The music video below is a poignant reflection on the changes that occur over generations in a family and the corresponding problems of the modern world. The song emphasizes the connection between generations and the implication of the actions of one generation on the lives of other generations.
It also shows the desire of modern man to be connected to the land in the way that previous generations were: "[Y]ou dream at night of having your own little piece of earth." Just as men have moved away from the land and long for it again, so women have moved away from childbearing and embraced birth control and abortion. This leaves women dissatisfied: "But there are mornings you awake crying / When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones."
It also shows the desire of modern man to be connected to the land in the way that previous generations were: "[Y]ou dream at night of having your own little piece of earth." Just as men have moved away from the land and long for it again, so women have moved away from childbearing and embraced birth control and abortion. This leaves women dissatisfied: "But there are mornings you awake crying / When you dream in the night of a large table surrounded by little ones."
The music video shows the precariousness and the loss involved in the process of inheritance--as we pass the land and values down to our children, the soil is depleted. The quickening tempo of the song parallels the increasing desperation felt in the contemporary world.
What to do about these problems of the modern world? "To alleviate your desire to hold up a bank / You read books about voluntary simplicity." This isn't a real answer, though--to return to the past and disconnect oneself from the modern world (in fact, in the music video, the boy does not hold on to the picture of his ancestor that he finds in the dirt; rather, he buries it, and from this seed, grows a bright flower in the midst of the barren land. Here we see that it is through involving the present itself with the past, rather than holding the past up as some ideal time, that we are able to escape the corner we've been backed into in modernity). The song teaches us that you must get outside of your isolation and engage others--turn of the TV, "happily some things in life never change / Put on your best, we're going out tonight dancing!" Here, the artists present the Tocquevillian answer of voluntary associations and interacting with others face to face (okay, not necessarily in the political arena, but at least on the dance floor). In dancing, men and women (who we see the song treat as essentially different in their connection to the world) come together in a complementarity within society. We are engaging in an activity in dancing that our ancestors engaged in, not as an attempt to get back to our ancestors, but as an attempt to place ourselves within the tradition that we have from them.
What to do about these problems of the modern world? "To alleviate your desire to hold up a bank / You read books about voluntary simplicity." This isn't a real answer, though--to return to the past and disconnect oneself from the modern world (in fact, in the music video, the boy does not hold on to the picture of his ancestor that he finds in the dirt; rather, he buries it, and from this seed, grows a bright flower in the midst of the barren land. Here we see that it is through involving the present itself with the past, rather than holding the past up as some ideal time, that we are able to escape the corner we've been backed into in modernity). The song teaches us that you must get outside of your isolation and engage others--turn of the TV, "happily some things in life never change / Put on your best, we're going out tonight dancing!" Here, the artists present the Tocquevillian answer of voluntary associations and interacting with others face to face (okay, not necessarily in the political arena, but at least on the dance floor). In dancing, men and women (who we see the song treat as essentially different in their connection to the world) come together in a complementarity within society. We are engaging in an activity in dancing that our ancestors engaged in, not as an attempt to get back to our ancestors, but as an attempt to place ourselves within the tradition that we have from them.
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