Man Man - Oh, La Brea Lyrics

So what’s The Whole meaning of this song anyhow?

Greater Grievobeast 55 it’s alright!! so, the next part of the song, where he talks about a wedding. he says “It seems that the scenery's about settling, on a piece of ballast called ‘a wedding’ “ I think of this as an early native ameircan-white wedding, as to several songs in this album reference native americans (“will you help me search party for my hidden indians” from Dark Arts, referring to native americans in hiding, and “she said she saw a white buffalo” referring to when the white buffalo’s population recovers and thrives, native americans will seize the united states and take back their land) but, a wedding is also the fusing, joining or combining of two things, like maybe when something alive falls into the tar pits. the next line, “the stars that once guided us are fading” refers to cities and their light pollution, how if you’re in the city and go outside, you’ll only see barely half of what you’d see in the middle of the country. “the patterns of what we want seem alien” people take what they want, some even kill to get their way, patterns repeat themselves, and I think this is again referring to native americans; the united states took their land unlawfully, spread disease and spilled blood. and the rest of the song fades off with Man Man repeating “awake, away, awake, away” after saying “so I learn to drift, and I learn to drift, and I learn to drift awake, away” which I always thought maybe it meant he was depressed and lost in his thoughts, trying to figure out the wrongs and rights of humanity, and how many deaths in the pits; how many deaths lost to suffering; natives pushed from their land and killed/animals suffocating in the La Brea tar pits

(the “white buffalo” quote was from the song Hourglass, from the deluxe edition of this album)

Shane✨ that’s pretty astounding! Being in one of the brightest states in the nation I deal with light pollution quite a lot and that notion never even once came to mind! Learning about the history with this white buffalo and it’s meaning also seems interesting as well! I almost feel like maybe a good portion of the white buffalo population ended up in these tar pits and maybe man man (the singer) is lamenting their specifically as it was a spot where a vital strand of hope for the natives to get a proper hold of their land back might have been squandered. That of course is just aimless speculation and I don’t have much of any evidence to back it up but I thought it stitched things together a bit more.

Greater Grievobeast 55 actually, that speculation could very well be truth!! white buffalo (which are actually bison lol) are popular in New Mexico, only two states away from California, where the La Brea tar pits are located!!

Shane✨ RIGHTEOUS! I Made a worth while observation AFTERALL!

I need a 1 hour version of this.

This tune almost had what it takes to be great.
The extra long outro is just unnecessary waste.

You must be joking?! The outro is what makes the song! It's gorgeous!

No, that was an earnest comment. I'd cut the song at the 3 minutes mark.
But thanks for pointing out that some people will enjoy the remaining of the song.
It's also come to my attention that it's the last track of the album and that, in itself, could justify the outro.

It's not the last track of the album.. it's number 11 out of 14.

To me, it's the chorus, starting at 1:27 that makes the song.
I love Man Man, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't be commenting here if I didn't.
It really is the last track of the album, though. Maybe you've got something with bonuses or such.

Oh you're right! I've got the deluxe edition which has three more songs, on the normal one it's indeed the last track, my bad. Interesting, it does fit very well as a closing track. (By the way if you're not familiar with the extra songs you need to check to check them out, "trunk eyes" is amazing!")

To me it's like this: I agree the song becomes special at 1:27, but that's only the beginning. When the lyrics fade out with: "I learn to drift...away...away.... and the orchestration+guitar sets in it really is as though I'm drifting away and floating along with the music, it fits so well!
And sometimes when it's sunny outside and I have a few minutes I just sit there, letting the sun shine in my face and have the music engulf me. It's moments like these that I would call "life fantastic".

One very big part of what made this album so special to me was it's (sometimes subtle) gorgeous orchestration, this song (and the outro) is the pinnacle of it and naturally very dear to me.

But of course you're absolutely free to not like the outro, everybody has their own preferences!
(Though I'd still suggest you give it a chance every now and then, I kinda feel like you're missing out a little. ;) )

🙌💗💗💗

I love you Man Man.

Thank you for the upload, comrade.