Wilco's "Deeper Down"

This morning I also listened to Wilco's Wilco (The Album), and I noticed a small thing about "Deeper Down."  The title phrase descends (it's sung to the melody C G E), so there's a musical representation of depth.

Wilco's "Born Alone"

Yester-day I listened to Wilco's Roadcase 002 - 2012-07-08 Geneva, IL.  It's a live recording of a Wilco concert I attended some years ago.  Anyway, I noticed the phrase "Mine eyes have seen" in "Born Alone" (from The Whole Love), and I realized that this same phrase is in the first line of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" - "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."  I lookt up the lyrics of "Born Alone" on Wilco's website, and I found "Mine eyes deceiving glory," which also bears some resemblance to that line in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

I'd previously noticed the phrase "The finger, divine extremity," which I always thought was a reference to Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam."  I still find the song enigmatic, but I'm pretty sure these are meant as religious-inspired images.

Wilco's Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

Last night I listened to Wilco's Kicking Television: Live in Chicago, and I noticed something about the lyrics in two songs.

"Misunderstood"

This song is also on Being There, but when I listened to it earlier this year I guess I didn't pay attention to the line "Short on long-term goals."  Because of the opposition between "short" and "long," there's a sense of incongruity that emphasizes the aimlessness and confusion of not having goals.

"Airline to Heaven"

Originally, this is a song from Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (which I have but haven't listened to yet) with lyrics by Woody Guthrie.  I haven't listened to this version that often, but I hadn't noticed until now that "Them's got ears let them hear / Them's got eyes let them see" is a quote from the Bible.  I had to look up where it is specifically and actually found two instances: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" - Matthew 11:15 and "And he [Jesus] said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear'" - Mark 4:9.  I think it's interesting that Guthrie pluralized it ("them" instead of "he").  It seems that he also extended the Biblical "ears to hear" to "eyes to see."