This week's activity will require you to analyze one of my favorite pieces. I happen to love Depeche Mode as their instrumentals and lyrics just speak to me. It's one of my 80's crushes that I just can't quit. below, i leave you the lyrics to decipher and chew. Above, I leave you the melodies. Please take note of my trying to kill two birds with one stone: you get to hear the song and learn some nifty new Spanish words.
The Love Thieves- Depeche Mode
Oh the tears that you weep
for the poor tortured souls
who fall at your feet
with their love begging bowls
all the clerks and the tailors
the sharks and the sailors
all good at their trades
but they'll always be failures
Alms for the poor
for the wretched disciples
and the love that they swore
with their hearts on the Bible
beseeching the honour
to sit at your table
and feast on your holiness
as long as they're able
Love needs its martyrs
needs its sacrifices
they live for your beauty
and pay for their vices
love will be the death of
my lonely soul brothers
but their spirit shall live on in
the hearts of all lovers
You're holding court
with your lips and your smile
your body's a halo
their minds are on trial
sure as Adam is Eve
sure as Jonah turned whaler
they're crooked love thieves
and you are their jailor
Love needs its martyrs
needs its sacrifices
they live for your beauty
and pay for their vices
love will be the death of
my lonely soul brothers
but their spirit shall live on in
the hearts of all lovers.
31 comments:
I always interpret songs incorrectly..
I feel like the song is about a person who can't find love. There are people who seek love from this person with their "love begging bowls". This reminds me over Oliver Twist asking for more food but can't get any. I think the song has a tone of disappointment and sadness, especially because of the line "they will always be failures" even if they're good at their trade. The words wretched, beseeching, and lonely soul also give the poem a dark tone.
If "they" are the crooked love theives, and you are the jailor, then you are the one putting love behind bars. Even so, "their hearts shall live on in the spirits of all lovers". I think this means that there's still hope to find love because it has its way of growing and spreading.
ALYSSA FOLEY
the song carries metaphors throughout the lyrics. it speaks of the writers point of view on love.
The song uses poetry in different ways such as rhyme schemes to create a flowy rhythm. it is also interesting because if the song were sung solely in Spanish, the song would not have as much of an impact.
The lyrics explain that love, in my opinion, is begging for freedom and opportunity to be spread. It could also mean that the writer believes a person has the chance to love right in front of them and they do not realize it even exists. It also describes that no matter what your trade their is always failure. I interpreted this as love will have its obstacles, even in the purest of heart. I feel like this song should be played in a chick flick :) my favvvv.
PS HI KIKI
I found this song to be sad. It explains how love is difficult because there will "always be failures." Eventhough "love will be the death" of the lonely, their spirits will live on in the "hearts of all lovers."
I also found it to have a rhythmic rhyme scheme that played in to the flow of the words.
HI ALYSSSARAE,
Okay, so just like Alyssa said, I believe that there are also many metaphors in here. This song in my opinion is about the writer getting a shot at love. Although, they can't see it, its right in front of them. It was also a little sad how the writer is not able to see it, but hopefully one day he will be able to, since he does say "their spirit shall live on in the hearts of all lovers", and that is him.
This song, in my opinion, is kind of depressing and sad in that the singer is talking about how its almost impossible to find love ("but they'll always be failures"). I believe that he is personifying love as a woman describing what people look for in a woman to fall in love with but also their negativities. nicole adams
Given, I'm not a connoisour when it comes to love songs, but as far as love songs go this one is actually pretty sad. Between the people who will "always be failures" and "the poor tortured souls that fall at your feet", I cannot seem to extract any emotion but utter hopelessness. However, in the chorus, there is a small hint of positivity. Although all of his lonely soul brothers will die because of love, the writer still manages to make the best of it by saying that "their spirit shall live on in the hearts of all lovers". Essentially, the writer accepts the fact that love kills, but still manages to squeeze in just a little bit of hope.
So I feel like this song is about Jesus. The song mentions alms, the Bible, and holiness. It says "sit at your table and feast on your holiness". Jesus was a martyr and made a sacrifice. The line about him payinng "for their vices" is about him relieving everyonne of their sins. This seems too obvious to me though, so I will try to find a deeper meaning.
It may be about a selfless woman who the artist is admiring. She does so much for others and makes sacrifices to help people. This artist says that even people who are regarded as very good at what they do will never be as good as this woman is at donating all she has.
I agree with a lot of what has been said. It seems like a desperate and discouraged love song. It also involves false hope for receiving love from those you pine for. I think I should get extra points for using pine in my answer.
This song is sad because they dodn't see there love and never get together in the end it. "Oh the tears that you weep for the poor tortured souls" conveys the feeling that they will never end up happy together even though "they live for your beauty" they end up having "pay for their vices". I believe that the speaker thinks that going through this period of love and passion was worth the "torture" because their "spirit shall live on in
the hearts of all lovers" and inspire others to love as deeply as they do, even if there are challenges along the way.
I think that this song had powerful words in it but it was still a little confusing to understand. It talked about martyrs and sacrifices but then it used words like halo and beauty. I think the writer was talking about the powers of love and what it makes people do. They talk about what life is like when you experience love.
Alex DeLorenzo
This is song to me is about the people who will never find love but long for it all the same, "Love needs its martyrs, needs its sacrifices, they live for your beauty
and pay for their vices." It is almost as if the Love Theives are the beautiful attractive people who everyone wants to be with, yet you know how futile it is because they are so bomb. Then they choose to be with someone stupid and everyone feels like they wasted their time.
The tone of this poem is extremely somber and desperate. The speaker is love-sick. They talk about this person as someone who has noticable lips, smile, and a body like a halo. There is a lot of metaphors throughout the song to compare the speaker's feeling of love with that of sacrifrice. This song has a lot of allusions to God and the Bible, which has many instnaces of love, hate, and sacrifice in it. The speaker talks about how love will be the death of her and how love needs its martyrs, which shows that she is very desperate for love and will do anything to spread it. I think the speaker is very lonely, and I think the speaker lost someone they loved because they say "their spirit shall live on". Like a song should be, this song has a very good rhyme scheme to give it a good flow. The rhymes used are very clever and they all portray a point. I think the main theme of this song is concerning love, and how many people never experience it, while others embrace it to the fullest.
-KATIE HARRIS
Okay, so I actually thought the same thing as Ali after reading the lyrics. My first thought was that the song was about Jesus, however, it could very well be about a person that the author likes, but does not think he has a chance with. The tone was depressing and kind of sad because of the use of words such as "failures" and "lonely souls."
For some reason I have a totally different opinion than everyone else and even though it is different I feel that some would appreciate change from the topic of love and broken hearts.
More importantly I felt that this song explained the point or purpose that martyrs serve and I also felt that it was negative enough to the point where the song may have even attacked those who loved god obsessively. The lyrics say that "love will be the death of my lonely soul brothers". When i look at this verse I see followers of Christianity who have loved god to the point where nothing else matters but loving god and going to haven. By doing this the followers die but they will live on in the hearts of other followers and they will be revered as martyrs. For example the verse "but their spirits shall live on in the heart of all lovers" pretty much says that to me.
When i see the phrase "love begging bowls" I think sinners who beg for forgiveness to be absolved of their crimes and who better to ask than the saints. Their sacrifice is well noted and god will surely save the martyr.
The song shows pity towards the sinners who are "beseeching the honor to sit at your table". The song portrays the sinners in a negative manner. Instead of portraying them as followers of god given a second chance they are show as desperate pathetic people
For example there is a verse saying "feast on your holiness" and when I read this I think sinners who repent at the age of 75 for the sake of getting into heaven
In the song someone is being referred to. "They live for YOUR beauty" or "YOU'RE holding court". I believe that this person is either god or a saint. This person is pure and holy. This person is also the jailer to Adam and Eve (Love thieves) and my conclusion based off this information is that the song concerns love thieves or people who will do anything to gain sanction by god to enter heaven
I feel that this song was written after something extremely sad in the authors life happened. The song is filled with metaphors. These metaphors create a sad tone and therefore make the song sad. The overall tone of the song is depressing and i'm a little bit worried that you like this song.
Throughout the song, there are references to religion (Bible, holiness, martyrs, Adam and Eve). It is clearly a song about love and heartbreak. One of the most powerful lines is "but they'll always be failures". It is very sad and depressing.
ALEX IANNITELLI
This song is clearly about love, but the artist is also to relate their religious beliefs into it also. They sing of the sacrifices they have to make for love and consider themselves a love martyr. The tone of the song is sad and depressing.
I think this song is sad. The song is about love, but it not the kind of love that people talk about you are so lucky if you can find it. Instead this artist talks about love in a miserable way. He says talk about it as "the tears the you weep" and "the poor tortured souls". This does not make love sound like an amazing thing. It makes it sound terrible "love will be the death of my lonely soul brothers". The artist uses these descriptions to make love seem bad. The rhythm and beat of this song also add to a depressing factor. It is slow and anything but upbeat.
I differ in interpretation from everyone else it seems. While I think this song is somewhat about love, I think it focuses on one girl of perhaps a higher status who is sought after by many potential suitors. The men that get captured by her spell are "poor tortured souls" because they all want her but she'll never let them have her. They all "fall" at her feet professing their love, but she plays hard to get and is unresponsive to their declarations, further torturing them. The list of "all the clerks and the tailors, the sharks and the sailors" serves to show the diversity of all the men who love her, how she is never pleased by them, and how she is a man eater. The idea of the men "beseeching the honour" to sit at her table shows the level of status placed upon the woman, either by the men or by herself, or a mix of the two. It is a privilege to know her to these men because she is so great but yet she has an overinflated ego due to their love, making her incapable of ever loving any of them. These men "live for [her] beauty" as well as sacrifice themselves for her love, and when this is not reciprocated, love is the "death" of them. Their spirit lives on because there will always be another man willing to take the dead's place, trying to win her affection. This girl is perfection, given by her body being a "halo". The men have built her up to be a goddess and as such she acts like one. Overall there seems to be a sad storylike feel to this poem, as if the speaker is one of the men who has realized the poison that is this woman, and he is trying to convey to her what she is putting men through.
I feel like this song is about a man wanting love. But it is sad because he can't seem to find it. It's right in front of him though. But also he has loved people but they broke his heart so he is scared to try again.By the way the music is very scary.
Chambers
I feel like this song is about how there is a down side to finding love. It talks about how all of these different people will “always be failures”. It almost as if the singer thinks love is a trap and people only end up getting hurt one way or another. At the end, you realize that the singer has already given up on love but “their spirit (love) shall live on”.
Matt says...
After reading through the lyrics of this song, I feel as though this song is about someone who just can not find love. The overall tone of this song would be hopelessness and sadness. With all of the depressing lines of the song, the reader can make a mental picture of just how miserable this person is to not be able to experience love the way they want to.
Henriques
I found this song to be very sad. the metaphors are the main reason why the song has the overall tone of being sad and depressing. when the singer says you body is a halo. It shows that the singer views his love as a higher essence. however the overall tone of this poem due to the metaphors is sad and depressing.
I think this song is about the good and bad qualities of love. It says that "Love needs its martyrs/needs its sacrifices" Sometimes love doesn't work out and some people have to take one for the team. People love for beauty and people love for vice. Yet for all the people who don't abuse love, there are some that the "spirit shall live on in/the hearts of all lovers."
I feel that the song is a dedication to the naïve and innocent individuals who believe that love is pure and never ending. The speaker makes a reference to Jesus and his disciples who’s “love they swore”, but some had betrayed him and his trust. The speaker also states that “love needs its martyrs… [who] live for you beauty and pay for their vices” commenting on how people are willing to suffer through unrequited love, just to be with the person that they love.
I loveeeee soong lyrics. It's probably my favorite thing to do because I'm weird and enjoy to look them up. I think this song is about love and how it kills you. Some people turn evil from love because they didn't get the girl or they would die for their love. The song alludes to the Bible and Adam and Eve, as well as crooked thieves. It all relates to someone not getting or finding love. Its very sad but I picture it to have a fast tempo because its so powerful and passionate. I can't even youtube it because the school has blocked everything possible. The dark diction really sets the vengeful tone.
I thought that the poem was about someone who is, as the poem calls it, a "love thief." I thought this because of things like the poor, tortured souls falling at your feet, as well as the character being the jailer. I found it to be a sadder song, that relied on darker imagery and such, like "they'll always be failures."
It felt very pessimistic to me for the most part. But there is hope at the end, about the love living on...so many it's about how the love thief will never succeed?
This song has a depressing tone. The song is about how much you have to put into a arelationship to make it work and how you will have to sacrifice sometings.
The name of the song is love thieves. It is about what the title says, someone having trouble finding love and having love stolen. The people that this song is refering to are the ones with "love begging bowls" or ones that are desperate for love but they never get it no matter what they do. It also says love needs its martyers or those who suffer because they get no love from anyone. This is because if everyone was happy and had love then their would be no such thing as love. Overall this is a sad song for those who never get any love from anyone.
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