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Noah’s Titanic Antje Duvekot
Noah’s Titanic "Molly is dead and the birds have gone south," Said the joker to the thief "My nerves are live wire, and I'm burning on fire Got a paper in my pocket and a coupon for a cup of peace Truly there was nothing that we really lacked Except the feeling of alive That's why I turned to art, that's how you got to jail And now you're out on bail, fairytale, searching for the Holy Grail
Noah’s Titanic And closer to the truth, than the kettle to the stove And the moment that I noticed that I didn't wanna know I got a pain in my heart, a burn in my throat They go down to my belly, got a bullet of a boat I got an ache in my head, my confidence broke Got a lot of lost time on the shoes of my soul, yeah"
Noah’s Titanic "Jesus, joker," said the thief, "This can't be my life Oh, something's been thrown, like an arrow or a stone Now the solitude is warmer and I'd rather be alone.” We lost our friends to the everyday To the drugs and the dreams To the girls in the bars, the boys in the cars When your shitty little love life reaches just to the horizon And you're closer to the truth, than the kettle to the stove And the moment that I noticed that I didn't wanna know
Noah’s Titanic I got a pain in my heart, a burn in my throat They go down to my belly, got a bullet of a boat I got an ache in my head, my confidence broke Got a lot of lost time on the shoes of my soul Yeah, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't really a light If we got any closer we would find that it's only a mirror Reflecting our search lamps, here in the darkness, here in the homeland We'll always be searching for permanence in quicksand And frenzied collecting things that we just can't hold But we will hang on with our teeth"
The Poetics of “Noah’s Titanic” • Sounds of words: • Rhymes do not follow a regular pattern. Internal rhyme, rather than end stop. • Frequent alliteration, consonance, and assonance
Sound Patterns in Verse 1 "Molly is dead and the birds have gone south," Said the joker to the thief "My nerves are live wire, and I'm burning on fireGot a paper in my pocket and a coupon for a cup of peace Truly there was nothing that we really lacked Except the feeling of alive That's why I turned to art, that's how you got to jail And now you're out on bail, fairytale, searching for the Holy Grail
Sound Patterns in Verse 2 "Jesus, joker," said the thief, "This can't be my life Oh, something's been thrown, like an arrow or a stone Now the solitude is warmer and I'd rather be alone.” We lost our friends to the everyday To the drugs and the dreams To the girls in the bars, the boys in the carsWhen your shitty little love life reaches just to the horizon And you're closer to the truth, than the kettle to the stove And the moment that I noticed that I didn't wanna know
Meanings of Words • Simile/Metaphor • “searching for the Holy Grail” • “light at the end of the tunnel” • Pun • “a lot of lost time on the shoes of my soul” • Irony • “got a paper in my pocket and a coupon for a cup of peace. Truly there was nothing that we really lacked.”
Shift from description to metaphor The light at the end of the tunnel isn't really a light If we got any closer we would find that it's only a mirror Reflecting our search lamps, here in the darkness, here in the homeland We'll always be searching for permanence in quicksand And frenzied collecting things that we just can't hold But we will hang on with our teeth
Imagery • Joker and Thief • People in a tunnel with flashlights trying to find a way out but when they think they’ve found the light at the end, they’ve really just found a deadend with a mirror reflecting their own flashlights
Meaning Making The metaphors of the song give the sense that the “characters” (the joker, the thief, the speaker, and the spoken to) are seeking and failing to find fulfillment in their lives. When they approach the truth, they realize they don’t really want to know it. When they are honest about their searching, they realize that they can never find what it is they are looking for.