The Deafening Silence: What is Said When the Mouth Fails to Move
A Formal Paper by Brad Bovenkerk
The Aesthetic - in terms of the arts within the era of Modernity (in this era I will include post modernity –
for certain aspects are similar within each, and I cannot exactly decipher where one genre ends and the other beings
– the line here is blurry for me) - is one defined by a lack of clear understanding – the Modern writer’s manuscript is
composed of pages full of the excluded, these are lines of silence, punctuated with the ellipsis – an unfinished
thought. The pen creates the mystery with its thick metaphor, the thin dialogue and masked and alluded exposition.
The Aesthetic is one that relies on the meaning which the reader finds – the relation the reader makes from the
written word to the reader’s own life creates the story – it is the interpretation of the story that creates it - for the
literal word of the writer is one thickly disguised and full of changing perspective, open to interpretation, in the
Modern Age traditional literature get turned on its figurative head – but like the Frank Oz’s lion it gets heart.
Despite this course being viewed as “Literature between the Wars: 1914 to 1945” the Modern Age still rolls
on, its Modern Aesthetic is ever present in literature, cinema, and music. The reliance on image as opposed to
straight narrative is ever present – the contemporary musical artist Conor Oberst (performing as Bright Eyes) is one
of the best read singer/songwriters of this age – and his extensive background knowledge in a variety of subjects
creates a “smarter” song – relying on reading, and reading between the lines to fully appreciate a song, one of his
Modern works.
Track One – Bright Eyes – Gold Mine Gutted (The Digital Ash in the Digital Urn)
It was Don Delillo, whiskey - neat
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a TV stand
Just a turntable to watch
And the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
We were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us
And from the sidelines
You see me run
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Until I’m out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful Midwest
Well, I did my best
To keep my head
It was grass stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well, all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let’s have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up
And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath.
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well, I lagged behind
So you got ahead
Oberst in his song “Gold Mine Gutted” off of the album Digital Ash in the Digital Urn speaks off his battle
with cocaine, such an addiction you would be unaware of if you were not informed of the fact that Oberst has openly
admitted his battle with the drug. When we first hear of this addiction we are lead in as listeners with “My stray dog
freedom – let’s have a nice clean cut – like a bad we buy and divvy up.” If as listeners we were unbeknownst to this
drug addiction the clean cut line could be associated with the stray dog freedom line – a clean cut from society –
straight and no ties left engaged – we could view this with an isolationist’s theory. However knowing that cocaine is
sometimes a “dirty” drug – mixed with chemicals, etc ruining its purity and thus becoming dangerous to the user, the
clean cut reference can be seen as one about the drug. The cocaine reference is seen again in the line – all those
white lines that sped us up – cocaine being a white powder substance snorted in lines – but this line can also be
viewed as a reference to driving. I have heard the argument that the white lines are those that divide the highway –
the destination is not arrived at yet thus the white lines are markers to that point – speeding the driver up. The song
ends with the lines – We hurry to our death, well, I lagged behind, so you got ahead – which by my personal opinion
seems to be about how Conor is slowing down his drug use, and thus tacking time onto his life – as opposed to the
possible drug induced death via cocaine. I am led to this thought do to my knowledge of Don Delillo’s novel White
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Noise. Don Delillo's novel White Noise is directly concerned with the American society's fear of death – main
character begins taking a pill which ceases production of a certain chemical(s) that create the fear of death within the
human. The line seems to be the relation between the songs writer drunkenly reading as time blurs to nothing (the
blinking midnight clock) and relating his drug use to the possibility of death, and the connected fear do to reading
Delillo’s work.
A Bright Eyes song screams for footnotes – we need to know of Conor’s drug problem to understand just
what he implies, it is the footnotes (the background knowledge) that help us fill the voids in narrative, could one
understand Elliot’s Wasteland without notes on it? The answer is yes – an answer can be found in ones own heart –
within Modernity the reader is the one who dictates the success of a piece, it is the interpretation that creates the
meaning, a wide variety of theories and approaches can be taken while reading a text from the Modern Age, but in
the end we all, as readers read it how we want to. It is our history, our knowledge, our pasts that allow for us to read
a story – on our own terms. The gaps the reader fills allow more freedom to the writer, as well as more creativity –
using images, creative terms, painting pictures with word, obscure references and illusions – allow for a story within
a story – this added amount of creative freedom is what has allowed for this trend in art to continue, in my opinion.
A background on Don Delillo specifically the novel White Noise is not required for enjoying the Bright
Eyes song, however in understanding the drug references in “Gold Mine Gutted” it certainly helps, and changes the
reading of the works meaning. Without it – a literal reading of the song – we see a more nonsensical song, where as
by making assumptions – filling the narrative voids and gaps we can interpret this work as a man reading a Delillo
novel while drinking (the liner note lyrics for this able do not exist, thus lyrics sites were consulted for the excerpts
and there is a discrepancy between the many I viewed for the first line – it is either “Whiskey – neat” or “Whiskey,
me.” The first is simply a whiskey drink with no ice, whereas the second just establishes the setting showing the
singer is present within the song.) The literal reading of the song shows this man drinking, as time passes aimlessly
– a blinking digital clock, while music plays on in album form – speakers on a TV stand, just a turn table to watch.
The narrator then speaks of smoke leaving mouths on hooded sweatshirt walks – possibly autumn walks between
two as they converse either smoking cigarettes or steam from warm mouths. The line of – we were a stroke of luck,
we were a goldmine and they gutted us – could be read as a couple meeting as a result of chance, however like a
goldmine they were robbed of their riches, and the love faded. The song works like a Frost poem in the way that it is
the varied readings from those of different walks that see the song in different lights, the line on “stray dog freedom”
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– is the narrator single – does he play by his own rules? Approach life in a way to only please him because of not
being tied down, or is he drunk, or high, and as a result unable to regulate his choices – wondering aimlessly for a
home somewhere – like a stray dog? The preceding lines reek of youth – “grass stained jeans and incompletes – a
girl from class to tough, but you think about yourself too much – and ruin who you love” – to me are of being self
centered and thus causing turmoil in a relationship, the narrator loses the girl from class – he ruins her, resulting in
his new found freedom, the man is now alone. I am well aware that this is not the intended meaning, because the
writer does not clarify what he is actually saying, there are gaps, there time line jumps as if some exposition is gone,
but I read it this way for I am in that situation – I have lost my girl from class to touch.
It is evident that there are omits here – Conor Oberst gives us no interpretation – we must make our own
connections to appreciate the work – the continuity of the work relies only upon the musical undertones, we, as
listeners rely on the guitar, the keyboard, and drum beat to tie everything together. Like word choice in poetry, the
tone of the song is dictated by tempo, pacing, by speed. The writer creates the bone work of the structure, he frames
his thoughts – and the eerie tone of the keyboard between the verse and chorus, make us see a type of loss or
difficulty – a sad tone is created, but still the listener much like the Modern reader must fine his own meaning in the
words. The imagery uses – white lines that speed us up, etc – is much more effective than saying - doing lines of
cocaine – much like the reliance in T.S Elliot’s The Wasteland on word choice as well – line 312 speaks of a
prophet’s death, referring to the death in retrospect as – the profit and the loss. The ironic use of profit for prophet
creates a vivid image, that of gain from ones life and loss from their demise, as opposed to the simple – the prophet
and the loss, which is just the death of a prophet. The line is still tragic, Phlebas the Phoenician is still dead, but the
romantic image of his possible successes in continued life are no longer a point driven home.
Off of the Bright Eyes album Cassadaga, the current state of Modernity in art can be identified if you us
Nina Baym’s characteristics of the aesthetic of Modern literature (from the Introduction to Volume D of The Norton
Anthology of American Literature. Baym’s states that Modernity when : “Compared with earlier writing, modernist
literature is notable for what it omits--the explanations, interpretations, connections, summaries, and distancing that
provide continuity, perspective and security in traditional literature. A typical modernist work will seem to begin
arbitrarily, to advance without explanation, and to end without resolution, consisting of vivid segments juxtaposed
without cushioning or integrating transitions. There will be shifts in perspective, voice and tone. Its rhetoric will be
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understated, ironic. It will suggest rather than assert, making use of symbols and images instead of statements.
Fragments will be drawn from diverse areas of experience. The effect will be surprising, shocking, and unsettling;
the experience of reading will be challenging and difficult.”
Track Two – Bright Eyes – “Four Winds” ( Cassadaga)
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur’an’s mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over Sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
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The first song (the second track) off of the record – entitled “Four Winds” meets to a T the description of
what Modern music is – it is a fusion : of rock, of country, of folk – the violin with guitar, the up-tempo strumming,
the drum beat in the background – it is a change from the normal Bright Eyes sound. The song does “suggest” it
implies an unavoidable end – based on religion and political thought to American thought. The song is full of
implications – it requires the Modernist’s readers knowing eye – to “draw on experience” to understand, and the
author himself draws on a variety of fields to create the piece – fitting the Baym’s classification.
The song – in my interpretation - speaks of the imminent fall of America – possibly Western Civilization –
the result of this is a type of vacuum – plunging the world into a type a chaos (seen in the “she breaks, she caves”
lines), and that traditional methods of coping (religion and secular knowledge) will be unable to save the situation.
The speaker seems to have “made his peace” with the situation and is content waiting for the unknown ahead.
"Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There's bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where"
-The first two lines are pretty self-explanatory; as humans we have found things worth fighting for –little subcultures
and subdivisions that make each man apart of a larger whole. To me the second part is a little more obscure – it
could represent the WWII genocide of the Jewish at Hitler’s hands, the failed attempts of Mexican Immigrants to be
smuggled into the U.S. – whatever the meaning of the author the sentiment is not lost – men as a result of our own
actions and in actions are dying quicker than can be counted, or buried, what have you.
"A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair"
-To me, this is where the meaning of the song really picks up. I believe that the Mexican girl represents our current
civilization. Notice that the squatter used 15 cans of spray paint– 15 is the age of the "Quinceañera," a special
celebration for Hispanic girls that marks their coming of age. Conor is saying that our civilization, as well, has
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reached maturity according to societal views. Meanwhile, the "girl" is standing in the ashes at the end of the world,
doest the world end in Mexico, or is this a sort of slight at the U.S. for not having an open door policy and forcing
immigrants to sneak into this country – risking their life and limb? Does God punish America for the deaths that
have occurred as a result of this political mandate? Thus the Mexican girl is spared? Our civilization is either dead
or even already destroyed, waiting for something new to arise. The "Four Winds" are a reference to the Book of
Ezekiel, Chapter 37, in which God breathes the four winds into dead bones, making them live again and
symbolically restoring the broken nation of Israel. What will the four winds also in Biblical literature are basically
character foils to the Four Horsemen – the riders who bring on the Apocalypse, the end of the world.
"But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves"
- I have head of America being referred to as “Great Satan” by fanatical Muslim groups as well as the term “the
whore of Babylon” being used to refer to an overly excessive and hedonistic society – which also represents
America theoretically. Babylon, ironically, was itself located in Iraq, so this could be a mentioning of the state of
Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime – the golden statues built as an epitaph to ones own honor – the mention of
both squatters and genocide within the song seem fitting with the turmoil in the Middle East. Within the Bible itself
– the “Whore of Babylon” was one so immoral she infected others with her impurity. On a grander scale this
represents the downfall of civilization, an immoral nation infecting the rest of the world with its evil,
"The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur’an is mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are poring over Sanskrit on the Ivy League moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun"
-The preceding stanza seems to scream of how that traditional means of dealing with the upcoming death of
civilization will be useless, both using the common cures of prayer and science - religion is seen through the biblical
references, and the religious texts of others and secular learning institutions are hinted at in the "Ivy League moons"
line.
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"Cast off the school and meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes"
-Going along with the previous verse, there is no way to stop the upcoming unraveling of civilization. This song ties
into the Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" very well. Yeats was saying that the "gyre" which held together the
universe was unwinding, and that a cataclysmic change was coming. Also the “crossing property lines” seems to
refer to the spreading of national influence, breaking open national borders and taking other countries by force for
the sake of expansion. But at the same time, the end of the world could be viewed as a time when property lines are
without need – there is no need to divide a land in a broken world.
"And it's the psalm of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks"
-This ties into the previous reference to "The Second Coming," specifically the line on “slouching towards
Bethlehem, where Yeats wonders: "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem
to be born?" "The Second Coming" basically describes the symptoms of the changes within Bethlehem – the
birthplace of Jesus -and darkly wonders what it will result – the Bright Eyes song is embarking upon a very similar
theme. The "psalm of man" (i.e. mankind's death lament) is "slouching towards Bethlehem" to usher in the new age,
whatever it may be, when a devout Hebrew passes, psalms are constantly recited over his body until the body is
buried, I feel as if the religious imagery in the song reinforces this concept – the readings over a dying or dead soul –
the us for instance.
"Well, I went back, in a rented Cadillac, a company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
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All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
-This section seems to speak of how a man without a family, without a country had to begin again and restart, the
Cassadaga, Florida – a religious commune – and spoke with religious psychics – the result of this was that changes
were coming, or needed – to “look alive” or in other words “be prepared.”
"And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the Black Hills, the Badlands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
With four winds, leveling the pines"
-Refers to the massacre of Lakota Indians by the U.S. 7th Cavalry – the genocide sleeping line references the fact
that the U.S government keeps this indiscretion under wraps and has not apologized to the Lakota’s ancestors for
this action – this genocide is not disturbed – thus it sleeps. Veering from the political view and towards that of
religion – some Native American groups view the Black Hills as the “axis mundi” – the spiritual center of the world
– the place where life would being to unravel first. Ballast was used by sailboat operators to weigh the ship down (to
prevent capsizing) when there was no cargo, by burying his ballast the narrator is signifying that he is ready for
something with real meaning (cargo) as opposed to the meaninglessness he feels now (ballast). He has made his
peace with the upcoming cataclysm. The "four winds leveling the pines" means that already the changes are
happening, and the four winds of change are destroying what was there before – solving the issues at hand.
"But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She caves, she caves, she caves, she caves"
-The ending here, basically summarizes the song – “she” could be mother earth – falling apart from God’s
destruction of the planet do to the sins America and Western civilization have created – The planet caves. Or is this
she the Mexican girl from the mural – unable to survive with Mother America gone – the Great Satan?
However the song is interpreted – it is evident that it needs to be interpreted – there is no clear
meaning. We need to interpret the writer’s thoughts, much like the writers of Modernity. Modern aesthetics still
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exist within the arts – and as seen via the writings of Conor Oberst – through his band Bright Eyes. Conor Oberst
mentions various fields of knowledge – on religion, on theology, on the political nature of the U.S. There are omits
– it is obvious in the first listening – without an educated ear you cannot identify the meaning of the song, it just
sounds pretty basically. T.S Elliot’s writing is very similar – the smarter the reader is – the more that can be taken
away from the reading. There is no explanation to what Conor Oberst presents – however with some knowledge we
can find out that drugs are being referenced – that an apocalypse may be eminent. There still are writers slamming
society – throwing out their own thoughts – much like Cradle Will Rock – here is someone creating art for the sake
of art – not to sell records, not to be famous, but to voice his own opinions. Much like the somewhat pro gay, and
pro fascist thoughts that came during the War Period from Modernists – Conor Oberst uses his voice to vocalize his
internal doctrine.
Connor Oberst continues to create art in the Modern Aesthetic by using a change in perspective and by
vocalizing distaste for certain agendas in a unique way. In the Bright Eyes song “When the President Talks to God”
off of an E.P. of the same name Connor uses an interesting and creative story telling technique to tell voice his
opinion on George W. Bush – and the resulting administration.
Track 3 – Bright Eyes - When the President Talks to God (When the President Talks to God)
When the President talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women’s rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
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"We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke"
"No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give them more liquor stores and dirty coke!"
That's what God recommends
When the President talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade
When the President talks to God
When the President talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed?
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the President talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it
Oberst with this piece – uses the concept of George W. Bush speaking with God – creating a dialogue
between the two to explain why George W. Bush does some of the things he does. Oberst here shows that Bush uses
his relationship with God – his references etc – as an artificial cover up for his mistakes in office. Oberst uses the
topics of God and Bush’s fictional conversation – robbing women’s rights (abortion), sending poor farm kids off to
die (forcing the military into conflict), etc as a way to point out the errors of Bush’s way. The premise of the song is
evident, Oberst frowns on Bush’s actions – however the way the Conor shows his disdain is creative and in the
Modernist’s approach, not coming out clearly and saying “I hate George Bush” - instead he creates this fictional
conversation: a conversation that he feels George Bush actually runs through his head to justify his actions. Oberst
also uses the song to bash the issues not directly related to politics – the fact that Bush is a recovering alcoholic
(they drink near beer) and avoids his presidential duties (the go play golf.) The creation of this type of story telling
technique – a mix of satire, irony, creative schemes and images – fits perfectly into the view of what is Modernity.
It is evident that the Modern Aesthetic still exists – in at least music – for Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes’
songs fit the Nina Baym description of said aesthetic. The omits are there- there are few explanations – you must
make the connections yourself, you must use your outside knowledge to make inferences about the author’s intended
meaning. There are slight resolutions to the songs, but we do not feel satisfied, the problem still exists – however it
must be dealt with at some point – thus it fights the view upon the Aesthetic. The rhetoric of the pieces are
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understated, in “The President Talks to God” Oberst is simple, he does not come out and scream his distaste the
whole song – he hints at it, taking subtle jabs, and pokes here and there, he does not make a full attack. In the end,
like the Modernists writings, we are unsettled – how will these things turn out – the cocaine addiction – the end of
the world – the Bush Regime, how will this all play out? I think the connection between these three songs, a mere
sample of Conor Oberst’s work can represent to a T just how the Modern Aesthetic is alive and well today.
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