#digging up the heart

[auroralynne]

Yuchi - "Digging Up The Heart" by Aurora Lynne

This week's episode had one of my favorite Yuchi scenes and it's only getting better <3 I can't wait for everyone to learn more about Machi and fall in love with her...

I can say they're both my comfort characters :D Yuki and Machi speak to me on an emotional level, I cried my eyes out during Yuki's backstory episode and I KNOW it won't be any different with Machi because I can't read her manga chapters without getting emotional. I'm just rally glad they found each other <3

I hope you like this piece!

-DO NOT REPOST-

[buildarocketboys]

Honestly I'm still proud that I memorised MOST of the lyrics to digging up the heart in time for the gig I saw, even though the album was released about a week before

[quietly-gold-blog]

1, 2, 3, 4 ,5 Oh me, Oh my

[rareisthislove-keepitcovere-blog]

Digging up the Heart

How ridiculously addictive is that one line TONY CAME BACK TO TOWN ... @ashotatthenight

[dawni2]

Brandon Flowers - Digging Up the Heart, Terminal 5, NYC, NY 8/4/15

[aint-wealljustrunaways]

As I was singing and dancing around my room to DUTH my signed Brandon photo collapsed and fell off my unit. It was like a sign from Brandon telling me to stop… I’m sorry for butchering your songs Mr Flowers.

[ashotatthenight]

This is gonna sound stupid but I gotta say I don't understand the lyrics to Digging Up The Heart …What's the story all about? What does "put the asphalt to the tire " mean? maybe because English is not my native language :(

Omg no that doesn’t sound stupid at all, especially if English isn’t your first language! I’m telling you, Brandon doesn’t half take the long route to making his point in songs with how metaphorical he can be (I’m talking “Are we dancer?” levels of just fuck me up) but that’s really part of his talent. He’s a great lyricist and whilst everyone loves that about him it does leave some of his more complicated lines open to a lot of interpretation by different people, so honestly don’t feel stupid at all!

These are all the quotes I could find about what Brandon’s said about Digging Up The Heart as a song, plus some of my thoughts on what it’s about:

“It’s a real narrative song. It’s about a guy who wants to be better. He’s been born into certain circumstances and he’s trying to change, and I guess that’s left pretty open. You don’t know whether he ever turns it around, but you really want him to - and in the meantime it’s so much fun.” - From “Brandon Flowers on Three Key Tracks From The New Album, NME magazine” (March 2015)

-

“But it’s Flowers’ preamble to the honky-tonk tale about a down-and-out named Tony on Digging Up the Heart that showcases his vulnerability. “I’m thankful for this drive I have to be better as a human, to be a better dad and a better husband. I wrote this song from the perspective of someone born into circumstances that won’t allow him to break free. I’m rooting for Tony!” And the crowd chant. “TONY! TONY…”” - From The Guardian’s article in March 2015 following Brandon’s gig at The Bunkhouse in Las Vegas

In the Q & A session he did recently (10/04/2015) Brandon confirmed this lyric from Digging Up The Heart as one of his favourites:

“And when he finally put the asphalt to the tire it looked something like sistine oil and fire rippin’ through the dark……… He’s digging up the heart”

People had been trying to figure out the exact lyrics to this line, and the fact that we’ll be getting a lyrics sheet with this album will probably help a lot hahah. But in the context of one of its preceding lines which is believed to be “Whilst fretting the highway, but you can’t drive” (I think it sounds more like “[something] threaten the highway” but the majority of people seem to agree on the former), you get a sort of clearer meaning to the lyrics.

So, the way I interpret it is that this line is basically saying that Tony, the main character in the song, is really eager to kind of ‘put his foot down on the gas/throttle’ and get going in life and show everyone what he’s made of, but because of these unfortunate circumstances he’s been born into, he can’t. Tony “graduated” from jail earlier in the song, so he already has a prison sentence under his belt to weigh him down and potentially stop him from getting anywhere in life.

Then, Sistine oil is a kind of painting oil that’s highly flammable, so if you were to combine “Sistine oil and fire” it’d basically do a lot of damage. So basically Tony wants to shine as bright as he can against the dark of his background and upbringing and whatever other misfortune he’s been subject to, but fire (especially when combined with a flammable liquid like oil) is uncontrollable and sometimes does more damage than good. Brandon’s basically using driving as a metaphor for life, and fire as a metaphor for Tony’s route through life. Essentially, Tony’s pretty young when he goes to jail (whilst maybe his cohorts are getting their caps and gowns from college, he’s getting his from the State Penitentiary), and he can’t quite navigate through life. When he finally gets some sort of idea as to what he needs to do (he learns to “drive” and puts “the asphalt to the tyre” i.e. he finally finds a road he can drive down and tries to make a fresh start of it) he finds it hard to keep everything in line and finds himself going off course in a ball of flames and falling back into old (potentially criminal) habits.

The rest of the song basically tells the story of how Tony wants to pick himself up and make himself better, but he keeps getting knocked down (by his brother (?) “Little brother, you’re lying to yourself if you think you can change.” and Christie, a girl he develops some feelings for who “met herself another boy” and “got engaged” to him. So basically every time he tries to better himself he gets knocked back by something or other, and essentially his fire burns out and he returns to his law-breaking ways in what sounds like an armed robbery on some kind of store or money-taking establishment (“The clerk’s got his hands up”).

I hope this helps a little? I love this song and the story Brandon tells with it and figuring out the lyrics kind of gave it a second birth for me and made me love it even more. Let me know if I can help any more (if this helped at all) and I’ll definitely try! :)

*edit: while I was writing this I kind of educated myself too because you create art with Sistine oil, and that art can be beautiful (and potentially represents a religious calling that Tony tries to follow because Sistine oil is used a lot in religious paintings, so maybe the path he follows in an attempt to walk the “straight and narrow” is God’s path? This would make sense because Brandon tips his hat to "the sons of perdition" a little later in the song). But it’s clearly very volatile and easily ruined because of its flammability.

I’m reading into this at fucking bullshit English teacher levels at this point. Brandon might read this and think LOL she so off track. But yeah this is just my standpoint on it and what it means to me! It might mean different things to different people but that’s the magic of music!

[dawni2]

Brandon Flowers, Digging Up the Heart, Webster Hall, NYC 3/24/2015 #TheDesiredEffect 

DIGGING UP the Heart 

Tony came back to town, With his cap and gown, That they give him at the State Pen, Breakin’ and entering will do that, Tony’s mamma said, “He’s only human!.” Look what the cat dragged in, from his next of kin, His little sister hugs a tin man, Tony, “She’s grown, ain’t she pretty, in her little black dress?” He’s digging up the heart, to know the price he paid. You can hear the train, when you’re in the cage, And you can smell the rain and you can see the sage, When sweating on the highway, but you can’t drive      ? And when he finally put the asphalt to the tire, Looked something like Sistine Oil and fire, Ripping through the dark, he’s digging up the heart, Digging up the heart Digging up the heart Well it ain’t that strange Any boy can change Digging up the heart One, two, three, four  five, … Oh, me, oh, my, … Count the reasons, that you shouldn’t be messing, With the sons of perdition       ? That won’t take you down, the straight and narrow, You’ve been dreaming of a place, that you just can’t get, Like you’re burning in a pit, Little brother, you’re a lying to yourself if you think you’d changed, It’s just another part, 'Ain't that something strange?' When Tony left, They were scratching at the door, In particular, one, wantin’ him more,    Her name was Christie, The queen of Humble county. 3-5 is a lifetime at that age, Christie met herself another boy, got engaged, Left him in the dark, she’s digging up the heart. Digging up the heart Digging up the heart Well it ain’t that strange Any boy can change Digging up the heart He’s digging up the heart Digging up the heart With a little luck, When the times getting rough, Digging up the heart. And the clerk’s got his hands up,    But his mind’s on the mark, A 38 beneath the register, He’s digging up the heart Digging up the heart Digging up the heart Well it ain’t that strange Any boy can change Digging up the heart, You’re digging up the heart, Digging up the heart With a little luck, when the times getting rough, Digging up the heart Well it ain’t that strange Any boy can change Digging up the heart.