First Aid Kit Lion 39;s Roar Meaning
Nella Mcnairy
"And I'm a goddamned coward / but then again so are you," the sisters sing in the song's plaintive chorus. "And the lion's roar, the lion's roar, has me evading and hollering for you / and I never really knew what to do." Those few lines set "The Lion's Roar" apart as more than just a pretty song; it's also a piercing ballad about the pain and frustration of lost love.
'The Lion's Roar' was written during a U.K. tour when we drove through a very dramatic moorland in Scotland. During the tour, we listened a lot to Townes Van Zandt in the car. We were inspired by this mystic scenery, as well as Townes Van Zandt's beautiful melodies. By far our darkest song to date. It was the first song we wrote for the new record, and we chose to name the record after it. 'The Lion's Roar' marked a new stage in our songwriting, and the mystic feeling of this song came to characterize a big part of the new record.
Part of the strength of the lyric is that it makes hints and suggestions without ever tying things down or being really specific. It's very Dylanesque in this sense and also in the vocal phrasing - the way she sings the phrase ends reminds me of Dylan singing North Country Blues (written when Dylan was only 22, which just goes to show that young minds can also run very deep).
I feel the message of the song is a criticism of those who deceive, those who 'preach and pray and teach' , i.e. religious types, who are always anxious to offer facile answers to life's deep questions. Of course they always 'fall short' and the night 'explodes in laughter'. The second verse seems to mock those who try to anchor their philosophy and beliefs in an ever-shifting world, which you simply can't 'command all still'.
Although the song criticises religion, it also expresses understanding and empathy for the natural human weaknesses on which religion feeds. As for the chorus and the 'lion's roar', I think this is the roar of not knowing, the roar of doubt, of loneliness and of being vulnerable in an uncertain world. It's enough to make anyone feel a coward, perhaps even someone of a skeptical turn of mind who in moments of weakness may also be tempted to incline towards easy answers.
The song then seems to talk directly to a person that she wishes was 'more predictable', although I suppose this person may be metaphorical or even allegorical. Actually, I think the song may be about the same boy that she wrote 'Hard Believer ' for. She has said that he was very religious and I think 'the old, old winds blowing you back 'round' is him reverting to his old religious dogma, despite her best efforts to open his mind to other possibilities. Rosemary Hill was an author who wrote God's Architect, a biography about an actual architect. I don't see this reference as directly commenting on the author and book. Rather, I think Rosemary Hill is a beautiful metaphor to describe a place which gives sanctuary from the lion's roar of uncertainty and doubt. She shares her boyfriends fears but, unlike him, won't succumb to surrendering her mind to preachers. But she still loves him and dreams of singing him back to her and away from the deceiving preachers. Yes, the lion's roar is no better than a children's book, just old and dusty scriptures that we've all heard before. They draw their power by invoking the fear and loneliness that lies within us all, conjuring up our human frailty and making us cry 'the lonely wail of a lion's roar'.
It sounds to me like it's a song about perhaps an ex boyfriend, or just someone that she's had a bad relationship with. The lion's roar may be a reference to this persons temper, and the way that she doesn't know what is going to be brought out from the rage. At the end it sounds like she leaves him/her, considering their attitude to be childish, hence the last line referring to the lions roar as a children's tale.
This song confuses me as I also agree about the religion reference. But on the second verse it sounds like shes talking about someone she loves but can never have. That shes a fool and coward to not have him but still love him.Lions roar could be the pain roaring inside about the love thats lost.
it's about church, religion, etc. how it can alter/damage the world/person. she's bitter. jesus is often considered "the lion" searching for her rosemary hill...is a reference to an actual person...rosemary hill is the author of "god's architect" so yeah, basically...mad at the church for giving them the wrong answers.
In my haste I see I misinterpreted the fist verse: The "pale morning sings of forgotten things" about nature's reality. She "plays a tune for those who wish to overlook" her reality, to those who've been "blindly deceived by those who preach and pray and teach". But "she falls short", unable to enlighten and "the night explodes in laughter" - the night being the darkness of ignorance.
The "Lion's Roar" and the religious interpretations in this song, my first song in the context of the song where she sings "I'm a -God damn- coward" ...... there's the verse in the Bible about Satan roaming around like a roaring lion (barks but can't bite) looking for (the coward who takes the bate) the one to devour.
Leo the Lion is the mascot for the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of its predecessors, Goldwyn Pictures. The logo was created by artist Lionel S. Reiss, who served as art director at Paramount Pictures.[1]
Since 1917, and through the time the studio was formed by the merger of Samuel Goldwyn's studio with Marcus Loew's Metro Pictures and Louis B. Mayer's company in 1924, several different lions have been used for the MGM logo.
Although MGM has referred to all of the lions used in their trademark as "Leo the Lion", only the lion in use since 1957 was actually named "Leo". In 2021, MGM debuted a new CGI logo which features a lion partially based on Leo. This version of the logo remains in use as of 2023 by Amazon MGM Studios under its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer label, mainly for film productions following their acquisition of the studio in 2022.
The lion was chosen as the company's mascot in 1916 by publicist Howard Dietz, as a tribute to his alma mater Columbia University, whose mascot is a lion. Dietz was most directly inspired by the university's fight song, "Roar, Lion, Roar".[2] Names of the first two lions used for the Goldwyn Pictures logos are unknown.
Slats,[3] trained by Volney Phifer, was the first lion used in the branding of the newly formed studio. Born at the Dublin Zoo[4] on March 20, 1919, and originally named Cairbre[5] (Irish for 'charioteer'[6]), Slats was used on all black-and-white MGM films between 1924 and 1928. The first MGM film that used the logo was He Who Gets Slapped (1924).
Unlike his successors, Slats did nothing but look around in the logo, making him the only MGM lion not to roar. However, it is rumored that Phifer trained the lion to growl on cue, despite the fact that synchronized sound would not be used in motion pictures until 1927.
Slats died in 1936 when he was 17. At that time Phifer retired to his farm in Gillette, New Jersey, where he kept other animals used on Broadway. Upon his death, Phifer buried the lion on his farm and placed a plain block of granite to mark the grave. Later, Phifer planted a pine tree directly above the grave so that the roots would "hold down the lions spirit", replacing the granite block.[2]
In addition to the MGM logo, Jackie also appeared in over a hundred films, including the Tarzan film series that starred Johnny Weissmuller. Jackie also appeared alongside a clearly apprehensive Greta Garbo in a famous 1926 MGM publicity still. A short 1933 film of a very annoyed Jackie receiving a bath from trainer Mel Koontz also exists. The lion is also known for surviving several accidents, including two train wrecks, a sinking ship, a 1933 earthquake, and an explosion in the studio. The most notable accident was a plane crash. On September 16, 1927, Martin "Marty" Jenson was hired to fly Jackie cross-country. The airplane was a B-1 Brougham airplane, a modified version of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Installed behind the pilot's seat was a glass enclosed iron bar cage. The plane took off from Camp Kearny Airfield, near San Diego. However, the plane was overweight as Jackie weighed 350 pounds (160 kg). The excessive weight caused the plane to go down in the mountains near Payson, Arizona. Both Jenson and Jackie survived the crash and for four days subsisted on sandwiches, milk and water that were on board the plane. After being rescued, a thin and weak Jackie was returned to MGM and he was well cared for by his handlers for the rest of his life. Due to surviving these accidents, Jackie received the nickname "Leo the Lucky".[8]
In 1931, Jackie went on a farewell tour and subsequently retired to the Philadelphia Zoo. Jackie was reportedly quite tame and gentle and liked people. On February 25, 1935, Jackie was found dead by his zookeeper John McCullen. The cause of his death was attributed to heart issues. What happened to Jackie after his death is unknown. It was once rumored he was flown to Los Angeles and preserved by a taxidermist named Thomas Hodges and then sent to McPherson, Kansas. This theory has been proven false through extensive research by McPherson Museum and Arts Foundation curator, Brett Whitenack.
Footage of the first lion is very rare, although a few frames of the logo with this lion exist in the public domain. He is known to have appeared in the silent color films Buffalo Bill's Last Fight (1927) and The Heart of General Robert E. Lee (1928). The former gave him the nickname Bill, while the latter is currently being restored by the Library of Congress.
The second lion, Telly, appeared on color MGM movies between 1928 and 1932.[9] An extended version of the logo featuring Telly appears at the beginning of the film The Viking (1928), featuring the lion having the same roar as Jackie. In current prints of The Mysterious Island (1929), Telly appears in black and white because the color version is lost.
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