Codeine released their first album Frigid Stars on the German label Glitterhouse in 1990. The album was released on Sub Pop the following year.
Their second release, the Barely Real EP was issued in 1992. Immerwahr rejected several of the songs after the recording session. Some of these songs were re-recorded for the final album. The song w. is a solo performance on piano by David Grubbs (of Bastro, Squirrel Bait and Gastr del Sol). A somewhat different full-band version of the song appears on Codeine's next album, but titled Wird.
Brokaw left the band after the release of Barely Real to play full-time with his other band Come. He was replaced by Douglas Scharin of the band Rex.
Codeine's next and final release was the full-length album The White Birch, released in 1994. David Grubbs also participated on the album. After this release the band broke up. Stephen Immerwahr has since then been playing with the band Raymond, while Douglas Scharin continued in June of 44 and later HiM.
The band reformed in May 2012 for a Mogwai-curated ATP I'll Be Your Mirror in London. They played their final reunion show in July 2012 in New York.
Castle
Codeine Lyrics
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The walls go up for miles
There's a tower
You can see everything
But she shows you nothing
You can see everything
See up to heaven
But the TV's somehow wrong
Nothing seems to fit
Everything that's good is hid
She's the king in Wittgenstein's world
She's the king in Wittgenstein's world
There's a castle
In her heart
Where she keeps everything...
Apart
The walls go up for miles
The walls go up for miles
The lyrics to Codeine's song "Castle" convey a sense of emotional distance and isolation. The opening lines, "There's a castle in her heart/The walls go up for miles," suggest a sense of guardedness and protectiveness. The image of a castle, with its thick walls and strategic defenses, evokes a sense of emotional fortress, indicating that the person being described is guarded and wary of emotional intrusion.
The lyrics suggest that the person being described is closed off to others, with lines such as "But she shows you nothing/You can see everything." Despite being able to see into her world from a distance, there is still a sense of not being able to truly connect with her. There is also a sense of disconnection from the world around her, with descriptions of a misplaced TV and a feeling that "everything that's good is hid."
The reference to Wittgenstein's world is an interesting one, as it may suggest a philosophical approach to emotional distance and isolation. Ludwig Wittgenstein was a philosopher who wrote extensively about the nature of language, meaning, and reality. His work often focused on the limitations of language and the way in which our perceptions are shaped by our understanding of the world around us. The idea of being the "king" in Wittgenstein's world could be seen as a reference to the isolation and detachment that can arise from philosophical inquiry, as if the person being described is so caught up in their own intellectual world that they are cut off from the more emotional realities of life.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a castle in her heart
She has a deeply ingrained emotional protectiveness that shields her innermost thoughts and feelings
The walls go up for miles
Her emotional defensiveness is extensive and insurmountable
There's a tower
The grandeur of her emotional fortification is noticeable and magnificent
You can see everything
You can observe her defenses in their entirety
But she shows you nothing
She hides her true self behind the walls
See up to heaven
You can glimpse the majestic height of her emotional detachment
And there's a couch
There is a place of comfort within her fortress of solitude
But the TV's somehow wrong
She cannot find contentment within the things she uses to make herself feel comfortable
Nothing seems to fit
The things that should make sense within her life do not align correctly
Everything that's good is hid
Any happiness or goodness she feels is shielded within the walls of her emotional fortress
She's the king in Wittgenstein's world
She has control over the logic and meaning of her own intellectual and emotional constructs
There's a castle
The fortress that she has built up around her is significant and impenetrable
In her heart
Her emotional core is where she centered her fortress of solitude
Where she keeps everything...
She stores her past, present, and future within the confines of her emotional barriers
Apart
It is separated from anything that could cause her emotional pain or discomfort
The walls go up for miles
Her emotional walls are expansive and infinite in extent
Contributed by Nolan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.