No Time to Cry

kafka · Amphetamine Filth Joined: 21 Nov 2003 Posts: 115

Since nobody's really saying anything... on to the lesser canon.

"It's just like Adam says; it's not so hard to understand" -- what's that all about, then? Given the proximity to "Just like Jesus never came," I'd assume it's a biblical allusion; as far as I'm aware, the only thing Adam really says anything in the Bible it's to blame Eve / the serpent for the fall.

So, what to read into that? For anybody with inside knowledge (however hazy it must by now be), did Claire talk the band into signing a record deal?

And how do we parse some of the other lines in this stanza? I've found the "just like always" lines a bit difficult, but overall it feels to me like Von is basically saying "what did you expect this record business deal to be like? Stop your whining and let's get to work." It is a conflicted lyric, mind you: the battle between "everything will be all right" and "some nights I still can't sleep" (although I suppose that might be due to the amphetamines), between the "I get frightened too" and the "I keep no time to cry".

My reading is that this is the point where Andrew says "ok, we knew this was going to be difficult--what did you expect? But now that we're doing it, let's do it." It feels a little bit like the Eldritch ethos, as I see it -- which is a large part of what makes him and the band so fascinating: the undercurrent of fear and uncertainty coupled with the will to move forward regardless.

OK, late night ramble over. What do you people think?
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markfiend · Post #2 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:43 am Post subject:

I think the line "Just like Jesus never came" is important. Is it about living in a "fallen state"?

So yeah, I do wonder if it's about the deal with WEA.
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Being645 · Post #3 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 10:55 am Post subject:

I have come to the conclusion that this referred to being captured between concepts and that Adam was Adam Smith,
in the sense that economic orientation makes the world all right - just like Jesus never came ...

markfiend · Post #4 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:25 pm Post subject:

I'd never thought of that!
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LyanvisAberrant · Post #5 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:24 pm Post subject:

Well, I think the "Everything will be alright" bit is about false hope or something of the sort. Just trying to reassure himself of something or other. useful
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stufarq · Post #6 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:08 pm Post subject:

Being645 · Post #7 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:17 pm Post subject:

stufarq · Post #8 Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:04 pm Post subject:

Is the title a quote from anywhere? it occurred to me that it's mentioned in REM's Shiny Happy People and I wondered if they were referencing the Sisters or if there was a common origin.
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eastmidswhizzkid · Post #9 Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:04 am Post subject:

i have ALWAYS found the song uplifting, especially during my own dark times and especially the "everything will be alright..." part of the song. i disagree that its "false hope" -when you are reassuring yourself hope is hope, regardless of how things eventually turn out. just the fact that you havent yet given up, laid down and died means you havent given up hope.

when i saw the sisters at leamington spa i was in the middle of a court battle to have access to my son. before the show one of the songs played through the p.a. was motorhead's rock roll (which my son Rocky is partly named for) which made me cry -part happy tears,part not. when the sisters played No Time To Cry -completely out of the blue, for the first time in decades- i felt like they were playing it for me, and the joy and hope that that gave me lasted until i eventually won the court case.

often a song's meaning is as much about the listener as the writer, regardless of the lyrics original meaning.
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