Running Out Of Time

[Freypower]

Glenn does music too!

I wondered if anyone wanted to talk about what appears to be a recurring theme on the Strange Weather album. I quote these four lyrics:

I feel the storm is coming soon

And we're running out of time (Strange Weather)


And they can't be saved by money

They're all running out of time (I've Got Mine)


Your time is up, are you ready to go? (Before The Ship Goes Down)


I look at you, your whole life stands before you

Look at me and I'm running out of time (POMPOY)


Perhaps I am over-analysing but perhaps having that colon surgery made him start to think about his mortality. There is a sense of urgency on this album about various topics. In the title track it's the relationship that needs to be saved. In IGM it's the rich people who need to change their ways. In Ship, we should enjoy ourselves while we can. POMPOY is quite blunt. We're all getting older and the sands of time are disappearing, etc. I think it's an interesting concept and he has handled it in a way which is not too heavy-handed. I would be interested to know what the rest of you think.

[sodascouts]

I totally agree. I think when he introduces Before the Ship Goes Down at Rama he explicitly refers to his surgery as letting him know he should "always say yes to that glass of wine after dinner" or something to that effect. It made him realize that we need to enjoy life while we're living it. Your inclusion of the other songs to fit that theme works very well, especially for POMPOY. It certainly was a life-changing event for him, and it's natural that's reflected strongly in his lyrics. Good spot!


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[PinkCoatGirl]

You know what, I am listening to this album right now, haha (it was my most recent Glenn acquisition and I couldn't find it for a long time--my room's a mess--so I hadn't hardly listened to it at all...making up for that now!) and I noticed that as well. Until I had the album, I didn't realize that "Strange Weather", "I've Got Mine" and POMPOY were from the same album (I read liner notes, but I tend to get distracted by pictures ) and didn't make the connection. The one that always jumped right out at me though was POMPOY, and I have to say it really disturbed me when I first heard it. Not disturbed as in a bad way, but just...it's such a morbid thought, really.

In a way, that line, though, made me appreciate Glenn's music much much more--at the time, I was mainly familiar with "The Heat Is On" and "You Belong To The City" (I'm an 80's child, what can I say? I was raised on those songs), which really...well YBTTC is debatable, but they're not really his "deeper, darker" works, you know? I tend to gravitate towards deep lyrics, being a sometime-songwriter myself, and dark songs, and that line really grabbed my attention and made me sort of go "Hey, listen a little closer."

I definitely do think that his illness had a lot to do with that recurring theme on this album. I also think that possibly, IGM is slightly more similar to POMPOY because, although I don't think he's completely lumping himself in with those "rich men", he knows he is one of them and I think he might be including himself in that line, "They're all running out of time"...in the limelight? This is just after he married Cindy and started a family, and right around when he said there'd "never be an Eagles reunion", and I'm wondering if maybe he was thinking 'You know, I really don't know how much longer I'm going to be doing this rockstar thing'. And I think maybe his illness might've attributed to that as well, in that he may have been thinking, Hey, I have a family now, I had a health scare, I need to be thinking about this.

At the same time, I also completely understand that sometimes a song is just a song. He gravitates more towards the music first, and I do think that a lot of his songs aren't really 'literal' as those by someone like Stevie Nicks or even Don would be, but more...stories. That's a talent I don't have, though--my thought process is blatantly obvious in my songs--so I always tend to think there's something of the writer in every one of their songs, even just a little bit. And because it shows up quite a bit over the course of the same album, I do think there's more to it here than just 'stories'.

Assuming the recurring theme really is resulting from him starting to give more thought to his own mortality, I like the way he deals with it here. Because the message most definitely is there--getting older, 'running out of time', not going to last forever--but it's not an overwhelming, driving force of the album, you know...it's not melancholy. It's just there enough to make you think, and make you realize that he had been doing a lot of thinking, too.

And make you want to give him a hug. (Or is that just me? )

Sorry for my long-winded response, LOL! Good topic, though, Freypower...I'm glad it wasn't just me noticing this!


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~*She'll always be...the girl from yesterday...*~


My friend and I: "Nice coat Glenn!"

Joe Walsh, at next pause between songs: "Hey, nice coat, Glenn."

Glenn: "Thanks, thanks...yah, I picked this up at the..Liberace garage sale, glad you like it..."

[sodascouts]

I never looked at POMPOY that way - that lines like "a distant voice is calling me away" and "whatever time may take away" might be referring to him dying. If you look at it that way, it really puts the song into an entirely different dimension, at least for me. Wow.

P.S. I agree about "I've Got Mine."

P.P.S. I don't get the same melancholy vibe, though. It seems to be hopeful - perhaps not in I've Got Mine, but that song serves a different purpose. POMPOY is reassuring - no matter what, we'll always live in each other's hearts - and Before the Ship Goes Down is celebratory of life in its own hedonistic way. I think both are things that take the theme of mortality and turn it into something positive. I'm not saying positive in the sense that it's "Yay, death" but more like instead of focusing on that, he uses it to positively inform the choices he makes today "at the crossroads" and "before the ship goes down." Strange Weather is more melancholy-sounding, but again, this issue of "running out of time" is being used as the impetus to do something to save the relationship. If you believe there's still hope that they can work things out, and the song gives that impression IMHO - "somehow we'll survive" - then you still find a positive being made out of mortality.


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[PinkCoatGirl]

Oh, no...I don't think it's melancholy at all. I was sort of deep in thought when I wrote that other post, haha, it might not have come out right... I fully agree with you. It's a hopeful sort of thing, like, "Until it happens, I'm going to live life to the fullest, but it *will* happen eventually" type thing. "Strange Weather" itself, though, yes...but you're right, it's more about the relationship end of things.

As for POMPOY...perhaps I'm just a dark person, LOL, but for some reason that is the first thing I thought of those lines to be referring to. "'Til we find a bridge across forever, Until this grand illusion brings us home", and "So many miles to go before I die"..."We can never know about tomorrow"... I don't know, I just always read a lot into this song. It's still not a sad song at all, to my mind, not in the least...it's very hopeful and happy, which again goes to the point of him having come to terms with his mortality and in the meantime, living and loving and being happy and not worrying about it.


-----

~*She'll always be...the girl from yesterday...*~


My friend and I: "Nice coat Glenn!"

Joe Walsh, at next pause between songs: "Hey, nice coat, Glenn."

Glenn: "Thanks, thanks...yah, I picked this up at the..Liberace garage sale, glad you like it..."

[sodascouts]

As for POMPOY...perhaps I'm just a dark person, LOL, but for some reason that is the first thing I thought of those lines to be referring to. "'Til we find a bridge across forever, Until this grand illusion brings us home", and "So many miles to go before I die"..."We can never know about tomorrow"... I don't know, I just always read a lot into this song. It's still not a sad song at all, to my mind, not in the least...it's very hopeful and happy, which again goes to the point of him having come to terms with his mortality and in the meantime, living and loving and being happy and not worrying about it.

Well, I knew the above parts referred to mortality and death, but I didn't think the other parts did. The other parts like "A distant voice is calling me away" give it an immediacy I didn't see before and thus an additional urgency. Now obviously Glenn wasn't dying at this time but he did have a very serious illness so I can see him thinking along those lines. In fact I really didn't know much about diverticulitis but when I heard Glenn had it, I looked it up and if it gets bad enough to have part of the colon removed, it's pretty painful and severe. That's like one of the last resorts.


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[glenneaglesfan]

This is very interesting. I hadn't actually picked up the recurring theme of running out of time. POMPOY does make me think that he is reflecting on his mortality, and possibly the age difference between him and Cindy, but ultimately it is joyful and optimistic.

"Whatever time may take away

It cannot change the way we feel today"

I think Long Hot Summer also reflects on mortality, what man is doing to the environment and global warming. The version on Strange Weather sounds more ominous to me than the version on the video. It's a reflection on man's inability to cope with disaster, sadly confirmed by the events in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

In a way Big Life also looks at the temporary life of fame and fortune - the rather obnoxious and self important celebrity trying to come to terms with his fall from grace.

Strange Weather is one of my latest acquisitions, and I am really getting into it. For me, A Walk in the Dark is exquisite.


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This way to happiness...

[sodascouts]

Yes, Long Hot Summer is very ominous. It's got a tense melody and thought-provoking words which very effectively convey a sense of despair and frustration. Still, I'm surprised he opened concerts with such a downer.


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[eaglesfans]

Doesn't Glenn also say that Long Hot Summer was partly inspired by a happy little book called The End of Nature that Don gave him to read?

[glenneaglesfan]

That would fit with the dedication of the first track to Silent Spring, which was one of the most thought provoking books we had to read at school.


~~~

This way to happiness...