You hear that, Limeys? I have a levis T-Shirt i bought last summer with this quote on it as well as a skull on what looks like a table of alchemist shop of potions and ancient scribed text. Saiki, could this indicate that this is a bizarre viral sort of sentence, one that is permeating every aspect of our human culture? Or is Levis printing merchandising for the band Stars? Great Caesar's ghost. This query will haunt me for the rest of my days.
I have stumbled upon your blog while also searching for the origin of the phrase. Quite like you, I also came across the Stars song by chance and I would like to use the quote for an art piece. It really does sound so familiar. It's been eating away at my soul, I feel your pain. It should not be this hard, should it, elyzabeth? Ah well. I have just about decided it was something they wrote for the purposes of the song.
But how strange that two people within days of one another should accidentally seek out this lyric on ma' 'blog. Did they re-air the appropriate episode of the OC that purportedly features Stars?
I also found your page searching for the origin of the quote, haha. I've loved this quote since I first heard it. I always imagined the monk who set himself on fire, Thich Quang Duc. It makes me think just of self sacrifice. I'm not an actress, though, nor am I in any sort of theatre. I'm just rambling philosopher stuck on the internet.
Hi, I too found your blog trying to figure out the origin of the sentence. I have some weird idea that it has something to do with the Dalai Lama, but that might be because of the image of a monk self-immolating that I associate this quote with. Good luck figuring it out! Holley: Just? Where would the internet be without you? Self-sacrifice is certainly a strong suggestion in the introduction; odd that the song doesn't seem to return to it in the lyrics.
Ashley: I am way too much a wuss to get it tattooed on my chest, but kudos to you for your tatt'. I like the suggestion in the quote that one should never give up. But please: do not ever get drunk and take your tattoo as helpful literal instruction! Pomog: Is that Thich Quang Duc to whom you refer? I think of the cover of the first Rage Against the Machine album, first thing, then remember the cause behind his sacrifice. The last thing that song seems to be about is the arbitrary injustice and inhumanity of war.
Still a great song, though. Dude amazing post! Added you to RSS so i can finish reading it later. Just wanted to let you know my roomate and I were debating where this came from, and I stumbled upon your blog.
Our guess was the book Farenheit by Ray Bradbury. Guess we were wrong! Thanks much, Sam! Yeah, I just read F, and it ain't in there. Judging by the period of time over which I've gotten responses from complete strangers since posting this, I'm guessing now that the band wrote those words.
Or the actor-father? DAG, I say! Like everyone else, I've been wondering about the source of that quote. They in turn contacted someone closely connected to Stars to resolve the question. The answer is - Torquil Campbell. Although it sounds like a classic literary quote, it was in fact written by the lead singer and the recording was done by Torquil's father.
GeorgeW, sir, to you off goes my hat. Seriously: I am profoundly affected today by having this question answered. Also: I kind of figured as much at this point, what with how dead-end my and others' searches have been.
But now I'm looking up "Q," and will likely become a huge fan. Please tell them I said you're owed a commission. Now there's nothing left to lose! Everyone: Set yourselves afire! Hi, I dont mean to dig up anything that has been long buried, BUT I found something interesting after researching a song by mewithoutYou called - The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate, which ends in - "Our beloved's not dead, but his highness instead, has been utterly changed into fire.
This close to 'set yourself on fire'. Im not questioning that Stars wrote this, but I think its really close to this quote and may have had some influence on the its construction.
Just thought I would bring it to the table for future readers. I continue to be amazed at how this quote attracts curiosity. I wonder if the band could have expected such a response? SetOnFire, you offer some interesting influences. I'm inclined to believe the concept of setting one's self alight appeals to us on some level. Then again, sacrifice is really the point, isn't it? Just so, Cynthia. Popular music can survive centuries, so it's nice to know at least some of it is trying to say something beautifully.
Wow i didnt know others would be looking for meaning in the same quote. What I wonder, Jeremy, is if the band knew what an incredible imaginative force they were creating in their audience by this line. I can imagine some producer or other asking them to "leave that part off" because it might come across as too dramatic or self-conscious.
If so, I'm glad they didn't listen. As to the quote's meaning, one thing that's clear from the responses I've gotten over time is that it means different, important things to different people.
I think that's one of the best results an artist can hope for. SO happy I'm not alone in thinking it's pretty powerful sentiment, no matter the true meaning. ALso, if you haven't yet, make sure to share this song. It's a kind of little blessing to me that so many people have been drawn to my little 'blog here in search of more information about this line, Inez. Thanks for adding to that. Hopefully we're adding to The Stars' resources to write resonant words, one fan at a time.
I also have read a little about this quote over the internet. Each of the songs featured on the album is a remix of older songs, and the titles are all followed by some sort of explanation for the mix. The third song on the album is called "Set Yourself on Fire Montag " It's probably nothing, but interesting nonetheless.
I am a painter and i'm always on the quest for perfection - the perfect picture. For there is nothing else that satisfies. I agree, Oliver Holden of Oliver Holden fame. There's a quote from "Letters to a Young Poet" of which I'm fond that saw me through some of the more trying episodes of being a young, broke actor in NYC: "I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.
Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. I shall copy it out to my studio diary.
Certainly i shall find myself returning to it often. I am a man who rarely tires of query, only now i shall approach such questions with a new appreciation. Kind Regards, A young, broke artist. I'm another random Internet wanderer, who stumbled upon you blog as I was looking for information about this quote. I don't listen to Stars often, but that song and the quote constantly pop into my mind at random times.
To me, it's always meant that when you're truly tired of your life and the direction that it's going, you have to remove or change burn everything in it. And after that's done, the final step is to burn away whatever it is within you that's keeping you from being who you want to be.
If you don't carry out that last step, then all will be for naught. I was thinking along the same lines as Lewis.
I always understood the opening line to be a reminder that, if we are unhappy with our circumstances, we cannot constantly blame our surroundings. At some point "when there's nothing left to burn" , we need to look inwards and acknowledge we are responsible for our experiences accept the blame and "set ourselves on fire".
I think this interpretation might even fit in with the story line of the song. She can only blame herself for the situation. I also love Lea Maria's interpretation. Am incredibly impressed the dialogue over such a simple line has lived on for so many years!
I would have never guessed the band or the singer's father originally authored this quote. True art. Here's an odd one for you. I had never heard the song by The Stars, nor come across this quote anywhere else I recently saw it as a tattoo on someone's back in a YouTube video - search "James Frehn's Wicked Game" , but nonetheless, I said something very similar toward the end of the Temple Burn at Burning Man in The burning of the Temple takes place on the final day, Sunday, of Burning Man, ostensibly for some, marking the close of the event; at the very least, in spirit for virtually all others in attendance.
We were solemnly sitting on the dusty playa, watching the embers wane, when an overwhelming feeling swelled within me.
I've since struggled to put the feeling into words; "pure joy" or "ultimate bliss" are the closest I've come to doing so. The feeling steadily rose within, and it soon felt as though the very feeling itself had physically manifested and was radiating outward, from my every pore. Contrary to my struggle to find adequate words for the feeling, the physical sensation it created was immediately apparent.
I stood, stoic for a short moment, looked around at the faces surrounding me, wildly agaze at the receding flames of the Temple, raised my arms high and screamed to my capacity, "There's nothing more to burn! So let's burn ourselves!! I was compelled to begin dancing in my spot, my arms waving and weaving frantically over my head, as that of flames of a fire licking the starry sky above.
Others began to rise from the dry lakebed of Black Rock City, equally compelled to dance, with arms raised and rocking to the unheard beat of the fire that was burning within us all. An audible beat soon rose with the crowd, courtesy of a nearby artcar, blasting a perfect, bassful accompaniment that fueled the fiery frenzy growing around me.
Seemingly hundreds of us continued to dance, continued to flame, well into the night. It was a night I shall never forget; it was the night I was burned alive, and lived to rejoice it. I very, very clearly now owe The Stars some royalties of some 'bloggish kind. Thank you, Lewis, KT and Klozit. Part of what's so fascinating to me about all this curiosity in the line is that it reminds me of the ways different actors can interpret what is ostensibly the same role.
Sometimes it seems to me that there is no better or worse way to create a new thing, only a degree of fullness to which one can achieve. Thanks again, with great fullness. Hello there, I really enjoyed reading this. I especially like the way you end off, saying that music is whatever we want it to be at that moment.
Maybe i found this three years too late. Ive always wondered what that opening line meant. Thank you, for making known your take on this. Many many years later, don't know if you have a real answer yet but I was just search the internets this morning and from what I can find its attributed to Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Or at least thats what wikiquote shall have us believe. I have loved this song Your Ex-Lover is Dead and I must admit the opening line has haunted me as well.
On a side note I just finished reading "The Hunger Games" series, and it feels like this song was written for the main character of the book. Not sure if anyone else has made the connection but both the book and the song are great! I adore the song, and have also been looking for the source of the quote. I think it's supposed to be an allusion to Jan Palach, a Czechoslovakian student who set himself on fire in protest of Soviet occupation during the Prague Spring.
I think he was one of the first people to resort to self-immolation as a means of protest. I also believe Torquil Campbell, lead singer of The Stars wrote the line himself. I certainly can't be sure if the line is actually supposed to allude to Palach, but it seems probable.
Hope that helped! Stumbled across this blog like everyone, hadn't heard the song in years and as soon as I heard the first line went looking for its source. Guess its just one of those phrases that grabs everyones attentions. Thanks everyone for all the hard work and research! U are all wrong. Its not meant to be taken literally. If all fails u must destroy urself within. A fresh start. I really like the song, but what does the quote mean? Or, at least what does it mean to you? What is When there's nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire from?
I set fire to a trashcan in school bathroom? Okay, so basically I found a lighter in the bathroom stall and I took a paper and started to play with it burned paper in the school bathroom, during break.
A friend came in and said 'that would be such a cool picture' so I light another paper for her What are some words that discribe begin completlly burn by fire until nothing is left? Scorched, consumed, charred are words that describe begin completely burn by fire until nothing is left Who said "when there is nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire?
Who originally sings "Such Great Heights? Who originally sings Santa baby? Who first said the line "Imperfectly perfect? Best solution Who originally said "when there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire"? I have heard this saying a few times now, and I just can't find who said it first.
Help please. Other solutions Who said 'when there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire'?
0コメント