Le Bon is singled out by critics for her "beautiful, haunting voice". She described writing and performing music as "important to me, it's just an expression and sometimes it's not necessary to moralise it". Le Bon claimed that "early experiences with a string of pet deaths had a profound lasting effect on me" and informed her initial self-admitted "abnormal fixation with death". She describes her lyric writing as "foraging for [the right] words and then everything falls into place".
Mother's Mother's Magazines
Cate le Bon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Equal coin, not equivocal dime
Leaflet drop in the courtyard
Call and divide
Mother's, mother's magazines
Dry on the bedside
Never before dreamed (dreamed)
Did not see the comedy
Of decline before
Arrest this house
(Form a) Form a decoy
Endless sport and riveted wives
(You may) You may aim high but lay low, low low
Call and reply
Mother's, mother's magazines
Dry on the bedside
Oh, show me
Never before dreamed (dreamed)
Assembly lines, they took her name
The lyrics of Cate le Bon's song "Mother's Mother's Magazines" convey vivid imagery of domesticity and despair. The lyrics invite us to take a closer look at the mundane objects around us, like magazines, and how they might hold a deeper meaning for those who consume them. The first stanza seems to suggest a call to action, an encouragement to take things outside and not settle for a compromise (an equivocal dime). The second line refers to the distribution of leaflets in the courtyard, possibly a political act. The theme of activism continues with the phrase "call and divide," which could be interpreted as a prompt to form communities and take action to create change.
The chorus of the song, "Mother's, mother's magazines, dry on the bedside, never before dreamed," could be a metaphor for the women who subscribe to these magazines. Perhaps they exist in a state of boredom and unfulfilled potential, their dreams never realized. The next lines of the song suggest that these women were not able to see the humor in their own decline before, implying that they now see the irony in their situation.
The second verse starts with a demand to "arrest this house," followed by a suggestion to "form a decoy" and engage in endless sport and riveted wives. The last line of the verse, "You may aim high but lay low, low low, call and reply," seems to suggest that while these women may strive for something more, they are still bound by the expectations placed upon them. The song ends on a hopeful note with the chorus once more, suggesting that perhaps there is still room for these women to dream anew.
Line by Line Meaning
Take it out, take it outside
Remove something from its current location and move it to the outside
Equal coin, not equivocal dime
Two items have the same value, not just one item that may have different interpretations
Leaflet drop in the courtyard
Flyers or pamphlets delivered to an open area surrounded by buildings
Call and divide
Summon others and split into smaller groups as needed
Mother's, mother's magazines
Publications owned by the mother and grandmother
Dry on the bedside
The magazines are lacking in new and exciting content
Never before dreamed (dreamed)
The content of the magazines has become unimaginative
Did not see the comedy
Fail to notice the humor of the situation
Of decline before
The gradual decrease or deterioration has not been previously observed
Arrest this house
Stop the activity or behavior in this residence
(Form a) Form a decoy
Create a diversion to distract attention away from something else
Endless sport and riveted wives
Repetitive games and wives who are fully engaged in the activity
(You may) You may aim high but lay low, low low
It is okay to have high ambitions, but it is also important to remain humble and grounded
Call and reply
A style of singing or communication where one person initiates and another responds
Oh, show me
Express a desire to see something
Assembly lines, they took her name
The process of mass production depersonalized and standardized her name
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Written by: Cate Timothy
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@gchowizard.7078
Best video ever.
to be able to see the player of each part
and the mastermind behind it all
@seablue5
This track is a bit of fun to listen to.
@medianexchanges
she is Welsh and true
@angelmc6268
What’s the meaning of mother’s mother’s magazines?
@Queen-of-Swords
Reminds me of Sparks for some reason. ITs OK. I wouldn't buy it.
@Plarocks
I did. 😁
@markm668
I can't decide if this is pretentious or shite, I suspect both?
@alekseycalvin534
Maybe yes, maybe not... But why? In any case, I expect some people would appreciate to see less labels being thrown around, but more efforts to Understand where everyone's coming from. Countless people love this music. When they hear it, some might smile and say, "Yes! This is what I've been looking for!" Would you discredit all of them, call them "pretentious" and their mode of appreciation "shite" next to your comparatively enlightened ear? So, if you make such judgements, please ground them; maybe note some aesthetic criteria beyond sheer impression. Yes, you are free to express your opinion and this is an open forum. However, I would urge you to imagine that as you're "shitting" on something in your moment of righteous distaste, maybe assuming your take will be shared by some like-minded listeners (and I suspect it is), that there are also Other listeners, who may hear something in this music that you presently don't hear or relate to. I'm certain that there are people out there to whom this music is important. To whom it means the world. And by putting down this music (and everything it connects to) so sweepingly, you also implicitly put down something that you have no idea about and which is important to many people. Just as those people might not have any idea about what's important to you. Is it not better then to find common ground? Isn't common ground typically just a few steps away? I know it's gratifying to express one's outrages (in a way I'm expressing mine now), but is it not more productive to express it in such a way as to not cut bridges? To compulsively uncompromisingly discredit something just because one doesn't like it seldom results in more things that one likes. In this case, it might not only bring down the artists in the video (whom I'm also just discovering), but could also discourage other artists out there (ones who might indeed like this music) from making music at all, music that you may one day like. But if you made your criticism constructive and well-grounded, or else focused on positives, then you might even affect what you hear in the future. So, what do You like then? What's Not "shite" to you? What's Not pretentious?
@TheNightmare75II
Neither. But you, in fact, are both.