Can I keep calling these ‘cursed’ thoughts at this point?
The City Grown Willow coat...the IMPLICATIONS. I can obviously sit here and say, “it’s just his damn coat, and he was wearing it because it was not that warm in [Colorado] last night”. Yes. Ok. But where’s the damn fun in THAT?!
So, here we go...AGAIN...
I love Radio Company, I think they’re swell...and I read so far into all of it (maybe slightly unfairly, but again, what would be the point otherwise?!). Guys, I’m not even going to go that deep here...
City Grown Willow has some interesting lyrics, even if we simply consider “unchain your pillow” on its own, which is a VERY interesting choice of words. That one line ALONE makes me utterly insane. Because it’s basically telling us [the listeners] to stop thinking that there’s only one way to think of things - unchain - stop being a slave to the belief that your pillow is trapped by only one person...(something that, by the way, has been referenced in MORE than this one song)...let me take you away and show you there’s another way...(yes, sir, please do).
But here is where my real take on this song starts to take root. There is a lot of reference to “she” and “he” in this song. One of the few times that there are pronouns mentioned in a RC song (go ahead, I’ll wait...No I won’t, I’ve already done the work for you) - Out of 2 full length albums, there are only 4 (and one is very clearly a story of named characters - Truly Forgotten). So 3. CGW, Watching Over Me, and Dead to Rights. 3 VERY VERY interesting songs, lyrically. Just take that away, and put it on the side burner, but definitely, take it away.
I digress. Back to CGW - I want you to do me a favour here (a leap of faith, one might say) - make an overarching assumption that there are not only 2 characters in this story. If we do that - this story could be referencing SEVERAL people - 3 or maybe even 4, because “he” could be the writer, or another character entirely, and in the world of lyrics, it could also be BOTH, and “she” could be 1 or more by that same argument. This is the beauty of the choice of pronouns here - because typically one would assume that the writer is the ‘he’ in this case, and the ‘she’ is the love interest (plausible deniability coming back at ya). But that is not the only way to look at this, because the ‘he’ in this story as a few different traits - consider them alone:
“he wants the names of the players in the game to change”
“he’s young in years, but wise in wonderful ways”
“he stokes the flames ‘cause he is amused by the glow”
“holding the answer, he dances for the one he knows”
“his faith in love will last through wind, rain and snow”
I know who I attribute to each of these lines [who do we know who likes to “stoke the flames", for his own amusement, for example], but I’ll leave it to you, as they are, clearly, not referencing the same person...I understand that my tin foil is VERY keenly fitted on my head here, but from the first time I heard this song, I KNEW, I knew in my bones that this was not just about 2 people. This was not a conversation that was happening between a ‘simple’ couple because then WHY would they need to unchain their pillow? Riddle me THAT.
Now, after that fun realization, take the last verse into account
So, I mean, I would think that this would be pretty self explanatory, and again, I mention that this is NOT the first or only reference to this type of statement in RC songs...It’s also not the first reference to ‘Chains’, or less subtly being 'held down’ actually...
All they want is forever, and
All they need is for
Their time together
To be free
To me this song is SCREAMING for freedom/acceptance, for lack of judgement and the ability to just be who the fuck he wants without the cursed opinions of everyone else on the planet. Something that he will most likely never get (unfortunately).
* * * * * * * * *
SO, let’s bring this back around to the Danneel post...in the fucking City Grown Willow jacket...shall we?! I do not think we are in kindergarten math here - and therefore, I’m pretty sure we can all figure out how to put 2 and 2 together - the fact that this clearly POSED picture was taken, by one of the ‘she’s’, in front of a roaring and romantic fire, wearing a sheepskin jacket in OCTOBER (the same one he wore for a video in like 4 feet of snow...you can’t really expect me to believe you needed to be wearing that last night), for a fandom that notices EVERYTHING, the jacket that was used/worn in a video for a song that is about wanting to be FREE of the chains, worn by a man who never wears the same thing twice in ‘public’ for fear of being called out for it...
...so many thoughts...
Both of these men are poets (one literally, and the other, a lyricist), and it is so much fun to watch them battle it out with the mountains of subtext between them...
I personally interpret Misha's "Jesus what is this" from hugging Jensen as Misha's surprise at Jensen's superhero body that he worked out with because he's not used to hugging big and steely Jensen who used to be soft
Misha's expectations for hugging Jensen: he's so soft, look at him. he's always soft. and that hair floofy.
Misha when he hugged Jensen's superhero muscles last night: Jesus what is this 😳😳😳😳
