Song Meanings and Origins: The Projectionist - Aurelio Voltaire
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 лип 2018
- Welcome to the first installment of my new video series, Song Meanings and Origins!!! By popular request I've selected The Projectionist, the first song from the Heart~Shaped Wound album to get the Meanings and Origins treatment! I hope you will enjoy as I break down this song, the meaning of the lyrics, what inspired the song, insights into the songwriting process as well as how it was recorded.
You can buy a copy of the CD this song is on in my Amazon store!
www.amazon.com/shop/thelairof...
You can hear the Projectionist right here on my page at:
• The Projectionist
You can hear the full album here:
• Aurelio Voltaire - Hea...
You can buy the album on Bandcamp here:
projektrecords.bandcamp.com/a...
What song of mine would you like me to break down next? Please tell me in the comments!!! - Навчання та стиль
I'd love to get some background on "Straight Razor Carbaret"!
The GentlemanPirate ya I love that song
"So what's the lead instrument? Guitar or violin?"
"Yes"
I also think it's relevant that the projectionist character's idea of a perfect relationship boils down to forcing someone to watch his favorite movies in mutual silence.
Because the artifice is a two-way street, not only does he want his partner to be roleplay as the perfect audience, but he doesn't express his self organically to them either. He just wants them to absorb the best media he personally curated as a substitute the mortifying ordeal of being known (he's a projectionist after all not a filmmaker). That idea hits close to home for me.
I know it’s an oldie but I’d love to hear the meaning and creation of When your evil . I love how is unabashedly dark yet it also feels rather meloncholic as if one is trying to convince someone and themselves that they are evil
And a bit of dark humour
Yes!!!
My favorite part is the bomb he drops when he pretends to have second thoughts about being evil. "I'm lying through my teeth!" That made me laugh.
YESSS!!!
True
I honestly think I adore you so much because you admit that you have faults. It's refreshing to see someone who seems so real. Please keep it up.
DUDE... can you do Leaves in the Stream next
I know what the song's about... but I just love it when you talk about your songs and this is my favourite from the new album
Great choice. Love that song
That song is such a rock-opera killer. One of my favorites.
That's what it's about, a metaphor for self projection. What a genius concept. Everything came together so well in the making of the song and I love the backstory. Non-fans of Voltaire might hear this song and think _'jee, it sounds so evil/menacing'_ yet the heart and mind behind it is one of the most genuine in the world. Thank you Aurelio Voltaire!
Could you please do The Devil and Mr. Jones? It's one of my favourites.
otherworldXotherhalf a round of applause for this fantastic choice.
i loooove this song!!
It's about the actor, Doug Jones. =)
Awesome choice!
I love this song so much!
I’d love to hear about the creative process for “when you’re evil”. Where did The inspiration for that come from?same for almost human.
Oh, I love those two songs!!!
Wow, this song goes so deep (like most of your other songs) but this song explains everything about me and I didn't even know other people did this. I just thought it was my problem alone. A side note, I died laughing when you said that Taylor Swift and diss track line lol
I can relate to the Projectionist because I've been through it. I got infactuated with a guy to forget about ANOTHER guy and ended up realizing I was in love with his image, not the real man. The real man behind the painted mask he wore had no soul. I was only in love with my own fantasy.
Thinking about it, I guess the projectionist metaphor could be applied to things like pets, animals & possessions
(as well as other people)
I'd love to hear the song meaning/origin behind Never.
Okay, we need so many more of these! I adore it! Please carry on Mr V!
The Night!!!
You should do Hell in a Handbasket too. I am curious about how all those references came into being. An also the song your character was playing in Adventure Quest Worlds
Perhaps you could talk about The Night? Definitely one of my faves from you.
Speaking of which, what do you think of the animations by Daria Cohen? They are all named after songs. The first two being named after your songs The Night and Land of the Dead respectively. I think you'd enjoy them, be sure to check Daria Cohen out Voltaire. She's also made references to you in a few subtle ways, including a bit of fanart in the third animation.
I have been listening to your music for a long time (about ten years), and I think Heart~Shaped Wound is your best album to date.
This kind of video is the reason why i´m such a fan of yours. You sir first hooked me with your special way you looked at gothik music and lifestyle. For example "Vampire club" when everyone else was "Look at us - we are so true and dark and stuff" and you answered "Yeah sure we are *wink* *wink*". That for it´s own was great and inspiring.
The first time we saw you life was in front of maybe 30 people in a very small club in cologne germany where you played your heartout. Even when you came of the stage, you where still the same guy. That was the moment when i thought: "Wow, this guy is himself all the time".
All the long explaining aside. I really like the way you tell your very personal storrys to us. Every time i am able to watch your shows, its like comming home to a dear friend. Thank you for that feeling.
I heard the song more atentively after watching this and I almost cried, for I know exactly how it feels not to be appreciated, seen and understood for who you are and to be constantly "encouraged to try different things" just in order that someone else fulfills his own romantic ideal.
This was fantastic! "Leaves on the Stream" or "Where's the Girl?" would also be great!
I normally much prefer your more humorous stuff, but Heart-Shaped Wound is perhaps your best work. So jam-packed full of great material.
I love songs like this because it is something almost every one of us has been guilty of. I enjoyed hearing the breakdown of the song! If you want to hear a really good track like this from a woman's perspective, check out "Permanent Guest" by Pretty Balanced:
"The real of you is sweet, sufficient, bright
I know he's normal when he's in my sight
But when he goes away he grows more beautiful and right"
and this amazing chorus:
"'I'm built of smoke,' you say 'I'm fake, you made me'
'You bred me, bore me, fed me, housed me, paid me'
'I'm everything you wished that he could be'
'You never needed him, you needed me.'"
Oh thats my favorite song its so good!
Thanks a lot Voltaire, love your songs man.
With this I see that yeah... I'm being a projectionist with my girlfriend and I'm ruining everything.
She have grown up and is really more responsible now, and I still project her as this cring girl that love me and need me, and just pass all day with me and stuff. Now she is a grown woman who have her life to take care, and I'm the sad little muffin who is lost in the past.
I'm gonna try to sing this song to her, and I will stop being a projectionist. Thanks Voltaire, you really helped me see through life most BS moments.
I don't have a question, but I just wanna say that I would very much like to see more of these videos. Hearing the meaning behind a song is always very interesting, especially when it comes straight from the artist themselves, and not people on the internet theorising it.
OH MY GOD! I JUST REALIZED IT WAS YOU IN ADVENTURE QUEST WORLDS! I know it’s off topic but this is a massive discovery for me.
one thing about relationships that i tell people is. you both need to try to change for each other and after a while you meet in the middle and become one person. to many people what the other to change, but don't take the effort to change themselves. that and lack of communication is the death to everything. your explanation of the projectionist made me feel like adding it, because you are right. it is a fault that a lot of us have. we always want things that the other person just doesn't have the ability to give. you can't fault them for it. you have to accept them for who they are and change that part of your vision. if it is to big of a change for you to deal with you have to either find a way to work it out or end it before you get to deep. i love this series. keep it up. i love the background that makes these great songs be what they are.
I'm so in love with the premise of this song. I think we subconsciously project upon people. Not only romantic relationships but even friendships and family relationships. When we realize that we've been trying to force a person to fit in a mold we created most people are very disappointed. I've been there and ultimately I was disappointed in myself for fantasizing a person rather than treating them like an individual human being with their own thoughts and feelings. Now I've learned if I want a fantasy person I just read a book.
I love this song, I didn't have much time to listen to all of that album, but I listened to this one many times.
I know you appreciate when people ask about the newer songs, but the song that always intrigues me is "The man upstairs"
I can't even tell you how much this song means to me, and your explanation only added to my love for it ♥♥♥
Also, I love that your son does the backing vocals on this album!!
I have loved your music for years, but this album as a whole knocked it out of the park for me. I am in love with every song in this album!
For me this speaks to mr as a fan. We project onto the artist what we believe them to be
How about "When You're Evil" I know it's a really old one, but it's one that's I've listened to a thousand times and love.
Still my favorite album 💀🖤🤍
The Projectionist, In Disguise, Butterfly, Leaves in the Stream just to name a few; masterpieces 🖤
I love that you’re taking the time to break down the song and do clarifications. When I first listened to the song I did think, “Wait, is this about being the ‘nice guy’ who is secretly a creep?” I’d love to hear a song meaning and origins of Human Nature, which is my favorite song off the Heart Shaped Wound album. And for older tracks I’m curious about Feathery Wings and The Mechanical Girl.
Ah! One of my favorite songs! Been listening to this song and album on repeat for the last week because it’s just so good! It’s cool to finally know the meanings to it! “Leaves in the Stream” or “In Disguise” would be cool to cover for the next origin stories :)
I would love to hear about Feathery Wings. That song means so much to me.
That’s one I play a lot as well.
I love the idea of this series. I've always struggled with song meanings, specially ones that are very symbolic in nature, wich is why I want to ask if you'll talk about your interpretations of songs from other artists.
Also, I think it would be very cool if you could bring along guests to talk about what their interpretation of your songs was. I personally subscribe to the idea that an artists interpretation of their own piece of art is no more meaningfull than the interpretations of those who consume said art, so it would be amazing if you could have some of your friends feature in these videos about their own ideas of what the song means to them.
Amazing video ^-^
Ha, listening to this again, combined with remembering you playing Science Fiction from Rocky Horror in Glasgow once has given me a great idea for a Call of Cthulhu RP... Thanks!
It's some perfect song-reference for my little-little story. I absolutely thank you for the song, I love it in some way.
I know this is a bit of an old one, but would you consider Out of Reach? It's one of my favorite songs ever and one I blast on repeat whenever I feel down and need a pick me up to get me thru whatever bad situation i may be going thru at the moment, so I'd love to hear the story of how that song came to be and what it means to you!
Man, that negative trait has gotten me into a lot trouble, but this song makes a lot more sense now.
I'd love to hear the background story on "Necropolis of Former Lovers" or "Future Ex-Girlfriend"
This is pretty much everything I wanted to know about the song! You should absolutely make more of these
Really glad to hear that you're doing this series. I've been wondering for years if the songs "The Churchyard" and "Fear and Anguish" were connected. I'd also really love to hear the meaning behind "The Necropolis of Former Lovers", and the story behind "Sacrifice". Love your work and I can't wait to hear your next album. Best wishes!
I'd love an episode on "Goodnight Demon Slayer" or "Almost Human"! It's so interesting to hear you talk about your inspiration and writing process. Looking forward to more episodes of this series!
Thank you for sharing this with us! From the way you talked about the album at shows (before it was recorded) and the relationship, I always heard a lot of anger and angst toward the other party, which made the love songs on the album feel a little disconnected for me. Hearing the meaning behind this song and your self-reflection on projecting gives me a new lens on the other songs and helps me see a connection through the album that I didn't before. Can't wait for your next video!
Amazingly I can relate to that. I mean I was the one who projected my vision. Fortunately lesson learned.
I stopped watching at 0:55 to type this out. I just wanted to say, that I’ve been a fan of your music since about 10th grade (about 6-7 years ago) and I have to say that Heart Shaped Wound is one of my favorites.
It made me so happy to learn that even after so many years, you can come out with an album that has much of the same emotion and character that I fell in love with in the previous albums back in school.
This series is amazingly entertaining and interesting, keep them coming^^
Love to see all this insight into your music, and yourself in some way :D
Thanks for such an in-depth and informative video. It's always interesting to know where the inspiration for art comes from, but there is a sinister feel to the song that makes me think of a Vincent Price movie; a person who thinks they are dealing with a "normal" dating situation and then finds themselves trapped. Also, thank you for giving the lyrics after the line "...part of my personal fantasy." I have not been able to figure those out.
Another thing this song can represent is how most dates are “hey ,let’s go to the movies.” Where they sit in silence watching a film the entire time not really getting to know the other unless they speak which interrupts the film making them seem rude .
Best songs, best songwriter, best advices ❤
This series is gonna be so great to tune into, hopefully Mechanical Girl is gonna come up sooner rather than later (even though we all know the moral of that story).
Voltaire this makes me appreciate your musicianship and artersty even more! Thank you for giving us these glimpses into your work and process!
So cool to know this information now 😊 I'd like to hear more about Necropolis of Former Lovers
I love this series already!!!! looking forward to all the episodes to come!
Dude you are a freakin GOD!! You made my childhood so badass through The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. 😁😎✊
Thank you. I love this series. When you explain a song, I immediately hear the song and fall in love with it.
My suggestion for a future video is the origins of one of the first songs I heard: “When you’re evil”
Thanks for everything. You’re amazing.
This was really cool to watch. It's always nice to learn about an artist though his work.
I would love to hear the origin of "God thinks", but no matter which song you pick, I will look forward to the next episode.
I'm looking forward to more of these
I can really appreciate this song a lot more now, I didn't really get it before
Leaves in the stream, hallelujah cover, the folly of love, the ones who've hurt you and in disguise. The projectionist is one my top favorite.
I HOPE TO SING IN THE Beelzebub fill harmonic choir. Ill be in st louis for your show SAT. Cant wait to see you again.
I thought I was stringing the albums songs together I'm glad they really are a cohesive story line
This is really cool. I don't think any other artist would take the time to explain the ins and outs of their songs. It's really cool that you do.
I need more of these and honestly I don't care what song you do next since they'd all be worth watching
Man Voltaire I have always love your songs since I was little which was for billy and Mandy you should come to Halloween fests to do some sort of concert u r awesome
I already love this new series! And I'm so happy the first episode is about my favorite song on the new album.
wow that is so impresive and deep that's why I love youre music! Aww its so cute that Mars sung vocals for you :)
I'd love to hear about The Necropolis of Former Lovers, what went into the production and the inspiration for it. This is a great idea for a series, and I am looking forward to hearing about more of your songs this way.
This is completely me and part of the reason I remain single. I'm trying to break this mindset. It's not fair to me and most certainly not fair to the other person.
I love your storytelling. And I love the topics you choose in your music. It's not just comedic, but also self-reflecting. Keep it coming!
Also, I hope you continue with this series! Any song will be awesome to hear about in this manner.
Very powerful insight on this song that I adore, always thought It had a mistery to it. I think we all have a certain degree of being "projectcionists" ourselves, since whenever we met somebody and become interested in, it is because of what they personally let the world see first. (I hope I'm making sense here lol) ... Yes, phsycal appearance is obviously the first thing that makes you turn your head, but after that, is the way they talk, they move, if they can make you laugh or how passionate are with the things you have in common, etc. and speaking from a personal point, for somebody who has been single all her life, even not expecting a perfect mate, just wanting the basic things, (respect, honesty, love) gets you dissapointed.
Also having the violin and the guitar being the lead instruments was an excellent decision, I usually listen to the HSW album with my headphones or earphones and I can hear everything, they go absolutly beautiful together... You all did a fantastic job on this track! ♥
I LOVE YOU 😁🖤🖤
saludos desde México 😂🖤
Tswift lol pew pew! Shots fired!! 😂😂
I just wanted to add a useless but (I think) interesting factoid: Here in Chile there used to be a common expression (I say the past tense because I have no idea if young people still use it today), "pasarse películas" which literally means "to run movies" in your head, meaning that sometimes a person will invent a whole world inside their head that has nothing to do with reality, usually to feed their own paranoid insecurities, or to make themselves feel superior to someone else. The Projectionist made me think of this to a certain degree.
Love you Voltaire ❤❤❤
“Wake up” and “Never” would be interesting to know the corcumstances behind them.
I’m looking foward to more from this series, thanks!
I want to know about 'Never'. That's the first song that popped to mind when you announced this series, and I want to know how it came to be.
This is one of my all time favorite songs. It makes me want to get up and dance. Kind of inconvenient when I’m driving though.
This is gonna be a great series! I listen to Heart Shaped Wound everyday.
I’d love for you to do The Night, This Sea (a personal favorite - how did you dream that up and what were you looking for in your duet partner?) and Dead. And that’s just to start. 🖤
Since I am living in Hamburg, I would love to hear the story behind Leaves in a Stream 😍
Thank you for letting us in on these behind the scenes thoughts
I love you! Like i want to scream how much i love you for doing such videos! I've always been the crazy kid who wonders what the song is about and projects their own life on the song and... such connection with the audience, thank you so so much for allowing us in it.
One of my favourite songs is The Devil and Mr. Jones, which I know is a Doug Jones tribute song, and Mr. Jones is one of my favourite underappreciated actors. However, I've never quite been able to grasp the exact Spanish lyrics. Mind you, my Spanish is limited, but when I read it I can more or less understand it. It's just that I can't find any consistent transcriptions of the song and none of them seem to make a lot of sense, specifically on that one Spanish verse. So, yeah, I hope you'll consider doing The Devil and Mr. Jones for a future installment of this segment. ^-^
"Lo sabe Guillermo del Toro el gran director" = "Guillermo del Toro, the great director, also knows [Jones is talented]"
"También Hugo Ortega, que lo vio en este señor" = Now this one is tricky. The lyrics in the original video says that the name is "Ubo" but as far as I know that's not a real spanish name (might have been a typo?). When listening to the song, the name sounds more like "Hugo", but I don't know anyone from the film industry that has this name. That said, the line translates as "Hugo Ortega as well; he saw [the talent] on this mister"
"uvo" Ortega, which is what I'm saying in the song, means "There was Ortega" That's the name of the director of Hocus Pocus in which Doug Jones plays a zombie
ohh so it was the verb "haber!" In that case, "hubo". This makes so much sense now, I had been wondering for years haha. Thank you!
I love the depth of this song. It really helps to listen to it and look for those flaws in ourselves. Thank you for this video!
Love this tune and the whole album!
i can't wait for the rest of this series
If my animated pilot ever gets picked up I want you to have a guest appearance. Also you should go on the Official podcast.
The man upstairs please!! My bf and I love this song and I relate to it because I had horrible roommates haha
Such a good song, and the mention of She Wants Revenge?! I miss that band so much I really hope they release new material some day.
I would love to see you explain Leaves In The Stream. That is my favourite song in the album.
What I got from it, when I heard it, was a man who kinda... kidnaps a woman, and has her be part of this film he’s creating, and it’s revealed that he’s been stalking her for a while in some of the footage. She’d willingly gone with him because he was attractive and had an interesting hobby/career, but wished to leave once she saw the real him. Really love this song, and I’m excited for this series!
There’s such wonderful ambiguity in the lyrics to both The Necropolis of Former Lovers & The Devil and Mr. Jones. Would love to hear about their origins.
Man, thank you, this video is so beautiful to see and I love the way you explained the meaning and origin of the song! Also, that has been great to get to know something more about the production, it helps understanding how much you actually love Music!!
I love the guitar in this song! It sounds like those classic beach movies lol
I love this CD I got it off your leak you give me thanks Valtaire
This is an awesome series! I wish more artists did something like this
There were times when I had been a projectionist and it’s always with people I had, and still have, a crush on, but thankfully I usually keep my fantasies to myself. It’s for the best. Top ten reasons why I’m always single. Lol 😓
I actuallt screamed when I saw the title omg thank you so much!!!
This makes so much sense now I honestly was wondering how this fit into the theme of heart shaped wound. But this just makes so much sense. It's honestly my favorite song by you, tied very closely to the night.
Holy shit no one knows who she wants revenge is they are my all time favorite I think I have screamed enough for one day lol
Absolutely brilliant! Loved every minute of it 😉 Thank you for sharing this with us! 😍
I sing the projectionist at work frequently. I just purchased the necklace your wearing. been wanting it for a while but finally ordered it.
I’d love to hear about Butterfly; I’m not really sure why but it’s my favourite song on Heart Shaped Wound