Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface (July 28, 2017) Album • Page 155

While I think the maze and the parts are personal songs about Andy's life/daughter I could see them fitting into the story as well, they are vague enough that they could be about the characters.. andy said part of it was three generations of a family.. it's possible the "give it thirteen years" could apply to us and pushing the story forward and one of the brothers actually having a child of their own. Are both brothers alive at the end of the wolf? Bc It seems like in the silence the brother that just had a child could be looking back at their past and thinking about what happened with his dad and brother and hoping that doesn't happen to his daughter.

This is what I just got through reading the lyrics to the entire album on a listen. Anyone else think I'm on to something?

 

Been listening to this on repeat at work all day. The point time I wasn't playing this album was to show someone the new The Killers song that leaked haha.
I'm sure this will change a lot, but my favorites today are Lead, SD and The Grocery.

Also, pretty sure the "did you mean to take out all those people with you" line in The Alien is referring to the events in The Grocery. Love how interconnected this is.

Edit: @teebs41 I could see that. I can't imagine that they would put so much work into world buidling and then have songs on here be 100% unrelated. But I could be wrong.

 

Now I don't want to seem like it's split at the seams
See the pain on the wall? See the blood in the street?
There is nothing you've got when you die that you keep
You were all that you were, were you all you could be?

In the blink of an eye there's a hole in your belly
Your body recoils ironically into the family planning aisle
Overhear, "I don't know where I'm going
I'm going anyway
Don't let 'em tell you that I never found..."

This makes me think one of the brothers/probably the stoner one that shot up the grocery is dead at the end of the song

 

So The Grocery is about a shooting?

 

I was out here thinking this shit was a lot more supernatural than its turning out to be

 

I believe that there are two brothers


And one of them loses it and walks into the grocery to kill their elderly father, who abused them, in doing so they also took out other people.. after they try to kill them selves but they can't bc they are out of bullets... this is where I wonder if maybe they are shot in the stomach by a police officer and are killed. Based off of the third verse of the wolf which I believe is from the perspective of the other brother

 

Yeah, I don't think there is actually an alien or actual time travel. Just switching perspective mid song to a different time.

 

I think there are these supernatural mentions. Actually I also think that maybe they are in the hospital in the wolf and his body is levitating unto the sky.. which means they are dying.

 

Said, "In truth I don't really want to talk about it"
Christmas lights dangled sadly from the table in the operating room
Last I heard you're an addict about it
Full of rage and Corona
Trying to blow the birthday kid candles out
Trap doors and the retaliator lead out
To the field where our extended families buried their lies
If you're going, bring some faith and a flashlight
Follow signs that read
"It's twenty miles before you finally see fire"

So in this verse he's talking to his brother in the hospital after the events.. troubled he was drinking heavily and full of rage.

Couldn't think it to words and watched your body lift up into the sky
Everyone there was just in awe about it
Seen a miracle and drank away the thought from our minds

I think in this verse they witness a miracle the brother dies but raises into the sky somehow.

I could be way off just trying my best to connect things

 

I think the mistake is from the perspective of the brother as he is dying "I don't want to die alone tell me there's another option for me". I think the woman he was supposed to have a baby with left him and that's part of why he lost his mind. I also think that the miscarriage did happen to this brother and was part of the reason why they lose it and shoot up the grocery.

 

I have theories that differ from those as well, I really hope andy goes through and just tells us at some point haha.

 

I think lead, sd is where they start to lose it. The person they were supposed to have the kid with left them in the previous song bc of their heavy drinking.. now he finds out she's pregnant but he wants to have the child with her bc without her he's going to sink. The winter is cold and he's drinking and doing drugs.. beginning to lose his mind

 

The grocery, Elise, thirteen, was buried by your arrow
Steep shriek of the softball team, it rewinds me

Will you pray for me? repent, repeat
I'm a clock and a balance beam
If I die there's nothing I keep that reminds me

I believe this is time travel forward. In the time of the song it hasn't happened yet but it's a prophecy of what will come

 

I wonder if in the alien he's not actually talking about the grocery but another tragedy where he gets into an accident from doing his fathers medication... which could actually be alcohol or something else. Idk there seems to be references to a different accident/ tragedy in this song. I'm done for now, sorry!

 

I see where you're going and agree a lot of it and feel like the brother doing the shooting is killed. I've thought that the brother in "The Alien" is different from the one shooting up the grocery. I'm thinking that it is set after the events of the shooting and this brother is messed up now because of his brothers death and his own messed up past with his father.

But then to contradict this, I also feel like maybe the brother from "Lead, SD" didn't die and possibly didn't shoot anyone and was shot by whoever did do the shooting. I feel like "The Silence" is about the brother from "Lead, Sd" based off of lyrics from both songs. Ultimately I am rambling right now and have no idea. Haha
Every time I think I'm on to something, something else throws me off.

 

This community makes me feel warm fuzzies.

 

I don't think I like anything as much as y'all like this record. :/

 

because it's an amazing substance that people don't understand and i'm just trying to spread some knowledge, pretty much every one you would consider a junkie is either on opioids or uppers because they're super addictive.

 

So I'm guessing angel paste is a euphemism then...

 

Or their best ever.

 

lol idk what it would be for... maybe pcp??? i can't vouch for that one

 

Not sure if anyone here listens to Falling Up, but "The Grocery" reminds me of their self-titled record. It has a familiar epic feel that I couldn't put a finger on until now.

 

I love how deliberate this album is. Really exceptional work, as expected. These guys have never really clicked with me on quite the same level as with generally most of this site, but with this album there's no denying that they are masters of their craft.

 

Enjoying reading the theories about the stories contained within the lyrics. I haven't got a clue what's going on. Can't decide if that annoys me / stops me fully connecting or not.

 

It can make it difficult to connect with I agree, however I think if it's done right and it feels like one deliberate cohesive work it can really push a listening experience forward. I do feel that the songs still hit individually on a personal level as well.