Televators (An Ode To Cerpin Taxt)

Summary

In Televators, years pass in the real world. Cerpin tries to tell his friends and family that he is leaving, that he will take his own life. But none of them think that he is serious.

Meanwhile the house of Tremula Metacarpi invades Cerpins mind, coaxing him to put and end to his life so he can join them in the Comatorium. He finally gives in.

Cerpin walks to a bridge in Rezjua, and jumps. Just as his body hits the ground, his mind is transported back into the ESP. Thus ending the story of Cerpin Taxt.

The Mars Volta - Televators

The Lyrics

Televators starts off by saying

• Just as he hit
• The ground
• They lowered a tow that
• stuck in his neck to the gills

He is saying how as he died, the Tremulants pulled him out of his body and back into the Comatorium. Cerpin is using the metaphor of when a fisherman catches a fish, they stick the tow (a metal bar) into the fish's gills and pull the fish out of the water. He is saying that the Tremulants "pulled" him out of his body.

He continues

• Fragments of sobriquets
• Riddle me this
• Three half eaten corneas
• Who hit the area

The line "Fragments of sobriquets" is referring to Cerpins multiple identities (Moatilliatta, Claviatika, Cerpin Taxt) and showing how he is now not any one of them fully, but is "fragments" of each. "Three half eaten corneas" is talking about Claviatika Tres Ojos (Tres ojos meaning Three eyes, Cornea is a part of the Eye). It is simply re-iterating the fragments of sobriquet line and how his personalities are broken up (hence the "Half eaten").

He finishes up the Verse with

• Stalk the ground

In this he is talking about his jump off the bridge, where he Stalks the ground below the bridge in his suicidal thinking.

In Televators Chorus it says

• Page of concrete
• Stain walks crutch and hobbled sway
• Auto da fe
• A capillary hint of red

In these lines he is describing how his suicide was a public execution, which is what the line "auto da fe" means. The word also means "act of faith", which would very well describe Cerpin's death, as he made his jump in faith that he would be transported back into the ESP. The other lines just describe what happened to Cerpin's body as it hit the ground (hint: it wasn't pretty).

The next line shows how Cerpin's other forms (the ones in the Comatorium) and how they escaped from the death that only the Real world Cerpin taxt experienced

• Only this manupod
• Crescent in shape has escaped

The song continues to the next Verse:

• The house half the way
• Fell empty with teeth that
• Split both his lips
• Mark these words

He describes the world that he is living in (the same one you and I live in) as being "the house half the way". In this he is referring to a half-way house because the time he spent in this world was just a layaway between the first time he went into the Comatorium, and when he kills himself to enter it again. It says that the half-way house Fell empty with teeth that split both his lips" because Cerpin taxt's identity on earth became non-existant when his lips were split from the fall.

Then it says

• One day this chalk outline will circle this city
• Was he robbed of the asphalt that cushioned his face?

He is describing how his death will affect everyone in the city because he had so many people that cared about him. Then he describes how he didn't have to feel the pain when his body hit the ground, because he transported back into the Comatorium and was "robbed" of the pain.

In Televators bridge it says

• Pull the pins
• Save your grace
• Mark these words
• On his grave

In most airplanes, there are ejection seats in which you have to "pull the pins" in order to eject. This is very similar to Cerpin Taxt "ejecting" from his body and projecting it back into the Comatorium.

After that, it simply says to write the words "Save your grace" on his tombstone. At the very end he states "Everyone knows the last toes are always the coldest to cool" which is making a reference to the rigamortis that occurs after you die.

Now let's move on to the music.

The Music

Televators Begins with a minute of ambient noise. In the background you can hear the sounds of a monkey. These monkeys are called Tarsiers, which are known for their suicidal behavior when kept in captivity. These suicidal primates are almost extinct due to that fact.

As the song Opens up, the peaceful sounds of acoustic guitar come in. Combined with Cedric's voice, it creates a very gripping atmosphere.

As Televators Chorus starts, the sounds of Justin Meldal-Johnsen's double bass give the song a very natural sound. The sound of all the instruments together gives the Chorus a very full and satisfying feel.

The song continues on, until the Bridge. In which the echoing sounds of voice (harmonies and such) just put it over the top. From "pretty awesome song" to "Holy mother of moses this is insanely good".

Televators Ends with the ambient noises, some being reminiscent of traffic in the streets. You know at this point, Cerpin taxt has lost his life, yet much of the world continues on. The ambient noises change back and forth, showing Cerpin's transportation back into the Comatorium, and out of his tortured existance.

Overall, this is one of my favorite song's on the CD, enough so that I would play it with my very own band.

Now, let's continue to the aftermath in Take the veil Cerpin Taxt.


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