Vampire Weekend - White Sky Meaning

White Sky Lyrics

An ancient business, A modern Piece of glasswork, down on the corner that you walk each day in passing, the elderly salesclerk won't eye us with suspicion, the whole, immortal corporation's given it's permission

A little stairway, a little...

1. anonymous

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   Nov 27th 2011 !⃝

   It's just describing things all around Manhattan, more specifically in the vicinity of the MoMA. Koenig said himself in an interview that the line about the "thousand little Julias" and the two mirrors is a litteral reference to the awkward situation in a store when, near a dressing room, there stands a woman in between two mirrors, a 'Julia' so to speak, and there are infinite reflections of her body; at the same instance, Ezra walks by and experiences the phenomenon of seeing himself walk in two directions. In another interview, he states that he and his former girlfriend would often go to the MoMA, where they have free show on Fridays after lunch (the line about waiting since lunch). The "white sky" refers to the gallery ceiling. Ancient business=art. Modern piece of glasswork is self explanatory. I analyze this in depth in my blog. Google HissingFaunaShiva4
2. anonymous

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   Aug 8th 2011 !⃝

   This song is all about the Halal stand on 53rd and 6th in new york city. the song describes everything that surrounds it.
3. anonymous

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   Jul 10th 2011 !⃝

   Prostitution?! Seriously? Please. Koenig's referring to MoMa, off 53rd in (the center of) Manhattan. It's a mostly glass building, if I remember correctly, and Richard Serra has been displayed there.
4. anonymous

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   May 14th 2011 !⃝

   At least part of the song is a more literal description of a place on manhattan, including the "Richard "Serra" skatepark which refers to a sculpture resembling a skatepark.
5. anonymous

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   Apr 26th 2011 !⃝

   Eavalenz, you're way off mate. The links you make are tentative at best, and even if the connections were rock solid it still wouldn't make literary sense; but implying that "horses" is a metaphor for "porverished" people? Really?? Try harder mate
6. eavalenz

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   May 24th 2010 !⃝

   Personally I believe that this song is depicting the duality of many subjects. "an ancient business," could in fact mean the ancient business of prostitution. "a modern piece of glasswork," could imply the syringe that the prostitutes utilize to inject themselves with drugs. They stay on the "corners you walk each day in passing." the local business owner ignores these practices as he sees the prostitutes on the sidewalks since society ("immoral corporations) give their permission. The now unimportant forces of good and evil no longer play a part in today's world. ("a LITTLE piece of carpet (hell), a LITTLE stairway" (heaven). Each mirror represents one side of the good and evil struggle as the thousands of Julius choose which direction of their mirrored reflection to choose.
   
   
   As the business of prostitution is going on in the shadows, around the corner the higher-class individuals pretend that it does not exsist, making sure that the house they built can protect against the ancient business. Also, none of the aristocrats wants to offer any help to those poverished people,"they want to "keep it out the closets of people who [are unworthy to] own it". Art is a metaphor for anything pertaining to the characteristics of higher-class individuals, e.g. Manners, education, money, culture. Obviously, seperate classes have the tendency to take part in the sins of pride (upper-class) and envy (lower-class). "and on the second floor"( another metahpor to exemplify upper-class) the cycle continues with the offspring (young people hang out at a skate park) of these aristocrats. I believe that Koenig used an artist from Manhattan subculture and melded it with a skatepark to get this general idea and continue the Manhattan theme. An outsider, If they "ask all the right questions" realize that its pointless for the horses (porverished people) to even be able to compete with the taxis (rich individuals). And to end the song, As we all know Koenig's witty ways, he sarcastically satarizes us and points out that we are the upper-class people with "[our] wolfords in a ball" in the buildings being viewed from below.
   
   We waited to fix things since lunch (Koenig is maintaining the song's context of supposedly walking down the streets of manhattan) and if we don't do anything to help our current situation its going to be too late because its going to "all come at once" and the damage will be irreversible.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway