Originally posted by NateV:Any idea what the “statue of the gold guitar” is?
Originally posted by Bloodraven:[..]
Imho, he's listing events or times when he faced mortality ("I thought my head was harder than ground" is a reference he has made before to his bike accident).
With that in mind, the "statue of a gold guitar" line works for me as a reference to the friends/artists that died last year, maybe represented more specifically by Prince.
Maybe it doesn't make much sense, but that's the way my mind worked that one out in a very subconscious way... now that I finally try to put it in words, doesn't makes as much sense as it did when it was just a vague thought.
On the same idea, I've been more intrigued by the line before... "one more push and I'll be born again", which I'd read it as "one more push and I'll be death", don't knowing what the "push" means in this case.
Originally posted by NateV:[..]
If it were a CCM type worship song, of course “I should be dead” could refer to salvation. But the intro feels more dark. As you’re saying, it seems to refer to concrete encounters with death.
This song seems to reference NLOTH themes of first birth from the womb, the world and Bono being spoken (or sung) into existence, and second birth (redemption). Cf. Breathe about songs in eyes vs. lights in eyes. And Magnificent.
Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe he is thinking about the passage to afterlife. The place you “can’t travel with a friend” (is that the lyric?).
Interesting interpretation of the guitar being a symbol. Does make sense to include the theme of lost friend-artists in this song.