Fleet Foxes: Montezuma Meaning
Montezuma Lyrics
-
I think that this song is definitely about growing older and being concerned about decisions that have kept you from starting a family and the future prospect of dying childless.
The initial stanza sets the scene: Now I am older than my mother and father when they had their daughter. What does that say about me?
He goes on to ruminate about passing on unconditional love (the love of a parent for his child) just for himself and his own desires (wealth, fame, sexual gratification, independence, freedom - he's a rock star, after all).
The chorus "Oh man that I used to be, oh man, oh my, oh me" is really thinking about his past mistakes. Surely many good women fell in love with him, but he could not commit to a life with them.
He then thinks about the inevitability of death. Both the slave and the empress must die, so what really matters? What matters is whether your children are there with you at the end or whether you're alone.
So take my golden teeth (better to have "real" teeth), and his golden chain
(which ties him to his current life) and bury it with your dowry (the promise of the family he does not have) and bury it with his name (the surname that dies with the childless).
The insertion of "Montezuma to Tripoli" in the final refrain is a direct allusion to the Marine Corps Hymn that begins "From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli...."
He feels kinship to the Marines who chose to serve their country and died childless, but he has no noble ideal nor higher need that vouchsafes his choice. He is contrasting the man that he was to those men, and finding himself wanting. Titling the song Montezuma points out that this contrast is the crux of the song's meaning.
-
i think that it is about death. everyone is sad, the wife throwing her life into his grave....... she dies too when he goes......... etc.
-
I think that the song is talking about the process of growing up and that he is at the moment when you realize that you have grown up completely. He then looks back on childhood and how he has changed. In the second verse it seems as if he realizes that death is approaching him sooner because he knows that those steps are next in his life. He has grown and now he has to die. He looks back on his possessions and what truly matters to him because nothing but what truly matters matters when death is approaching. He then looks back on his life toward childhood and is satisfied with the life he had led. That's what it means to me atleast.
-
I think what the author is talking about is the time in your life when you decide whether you want to have children or not. There seems to be a couple hints that he feels that if he didn't procreate, what would his life really have been about. Great song regardless of the meaning.
More Fleet Foxes songs »
Latest Articles
-
Let’s Chase Taylor Swift Rumors
-
When the Beatles Touched Off a Movie War
-
When Mike Bloomfield Composed a Soundtrack For Andy Warhol
-
Yet Another List of Bad Song Covers
-
Why Does Everybody Pick On Liberace?
-
Trainspotting Soundtrack Revisited : One of the Best Ever?
Trending:
Blog posts mentioning Fleet Foxes
WTF Happened to Folk Music? |
Just Posted
Steve's Going to London | anonymous |
Yes I'm A Mess | anonymous |
Droppin' Plates | anonymous |
Rat | anonymous |
Cry for the Moon | anonymous |
And the Snakes Start to Sing | anonymous |
Gingerbread Man | anonymous |
Not Like the Movies | anonymous |
This Masquerade | anonymous |
Birthday Suit | anonymous |
Dollhouse | anonymous |
Death | anonymous |
Copy Cat | anonymous |
I Hate Jimmy Page | anonymous |
I Hate Jimmy Page | anonymous |
Weekly Most Popular
1 | One Direction |
---|---|
2 | Taylor Swift |
3 | Neighbourhood, The |
4 | Melanie Martinez |
5 | Post Malone |
6 | Lenka |
7 | Lana Del Rey |
8 | Alan Walker |
9 | Ariana Grande |
10 | Drake |