So…I get the message behind the phrase itself. I understand it. There’s a time and place, of course. I would like to hope that in the current climate that Sir Kerr is FAR FROM suggesting anyone that has suffered adversely from this current pandemic should just…”embrace the suck”. I’d like to believe he has far more empathy than that.
He linked to Great Leap Forward with the post and I just found myself looking up the lyrics. There are many lyrics I know off by heart, and there are some I am just not that familiar with. Great Leap Forward is one such case. Reading them over…I’m not quite sure what the song’s message actually is. Which, as usual, makes me feel like a dumb fuck.
I miss a time when I could just ask Jim and hope for a reply. But…I see little point now. All that wonderfulness is gone. TELL ME TO “EMBRACE THE SUCK”, JIM. Just you tell me! I’m sorry I lament about it so much, but it was a wonderful period of being a fan for me…that you would respond and interact. And I supposedly wasn’t even around for “the good old days”, when you and Charlie supposedly hung around fan forums and spoke to fans all the time! Must have been fab.
Anyway…the lyrics. The song. I mean, I like the sound of it. I really like Good News From The Next World. Usually a big part of why I love a song is because of its lyrics and meaning, or at least MY interpretation of the lyrics provides a story and meaning. Great Leap Forward leaves me perplexed. I’m not sure what to take from it.
“I jumped up like Apollo,
Crash landed on my feet,
The sun shot like a laser through my brain.
A little death had woken up,
And put a curse on me,
But I knew that I’d be coming back again.
Inspiration, across the nation,
There’s a poverty of expectation.
All I got to do was move ahead.
It’s a blue sky,
It’s a while cloud,
It’s a flame.
It’s a blue sky,
White cloud,
Burning flame.
I shot back to the mirror,
There was nothing left to see,
But a phantom with his heartbeat deep inside.
I could feel the dust of ages,
They were blowing back at me,
But I knew that I was born to get it right.
Everybody take the great leap forward,
Everybody knows the mysteries at hand,
If you’ve been praying all those sweet days for this,
Don’t you know there is a whole different plan?
Sometimes I hear the madman calling,
He talks about some dark eternal place.
I’ve been waiting all my lifetime for this moment,
And now I’ve got to find some other ways.
One touch ignites this eagle,
One kiss for heaven’s view,
I need the flame so I can feel alive.
You can tell my little brother,
No requiem for me,
I knew that I was born to make this flight.
Inspiration across the nation,
There’s a poverty of expectation,
All I got to do was move ahead.”
Is it about death and reincarnation? No, it can’t be that. “All I got to do is move ahead.” That’s not talk of death. “A poverty of expectation”…is that another term for apathy? Complacency? Or lack of drive…ambition?
I wish I felt I could ask him. Even if I felt like a dumb fuck for doing so. He gets my juices flowing and stimulates my brain. I love him for that!
I’m grappling to connect “embrace the suck” to Great Leap Forward, it has to be said.
P.S. It’s a crappy old Prip piece without even a “Priptona” mark – with a copyright image (that’s why there’s no Prip logo on it). Must make an updated version! (Embrace that I suck.)
To me, it sounds like he’s talking about the band being written off , being knocked out like a heavyweight boxer ( Apollo being a Rocky reference ?) and the expectation on him to come up with songs as good as the older music. “Sometimes I hear the madman calling,
He talks about some dark eternal place.
I?ve been waiting all my lifetime for this moment,
And now I?ve got to find some other ways.”
‘ Poverty of expectation’ also seems like he’s concerned about the lack of interest in the band,BUT as ever he’s the optimist and hints towards a reincarnation of the band’s sound.
Possibly pish but that’s my take. 🙂 🙂
Sounds like a much better theory than anything I came up with. ???
After reading your piece, I actually went back and had another look at Jim?s entry. Like you, I couldn?t remember the lyrics to Great Leap Forward, had time go look them up. But I think a better choice of quote would have been from John Lennon ?Life?s what happens while you?re busy making other plans?, or The Stones? ?You can?t always get what you want (but if you try sometime you might find you get what you need)?, at least in reference to the idea of not letting temporary setbacks derail you, as to how he might have been feeling circa 1995.
I took the ?embrace the suck? to be more of an invocation to himself to man up and put his big boy pants on, and stop feeling sorry for himself – an awareness that many people were suffering actual hardship to which his problems seemed trivial in comparison.
Just my take – but who knows what?s actually going on in his head, lol. If nothing else – this is turning into a GNFTNW week, as it seems to be popping up everywhere…?
I?m sure you?re right about it being a personal pep talk to himself. Seems odd he would feel he needs it. He doesn?t really come across as a wallower or somehow who does self-pity. Then again…Cancerians. Lol. Geez…having lived with one for over 20 years and been best mates with one for over 30…yeah…they know how to throw a pity party. Lol. Jim always seems an exception though. I guess he just hides it well. He talked about his friendship with Charlie in an interview YEARS ago and said ?he helps me when I get in one of my moods?. Not verbatim but it was very near to that. I think Sir can def. be a moody crab. I still love him though. Lol