Essay Help Needed- Masterplan

[The DARK]

Last week in my AP Language class I was assigned a descriptive essay on the topic of my choice, and I decided to try to describe the stories and images in my head that go along with the songs from a My Morning Jacket album. After a good deal of thought I settled on It Still Moves, where the songs seem to have the most vivid imagery. The only song I'm having trouble with is Masterplan.

So I guess that my question is: what kind of mental image do you get with the song and lyrics? Time of day, scene, mood, those sort of things. (I'll post the essay here after I'm done).

[DavidCrosby]

...for some reason I always think of myself on this huge cliff underneath a blanket of stars and when JJ sings, "take me to the start", I just get blown away with everything...

[BH]

Listen to the Rolling Stone acoustic version and see if that gives you any additional inspiration.

[LEATHER KID]

I always think of Jim being at his desk or a classroom doing some serious research on a problem (math equation?) but getting very frustrated when what he thinks is the answer ends up being wrong.  Sounds like a pretty cool essay, can't wait to read it.

[Roscog]

I envision Jim James as a mad scientist with is wild hair standing on end.  The scene is dark with beakers full of green liquid bubbling, a white globe with electricity shooting threw it, lightning and thunder in the distance.  Jim James holding a pencil, looking at a tablet with numbers written all over it, then pacing back and forth, back and forth.
Almost a Young Frankenstein scene.
Good luck.

[DaFunkyPrecedent]

the opening guitar riffs feels like someone (Jim) is waking up - then once the vocals kick in I feel like Jim is preparing for what ever about to take place in his "master plan", like getting dressed, showering etc.  And then it climaxes. The climakes feels the the act taking place, sometimes I think it's marriage proposal or maybe even a break up. (In the song, I can't tell if it's Jim asking someone to be with him, or if he's breaking it off with someone else..?)  Then once it chills outs again it becomes kind of a reflection period.  Jim walking and thinking about what happened....and then once it picks up again it gives me this feeling like everything just makes sense.....whatever happened in his master plan, worked.  

Master Plan,  Steam Engine and Golden are the most visual songs on that album for me.  

[megalicious]

when i hear that song, i think of scenery like this:

[dhollensbe]

Listen to the Rolling Stone acoustic version and see if that gives you any additional inspiration.

Nevermind, found it....

[slimkim]

in my opinion, it is an unrequited love song. so my visual is somewhat dark. someone "voyeuring" the loved one talking of their masterplan. this person is has devious tendencies which is the undertone of the melody and guitar of the song. but it is not proactively exercised. however in the end, tragedy does occur because it is all part of the Masterplan...

if i were to direct the video, i would have this person walkin the streets and around town "voyeuring" the loved one, singing with flashes of a "love" they once had. And at the end, i see maybe a house or car on fire with the singer standing in front of the fire, telling us of the Masterplan...

it ends up being real so sweet.. ahh so sweet.

just my opinion,

slim i am

[aMillionDreams]

I think Masterplan is more straight forward than that.  I think Jim it talking about the master plan of the band.  Years before the song was written the band had a "Masterplan".  I'm pretty sure it stayed on here until the newest version of the website, unless it's still here and I haven't found the new easter egg.  The masterplan was tongue-in-cheek and not at all straightforward but I really think Jim did have a masterplan and it still moves was Jim's "splash" on the scene.  Masterplan was the announcement: here we are and it ain't no mistake either!  

And it's true! Jim was getting offers from major labels for 3 years years before he signed with ATO with complete artistic control.  Not to mention the fact that many of the hits were already written and performed live before At Dawn was even recorded.  One Big Holiday, I Will Sing You Songs, and Just One Thing were all saved, in my eyes, for It Still Moves.  It was the masterplan.

[DavidCrosby]

when i hear that song, i think of scenery like this:

...weird, thats kind of what I always think of too or at least was I was trying to get across before...actual pictures are better than my descriptions...

[getinthevan]

I think Masterplan is more straight forward than that.  I think Jim it talking about the master plan of the band.  Years before the song was written the band had a "Masterplan".  I'm pretty sure it stayed on here until the newest version of the website, unless it's still here and I haven't found the new easter egg.  The masterplan was tongue-in-cheek and not at all straightforward but I really think Jim did have a masterplan and it still moves was Jim's "splash" on the scene.  Masterplan was the announcement: here we are and it ain't no mistake either!  

And it's true! Jim was getting offers from major labels for 3 years years before he signed with ATO with complete artistic control.  Not to mention the fact that many of the hits were already written and performed live before At Dawn was even recorded.  One Big Holiday, I Will Sing You Songs, and Just One Thing were all saved, in my eyes, for It Still Moves.  It was the masterplan.

I'm interested in hearing more about this masterplan you speak of.

[aMillionDreams]

I think Masterplan is more straight forward than that.  I think Jim it talking about the master plan of the band.  Years before the song was written the band had a "Masterplan".  I'm pretty sure it stayed on here until the newest version of the website, unless it's still here and I haven't found the new easter egg.  The masterplan was tongue-in-cheek and not at all straightforward but I really think Jim did have a masterplan and it still moves was Jim's "splash" on the scene.  Masterplan was the announcement: here we are and it ain't no mistake either!  

And it's true! Jim was getting offers from major labels for 3 years years before he signed with ATO with complete artistic control.  Not to mention the fact that many of the hits were already written and performed live before At Dawn was even recorded.  One Big Holiday, I Will Sing You Songs, and Just One Thing were all saved, in my eyes, for It Still Moves.  It was the masterplan.

I'm interested in hearing more about this masterplan you speak of.

I found it.  It's a "battleplan" not a masterplan after all, but whatever:



AS DEVISED BY TWO TONE THOMAS, HERE IS OUR BATTLE PLAN:

"...we should have a show with a huge video screen. each attendee each night will receive a small remote control. we'll program our own version of "Oregon Trail." apple IIe graphics will display the audiences' choices...
we'll lose members to malaria and small pox... or trying to cross the river.
hunting food will retrieve hidden cover songs.... all based on what multiple choice the fans make. we'll have "the Nuge" come out and randomly shoot us with rusty-headed arrows. we'll sing an a capella version of "we built this city (on rock n' roll)" while a 30 foot long old west wagon rises from underneath us and lifts us off into orbit as we become the 2nd band to travel in space (behind Wyld Stallyns of course).

how much is a box of aluminum foil again?"

MIKE LOVE, NOT WAR.....

[getinthevan]

That is awesome.  I miss playing Oregon Trail, I think I'll try to find a free online version or something.  

[Salacious D]

Man, why can you be in *my* class.

I assigned a paper--actually a unit of papers--about music and was hoping and praying someone would write about mmj. . . .All I got was Katy Perry and something about a red jumpsuit apparatus. . . .

[The DARK]

Wanted to make sure that she had done the online plagarism check first before I posted the essay...wouldn't have gone over well if she saw it was taken 100% from an online unprofessional source.  ;)

*WARNING* These are not my direct interpretations of the lyrics. This is just the place that I can picture myself in when I hear the song. Sometimes it comes from the lyrics, others I simply picture from the lyrics. Because this is a descriptive essay, I try to focus on sensory details. Also, I do not distinguish between songs, and for conciseness, Rollin Back, Just One Thing, and One In The Same had to be left out (sadly, as I had great ideas for those, too)



The Bear in the Attic
Music moves us. It has the power to make us feel warm, depressed, excited, confused, thoughtful, angry, or peaceful. In these postmodern times, many people buy albums only as elevator music to their own little world, some background jingle on the radio while driving to work. But for the rest of us, music is not just a gateway to another world; it is that other world, complete with sight, sound, smell, mood, and sentiment. I keep this thought in mind as I get ready to listen to an album from a longtime favorite band of mine.

My Morning Jacket, the band in question, is, in my opinion, one of the best rock bands to come along in years. While they have moved along to exciting new territory with recent albums, this particular album has an overall mood unmatched by any of the others. As I prepare to put the CD in, I take a moment to look down at the cover. It is a photo of a regal-looking bear mannequin at the end of a long, dusty attic. The picture would be iconic even without the humorous and slightly ominous title, It Still Moves. I laugh to myself as I think about how much people who buy albums digitally are missing out on without the actual product.

I casually put the CD in the player, turn off the lights in my compact bedroom, lie down on my bed, and close my eyes as it begins. I am immediately lazing on a summer afternoon as the album kicks off with the words "Sittin here with me and mine, all wrapped up in a bottle of wine." Sunny guitars and drums join as I am pulled further into a scene where I am beckoning to my
woman on a rusty old boat, dreaming as so many others do of escape. The lake seems unnaturally blue and enticing, like the dyed water on a cheap putt-putt course, as we cruise off into the sunset, with the gloriously weaving guitar lines as our only guide.

The scene changes, and I am a rising rock star at one of the best shows I've ever played, in the middle of absolutely nowhere. My band and I take the small stage and the crowd of about 200, mostly at the bar, slowly begins to take notice as we break into a loud country-tinged number. The band plays their heart out, and the highly drunk crowd almost prophetically knows the words by the middle of the song, even without a chorus. We break into a loud jam, and I smile knowingly as a horn section joins in. As predicted, the crowd goes berserk. We quiet down teasingly, and finally bring it all together for a grand finale that gets everyone moshing against the barricade, as the lone security guard wisely slips out the back door. At the afterparty for that show, I am by now extremely sober and singing an impromptu acoustic song only to a few of my closest friends. Almost all of the lights have been turned off, and the bartender is starting to look extremely impatient. Some of my friends join in with something resembling a rhythm section by beating on the table, and I sing to them,
"You, you always told me, no matter how long it holds me,
If it falls apart or makes us millionaires,
You'd be right here forever, go through this thing together,
And on heaven's golden shore we'll lay our heads."

The song melts away, and I find myself lying on the floor in a bedroom cluttered with dulled tour posters, lacking any motive to wake up. I ponder the beginning and end of an old relationship, and notice how they seemed oddly enough to be mirror images of each other. The ring of my outdated telephone breaks my frustrated reverie, and feeling unexpectedly nimble I jump out of bed to answer the phone. On the other line is a record executive, offering my band a major deal. Thrilled, I immediately accept, and soon enough my band and I are writing new songs in a cabin out in the country. We're spending our free time outside playing records, throwing horseshoes, and just having the time of our lives as we kick out the jams. Soon enough, I am in the cabin late at night, playing a song for my girlfriend. Warm air from the crackling fireplace swirls gently around the room as I sing tenderly to her about the greater things in life. Like something out of the Victorian era, I politely gesture to her as we get up and begin to slow dance. The tempo begins to pick up, and soon we are waltzing across the room over the worn bearskin rug, feeling in time with the music like we never have before. It slowly fades out, and we are left embracing in the firelight.

It is now even later at night, around three in the morning. No one should be up at this time, but sure enough, I am at a cheap 24-hour diner out somewhere in the Heartland. The fluorescent lights make the room intrudingly bright, like a high school classroom with no windows, and my keen nose easily picks up at least eight air fresheners somewhere in the diner. From a plastic chair I order a so-called Philly Cheesesteak, which just turns out to be rubbery roast beef with partially melted Kraft American cheese between heavily buttered and lightly toasted white bread. I eye a jukebox off in the corner, which seems indignant at being put in such an undignified room with its colors being put to waste. An older man with a Confederate flag tattooed on his arm puts 50 cents into the machine, and an old country tune wafts from the speakers as I try to enjoy my sandwich.

With a jolt, I am now a prisoner escaping through the dark woods. Uncertain of the success of my breakout, I run as swiftly as I can, tripping over unseen vines and fallen trees but quickly picking myself up off the ground out of fear. Paranoia begins to set in. My imagination tells me that the cops are mere feet behind me, and as something beyond panic sets in, the scene becomes unreal. An entire army is after me, tanks pursue me across through the forest, and I dread the sputter of machine guns at every turn. Suddenly I can see a light at the end of the forest ahead, and I tear towards it, but it is too far away, and the tanks are closing in, and I can hear slobbering hounds inches behind me, and bombs are falling from above, and I realize that I'm not going to make it, and suddenly I burst out into a cornfield and collapse on the ground. After lying on the cool and forgiving peat for some time, I wake up. Though I see no army, terror returns as I remember my situation, and I renew my flight.

And that's when the magic starts. The sun is setting behind thin clouds as I wander into the woods behind a barn. The tall trees ascend far above me as fresh, crisp wind blows through the trunks, while I contemplate the divine and what it truly means to me. As the sun sets and the moon begins to rise, I come to a clearing, I am soaked in the moonlight. What happens next is surreal and beautiful, as only the lyrics can describe:
"To anyone who wondered what old Jebus meant to me,
Take him out to go diving in red Patoka sea.
The brain melts in the twilight with the boar and moving trees.
Your skin looks good in moonlight and God damn those shaky knees.
The fact that my heart's beating is all the proof you need."

As the emotion spills over into glorious climax, it now seems easy to me to take a second meaning from the title It Still Moves. I have noticed from listening to this album many times that the songs are always moving; they change in sound, they change in emotion, and they change in meaning. Because it's not just the music that's dynamic; we, the listeners, are also changing. Nobody will take the same things away from this album that I do. In fact, my own thoughts on these songs may change tomorrow. But as long as it makes me feel something, then My Morning Jacket, the artists, have succeeded.

[Penny Lane]

that's eloquent, dark--you can't get much more descriptive than that.  ;)

[The DARK]

Only got a 75...apparently too "unfocused" and "sprawling".  :-/

But that's supposed to be the feel of the album, isn't it?

[ycartrob]

Only got a 75...apparently too "unfocused" and "sprawling".  :-/

I get the feeling that what you wrote wasn't for a grade anyway, was it? It was for something much greater, deeper, more meaningful. Don't get hung up on someone elses inability to get outsude the box, especially the box of academia, which to some, is their religion.

~ peace ~

[TheBigChicken]

well put Tracy...I WONDER what TEO would have given you my man....knock-knock