When I first heard "Phantom Limb" by the Shins I thought of the Beach Boys. The high pitched harmonies and great pop melody put me in the mind of songs like "God Only Knows" from the Pet Sounds era. At first I was half-hearted about the song, thinking it a bit derivative, but also finding it interesting that a modern band would want to emulate the Beach Boys. I just assumed today's youngsters would find the southern California surf sound a bit antiquated.
The more often I heard "Phantom Limb" the more I liked it, although I must admit I never paid much attention to the lyrics. I was just swept away by the music, dreaming about the sun and ocean breezes.
Today, though, I watched the video for the song on You Tube. I should have known something called "Phantom Limb" would not be about fun, fun, fun nor T-Birds nor anything resembling good vibrations. The video is done up, quite well I think, as a school play depicting some of the darker episodes of North America's conquest by Europeans. (No, I don't really understand the correlation between the songs lyrics and the video's images. I'd also like to mention that not one school play I was ever in gave cannibalism even a passing mention. Perhaps I'm the lesser for it. Then again, perhaps not.) It's an interesting video and a great song, a pop rock wonder, but when I hear it from now on I would prefer to retain my delusions and let the song conjure up images of warm and sunny beaches rather than conquistadors and sheep beheadings.
1 comment:
To further confuse you my dear, this song is about (per the man who wrote it) two lesbians in a small town where they can't be themselves. It's one of my favourite songs right now... (hmmmm, wonder why!).
As a footnote, how odd that the subject of the song & the subject of the video have both come up in our conversations lately.
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