The Combine
John Maus Lyrics
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I see the combine coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
Coming, coming, coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
I see the combine coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
The song "The Combine" by John Maus reflects on the state of society and the impact of technology on our daily lives. The combine is a reference to the heavy machinery used in agriculture to harvest crops, but in this context, it also represents the looming threat of technology and its destructive power. The opening lines, "I see the combine coming, It's gonna dust us all to nothing" suggest that technology is slowly but surely taking over and reducing us to nothingness. It is like a gathering storm that is inevitable and cannot be avoided.
This overwhelming force of technology is emphasized by the repetition of the phrase "coming, coming, coming" which creates a feeling of urgency and inevitability. The lyrics also suggest that technology is something that we cannot escape from, as it will ultimately consume us all. The use of the word "dust" is also significant as it implies that we will disintegrate and become insignificant in the face of this unstoppable force. Overall, the song is a commentary on the power and widespread impact of technology on society and how it is transforming our existence into something bleak and hopeless.
Line by Line Meaning
I see the combine coming
I can see the ominous force of the combine approaching
Coming, coming, coming
The combine's arrival is imminent, it's coming closer and closer
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
The combine will obliterate everything and reduce us to nothing
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
The combine will erase all traces of our existence and reduce us to dust
I see the combine coming
I am acutely aware of the danger that the combine poses and cannot escape its impending arrival
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: John Maus
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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In 1826 in Scotland, the inventor Reverend Patrick Bell designed (but did not patent) a reaper machine, which used the scissors principle of plant cutting – a principle that is still used today. The Bell machine was pushed by horses. A few Bell machines were available in the United States. In 1835, in the United States, Hiram Moore built and patented the first combine harvester, which was capable of reaping, threshing and winnowing cereal grain. Early versions were pulled by horse, mule or ox teams. In 1835, Moore built a full-scale version with a length of 5.2 m (17 ft), cut width of 4.57 m (15 ft) and by 1839, over 20 ha (50 acres) of crops were harvested. This combine harvester was pulled by 20 horses fully handled by farmhands. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. By 1860, combine harvesters with a cutting, or swathe, width of several metres were used on American farms.
A parallel development in Australia saw the development of the stripper based on the Gallic stripper, by John Ridley and others in South Australia by 1843. The stripper only gathered the heads, leaving the stems in the field. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. The stripper and later headers had the advantage of less moving parts and only collecting heads, requiring less power to operate. Refinements by Hugh Victor McKay produced a commercially successful combine harvester in 1885, the Sunshine Header-Harvester.
Combines, some of them quite large, were drawn by mule or horse teams and used a bullwheel to provide power. Later, steam power was used, and George Stockton Berry integrated the combine with a steam engine using straw to heat the boiler. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. At the turn of the twentieth century, horse drawn combines were starting to be used on the American plains and Idaho (often pulled by teams of twenty or more horses).
In 1911, the Holt Manufacturing Company of California produced a self-propelled harvester. In Australia in 1923, the patented Sunshine Auto Header was one of the first center-feeding self-propelled harvesters. In 1923 in Kansas, the Baldwin brothers and their Gleaner Manufacturing Company patented a self-propelled harvester that included several other modern improvements in grain handling. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. Both the Gleaner and the Sunshine used Fordson engines; early Gleaners used the entire Fordson chassis and driveline as a platform. In 1929, Alfredo Rotania of Argentina patented a self-propelled harvester. International Harvester started making horse-pulled combines in 1915. At the time, horse powered binders and stand alone threshing machines were more common. In the 1920s, Case Corporation and John Deere made combines and these were starting to be tractor pulled with a second engine aboard the combine to power its workings. The world economic collapse in the 1930s stopped farm equipment purchases, and for this reason, people largely retained the older method of harvesting. A few farms did invest and used Caterpillar tractors to move the outfits.
Tractor-drawn combines (also called pull-type combines) became common after World War II as many farms began to use tractors. An example was the All-Crop Harvester series. These combines used a shaker to separate the grain from the chaff and straw-walkers (grates with small teeth on an eccentric shaft) to eject the straw while retaining the grain. Early tractor-drawn combines were usually powered by a separate gasoline engine, while later models were PTO-powered. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. These machines either put the harvested crop into bags that were then loaded onto a wagon or truck, or had a small bin that stored the grain until it was transferred to a truck or wagon with an auger.
In the U.S., Allis-Chalmers, Massey-Harris, International Harvester, Gleaner Manufacturing Company, John Deere, and Minneapolis Moline are past or present major combine producers. In 1937, the Australian-born Thomas Carroll, working for Massey-Harris in Canada, perfected a self-propelled model and in 1940, a lighter-weight model began to be marketed widely by the company. Lyle Yost invented an auger that would lift grain out of a combine in 1947, making unloading grain much easier. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. In 1952 Claeys launched the first self-propelled combine harvester in Europe;[14] in 1953, the European manufacturer Claas developed a self-propelled combine harvester named 'Hercules', it could harvest up to 5 tons of wheat a day. This newer kind of combine is still in use and is powered by diesel or gasoline engines. Until the self-cleaning rotary screen was invented in the mid-1960s combine engines suffered from overheating as the chaff spewed out when harvesting small grains would clog radiators, blocking the airflow needed for cooling.
A significant advance in the design of combines was the rotary design. I see the combine coming. It's gonna dust us all to nothing. The grain is initially stripped from the stalk by passing along a helical rotor, instead of passing between rasp bars on the outside of a cylinder and a concave. Rotary combines were first introduced by Sperry-New Holland in 1975. In about the 1980s on-board electronics were introduced to measure threshing efficiency. This new instrumentation allowed operators to get better grain yields by optimizing ground speed and other operating parameters.
Will VanDenBerghe
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
taylor trash
I wrote a poem to this song
legged it, hoofed it, toe-heel express(ed) it, hit the bricks, hit the
dirt, hit the grit, diddy-bop-jaywalked, in my, star-gazed castles
in Spain. When apeing, climbing, wooden staircase, like, inside
of your letters, your sugar reports, like, inside of
perfectly-crisped just-around-the-edges marshmallow smores, a
bit wide, because crackers, small, potato-skin-like, with my,
skinny limbs, I put it in, spreading, its, lags, disco-dancing, like
that, shindigged it, ootchy-cootched it, thrashing, I ate it up. My
bonebag, saran wrapped, in, light-purple-people-juice color.
Where I was, beat-pounding, pounding to beats, burning shoe
leather, sashaying, I’ve already forgt. Standing, under, a weedy,
tenobrosic-like-thick-twig, one day, slant-stood, and fell into
depths of bamboo-like-green-decks. A rabbit, using that
monkeyshine, doublecross, bait-n-switch, hid bones. The figure
of a man was coming, to float up gently. My chest chassis, was,
tinfoiled, like, packed-for-school-lunch-sodas, in claret-goo
color. Where, I was, chevrolegging it, I’ve already forgt. Has that
hump with that rock-jockeyed-top-area, begun, to turn color yet
(Is that Bald Mountain?), I asked, a rocker creepybopper, when, I
was changing, from the second or the third hit. Deep inside,
ski-squatted, a voice, was asking. The stroll, toll-taking roll-up,
bushy hill, in my castles in Spain, dream-swimming upstream,
like, salmon, without limbs. (I don’t need a napkin anymore, then
do I?) The ankles break off, elbows bend, those humerus
regions. When, climbing the star-gazed staircase,
rock-jokeyed-home-like-volcano (where’s the white vinegar?),
where’re the skinny arms, and he who once got excited by mail.
Tore the envelope open, spread my skinny arms and danced,
like, that, I aped up. Also, there were days, when, I’d notice, the
sight of my art, the art I love most, Rauschenberg’s “Erased de
Kooning,” (and wished I had binoculars). In a small shout, this
seems like a pleasure of mine alone. As in going to find
flashbacks, love letters, one third, of the envelopes, were legible.
The green voice, of Christmas trees, whispers. I saw, in, deep
briny, towards, doomsday-rock-shocked-quartz, curved-color
commotion-causing-things, like, cuffs, all wool and a yard wide,
formed, the big-drink-like-pond, lightbulb-warmed, and was,
emulsified, hotfooting towards, the next celestial basin.
Martín Domínguez
I see the combine coming
I see the combine coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
Coming, coming, coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
I see the combine coming
It's gonna dust us all to nothing
John Maus porta la antorcha de la buena música como pocos lo hacen. Gracias!!!
Tony Hernandez
I don’t understand how someone can make music this good. Blows my mind
Dave Quinn
I'm with you. Style.
Joe King
John has literally been my favorite musical artist for the past 2 years.
Every single one of his tracks is at least a 7/10 for me.
There are certain songs of his that I listen to every single day, I just can't get enough of the Maus man!
BlackJacketJones
This song makes me cry. It's genius. It's so profound. I've been listening to it for days. This isn't the first song by John Maus that has done this to me. It's true art. You can feel it reach across thousands of generations of mankind. and at the same time it is buried treasure. an undiscovered mystery in the universe. i feel like a man in medieval times who successfully created a time machine and is now going for a ride in it. mozart really would be proud.
Marcelo Sánchez
wow
Comrade Elmo
I get you.
Lau Saili
I concur
sunbather
I feel the same
Chudmaxxer Memes
lay off the drugs dude yeesh
Open Carefully
I absolutely cannot explain why or how much I love this song. The combine's coming....