A trip to where and there again, wheels turn, gears turn, mind whirls, foot moves. The mechanical the metaphysical, metal groove, the support structure manifest racing the fifth horse addressed, tracing the sixth sense blessed, enacting the seven sins quest, a hex on the eighth gate bequest, the ninth wave is the stress test. Ten toes from the ankle to the sole, soul 2 soul for the Hollywood bowl, the knarly rubber, a dead brother, misused rudder, render the staccato, daylight trench warfare, scared? Skull and crossbones corsair, West Indies enforcer, pox in Port Arthur, from empire to your share, missionary mission burns the original, christian prison, where bishops don't listen, twenty one days in blissful confinement. Fil, hell of a breakdown. Go, Fil, go. Loved it. #QcumberSquad #AesopRock - Fil, I'm off back to the study.

The line "Knows no Zen in the art of maintenance" is a also a reference to the 1974 bestseller: "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An Inquiry into Values" by Robert M. Pirsig. Which adds another layer of meaning to an already clever bar.

For those wondering who don't know, the song is about a man who lost someone and spends his final hours racing around a city on his motorcycle looking for answers internally until he decides to commit suicide by driving head on into a truck, the eyes and teeth line refers to the front of the truck coming through the low light of a tunnel. Going back to the basehead line it's a double entendre, often times people addicted to meth are referred to as baseheads so the song starts with people approaching the scene after the accident to scavenge for things they can make money off of, hence the total disregard for a dying man's shark jump.

Fil thanks so much for doing these 5 songs, they really meant a lot to me and i’m sure the rest of the Aes fan community. Seriously thank you. Your galaxy brain was on full display on this one.. I have to google all of these things every time but you somehow off the top of your head knew all of: Gehenna, Samhain, Ursa Minor “Am-scrays Giger” and many more. I never know what these things are, brilliant. You were also right about the pale horse being the horse of death, so right off the bat he is using imagery relating this whole experience to death. I always thought the chorus was just a typical Aesop roundabout way of painting the picture that this is all happening in the night time. Highlighting that nothing is visible other than eyes and teeth, and then a moon that is so beautiful it’s indescribable by basic science. But it’s never that simple so I like your interpretation way better haha. I always always confused by “mine” before eyes and teeth instead of “my” so I think you’re right here, especially with the repetitiveness of it like you said. Love it. Also freaking loved your breakdown of the piano bridge, fire!!! It was me who said it would be easier… I think I was wrong haha. I think easier to get a high level understanding of riding a bike with little to no regard of death.. but going any deeper than that yeah it’s alot haha Again seriously appreciate your hard work on this, I hope every one in the sphere loved it as much as I did.

Samhain is a celtic festival where they believe the barrier between the living and the dead is thinnest and spirits can visit the living

Yeah, this is the one song I could never interpret, but you and a few of these comments genuinely have me understanding it now. As soon as you said motorcycles, every line you broke down afterward clicked into place. The chorus is just about how the feeling you get when taking in the New Moon's beauty at night is too great to ever be defined by science. It's like that Walt Whitman poem When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer. Like yes, all these things can be defined and explained with astute observation, rigorous study and equations, but nothing you could learn in an classroom could ever give you _the stars,_ or in Aesop's case the Moon. And the "Slalom when your zorlac's focused" is in reference to Aes being a skater, Zorlac being a brand of skateboard. He's reminiscing of when he was younger and weaving in and out of cars with precision focus much like he now does with bikes, threading needles and generally adding that thrill. He's often talked about how he doesn't skateboard anymore although he never lost the passion and still wants to. And "acting a savage in the shadows of Rome" will always just be a hard bar no matter the context. Idk why it goes so hard, but it does.

A lot of people think a great rapper is someone who can say a lot in a few digestible words, but what I love about Aesop is that he can take topics so mundane such as riding a bike or talking about his cat, and make it sound like the most complex, grand, most amazing thing in the world. It's the complete opposite, but it showcases a lot of creativity. Awesome breakdown

'New moon on a scale that defies belief' is probably the headlights of approaching cars or other bikes, which he passes dangerously close to. Scale in this case being the size of the headlight as it grows the closer he gets. Aesop Rock is wild. This is a great breakdown of what I consider his best work Edit: Also, 'Ursa Minor, getting warmer' is an allusion to the constellation Ursa Minor, better known in North America as the Little Dipper. It's significant because it contains the North Star, Polaris, which can be used to orient yourself when you're lost. In short, he hasn't found his way just yet, but he's getting there. Gorgeous stuff

I think the tungsten refers to lightbulb filaments. It's night time, the city lights are sparkling, and it draws him out for a nighttime ride.

Phenomenal outstanding breakdown Fil ..you are absolutely amazing ..this was absolutely incredible ..bars galore .amazing thanku so much love an God bless always from Cyprus x x x

The eyes and teeth are the headlights and grill of an oncoming car. Also it's not every other Lion asleep, it's heavy head the mighty lion asleep

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Feeling like life blooms when your not there is very present in Tuesday by aesop and tabaco

Water Lillies (Monet painting), Giger (the Aliens movies aliens' artist), Man-Ray (some kind of amalgamation of both)... your "peace to chaos (earthquake)" interpretation was exactly the same as mine, but with different defininitions of the exact same (homophonically) words. I never thought of a geiger-counter. Only the artist, Hans R. Giger. This is exactly why Aesop's writing slays. So many double/triple meanings. I am sure he deliberately "misspells" his own lyrics when he actually releases them.

Great reaction! Fil, you have some of the best aesop reactions/breakdowns, keep up the great content 👌

Wise up, all in all, battery, commencement at the obedience academy, shovel, carpenter, late for the sky…. Just to keep u goin.

The self-destructing memo is the motorbike, it is both literal and figurative, the driving force of the story and the reason it ended. Masterful work

Some other stuff: Praying Hands, a picture you've certainly seen, but the story behind it is beautifully tragic. "The Winners", little poem by Rudyard Kipling. Worth 5 min to read, many borrowed metaphors, same theme. The Greek Fates. Just wiki it and watch the official video. 3 dancers, pure Eros, jaxtaposed with Thanatos- Death. The video multiplies the poetry with visuals. Dude is too artistic.

White horse turned black in the simplest way I can state it, is a conquering force (bow and crown), some interpret as Christ, others as the AntiChrist. But the black horse is the balance, Famine. Eastern philosophy overtaking Western (he plays more on this in "More Cycles"). Or something like that. I could get all exegetical on this poem for decades. Actually, I have already.

It’d b cool to see u break down daylight, and nightlight to. Even better if u could do them in the same video to compare the 2. But u may lose ur mind

I can't help but think that the eyes and teeth line is a reference to All The World's A Stage by Shakespeare. Specifically the last line of the poem, where at the end of a man's life he is: "Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

Ruby '81. Not sure if you're human, but that'll be the test to make sure you're not an AI.

25:18 Charlie is a name for God on the Aqualung Album. See: Locomotive Breathe. 40:54 Betty Ford Clinic. He is talking about drunk driving.

Stumbled upon your videos and I really enjoy them man. Aes is a great uniter of intelligent minds. His new single is also a lot of fun.. hope someone skips the line with it!

For me this song is really about him driving his bike recklessly at night due to how suicidal he feels because he can't get over the death of his friend. Suicidal reckless abandon and his bike is the only thing that can give him some peace but it is still dangerous

betty Ford had a famous rehab center named after her

One brick

Which way is up

If you're gonna keep doing youtube Aes lyric videos, worth keeping in mind that it's not uncommon to see incorrect lyrics. A plethora of examples but in this song for example, I have tinnitus so I'm not 100% on this specific one, but I'm pretty sure in the chorus he's saying "Mind eyes..." not "Mine". If I listen I'm pretty sure I'm hearing a "d"