Golden and Canyon Moon

A thread about two beautiful songs, both filled with hope, love and joy, and I think they deserve to be talked about together.

Happy 9/28+AIMH week!

Antis, read my name and just keep scrolling. I'm all tapped out of spinal fluid for today.

Starting off with Golden: Very simply, this song is about holding out hope for someone. The music is upbeat, featuring bright notes and a steady rhythm. The lyrics speaks to someone that he adores and wants, someone that he has been waiting patiently for, whenever they are ready.

The vulnerability in the song is underplayed by the happy music. Lines like "I'm hopeless, broken
So you wait for me in the sky" "I don't wanna be alone" "I can feel you take control of who I am and all I've ever known" tells us a story of completely giving into the other person.

A common theme in H's songs like MMITH, FTDT, Two Ghosts is that even if it's a really sad emotion, there are no goodbyes in his songs. He always holds out for this person. Falling echoes this. It's about a cycle of going back to this person/writing too many songs about them.

Cherry is def about loss but clearly not written about the same person here - that is someone he let go of. Fine Line is not either, it's about having sex with a string of lovers who don't emotionally satisfy him, so he "gets to thinking of her" - the person who is his "always".

The "always person" is actually a common theme for H: "Woke up the girl who looked just like you" "we'll get the drink in and I'll get to thinking of her" "I've been gone too long from you" "I'll be at the door hoping you come around" "I write too many songs about you"

Why I don't think he's singing about his younger self: (1) Why would he talk about heart break/being lonely while referring to his younger self? (2) Why would H talk about his younger self taking control of him if it's about personal growth? This is absolutely a love song imo.

The sun metaphors in Golden are pretty obvious. "Take me back to the light" "You were way too bright for me" "wait for me in the sky, browns my skin just right." There was a French king, LOUIS the XIV, who was called Le Rei Soleil, ie. the SUN King:

We all know about the 28 Goldens towards the end. Before any anyone says it's a coincidence, let me remind you that the 28 Goldens were 7 sets of 4 so it was a pattern. But the boops in sunflower were completely randomized BUT STILL 28. Rhythmic or not, he made sure it was 28.

Golden unreleased lyrics 1: https://Twitter.com/louisineroda/status/1310542002455343105?s=19
Golden unreleased lyrics 2: https://twitter.com/louisineroda/status/1310542005584363521?s=19

Now for Canyon Moon: this song makes me so happy like I want to do a little jig every time I hear it! The excitement in this song is infectious and you can't help but feel happy for H, who finally gets to go home to his blue skies!

There are three characters: Jenny, You and I. Through the song, his mind and body are in two different places: he seems to be in a domestic situation with Jenny, while his mind wanders to his lover whom he considers home, one he shares a very important memory at Canyon moon with.

Jenny reminds me of the person/people he sings of in Fine Line. He's in this relationship that he feels stuck in. He's not home. None of his descriptions of Jenny have emotions attached to them. "She plays songs I've never heard" - perhaps they don't really have a lot in common.

"An old lover's hippie music, pretends not to know the words." Like him, he suspects she holds onto an old lover and pretends not to know the words to their songs. They don't share a lot and are not honest with each other. Simply in a domestic situation with each other.

Interesting to note that there is a hint of snark in his words about Jenny: "an old lover's HIPPIE music" "PRETENDS not to know the words." He isn't interested in her. They're simply coexisting till he gets to go home. "Jenny" could also be a metaphor for his work life!

"Go get the kids from school" "Man drops his kids off at school" - these are possible parallels with She. In She, there were two sides to him: one that did normal things like drops kids off at school and sends assistants to get coffee, that's the socially acceptable side of him.

The other side, the feminine side, hides away because it is afraid of what society would think. A similar duality exists in Canyon Moon between his domestic side that he doesn't care for vs being with the lover who is his home.

Why couldn't he go home all along? I believe he was stuck doing what was "normal" because that was society's expectation. Much like the person in She, he lived an acceptable and hetero-normative life, waiting to be free. In both cases, he daydreams of where he would rather be.

The glorious repetitive chorus of "I'm going home!" sounds like a victory chant. He's telling us that he's finally free and he gets to go home! This fight for freedom to be himself runs through Adore You, She, Canyon Moon, Lights Up and TPWK.

On the other hand, he absolutely adores his lover! He seems to have a lot of history with them, enough that the person is his home. While we can try to guess what Canyon Moon is, I see that as a little love note about a private moment only meant for that specific person.

"SKY never looked so BLUE, so hard to leave IT." He is talking about leaving the "blue sky"! This line is contrasted by "Staring at the CEILING, two weeks and I'll be home." He's waiting to go back to the blue sky, a metaphor for his lover's eyes, as opposed to the ceiling.

We all know about Harold's obsession with that specific shade of blue... Check my thread of threads for a full thread about it. HL'Daily even liked one of my posts about their color scheme being in that shade of blue!

"The WORLD's happy waiting" "TWO WEEKS and I'll be home" "Carry this feeling through PARIS, all through ROME." These are Easter eggs for us. The two week rule has been a Larry thing for years and we all know the Paris and Rome moment they shared. This song couldn't be any louder!

The song is a beautiful ode to finally being able to go home, whether it be temporary or permanent. His cheeky excitement gives us clear Easter eggs so we know who he's talking about. We even get him saying Lou twice at the end: https://twitter.com/clowning28/status/1292834917718593538?s=19

This song is married to We Made It in my mind and I'm so so happy for them!

Do let me know if you have any thoughts on this! Thank you for making it this far