Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
The curtain call to the neighborhood series calms the weather cold, worn and down on anyone who has followed the story so far. There are no references and stories and inner lines. The song exhibits a display of a worried but hopeful man’s perspective; the battle of modernity and the old school feelings that have made up our past and memories; and that have given meaning to our lives; it’s also a song about the passing of time.
The first stanza makes it clear: The coming of new kids that causes the old folks in the neighborhood to vanish in the well of time. Time acts like the villain in this story. It’s definitely not something the man wants, but at the same time, it cannot get more inevitable than this. There are no stop signs.
Then comes a more optimistic stanza. Maybe the past is destined to be buried, just to wash away the villainy and filth. All the remaining neighbors are starting up a fire to burn the old folks who were witches and liars. The throwing away of the superstitious entities of the society. Those who thought Alex, the brother of the family was bit by a vampire and we should catch his tears in a cup. So get rid of these fanatic thoughts for the upcoming future can be brighter and better. The man’s eyes are covered by the hand of his unborn kids as if they (children, the new generation) are here to put you away from the dismal realities. But you’re still trying to read between the lines. But then burning the old folks can have its own communist/Russian interpretations, too. Just like other Neighborhood songs that hugely remind us of the Stalinism era in Russia, anyway.
The battle of modernity, I said. The storyteller blames these worries and distraction partly on the media (the symbol of modernity). There are also other references to media on the Neon Bible (“MTV what have you done to me?” if you remember). It’s like we’re in the midst of this battle. It’s us, versus our past/traditions and again versus our vague future that is constructed over the make-believe of media and false interpretations.
But this song is not void of metaphors:
They say a watched pot won’t ever boil
Well I closed my eyes and nothing changed
Just some water getting hotter in the flames
What’s with the pot and boiling, and the fact that the song’s other name is “7 Kettles”? The first lines try to explain if you try to involve yourself throughout these stages, somehow you will not reach your goals. Maybe it concerns raising kids. Because the kids in this neighborhood are all the brainchild of superstitious minds, strict rules and habits and violence (refer to other Neighborhood songs to find out for yourself). If you like to be as strict and stupid as your parents were about looking into the future of your family and kids, the water in the pot won’t boil. Boiling water can represent getting a proper outcome from your life and making sense of it all. But seemingly the man has followed all those guidelines and the water is not boiling yet, it’s just getting hotter in the flames. So it’s like no matter how hard you try, time creeps into your life and controls the zeitgeist. So the only thing left for you is just letting go of the worries, you only got to give it time.
And for the “seven” issue, I still haven’t found evidence. It can refer to the holiness of our lives. We are kettles! We live to raise children (boil water) for the society. 7 deadly sins and 7 holy virtues. Could be irrelevant but it’s still something I pine to resolve. It doesn’t light a candle. 7 could be anything here. A neighborhood of 7 families? Or is it about the band itself consisted of 7 individuals?
But our presence is not without a holy reason as well. Time washes away everything but we still cannot raise our children on motor oil. Just like a seed from the depth of the soil that needs water to raise and bloom, our children grow healthier and better in our presence. So in the end, it’s time and us who draw the lifelines and this could be the great message of this song. But sadly this was not the way the neighborhood kids were grown up with.
