The Mars Volta | Frances the Mute | Story Explained
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- Опубліковано 25 лют 2022
- You asked for it, here it is! My track by track explanation of the story behind The Mars Volta's 2005 album, Frances the Mute.
Let me know how you interpreted the album!
WHAT ABOUT THE BONUS TITLE TRACK? I did a whole video on it! You can find it here: • The Mars Volta | Bonus...
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I still remember when I realized “Cygnus....Vismund Cygnus”, is a play on “Bond…James Bond”. It still makes me giggle.
😂😂😂
I didn't get it
TIL! I always said it differently in my head and didn't get that memo until now
the first time I saw the song title that was immediately what I thought of. Funny to hear that it is an intentional reference.
The titular track Frances the Mute was called a “decoder ring” by the band back in the day, it’s supposed to be the key to the whole story
I did not know this. Thank you!
Frances is probably my all time favorite album, but I've always just thrown my hands up in the air whenever I've tried deciphering those cryptic lyrics. I can't listen to the album now without imagining this story along with it. I love my favorite album even more now, so thank you!
It’s so bizarre that The Widow has been in my brain for weeks and then I come across this video just to get a grasp on the characters but has been given a complete timeline. I think the
Widow is Cygnus’ lover/supplier. She’s describing her late husband but also heroin/addiction. I was a At the Drive In fan from way back and I boycotted Sparta and Mars Volta for breaking up the former so now I am exploring this music that occupied my mind lately. Thank you for your input! If you are looking for sources for content, consider Nine Inch Nails since Trent says all of his albums are concept albums plus IXI music has been extrapolating NIN musically on YT without too much scrutiny to the lyrical content. It would make an interesting counterpoint. Thanks again!
Never knew what this one was about. Makes the “there’s no light” lyric all across Cassandra Gemini so powerful.
Yaaaas!!!! I love this album. L'Via L'Viaques is probably my favorite MV song on this album AND favorite MV song period.
the names are interesting, Cassandra cursed with prophesy but ones no one will believe. And Frances - patron saint of automobiles and widows...
If you haven't already, you have to check out the backstory to The Bedlam in Goliath!! Would love to hear your take on it, it's p spooky.
Excellent analysis! I too was drawn into the rabbit hole that is the TMV. A modern classic no doubt.
Yo I Listened to The Mars Volta Back when I was a Kid since My Dad Introduced this band to me 🤘
So... One of my best friends introduced me to "The mars volta", but I've never given a try until a few years ago with "De-loused in the comatorium" album which I love a lot and saved me from the madness (literally), fast forward to the last week, I was jocking around with the "Berserk" panel of the eclipse saying "This is literally "De-loused in the comatorium" looks like" and my friend said "dude, I thought the same until I heard "Frances the mute", it's an insane album, you should give it a shot" so... for the whole week I was listening to the album and It's completely insane.
Your video made me had a debate with my friend about the meaning of the album, so... thanks, you did an amazing job with the whole weird and sick story that the band made.
English is my second language and I had to watch the video with english subtitles to get everyting, btw you're so pretty :3
Thank you so much for making this! This is kinda my favourite album ever, so I’m eternally grateful!
this is a beautiful interpretation of the album, thank you for taking the time to create this.
Thank you for watching!
The best album of all time
And I had the 5 track CD version. The different parts were lettered like an outline. And lvia is my favorite song too.
5 track version??? Never heard about,.i guess it's normal that u can klick each section,..
Btw,.it's really crazy,,..for many hard volta fans is FRANCES the fav record,..BUT when u read some critics,...maannnny People say that FRANCES is the weakest record of them,...to confusing,.,.almost no art anymore,....but im disagree with them,,.
This is mind blowing, thank you JJ. Greatings from Italy!
I love your videos; I have been watching a bunch of them today! I initially saw your top ten concept albums where you mentioned you were new to The Mars Volta and I am so glad to see you cover Frances the Mute! Frances the Mute is up there with one of my favorite albums and Cassandra Gemini is probably my favorite song of all time. I wanted to comment on the track listing and say my preferred way of listening to the album is starting with the track Frances the Mute and listening through, making it six tracks total. The track Frances the Mute, I believe, was intended to be the first song but wasn't included due to time constraints (the lyrics to this song can still be seen behind the disc in the jewel case of the album). The original CD track listing is plain wonky and just a byproduct of what you mentioned about EP length, etc. I just love The Mars Volta so much and dreadfully miss seeing them live. They took tracks like Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus and would just extend them out beyond 20 minutes to just pure insanity, abstraction, and improvisation. Fully exploring songs to their absolute potential. Music memories I will never forget.
Thank you for sharing! I feel I share your enthusiasm for the band. I wish i could have seen them live!
Great explanation! I think the concept that the narrative is jumping back and forth in time on Cassandra Gemini makes a lot of sense. I’d love to see what you write!
Very cool theory I've never thought of it like that.... I love this band and especially how they evolved.... In my younger days like high School, I was a very big at the drive-in fan.... I'm from South Texas so that was our big deal for post hardcore punk and grunge music..... But to see Omar Rodriguez Lopez and along with Cedric evolve in to this band is just unbelievable..... If you get a chance check out there earlier years as the band at the drive-in
Id love to hear your thoughts about the album’s title track!! It’s legit the most vague song lyrically, so it would be interesting to know any answers to what it could add to the overall narrative.
Same. Frances the Mute (the track) is so underrated and I only listen to the album with it included.
@@MasterNoodlezBest song on the album.
Probably some Jodorowsky inspirered mumbo jumbo and I love it! 😉
Love the breakdown! I just saw them play in Atlanta the other night. Such an amazing band.
Hey, I was at that show too!!!! F****ing incredible night! one of the best shows I've EVER seen!
@@JJMetalhead I agree. Great set list great performance. Couldn't have asked for more.b
Although majority of TMV's albums are essentially "concept album's" it's comes down to the fact that Cedric and Omar give you a brief backstory in what the album is about, however the songs themselves are open for the viewers interpretation which is the beauty of there work. Cedric had said in an interview that he wants the Listener to have the creative freedom of imagination!! Think of it as art, which it actually is. When 3 people look at an abstract painting, it will invoke different feelings/opinions. And that is why music, not excluding The Mars Volta is infinite. Forever & Ever. ✌️🪐🌜🤔❤️💥
JJ, you are missing Frances the Mute (The Song) you need it to better understand.
Also, take care of the numerology., latin sentences, animal metaphors and you should know a little bit of Greek and Oriental mythology.
For example, Cassandra gemini:
- Cassandra in greek polytheism mythology was an oracle which the god Apollo fell in love. After she dismisses him, Apollo cursed the oracle to never be believed again;
- 26 is repeated a lot, LIKE A LOT in the album, some times in tempos, some times in desguise like "I think I've become one of the others (..) 25 wives in the lake tonight, 25+1=26, in western mythology 26 is the card of death;
- In Cassandra gemini all the screams mimic 3 of the 5 animals present in the album, respectively the crows, the owls and the cocks (or gallos) who represent different kinds of people. The snares before the bridge mimic the snakes. Cygnus (which is latin for swan) does not appear, only one reference in the lyrics. Also, Cygnus in mythology, was one of the ways Zeus transform to seduce and have sex with Leda (Leda and the swan myth). Also, Cygnus is a constellation (and a hint for you ahah);
- You really need to hear the single Frances the Mute, for example, the song is divided in three parts, part II is "Nineteen sank, while six would swim " and part III is "Five would grow and one was dead" the link to understand the part "25 wives in the lake tonight / raw bark in the water of the marbled shrine / 25 snakes pour out your eyes / hear the icepicks cumming on the marble shrine (nice way to say that the cum of icepicks is blood, very poetic);
- Cassandra gemini is also something that happens periodically in time, when the constellation reaches the gemini quadrant (good luck researching);
- Not only fire was used to "purify" the souls of women in medieval period. Water was too, in a way that "witches" were thrown to lakes with weights. It's interesting they use water to purify a body and fire to cleanse an object, it's like and anthology to Zoroastric religion, were fire was the soul purifier and water was kept in sacred containers so to not being impure. Maybe a mochery to christianity at failling to mimic oriental mythology?? This one I really cannot understand.
- "And I peel back all of my skin / peel back and let it all run / peel back all of my skin / peel back and let it all rot" I think it is pretty clear that Vismund has HIV.
I only do not agree on The Widow thoughts. I know, they are your own and I don't want to spoil them but...you need to hear the single (sorry again), and put yourself as the third person in The Widow. The one who's sick is Vismund, not the third person in my honest prespective. But who's the third person? Is Frances really death?? (There are hints that she likely is and some hints that she might not be (in L'Via L'Viaquez song, the only witness))Is the third person just a third person to imply that Vismund is dying of HIV and does not care to infect others by prostituting himself? One thing is for sure, although the instruments fade away in the distance implying death, the part sarcophagii does not tune in (hmmm...) and we all know, when sarcophagii shows, someone has surely died. Two exceptions. In the single Frances the Mute who tells the tale of Vismund mothers, the ending is sarcophagii (but no lyrics...suspense? she might be dead, she might be not) and ofcourse when the story of Cygnus, it starts with sarcophagii, but in my honest opinion not because someone died, but because Vismund should never been born, he is an abortion that survived ;).
My regards
I actually did a whole video on the Frances the Mute song. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Interesting interpretation! I would be very interested in learning where you get the idea of Vismund having a birth defect on his face from, since I’ve never seen that in others’ interpretations and can’t really find support for it in the lyrics.
Personally I’m fond of the theory that Vismund is a prostitute and uses his own HIV infection to kill the priests by sleeping with them. The spoken-word section at the start of Cassandra to me has always felt like it’s about Vismund-as-Cassandra sleeping with one of the priests.
Also, on The Widow, I’m curious how you’d fit the information Cedric has given about that song (IE, that it’s about a drug abuser who’s trying to escape his fear of God and religious shame)
The birth defect idea comes from the cover art. Nothing else in the album really supports it, but I thought I made for a better backstory. Vismund being a prostitute is probably more correct as far as what the band had in mind when creating it. When doing the research I had a hard time finding any explanation from Cedric or Omar on what the story is about so I just let my imagination run away with it.
Thank you for your take! I was just about to ask what your thoughts are on fan cuts that place the title track onto the record when you mentioned it at the end. I would love to hear your thoughts
First time seeing your videos, i really dig it. One thing that would push it further would be to include the lyrics that support what your saying, especially from an album like this. This is one of my favorites of all time and i can barely tell the story even with knowing all the lyrics. It'd be nice to see how these stories are through the specific lyrics since they are impossibly cryptic. I did however get a greater understanding from the single (frances the mute, ua-cam.com/video/LLBI0UdAlcg/v-deo.html song starts around 4:30), since the lyrics are abit more broad i think than the majority of the album. Also, love that megadeth you have hidden in the back, looking forward to your future videos.
Thank you! I would love to dig more into the specific lyrics in another video. Maybe in a livestream? Not sure, but yes there is so much to unpack with this albums and all of TMV albums.
I interpret the album more like you do, it makes more sense to me, and L'via is only a phonetic for Elvia and L'viaquez for Vazquez.
Hey JJ love ur channel. I love concept albums and trying to interpret their stories ur a huge help. Btw have u ever heard of a quiet world by native construct? It’s another concept album I recommend giving that a listen
Thank you! And I have not heard of them, but I’ll add that album to the list!!
@@JJMetalhead it’s actually the only album the band ever made. Some of the tracks a little hazy with the story so that’s why I like to hear ur interpretation.
@@LeeArttgry looking forward to checking it out!
Theres a 6th track that didn't fit on the album called "frances the mute" that seems to explain what happens to frances, and it makes it seem like she was the biological mother
Yes! I did a video on that track and what I think it means for the story!
Crazy to hear people's interpretations of this album, I don't think i've ever been able to put a cohesive thread to the narrative so I come up with a different story every time
doesn't help that my spanish isn't great but its good enough for me to just make up stuff based on what I do understand lmao
Love the Sanderson Books!!
OMG me too! I'm a huge Sanderson fan!
Wow…thanks!
Please do Famous Last Words, Council of the Dead.
Could you cover ...And Justice For All?
This band is soooo underated
rlly interesting
Cool! You really need to add the title track though.
Yes! I did a whole video on it. Here’s the link: ua-cam.com/video/JsGKACJFdPs/v-deo.htmlsi=IfPDAP80HOJtH_qO
Are you going to do a video on amputechture? I think that one will be really interesting as I personally think it's better than de loused so yhh. It would be really cool
It's on my list for eventually. TMV albums take forever to dissect.
@@JJMetalhead ah ok cheers
I named my cat L’via , I speak Spanish :)
What does it means??? Lvia??? The life???
@@_-_-_-Prof.BoskoBiathi-_-_-_ it’s just a name they made up it’s not even a Spanish name lol
I like you, kid. Carry on.
Thanks for the video! I think you will like an album named An Escape From A Box by Circus 2000 ❤
I'll check it out!
What about the song frances the mute?
I covered that here: ua-cam.com/video/JsGKACJFdPs/v-deo.html
What about the song you didn't include?
I covered the bonus track here: ua-cam.com/video/JsGKACJFdPs/v-deo.html
Awesome! I loved your explanation of the album. I'll listen now.
The widow is about a drug dealer
What up
Vismund Cygnus VC
Vice Chancellor 😂😂😂
One would think if it was Vismund's father it would have been called the Widower? No?
You make a good point. My theory is probably not correct in the way the band imagined it, but I thought it made for a good story.
You should do Antichrist Superstar
Added to the list!
@@JJMetalhead One of the best concept albums of the 90s. Looking forward to your take.
Frances song?
Here you are: ua-cam.com/video/JsGKACJFdPs/v-deo.html
Thnx 😁
I listened to your video while playing the song Frances the mute in the background. The song ended when you ended describing the album. Awesome stuff.
Kismet. 🤘🏻
Frances the drug mule¿¿¿