talking about and how you are interpreting it, but the underlying feeling, emotion is likely very similar. That's why it impacted you so much. You both shared a feeling, just for a different reason.
