Do The Postal Service (the band) predict the future?

I was listening to their CD Give Up (from 2003) today and I was thinking how the lyrics seem to predict things, particulary about the troubles that are to come in this time.

For example:

Ther're guards at the on ramps armed to the teeth
And you may case the grounds from the cascades to puget sound,
But you are not permitted to leave

I know there's a big world out there like the one i saw on the screen
In my living room late last night,
It was almost too bright to see
And i know that it's not a party if it happens every night
Pretending there's glamour and candelabra
When you're drinking by candlelight

What does it take to get a drink in this place?

What does it take, how long must i wait?



this song paints a stark image of a Police State in America, and possibly major energy problems. Then there's "We Will Become Silhouettes", which describes a nuclear war and was written by Gibbard in response to the fear instilled in us after 9/11.

"The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" is definitely about aliens and the government coverup -

Smeared black ink... your palms are sweaty
And I'm barely listening to last demands
I'm staring at the asphalt wondering what's buried underneath
Where I am

I'll wear my badge... a vinyl sticker with big block letters adherent to my chest
That tells your new friends I am a visitor here...
I am not permanent
And the only thing keeping me dry is
Where I am

and it even seems to predict the collapse of the federal government -

"The district sleeps alone tonight after the bars turn out their lights And send the autos swerving into the loneliest evening And I am finally seeing Why I was the one worth leaving"


The song 'Sleeping In' mentions the JFK assassination.

And there is light predicted at the end of the tunnel with "Brand New Colony", which to me sounds like a rebuilding of the world. www.azlyrics.com...

reply to post by 19872012


I predict correctly that I'll shut off the music when they start playing.

Lots of musical artists not predict, but speculate on such ideas in very subtle ways (as to not grab attention from TPTB? or probably just as awesome lyricism). Some of my favorite songs, I will listen to it 50 times and its not until then that I really grasp it (or at least feel like I do). That's the beauty of this poetry, it can mean so many things to so many people. Another great band to listen to for this kind of subtle talk about alternative stuff is "The National". One of my favorite bands these days.
Cheers!

p.s. I have been following ATS for a couple years now pretty regularly and I believe this is my first post.
I guess music just always sparks my interest
on that note, back to songwriting..

I don't really think they are predicting anything exactly, but more that they are very insightful musicians and songwriters. They spend their time contemplating some of societies deeper issues I believe, because it makes for good material in this age where most mainstream music is a total train wreck.

That was a great album though! Was one of my favorites back in high school along with all the Death Cab stuff. I still listen to it relatively frequently, in comparison to the other things I listened to back then. I actually did a few art projects based on the song "Brand New Colony" years ago, a person at school wanted to buy them to put up in the library they liked them so much (because the lyrics were incorporated into the painting) but I didn't want to let them go. Hanging on my studio wall still for inspiration.

If you like philosophical lyrics bordering on prediction in some ways, you should try listening to some M. Ward. M. Ward is also in a band called She & Him with The Postal Service's singer's wife Zooey Deschanel. She has a pretty voice. You might know all of that already though if you listen to The Postal Service.

Some of my other favorites in terms of lyrics/philosophy/social commentary are Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes and anything Conor Oberst touches, Fleet Foxes, Feist, Cloud Cult, Sigur Rós, Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Placebo, Radiohead, Maria Taylor, Ingrid Michaelson, Ida Maria. There's a million more but I haven't even finished my first cup of coffee yet so I can't think too well.

Anyway, I don't know what I'd do without music, it's one of my favorite things.

How about the rock group that had a picture of the twin towers on an album 2 months or so before the twin towers were brought down. The picture was almost exactly the same with billows of smoke coming out of both in about the same place and an ole boy dancing with the wireless detonator transmitter in his hand.

Do the devils know these things in advance?

i suggest everyone listen to this album because
imo it tells a lot of things that may happen.

That seems interesting - no point to decide either way - is there?