Oh Hellos, The - Hieroglyphs Lyrics






Stamping your heels along with the drum
Praying the serpent's underneath one of 'em
Like there's some villain left to defeat
Instead of a dance with a rhythm and beat

Cause you've been too busy thinking ahead
Of where we're all going after we're dead
To maybe consider our bodies are worth
More than the dust that we can return

To the ground again
We turn that old wheel round again

Well, even the great celestial hieroglyphs
Are bodies of dust illuminated, and if
The heavens can be both sacred and dust
Oh, maybe so can the rest of us

Cause I've seen the line of ocean and shore
The tumbling tide of water and soil
And I've seen the day's fading begin
The gradient wake of the sun that spins

Around again
It'll burn that old wheel down in the end





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Oh Hellos, The Hieroglyphs Comments
  1. t.... f....

    I love this song because (to me at least) it is about questioning your beliefs, your place in the universe/history and how those two things relate, and realizing that while religion and things were probably wrong, and humans aren't special, and the universe is unimaginably large and very indifferent to you, that just means that we live in an even more beautiful, amazing, miraculous universe full of things to discover and learn about. This song is about learning to put aside fears of your life not being remembered or appreciated or being for some greater purpose or higher meaning, and finding your own meaning in the experiences you had and will have and in curiousity. Finding a great sense of freedom and happiness and love and peace and beauty in that.

  2. K.... S....

    Torches:we keep that old wheel turning
    Heiroglyphs:we turn that old wheel round again

    K.... S....

    Eurus: I spin her wheel with all my might

  3. B.... G....

    I can't resist it... I always dance when I hear this.

  4. e.... ....

    "Cause you've been too busy thinking ahead
    Of where we're all going after we're dead
    To maybe consider our bodies are worth
    More than the dust that we can return"

    Not sure if this was the intended meaning of the lyric, but this makes me think of how many Christians think of the body as simply a vesel, a prison, that our spirits will be freed from upon death, and that we'll just spend eternity in the heavens as spirits.

    In reality Scripture tells us that both the physical and the spiritual are important, and that the end goal is the final resurrection. After all, Adam and Eve were created to live forever as physical/spiritual beings. Their bodies weren't originally meant to return to dust.

    e.... ....

    It also ties in to the lyrics of Grow:

    "Cause see, the ground all around
    It was always holy"

    referencing when God told Moses to take off his sandals for he was standing on Holy Ground. But it can also be read as talking of how our bodies are still sacred even if they're made from ground. Our bodies are even called temples of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

  5. M.... D....

    So beautiful

  6. D.... C....

    WOW I LOVE THE ART IN THE MUSIC ❤️

  7. B.... R....

    boy do I have a story for y’all, I was jamming out to this while working on tech shish for drama in my little booth, right?

    one of the student teachers comes in the check on me and asks “are you listening to punk?”

    B.... R....

    Brooke-Lynn Rogers LMAOOOO, THATS HILARIOUS 😂

  8. R.... ....

    good lord this is the good stuff

  9. R.... L....

    i tried to sing this annd broke my voice

    10/10 those high ntoes though

  10. H.... -....

    What is the wind instrument in this one? Anyone know?

    H.... -....

    i'm not an expert, but a piccolo maybe? it's higher and clearer than a flute

    H.... -....

    I'm no expert either, but its definitely a form of flute, i would guess a Recorder or something else wooden, it doesn't have the sharp sort of ringing quality of a piccolo.

    H.... -....

    It's either a descant recorder or a Clarke's penny whistle, which has a woodier sound than a regular tin whistle. I play one myself so I recognise the sound.
    It's not a flute - you get a less defined note entry on a flute, and a less perky sound.

  11. H.... ....

    I recently came to an even greater appreciation of this song. That's because I finally got a major theme in Notos and Eurus I was missing before: movement away from religious fundamentalism, with its twisted vision of God, to a more spiritual view that sees God as something that pervades every aspect of nature. Throughout the EP, God is linked to nature (especially the heavens and rivers), while humanity and religion are linked to man-made structures. Over and over in these songs, we see that the structures we build to try to reach God ultimately separate us from Him-- we build walls between us and the heavens, and towers that crumble and make us unable to understand each other. So, the more we try, the further we're separated from God. Eurus focuses on letting go of a narrow belief system so that a more expansive one can grow. We've seen humanity imitate nature before, like in O Sleeper, where first the heavens, then the narrator, cut down mountains to fill the valleys. [EDIT: It's actually the clouds opening that "lay low the hills/so to fill every valley below"... Which calls back to flood imagery in "New River," where storms and rain change the terrain.] But here's where it all comes together, literally. "Well, even the great celestial hieroglyphs/are bodies of dust illuminated, and if/the heavens can be both sacred and dust/oh, maybe so can the rest of us!" Humans have always been a part of the natural world, and the divine pervades nature; it was always one, that separation was just an illusion we created for ourselves. And! And and and! That line at the end, where it (the sun) will "burn that old wheel down in the end;" at first, I took that to mean that the natural cycles-- the days and nights' the seasons; growth, death, and rebirth-- will all come to an end someday. And yes, it does work on that level. But! There's another meaning. The sun is strongly associated with God in these EPs, and the wheel, in addition to calling to mind natural cycles, is closely linked with the cycle of violence that we perpetrate on each other, often in the name of religion. So on another level, it's saying that God and love will ulitmately overcome hatred and bigotry. That's just... awesome, in the older sense of the word.

    H.... ....

    Hakajin brilliant interpretation again! I love that you link even older songs to this; that's so cool!

    H.... ....

    Thank you! That's what I really love about these songs and EPs-- how they connect to each other and develop the themes. That makes it sound so academic... But while I do appreciate it on that level, what I really love is, like, how the realization in this song is even more joyful after the conflict that came before.

    H.... ....

    I love how the Oh Hellos can be interpreted in such a beautiful variety of ways

    H.... ....

    @Hakajin --- What would a world in which love overcomes hatred and bigotry look like?

  12. D.... ....

    It was a tough call but I think this one is my favorite Eurus song. I can’t get enough of it!

    D.... ....

    Duskflower I have to agree there. The part directly under "around again" the second time makes me feel like I'm flying almost haha

    D.... ....

    Agree it's so idk energizing

  13. r.... ....

    stamping your heels along with the drum
    praying the serpent's underneath one of 'em
    like there's some villain left to defeat
    instead of a dance with a rhythm and beat

    cause you've been too busy thinking ahead
    of where we're all going after we're dead
    to maybe consider our bodies are worth
    more than the dust that we can return

    to the ground again
    we turn that old wheel round again

    well, even the great celestial hieroglyphs
    are bodies of dust illuminated, and if
    the heavens can be both sacred and dust
    oh, maybe so can the rest of us

    cause I've seen the line of ocean and shore
    the tumbling tide of water and soil
    and I've seen the day's fading begin
    the gradient wake of the sun that spins

    around again
    it'll burn that old wheel down in the end

    r.... ....

    "well, even the great celestial hieroglyphs
    are bodies of dust illuminated, and if
    the heavens can be both sacred and dust
    oh, maybe so can the rest of us "

    Oh my GOD, that's so beautiful! It makes me laugh and tear up at the same time!

    r.... ....

    Anybody reminded of Robert Jordan's series, The Wheel of Time? Love these lyrics so much!!