Laura Marling – The Captain and the hourglass
There is no doubt that this song is about religion, more specifically religion. There are a few. The song doesn’t criticize the religion but shows how she interprets it and her own confusions especially its practice. She talks about baptism and the idea that as soon as we repent our sins are automatically forgiven by God, “If I feel God judging me, well I fell into the water and now am free”. I get the feeling that she is talking about how Christians or many other faiths are quick to judge others and condemn them to hell whilst they do wrong and feel it’s still fine because they go to church and repent their sins they will be forgiven anyway.
“My friends don’t really get me, think am the only one, well I sold my soul to Jesus and since then I’ve had no fun. Behind every tree there’s cutting machine and a kite fallen grace. Inside every man is a heart of sand, I can see it in his face” seem in this particular versus she speaks of how she is surrounded by Christians and she is the only one who realises the truth, the world is cruel and with its imperfections humans are bound to imperfect themselves. No one can ever be entirely good we have all sinned at one point, behind every tree there’s a cutting machine, insisting that with life comes death and with good comes evil. Its failing to realise this and restricting yourself by the rules of religion instead of just been yourself that stop you from enjoying life as it is, from really finding out who you are instead of what you are told to be by others, ” I sold my sold to Jesus and since then I’ve had no fun”.
“The captains got his boots and his heading out to war, leaving his lady alone thinking he don’t love her no more. He’s done with all this bullshit his going back to war. If heaven is as heaven does then this is hell for sure”. The only way I can think of this is that she is trying to explain how religion can split people apart, the image of the man walking away leaving his lady thinking he doesn’t love any more just shows how some people can be dead set on their religion and how faith whilst one of the most beautiful things can also be poisonous because it can also blind people from the truth.
Very beautifully written song very thought provoking and it can have many meanings, some people say it talks about drug abuse and I’ve even seen some say it may be about doctor who. That what I love about this song, it is like poetry you make it what it is, it can be about anything it’s all about the way the person perceives it and how you can relate to it. For me I relate the most to the line ” The captains got his boots and his heading out to war, leaving his lady alone thinking he don’t love her no more. He’s done with all this bullshit his going back to war. If heaven is as heaven does then this is hell for sure” it reminds me of someone I had to leave behind when I went to university and my family, I kind of just picked up and left. I said my goodbyes but kind of felt like I was just leaving her behind
What do you think is the meaning behind this song ?
