[Surf]

This is the first of what might be a series of song analyses for the S&L forum. So I thought I'd start with something simple. That's not to say its basic. There's a difference between simple and basic, and this piece shows how best to simply tell a complex story. The author's simple words hide a more complex event and he's not afraid to let the words speak for themselves. So without further ado, I give you Down Through by the Red House Painters.

Down Through
Mark Kozelek

I walked down the hill
sluggishly and frail
the wind blew hard
hard on me
I imagined it your ghost white body
making love with me

I walked down the hill
found you crying at the window sill
there lies the bridge
of our lost dreams
I want to see it once more before I leave

I still feel the sting in my hand
from when I hit you
I keep your picture
tidy and safe in a shrine
and hope that in time

We'll have a house on the shore
that showers my soul
washes away the violence that
runs in my blood
drains the pain that I caused you
down through

http://www.mediafire.com/?dhjybjyynh5

First Stanza

The verse opens with a simple line, containing no emotion, merely an action. Metaphorically one could ascribe the 'down-ward' movement to be a move towards depression and self destruction, but I don't think that's intended. It is just a simple way to introduce the character into the piece. The next line however is nothing but character. Slow and weak the character seems to be, it lays on the thick the structuralist code of enigma; the audience begs the questions: Why sluggish? Why Frail? Sympathy and pathos are created for the character. Notice how Kozelek makes the audience sympathetic to his character before going deeper into his story. This will be important later on. Remorse is a very powerful tool for creating sympathy for a character. This sense of a beat down character is heightened in the next two lines. Even the weather it seems is against him. A great, not obvious example of pathetic fallacy: the surroundings are reflecting emotions, not in this case of the main character himself, but of his shame, his self pity. It beats him down.

The use of repetition is also effective. It gives the sense of the wind repeatedly pressing down, a real sense of suppression. The next line really throws a curve ball. It develops the character: has he lost someone? Metaphorically i.e. Through the end of a relationship? Or through a death? The answer is left hanging for now. There's a severe juxtaposition between the ghost white body and 'making love'. Such an intimate act is counterbalanced by by the loss of a loved one. That he a likens the wind which is beating him down to the act of love making suggests a combustible relationship. Throughout the verse Kozelek weaves a piece of character intrigue. He slowly reveals pieces of information to the audience and allows them to feel pity for his beaten down character.

Second Stanza

The second stanza moves the story away from what was established in the first. The repetition in the first line takes away from ghostly figures and back to the central character. Kozelek's use of repetition is good; he uses it not to merely reinforce a point, but to move the story forward with every repetition. While before, when walking down the hill the character was alone, now he seems reunited with his paramour, albeit briefly. The introduction of the other character seems brief. Its just a memory, trying to be blocked out. His one lasting memory of her is crying at the window sill, seeming to suggest the way in which the relationship ended. As of yet though, we're given no reason. We feel sympathy and intrigue in equal measure and are led to question ourselves why they left one another in such a way. The fact that she appears at a window sill suggests a voyeuristic quality. He is left outside. Is this exclusion self inflicted or mutual?

The next two lines speak on a mostly metaphorical level. Bridges are a means of communication, a way of getting from one place to another. But here they are coupled with 'lost dreams'. Kozelek suggests the act of rebuilding these bridges is lost. The relationship is over. The next line seems especially pessimistic, this was the one relationship it seems. Beyond this there is nothing. Whilst its not made clear whether the character actually commits suicide, it seems to suggest that at an emotional level, he is very much damaged.

Third Stanza

Its been a long time coming, but finally we're given a reason for the collapse of the relationship. Throughout the length of this verse, Kozelek works hard to keep the audience on the sympathetic side, and succeeds. The remorse felt by the protagonist has already been established, and is continually felt through the third stanza. He still feels the 'sting in [his] hand'. It hasn't left him and he can't seem to forget it. Though the relationship is lost, he still feels the pain, both physically and emotionally. It seems to run through like a stigmata, the pain of the act still reverberates through his life.

The delivery of the line 'when I hit you' is kept simple, to the point of brutal honesty. It is this honesty that keeps the audience on the side of the narrator. He doesn't try and justify his actions, or try to dress them up as something they're not. He leaves it simply as a collection of pronouns and a verb. If Kozelek hard tried to weave the scene through some display of over the top imagery then it wouldn't have the same effect. The audience doesn't need to know more than this, and anything else may be detrimental to their engagement with the main character and thusly their engagement with the piece as a whole. This is an excellent example of when to keep it simple.

The final three lines begin to mourn the relationship further. The idea of hope is introduced, but there seems little commitment on behalf of the author. He seems to know that it is over, and he has already enshrined the memory.

Forth Stanza

This final verse is the emotional crux of the piece. It is the coda, the epilogue. But its conducted not on the facts, but on the hopes of the characters. Based entirely on what-could-have-beens. Continuing from the previous verse, Kozelek uses enjambment to link the two, but spreads them across the verses as to keep the apart. To keep distance from reality, but to link the two emotionally. He previous talked of the picture he kept of her, which has now blossomed into a fully fledged dream based on what might have been had it not been for his hitting her. The idyllic qualities of the house on the beach remain that, idyllic. They are empty. There's nothing inside the house, the descriptions are limited to the surroundings. The house itself remains hollow of description. Kozelek acknowledges this, he suggests that the idea of the house rather than the house itself is what will cleanse (shower) his soul.

The forth line is deceptively simple, and it is the only real solid hint that we are given for the reason for the protagonist's actions. However, as with the rest of the song, they could be considered in numerous ways. 'Runs in my blood', could be a hint to genetics, a link to perhaps his own father: was he himself a victim of domestic abuse that revealed itself in one regretful moment? Has he become what could well be a smaller image of his father? Perhaps not, as its not the only explanation of events. Runs in my blood' could also be a hint at a drugs related problem. Heroin in the blood stream could well be a reason for the sudden flash of violence that the protagonist seems to have demonstrated. Which ever reason the audience takes away from the piece, it subtlety helps reinforce the sympathy for the main character, taking away so of the burden and shifting the moral blame of the action away entirely from him. Like the majority of the piece, that single line is rooted in its simplicity. It is not dwelled on, not elaborated upon, but left to the audience to understand. Kozelek gives the audience enough credit that they can take away their own understanding without him having to explain every for them.

The final two lines a left as an apology. The simple rhyme-within-a-line of 'drain the pain' is obtrusively simplistic, perhaps Kozelek acknowledging the overall simplicity of the piece. However, the assonance leaves a drawn out sound that suggest the difficult process of healing may take a while yet. The closing line gives the song its title. 'Down through', as before hints at a pessimistic point of view; down rather than up, but the through suggest movement, travel, that there may well be a light at the end of the tunnel. The sinking feeling of the line reflects the protagonist's delving into his problems throughout the piece, but the use of 'through' keeps a hint of optimism alive at the end of the piece.

Conclusion

Kozelek's true strengths in this piece are his ability to create a sympathetic character and his ability to keep it simple. The beauty of the piece lies in the fact that the audience doesn't hate its protagonist. Whilst they may not like him and his actions, they can feel sympathy at his remorse, acknowledge that he is sorry for what he did. The simplicity of the piece adds to its integrity and its overall effectiveness. Would you have felt the same way if the piece had been a vivid description of of the event rather than a portrait of the emotions afterwards?