I stand on the cliffs with my son next to me
This island our prison, our home
And everyday we look out at the sea
This place is all he's ever known
"But I've got a plan," He sung
Wax and some string, some feathers I stole from a bird
We leap from the cliff and we hear the wind sing a song thats too perfect for words
But son, please keep a steady wing
And know your the only one that means anything to me
Steer clear of the sun, or you'll find yourself in the sea
Now safely away, I let out a cry
"We'll make the mainland by noon"
But Icarus climbs higher still in the sky
Maybe I've spoken too soon [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/thrice/daedalus.html ]
But son, please keep a steady wing
And know your the only one that means anything to me
Steer clear of the sun, or you'll find yourself in the sea
Wont you look at your wings
They're coming undone
They're splitting at the seams
Steer clear of the sun, for once wont you listen to me?
Oh God!
Why is this happening to me?
All I wanted was new life for my son to grow up free
And now you took the only thing that meant anything to me
I'll never fly again, I'll hang up my wings
Oh God!
Why is this happening to me?
All I wanted was new life for my son to grow up free
And now you took the only thing that meant anything to me
I'll never fly again, I'll hang up my wings
Oh God!
This is obviously referring to the relationship between daedalus and his son icarus, after they trekked to crete in greek mythology. From wikipedia:
"icarus' father, daedalus who was a talented artist attempted to escape from his exile in crete, where he and his son were imprisoned at the hands of king minos, the king for whom he had built the labyrinth. Daedalus, the master craftsman, was exiled because it was he who built the faux cow for the queen to climb into such that she could copulate with the bull. The result of this coupling was the minotaur, who grew to become violent and dangerous, so had to be imprisoned in the labyrinth.
Daedalus fashioned a pair of wax wings for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the sublime feeling that flying gave him, icarus soared through the sky joyfully, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted his wings. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms. And so, icarus fell into the sea in the area which bears his name, the icarian sea near icaria, an island southwest of samos. [1]"
This song is beautiful because it incorporates the father-son relationship with amazing greek mythological characters and absolutely stunning guitar strumming. One of my favorite thrice songs to date, and brings back memories of a perfect circle's "orestes". Nearly puts me in tears.