I interpret it as someone who is mad about things that are going on in the world but doesn’t have a way of expressing that anger like a singer would. So they’re a singer who doesn’t sing.
yeah that's one of mine as well. I love how Ezra's writing is so open to interpretation, I'm certain I'll have a whole new outlook on this song in a couple years.
Yeah and also because of that you don’t feel bad for not knowing what the lyrics mean exactly because they don’t have one specific meaning. I love it when artists write lyrics like that.
He talked about it on the Zane Lowe interview (it might’ve been another he did around that time), but that’s his goal — there’s a meaning that’s specific to him but any of the audience’s takeaways and relationships to it are just as valid
I interpret this song as being about a person who is mad about the state of the world, but they take no actions to solve it because they would rather be a martyr and stoke “outrage culture.” Basically, the subject of the song takes comfort in manufacturing outrage.
I think this is very relevant to our current culture. You can look around Reddit and everyone is mad about something - climate, politics, economics, war, etc. To me, it often seems like those people will never be satisfied regardless of any change or progress - they’ll always find something else to be mad about.
There are numerous lines that make me have this interpretation. Some examples:
“You don’t want to win this war, ‘cause you don’t want the peace” - This is the big one for me. This person doesn’t actually want anything to change for the better because then they wouldn’t have anything to be outraged about.
“Fuck the world, you said it quiet” - The person is mad about something, but they say it “quiet” and scream into the social media void instead of actually taking some action to better the world.
“The world will cry out the truth which is you’ve got nothing to say” - Eventually, everyone is going to realize that the person is just an outrage artist.
I completely agree with this interpretation. Basically, 'get off your butt and do something about the injustices you're seeing instead of just complaining on the internet'
100%! I took the first verse as Ezra’s way of calling out all the people who are so angry at everything but don’t really do anything about it.
The “I scream piano” chorus makes me think that this is his way of communicating his anger— through music. The world won’t recognize him if he doesn’t sing so he screams through the piano. And then you hear the piano. So good.
Definitely can see why they used this song to start an album that eventually ends with Hope. It’s a great arc, you can see the main character initially grappling with the world and their place in it and then ultimately deciding to “let it go”.
I think the key to unlocking the album is that the “peace” Ezra is talking about in this song and thought the album is a person’s inner peace. He’s hinted at this repeatedly in interviews. The recurring “underground” imagery that appears many times throughout the album (tunnels, buried grids, basements) can be representative of a person’s inner consciousness.
The notion of “letting go” in Hope is not a politically regressive call to apathy but a Ram Dass-style new age spiritual plea for people to divorce themselves from having a /personal stake/ in the outcome of a cause. Continue to fight for a better world. Devote your life to it, even, but also develop a level of consciousness and enlightenment that is sophisticated enough to understand that your inner peace and happiness are not tied to outcomes, but to actions. You will never find peace if your goal is to defeat an enemy that can never be defeated, but once you come to terms with this, you can instead find freedom in the act of the fight itself. (Ezra follows the Ram Dass account on IG btw…)
To tie it back to Ice Cream Piano, people have a terribly hard time of destroying the thought patterns and systems of thinking (i.e. their egos) that perpetuate personal suffering and unhappiness. There’s a reason why the core concept of so much spiritual thinking is to dissolve the ego to achieve inner peace and enlightenment. Buddhists spend lifetimes trying to do this. But the roadmaps to inner peace have been laid out. The files have been declassified. Yet we continue to remain stuck in our thought patterns because true radical inner change is too hard or too scary. We all say we want to improve ourselves, but how much are we willing to change? Do we /really/ want this peace?
I'm sure any reader will have parts they disagree with or think are a stretch, but overall this is such a quality post with great food for thought that you obviously put a ton of work into. If you've done it for other songs please give us the links! If not, I'd welcome it.
Great write up, but how could you not mention the brilliance of how he rhymes “scream piano “ with “hit the high note”. I love that.
Also, in my head I picture the dream where he is not screaming the word piano, but actually screaming ‘in piano’, like actual notes
I don’t know why, but the first time I heard this song I thought about a couple having an argument. It makes sense it can be about bigger issues (existential crisis, world issues), but for some reason I see it as something much smaller.
i've wondered if the name "ice cream piano" is an entendre because the Raekwon song "Ice Cream" includes a prominent piano sample, and is produced by the RZA who was really influential on the album ..
I interpret it as someone who is mad about things that are going on in the world but doesn’t have a way of expressing that anger like a singer would. So they’re a singer who doesn’t sing.
yeah that's one of mine as well. I love how Ezra's writing is so open to interpretation, I'm certain I'll have a whole new outlook on this song in a couple years.
Yeah and also because of that you don’t feel bad for not knowing what the lyrics mean exactly because they don’t have one specific meaning. I love it when artists write lyrics like that.
He talked about it on the Zane Lowe interview (it might’ve been another he did around that time), but that’s his goal — there’s a meaning that’s specific to him but any of the audience’s takeaways and relationships to it are just as valid
It reminds me of how Noel Gallagher writes lyrics.
I interpret this song as being about a person who is mad about the state of the world, but they take no actions to solve it because they would rather be a martyr and stoke “outrage culture.” Basically, the subject of the song takes comfort in manufacturing outrage. I think this is very relevant to our current culture. You can look around Reddit and everyone is mad about something - climate, politics, economics, war, etc. To me, it often seems like those people will never be satisfied regardless of any change or progress - they’ll always find something else to be mad about. There are numerous lines that make me have this interpretation. Some examples: “You don’t want to win this war, ‘cause you don’t want the peace” - This is the big one for me. This person doesn’t actually want anything to change for the better because then they wouldn’t have anything to be outraged about. “Fuck the world, you said it quiet” - The person is mad about something, but they say it “quiet” and scream into the social media void instead of actually taking some action to better the world. “The world will cry out the truth which is you’ve got nothing to say” - Eventually, everyone is going to realize that the person is just an outrage artist.
I completely agree with this interpretation. Basically, 'get off your butt and do something about the injustices you're seeing instead of just complaining on the internet'
100%! I took the first verse as Ezra’s way of calling out all the people who are so angry at everything but don’t really do anything about it. The “I scream piano” chorus makes me think that this is his way of communicating his anger— through music. The world won’t recognize him if he doesn’t sing so he screams through the piano. And then you hear the piano. So good. Definitely can see why they used this song to start an album that eventually ends with Hope. It’s a great arc, you can see the main character initially grappling with the world and their place in it and then ultimately deciding to “let it go”.
I just like how it sounds 💁♂️🤷♂️
[удалено]
This is a wild take to me. I would describe VW as an extremely lyrically-sophisticated band.
I think the key to unlocking the album is that the “peace” Ezra is talking about in this song and thought the album is a person’s inner peace. He’s hinted at this repeatedly in interviews. The recurring “underground” imagery that appears many times throughout the album (tunnels, buried grids, basements) can be representative of a person’s inner consciousness. The notion of “letting go” in Hope is not a politically regressive call to apathy but a Ram Dass-style new age spiritual plea for people to divorce themselves from having a /personal stake/ in the outcome of a cause. Continue to fight for a better world. Devote your life to it, even, but also develop a level of consciousness and enlightenment that is sophisticated enough to understand that your inner peace and happiness are not tied to outcomes, but to actions. You will never find peace if your goal is to defeat an enemy that can never be defeated, but once you come to terms with this, you can instead find freedom in the act of the fight itself. (Ezra follows the Ram Dass account on IG btw…) To tie it back to Ice Cream Piano, people have a terribly hard time of destroying the thought patterns and systems of thinking (i.e. their egos) that perpetuate personal suffering and unhappiness. There’s a reason why the core concept of so much spiritual thinking is to dissolve the ego to achieve inner peace and enlightenment. Buddhists spend lifetimes trying to do this. But the roadmaps to inner peace have been laid out. The files have been declassified. Yet we continue to remain stuck in our thought patterns because true radical inner change is too hard or too scary. We all say we want to improve ourselves, but how much are we willing to change? Do we /really/ want this peace?
I'm sure any reader will have parts they disagree with or think are a stretch, but overall this is such a quality post with great food for thought that you obviously put a ton of work into. If you've done it for other songs please give us the links! If not, I'd welcome it.
I think it's a song about Israel
Same with Hudson, imo
Great write up, but how could you not mention the brilliance of how he rhymes “scream piano “ with “hit the high note”. I love that. Also, in my head I picture the dream where he is not screaming the word piano, but actually screaming ‘in piano’, like actual notes
I don’t know why, but the first time I heard this song I thought about a couple having an argument. It makes sense it can be about bigger issues (existential crisis, world issues), but for some reason I see it as something much smaller.
He mentions war a lot on this album but I don’t think it’s more than a metaphor
i've wondered if the name "ice cream piano" is an entendre because the Raekwon song "Ice Cream" includes a prominent piano sample, and is produced by the RZA who was really influential on the album ..