aimless conversations: like an intermission where the band keeps playing

Dancin' in the Wind

freshspringroll:
i was wondering if any of you felt like sharing your thoughts on the meaning behind this song... it isn't one of my favourites off the album - when i first heard it i seemed to like the music yet found the lyrics weird - but i was listening to it in headphones last night and i got to thinking about what it might be about...

it may just be a plain hanson-type love song (just don't walk away / when i've got you in my arms tonight...) but for some reason (no doubt i am totally wrong), i thought the lyrics may be about hanson's feelings for the song 'mmmbop', lol.

I won't deny everything can't last / but it's closing in so fast / thought that i'd figured it out at last / but you can't change the past..... feels just like we're dancin' in the wind....

i don't know... it seems to be such a weird song to me, i can't figure it out :) i'm not taking the "dancin'" line literally (heh) so the chorus seems to suggest a futile kind of floating without going anywhere image...

anyway.... *ramble over*

uzma:
to be honest, till now, i loved the song and sang along to it like any other, looking at the lyrics, you can clearly breakdown what the song is about, "Just don’t walk away When I’ve got you in my arms tonight And I’ve got something to say There are still rules to break And this music is a place to hide Isn’t it just a game we play"

maybe it does have something to do with the IDJ pressures, would it be hanson making a statement to say that they are in it for the MUSIC. so its kindalike confiding with someone, about what they were feeling, facing the reality of what is happening and trying to be strong to carry on. think of tay talking to nat or something, it makes sense in my head that way!

am i making sense?

zeus22:
It's kinda one of those songs where it sounds like the verses and the chorus are talking about two different things. I was thinking maybe it's about running out of time in a relationship-"It's closing in so fast," but for now you're just lovin' life-"feelin' just alright." I don't know.

victoria83:
I tend to think that "Believe" fits more to the issues they had with IDJ.. think about this...

"I was holding on, now I'm letting go This is nothing more than a picture show Everything I knew now I hardly know Busy keeping less never getting more

One more nickel dime I'm out the door This kind of life I can't afford"

^^ Trying to do what they love, thought they were doing the right things for themselves musically but being "forced" (or tried to) to change themselves, to do what the "big guys" wanted them to, ,because of a contract? All for money?

"I want to believe There's something to believe I would live only Just to believe Oh, I'd love to believe It's not only me that's longing Only just to believe So believe 'Cause I want to believe I want to believe

Can't put my mind at ease with the words I say Trying to get myself to get out of my way Birds in the trees just make me depressed Seeing sunny skies, feeling emptiness"

^^ essentially, they are not being true to themselves at that point, under contract. They are going against what they always believed in.. making music for the love of it, but having trouble doing so. When you can't do what you love and what you thought you were MEANT to do, what does that leave you with? Not much..

"Layers of lies just seem to fold This kind of life is all I know"

^^ All they know is making music, it is what they do, who they are, what they love, etc, but it's being turmoiled underneath them (darn IDJ!)

//"Murder wears a friendly smile Like the perfect end in a plastic vial No pain Sorry I can't seem to stay But this bird was meant to fly away Fly away, fly away"

^^ And Finally.. "murder wears a friendly smile", the 'murderer' being, well the record label of course!! They are friendly to your face but really they are backstabbing you trying to get you to go against your instincts and musical style that you are trying so hard to keep... And then alas, they break free from the label.. "fly away"..

Makes more sense than Dancin in the Wind, 'eh? :)

And noooo, I didn't really overanalyze this as much as it seems, I was kind of drawn to those thoughts/images the first time I heard that song and the more I thought about it the more it made sense haha. Granted I could be totally wrong but it sure is fitting! :D

freshspringroll:
victoria... yes, i pretty much agree with your thoughts about 'believe'... it is fairly easy to hear the depression and despair in that song. i was just more interested in 'dancin' in the wind' cos i wasn't sure what it was about (unlike 'believe')... and in my first post i didn't suggest it was to do with IDJ anyway :) i don't know... most songs on the new album can be linked to the record label stuff in some way and i still think 'dancin' may be about it too.... unless of course it is all about 'mmmbop' ;)

but yeah.... 'believe' is amazing, one of my favourite songs on the record... your analysis of the bridge was cool; i actually thought that part was practically suicidal, but maybe it's doesn't go that q that far.

faerieclaire:
brilliant laura. i think you've been reading me too long, but it seems that i'm having a good effect on you, so keep it up! lol, only kidding. ;)

i think "dancing in the wind" is one of the few songs, maybe the only song, i refuse to overanalyze because i love the simplicity of it. the lyrics aren't very dark, haunting, introspective...they're just light and flow as easily as the song does. it all embodies the title, and i'm happy with it just being that.

fangirl:
as promised, i went away, and i thought about it, because i love this kind of thing, and everything about this new album and the way we're talking about it gets me really excited, knowing that our boys have made something special.

i was listening, with the intent on finding the 'mmmbop' curse reference, and came up with some ideas... - it's lead in comes from 'strong enough to break', a song we all definitely know is about the idj split, and a general commentary on the music industry.
- like 'mmmbop', it is track two on the cd.

and then, when 'penny' came on, i heard something in the background... the songs fade into each other, sort of. the "wah wah" guitar that ends 'dancing in the wind' is a little noise that is a constant through 'penny and me', to match the wobbly guitar/piano (did we sort out what it was?). you have to turn it up to hear it, but it's there. so this got me to thinking -- are the three songs connected by an idea, do they each deal with the industry and music and such? if 'strong enough' is to do with idj, 'dancing' to do with 'mmmbop', is 'penny' a throwback to the "better days" BEFORE they were even signed, and a sigh-influenced reminder that it is all about penny, the music?

(you have no idea how excited I was when i came up with this. i was travelling, still two to three hours away from a computer, and in no mood to explain it to my host family. i had to sit tight and cook it.)

freshspringroll:
ah, bless you nysaa, for continuing with my random theory ;) i like a lot of what you think...

the first-three-songs-connection is maybe stretching it a bit, if only because so many of the songs on the new record merge into one another... so that they almost all sound connected somehow... e.g. 'get up and go' / 'crazy beautiful'...

but the idea itself is still really cool :) esp. the 'penny and me' thing... cos that would take things one step further into the past than 'dancin' and even further away from the record label shi+... 'penny and me' is so pure, compared to 'strong enough's corruption.

eee this is so speculative, but analysing songs seems to make me enjoy them so much more. i really, really adore 'penny and me' now (i didn't at the start, much), perhaps just because of the fact that penny isn't necessarily a girl called penny at all. i was like this when i did a review of tta and wrote about 'sure about it' - it made me listen so much more deeply to the song every time i heard it again.

mcrochip:
It's always neat to see interpretation/analyzation of Hanson lyrics - as one of the posters said, the lyrics can frequently have many meanings buried Underneath (hey - it's a song title reference). I'm thinking I agree with the MMMBop reference, and also the IDJ thread. Maybe it's a combination of the two - everything is closing in so fast (IDJ problems), and you can't change the past (MMMBop) being the one song that Hanson has to 'overcome' in order to be more accepted. Another thing, though, is that MMMBop was kind of the song that got the guys signed to IDJ in the first place.

faerieclaire:
holy *@&# nyssa. *laughs* i seriously said that out loud when i finished reading that. i think your idea of the connection of the three is freaking brilliant. i completely see it and just...WOW. you've outdone yourself.

i think i take back my earlier statement about refusing the overanalyze "dancing in the wind." i see how the verses can relate back to "mmmbop" but that made me wonder...where does that put the chorus? maybe this is song the anthem of underneath. there's such a huge contrast between the mood of the verses and chorus [lyrically AND musically] that it makes me think 'yeah, all this *#&$ happened, but so what? we're just going to keep going, we're going to dance all night and if you don't get it, then you don't get it.' the thing i wonder about though is the line and this music is a place to hide. it kind of goes with what i was just talking about, but it seems so completely random if you listen to it, thinking of the song being about a relationship of some sort. then again, if you take one of them to be the narrator of the song, then i could see how it fits. i don't know, anyone else have a suggestion? the line just sticks out as being odd to me right now, i can't see how it fits completely.

freshspringroll:
steve - totally agree with what you said :) the irony of that fact that 'mmmbop' is what indeed first started off the whole record label relationship with hanson...

hmm, i always thought the chorus kinda connected with the verses cos of the word 'just'. feels just like we're dancing in the wind.... i thought that suggested that they didn't want to be just dancing in the wind, that they wanted to break free and do more than just follow the tide. but i could be wrong... cos i still don't know what to make of the 'we can dance all night' bit, heh.

hmmm 'this music is a place to hide'... i think i'd agree with what uzma said earlier on in the thread about that line... it's weird tho cos 'there are still rules to break' is a really strong, dominant lyric, but 'this music is a place to hide' seems to be the opposite of that previous line... like shutting yourself away from everything. in other words, i don't know :)! i'd probably say it links back to the IDJ thing tho.... their own music is the only place to find some truth and get away from all the shi+ going on around them...?

purplegirl:
Wow! so much to say! Ok. Yeah, this song always confused me too. I could never get just the title. but you guys have suchs good theories...they rock! lol

But I think h.net neets a page that tells what all their songs mean and why they wrote them because I think it would be cool to know.

a bit off topic..but i don't agree. I like trying to figure it out ourselve, because it makes us think..and then we can sometimes connect more witht he song. also they aren't telling us how to interperet their songs, I like to come on these forums and share my thoughts and read other people's and then formulate them somehow or another into mine...sometimes.. I like seeing everyone's opinions.

About 'MMMbop.' That never occurred to me. It does seem to fit though. I like it. and about the three song connection..i never noticed it..ill have to try and pay more attention.

The part about, "There are still rules to break/and the music's just a place to hide/isn't it just a game we play" really sticks in my mind. and when they say isnt it just a game we play? i walways think,,,yeah! because if you think about it, it is kinda like a game. they write songs...and they sometimes write them about something that happened to them and to let out their emotions...hense 'SETB' about idj. So in a way they do hide in the music. and it is a game because well they are hiding and then when we try to see what the songs are about or what they mean, we are, essentially, trying to find them. The, "There are still rules to break," part...well, it could possibly be about like when they were making the record and producing it they didn't really have much experience...and also about like they are still experimenting with things...there are still rules to break i dont know how to put into words what i am trying to say, just ponder it a little. maybe you'll get it then.

I agree with believe, and idj.

okay im out..

faerieclaire:
i went back and read what uzma posted but...i don't know, it's still not completely clear to me. but that's just me. i think those lines are going to end up like the cross reference in "when you're gone." i'm going to try waaay too hard to figure it out and five months later it'll just hit me.

and victoria...how DID i completely miss your post on "believe" when i was in here earlier? everything you said, beautiful and so RIGHT on. i hadn't given that one much thought yet because i know there's so much there to look at, but you've given be a great starting point. thank you

fangirl:
Here goes a lyrical analysis (have the lyrics next to you). I wish I could have put more order to it, but I'm pretty much typing this as I think it, with just some notes next to me to help. I'm really excited:

Let's say that the first verse follows on from the ideas in the previous song, 'Strong Enough to Break'. 'SETB' wondered and maybe'd about the hypocrisy and the walls closing in, it didn't really put its foot down or anything, just stated the facts. The first verse of 'Dancing in the Wind' is more certain, there's no "starting" anything, we're well deep in it now.

The first three lines sum up 'SETB' -- he knows that a lasting success from the music industry was never an option, but why is the label "closing in so fast" now. Just remember that in 'SETB', while we're talking about connections, says that the walls are "closing in", things were closing fast in that song too. The next two lines, "But you can't change the past/And it's closing in so fast" I think are the big 'MMMBop' references.

'MMMBop', as a song all on its own, did nothing except to evoke simple emotions from people -- happiness, annoyance... -- but it's what people did to it is what makes us remember it the way we do. The fans bought it, journalists reviewed it, comedians made fun of it, it's these things that made the song huge, and a burden for Hanson. The burden is not the fact that it had no words in it, but because it set the success meter for Hanson so high. 'MMMBop' let Hanson experience a dizzying high of success that is impossible to match, and even to this day, people are still saying, "Oh, they'll never experience the 'MMMBop' success again." That is what ties this band down; people telling them that they'll never be like that again.

So if the label, the media, everyone, is saying to Hanson "You'll never be 'MMMBop' again," then they could be saying back, "Okay, you're right, I've figured that out, but you can't change the past, and we'll never get the chance to even try to be 'MMMBop' again while everything is closing in so fast."

Then, the chorus kicks in. I believe that the chorus is almost completely unconnected with the first verse, but instead introduces the idea that despite everything, music will always be a constant, something that comes easily -- because the idea of "dancing in the wind" is romantic, and with that train of thought, physically very easy, the wind just picks you up and does all the hard work for you. All that's left to do is just dance and have a good time. "All night" in music often means forever, so hopefully they'll always be able to make music like second nature. This chorus also distances the song from 'SETB'.

The first half of verse two -- "Just don't walk away/When I've got you in my arms tonight/And I've got something to say" -- maybe could be a note to the fans of the 'MMMBop' era. They have a lot from us, like CD sales, fan club subscriptions, declarations of love, they've got us in their arms tonight/forever, but we could still walk away, claiming that they abandoned us (especially after all of the tours/singles/press/merch that they gave us in 97-98). "And I've got something to say," is the introduction to what's happened, they could be telling us what happened with IDJ, so we understand, and won't leave them tonight/forever.

Let's just quickly re-write the second verse with some poetic punctuation.

Just don't walk away, when I've got you in my arms tonight and I've got something to say! "There are still rules to break and this music is a place to hide. Isn't it just a game we play?"

The second half of the second verse is like a quote, it's the something he's got to say. "There is still a contract to walk out on, and still pop music boundries to push!" The place to hide could be a place to get away... and to drown your pain in lemonade, to dance, just hide in something, like music, that hasn't lost its beauty when everything else has. Because it's the music industry that is just a game we play (thus connecting with the first verse). Now comes the 'Penny' link. The songs are physically linked by a small little wah wah noise that ends 'Dancing' and is consistent through 'Penny', especially in the B-section.

Think of what you actually want to do when you hide -- you want to get away. The idea of "drowning your pain in lemonade" just flips back to the "better days" of 'MMMBop. Lemonade is such a simple, childlike drink, much like 'MMMBop', like pop music. The industry is the fancy-named cocktail that costs a fortune to buy from the bar, mixed up everything, but lemonade is the bare basic without becoming nothing at all. The rest of Penny's B-section flows quite naturally and simply from this, especially the line about "aimless conversations about the better days."

The repeat of the chorus: once again, the verse ended on a negative note, despite positive ideas in the verse. It's reminding us that everything can be okay, we still have the music, despite the past.

freshspringroll:
wow... *applauds nyssa loudly* that's one amazing piece of analysis. i didn't think my thread would be so popular, lol...

i'll have to listen out for the wah wah connection sound. the album seems to be so full of random sounds that i've prob skipped this one...

what you wrote about 'mmmbop' is pretty much how i heard it. that song is like a double-edged sword, it's always there to haunt them, yet without it, they wouldn't be where they are today. but hey, 'you can't change the past', however much you - maybe - sometimes want to?

i agree that the verse and chorus is hugely different, esp. musically; but i still hear more negativity than positivity in the chorus... i don't know, the 'feels just like we're dancing in the wind' part sounds really sombre and wistful to me, but then i could be wrong. the guitar throughout the later part of the chorus ('we can dance all night') is v powerful tho and so perhaps there is an element of 'f*** you, we're dancing in our music forever and that's what gets us through' in it :)

the link to penny is awesome. i think there are so many layers to uncover in that song that it's worthy of many more posts, heh... and i prob need to listen to more closely to it before knowing (or guessing more like!) what it's really about. penny is one of my favourite songs on the album at the moment, it suddenly seems like an 'anthem' lol. every time i listen to it, i seem to hear something new. yet i still haven't figured out what i really think it's saying...

your 3 song connection idea is so great tho, *applauds some more* hehe

faerieclaire:
nyssa, i think we can officially add laura to the 'h.net girls' rolecall, don't you? hehe.

on another note...you two completely blow me away, i feel like you've explained so much to me that i was missing. i'm still not entirely sure on the 'and this music is a place to hide.' i see nyssa's connection, but i think i need to make my own to get it. you know...sometimes, i really really wonder if the three of them ever happen in here, and what in the world they would think if they read a crazy post of ours like this...

RhythmicVenus:
*jaw drops to ground* wow *blank stare* wow.

I have seen so much in this forum, i'm still trying to digest it all. Nyssa, how do you do it? I never in a million and one years would have come up with something THAT insightful.... I agree completely with what you said. It kinda freaks me out, but I love it.

And Claire, yeah, I like to think that if they happened by here, we'd all be labled "Offically Nuts".

freshspringroll:
nyssa, i think we can officially add laura to the 'h.net girls' rolecall, don't you?

hehe. even though i am unsure what this means, i think it is a compliment? heh :)

*btw, what i said about mmmbop in my post... i did NOT mean to say 'double edged sword', i meant more like 'catch 22' i think :D

you know...sometimes, i really really wonder if the three of them ever happen in here, and what in the world they would think if they read a crazy post of ours like this... hehe i have thought of that... can imagine isaac posting something like 'buahahahahah, omg it is NOTHING to do with that... hehe' but ah well... they like to leave us to make up our own minds, right?!

fangirl:
"offical h.net girls rollcall" was something that just came about, but consider yourself on it as of awhile ago, laura... *smiles* definitely a compliment.

can imagine isaac posting something like 'buahahahahah, omg it is NOTHING to do with that... hehe'

i can imagine isaac telling us that we've heard the lyrics wrong...

and to everyone else who liked the analysis, well, i had a blast writing it. i want to work more on the music, because i did that without hearing the song, just with the linear notes.

RhythmicVenus:
i can imagine isaac telling us that we've heard the lyrics wrong...

LOL, oh Nyssa. You shouldn't have brought THAT back to the surface again... LOL... Poor Claire.

PeatyStar:
so here's my thoughts on dancin in the wind... I think that it has to do with the struggle with IDJ and the pressure from the label to have another mmmbop. the label wanted something that they weren't willing to give, because when it comes down to it, hanson is all about being unique and setting trends, not following them. that's why we all love them (if i'm way wrong, sorry guys!)

freshpringroll:
but consider yourself on it as of awhile ago, laura... hehe, high praise indeed, thanks. you, claire & cheryl rock my socks ;)

paula, i don't think you're way off!