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Topic: Black Balloon - HIM?! (Read 2889 times) |
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Lea
Goo God
RogueUK
 
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Black Balloon - HIM?!
« on: Mar 17th, 2005, 5:01pm » |
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Ok so I knew Black Balloon was about someone who became a heroin addict...but for some reason I always thought the person in question was female ('Baby's black balloon makes HER fly..." "The spoon that was YOUR WOMB", "A thousand other boys could never reach you" all of these lyrics seem to me to suggest the song referred to a girl...) but I've just been watching the storytellers performance of the song (thank you Nicole  heh heh) and John distinctly says "This is about someone's heroin addiction and the havoc it wrecked (sp?) on everyone's life around HIM."
So...why the feminine pronoun and references to a womb?  Anyone know anything more about this?
I always wondered what happend to the person this song was about, too. Are they...ok...now? 
And since I'm posting about this song, I thought you might all find this interesting...prior to having heard John's explanation of these lyrics, I always thought 'Black Balloon' was about an abortion... (baby, womb, all that stuff...somehow in my head that translated to abortion...)
I also at one time entertained the idea that 'Slide' could be about homosexuality...again this was before having seen/read anything where the boys explained the song..."Don't suppose I'll ever know what it means to be a man" I thought the song was about someone dealing with conflicts between their sexuality and their upbringing...and the references to 'May' were about this person covering up their sexuality by dating women to please the people around him (I thought it was a gay man as opposed to a lesbian woman...)
I just think it's interesting to look back on these things - knowing what the songs are about now, I can still see the reasons I thought what I did about them...I mean I wasn't just makiung stuff up, ya know?
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JohnnyRaRa
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #1 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 5:06pm » |
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" sometimes we change the names to protect the innocent "
said John on StoryTellers...and the way he sais
" around HIM "
seems like he is trying to not make it so obvious....
I have heard that it was a song about Robbie's wife...but the song is definetly is about a female.
Alex
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JohnnyRaRa
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #2 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 5:06pm » |
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" sometimes we change the names to protect the innocent "
said John on StoryTellers...and also
the way he sais
" around HIM "
seems like he is trying to not make it so obvious....
I have heard that it was a song about Robbie's wife...but the song is definetly is about a female.
Alex
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" God itz good to be alive "
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SupaGoo
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #3 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 5:14pm » |
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I've also heard it was about Robby's ex-wife....I think John was just trying to protect the innocent as he says...
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Lea
Goo God
RogueUK
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #4 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 5:21pm » |
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on Mar 17th, 2005, 5:06pm, JohnnyRaRa wrote:" sometimes we change the names to protect the innocent "
said John on StoryTellers...and the way he sais
" around HIM "
seems like he is trying to not make it so obvious....
I have heard that it was a song about Robbie's wife...but the song is definetly is about a female.
Alex
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Yeah, I did notice he said it in a kinda strange way...
"around....HIM..." kinda pointed...so I was right after all...?
I never knew that about Robby's ex wife. Wow. Heavy stuff... 
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crazy4goo
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take what you need...take what you need...from me
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #5 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 7:59pm » |
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Hey Rogue, to reply to your comments on Slide. That's a really interesting interpretation. I've always thought that song had some connotations of abortion. "The priest is on the phone, your father hit the wall, your ma disowned you..." Who knows. As far as Black Balloon, I once read an interview where Johnny said something to nature of " It's just about watching someone you love F*** up so bad" All I know is I can listen to these or any Goo songs a million times and they never get old!
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FizzyGoo
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #6 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 8:06pm » |
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i always saw the word "womb" in black balloon to just mean a safe, secluded place...it never really refers to an actual womb. Also, "ice from the spoon" is a drug reference. Haha don't worry, I'm not a druggie, I just read it somewhere.
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ShanGooFan
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #7 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 8:13pm » |
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It was my understanding that this song is about Robby's ex-wife and her drug addiction at that time. I thought this was confirmed in an article or interview somewhere...can't remember. I also know that in an article John commented that this person went on to get her life together and graduated from college. She became a teacher or psychologist ... something like that. I know someone around here can correct me if I'm wrong. I really need to start saving these old articles so I can reference them when I need to. But I know there are many, many Goo fans here who know the sources of these articles.
When John is referring to someone's heroin addiction and the havoc it wrecked (sp?) on everyone's life around HIM." I think he's referring to Robby himself and all the people surrounding them at that time and how his exes addiction impacted everyone.
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boynamedgoo
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Tell me something I don't know...
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #8 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 9:28pm » |
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http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/9427/rs11993.html
Quote:(Takac says that "Black Balloon" is their best song ever. Though they say they haven't discussed it - "We don't talk about that stuff, never, ever, ever" says Takac - they both know that the song, about a woman drifting away into hopelessness, is about Takac's ex-wife. "Fucked-up shit happens to good people sometimes," is all Takac will say.)
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Great article...
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THE sLaVe GiRl
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Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
« Reply #9 on: Mar 17th, 2005, 9:35pm » |
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on Mar 17th, 2005, 7:59pm, crazy4goo wrote:| Hey Rogue, to reply to your comments on Slide. That's a really interesting interpretation. I've always thought that song had some connotations of abortion. "The priest is on the phone, your father hit the wall, your ma disowned you..." Who knows. |
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it IS about that, in a way...the song is about a teenage couple and the girl gets pregnant, and they are trying to decided what to do...john says that somewhere, maybe in storytellers? i could remember if i'd had more than 4 hours of sleep last night...
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