Poets of the Fall: Carnival of Rust Meaning
Song Released: 2006
Carnival of Rust Lyrics
Song: Carnival Of Rust
Album: Carnival Of Rust
d' you breath the name of your saviour in your hour of need,
n' taste the blame if the flavor should remind you of greed,
of implication, insinuation and ill...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:I'd like to look at the video and what symbolism it offers in relation to the song. I know this isn't "music video meanings", but here are my observations.
Let's begin with the woman. She wears a gas mask, so we never see her face. We don't see her expressions or emotions, we only know her through her body language. Let's look at it. She begins by regarding the fortune teller (singer), but she recoils at the intensity of his excitement. Afterward, she ignores him, possibly right up to the end. The woman moves on to the violinists. She gives them her coin, and simply moves on. The man at the stand, she pays, and gives him her last nickel, and plays his game. As a reward, she receives a child doll, and then she makes her way out, pausing only to look back on the fortune teller once she's out of his reach.
Then there's the carnies - and I'm only going to touch on the three ones with which the woman interacts.
The fortune teller, the man in the booth, his face peeling - I'm not sure, but maybe even as the video goes on, it continues to decay. The narrator of this song, and the character whom I feel is the actual protagonist of this video. He sings with a passion. The woman is put off by him, but he continues to sing to her.
The violinists. They take her coin, but don't react to her. They're not interested in who gives them their money, they're both too focused on each other - and the art they are creating to pay her any mind, even to thank her for her patronage.
The game host. He's lively, excitable, enthusiastic to play this game with the woman. He gives her a doll - perhaps even symbolizing an actual child - but in the end, he's only there for one thing: the game. As she walks away, he waves goodbye to her as gleefully as he welcomed her, and indifferently drops her coin in with the rest.
And ash the woman leaves, the Fortune Teller sings to her, begging her not to leave. He thrashes about, trying to escape her container, desperately trying to reach her before his time is up.
My hypothesis is that this song is about a man that cannot let go of a past romance. Even as the subject of his affection is disconcerted by his love, he tries to hold on to her, offering his affections to her as she continues to ignore him, and goes elsewhere in search of the love she wants. She has one-night stands (perhaps the two violinists), and bears a child that is completely indifferent to her. At last she gives up on searching, but even then this man is begging for her love, and only when he too gives up, only when the Fortune Teller grows quiet and still, does she turn around and realize that perhaps she had missed the chance that had been staring her in the face for so long. -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:I think this is a spiritual song about life in general. The girl in the video is every human and the carnival of rust is life. She is attracted by the doll and wants to win it. When she does she's happy. The doll represents all worldly possessions that we all run after. Once she leaves the carnival though, she slowly lets go of the doll because these possessions are not going to last us after this life is over. This is my interpretation of the video.
In the lyrics, I think it's again about life and spirituality and religion and faith.
"Do you breathe the name of your savior in your hour of need" is a simple comment at most people who only remember God when they are facing a problem.
"And taste the blame if the flavor reminds you of greed" is about all of us being greedy in life but we only feel that we are doing a sin when we are in our hour of need and remembering God and that's when we are reminded of our greed. -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:It is really superficial to think of this song and the meaning it represents as a simple or even deep love song... it has a much more powerful sociocultural or even spiritual theme to it.
It has meaning inside of meaning and little subtle details especially in the music video that I needed to pause at every scene to watch carefully for more and more... for example anytime you see the fortune teller there are 2 screens each side of him that show a tarrot card which changes almost each time you see him again... at first it is "the star" which is a symbol of hope... it basically means that the woman is at a position that she has hope in her life if she chooses the right direction; but as she goes on she goes on the tarots change everytime we see them... it changes to 'nine of swords' the 'high preistess' then to the 'eight of cups' then to 'nine of wands' then 'Ace of wands' then 'the magician' then to 'strength'...
you can search the web for the meaning of these cards if you want. I think they are more critical in the course of action in the video than they look... they show the woman's path with each change.
Something else I noticed that is somehow deeply put into it are the seven deadly sins. The fire eaters symbolize gluttony, the violinists are sloth the masked person being tattooed is lust, the lady wanting the doll represents greed, the Fortune teller is envious of the attention the lady is giving to the other stalls, when at the doll booth the lady smashing the plates is wrath at the world, and finally pride when she is walking away from the carnaval she is prideful of the doll that she won.
The video explains a lot of stuff using a materialistic look upon the world that has been abstracted in the carnival itself.
And the bad or maybe the good part about abstract art is that every single person sees the main subject of abstraction according to their own experiences in life... mind proccess and point of view... so I tryed not to put so much adoptations in my own review. -
For me this song is very deep and emotional, and what I felt and thought was there in my head from the first time I was introduced to it. Here we go then...
The carnival of lust, the whole ride is the inner world of our protagonist. He is all the rides and all the people in it, as they are different side of the same person, he is the carnival himself and this is a ride to his inner self.
After long time exposure to emotional abuse from his past, he is now toxic within (thus the need for the mask) as well as mostly empty, since no other guest is found in it.
The coins the girl has on her hands is the time she is going to spend in the rides, on him. Yet all she wants is to take and not share or give. The rides are different parts of his personality and soul, she will pick what she likes more of them and even try some for her amusement. She is free to roam and try any part/side of him and even keep whatever she wins. But soon after even she looses interest in the old rusty park and she will soon leave. "Feeding the rain" to produce even more rust, paid in full for his lust for her. At the end she is even dropping every gift behind her and move on, while he is still there rusting away, thirsty for real love. So in fast recap its the epilog of one more failed relationship attempt in which he is there to share, give and gift parts of himself in order to be loved back, but once more picked the wrong one to open his gates and as soon true colors will bleed.
This is what this song reflects in me.
Love yourself or be wasted away... -
Apart from the man's and woman's relationship ..that is shown in the video,
I kind of always thought
That the woman was not capable of conceiving a child
So in the end when she wins a doll
She hugs her with all her heart
But eventually realizes & accepts & let's go of the doll
Maybe... -
This song is reflection of the world around us where greed, blame games, ill will etc. And the singer wants his lover to love him rescue him from this cruel greedy world by loving him and stop falling in the doomed disaster.Here, the lover of singer is a depicted to be a pure soul which frees itself from this world overlooking the demands of singer because it appears that she thinks singer is long lost beyond her reach & can't be rescued.
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If you look at this from a spiritual take, it's about a man and his confession that he needs God. Somehow this man has turned away from God and is just now realizing that he needs him. He's thirsty for the love of God and he longs to experience the presence of God once more. He realizes that he is just a man, and his life is nothing without The Lord. One of the lines of the song (D'you breathe the name of your Saviour in your hour of need?) indicates that this man has fallen away from God and only now in his hard times does he realize how much he actually needs him. That's just my take.
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Carnival of Rust is such a beautiful song and video. To me it is centered around the relationship between the man and the woman. Something tragic, catastrophic (I would even use the word "apocalyptic") has happened indicated by the carnival of "rust", the atmosphere of decay, the gas mask she is wearing indicating the atmosphere of poison. Something has happened to turn the relationship between the man and the woman sour.
The woman is "the star" as seen on the sign. She is a beautiful woman indicated by all the lusting going on, the man sings about how he is thirsty for her love, and lusting after her; another man watches from the sidelines getting a tattoo "delicious" probably also lusting after the woman. Clearly the man behind the glass is in love with the woman and is begging her "don't walk away." The man is stuck behind the glass unable to touch the woman, and in the end pounds on the glass in terrible frustration. The tears run down his face, he is longing for this woman; his "cor cordis", the heart inside his heart.
The woman is hurting emotionally, maybe even traumatized, walking slowly and you see her head kind of hanging. She envisions herself escaping (the roller coaster part) and sees the sign "break for freedom." She's been so hurt emotionally by this man that's in love with her. Like I said, something catastrophic has happened.
And so she pays the price, and breaks for freedom. She hits the target perfectly, first time. She frees the doll (symbolic perhaps of her dreams of innocence, love and family in spite of "all this turmoil"?)
She slowly walks away with the doll as her lover behind the glass pleads and cries for her "don't walk away! when the world is burning! when the heart is yearning!". Another reference to burning with the fire-breathing woman: again something is burning. Both the world, and the man's heart. As the woman sadly, slowly walks away with the doll (her dreams?). As she gets further away and the expression "cor cordis" comes from the fortune telling machine, she knows the man behind the glass yearns for her, she turns her head back to see him sitting there lifeless. -
Carnival of Rust is the second album by the Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall. It was released on 12 April 2006 in Finland,[3] 12 September 2006 in Sweden,[4] October 2006 in Australia, Russia and Ukraine,[5] then on 20 April 2007 in Germany.[6] The album went straight to the top of the Finnish Top40 album chart[7] and stayed inside the Top40 for 26 weeks.
The album went straight to the top on Finnish radio channel YleX due to fan votes[8] and was recognized as "Album of the Week"[9] after remaining number one for three weeks straight.[10] It was certified gold in Finland three weeks after being released [11] and has sold platinum up until now.[12] On 17 December 2006 it was announced that the album is featured in Helsingin Sanomat's "Best albums of 2006" article.
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