@jonreyabello5635

4 years ago

THEORIES AND EXPLANATIONS

This album was inspired by someone whom Wesley Schultz' family took care for for about 10 years. She is an alcoholic ever since they met her and she struggled with it for a very long time. The album centers around the dangers of alcoholism and how it affects everyone. Alcoholism is a disease.

The Sparks Family:
1st Gen: Frank + Donna = Gloria
2nd Gen: Gloria + Husband = Jimmy (from another's sperm)
3rd Gen: Jimmy + Bonnie = Junior

CHAPTER I: GLORIA

Track 1. “Donna”
Frank (died 1954) and Donna (died 1979) are Gloria’s parents. In this MV, Donna and Frank is building the House of Sparks. We later on see how this house become a crucial symbol of the Sparks Family. Gloria is haunted by her past, as we can see when she looks at the picture of her parents, in the ‘Gloria’ MV. Gloria hates Donna. "Her mother never was one" It might be the main root of her alcoholism. "the truck's always made you worry." Family issues. Gloria hates her life, she “prays for a funeral" and _"sang it like hallelujah”_. Question is, why did she take her clothes off outside their house?

Track 2. “Life in the City”
Here, we see Gloria’s biggest regret. It was New Year’s eve. She did drugs, and was high. She’s outside drinking in a Manhattan bar. She meets a random guy, had sex with him, and voila, she conceived Jimmy. Back in their house, Gloria sees her husband already sleeping. We see a note saying that her husband came to the hospital to see his sick mother.
Question is what about the line “And I miss my dad and Cleopatra sitting on a phone” and why is there a stanza from ‘Sleep on the Floor’? Can this story possibly be connected to Lumineers' The Ballad of Cleopatra? Is Gloria's Husband the son of Cleopatra, the taxi driver? Wild theory. If it's true, it might be that the reason why Gloria's husband (Cleopatra's son) tries hard to keep his family whole is because he came from a broken one.

Track 3. “Gloria”
The MV elaborates the dangers of being alcoholic — domestic violence, bad parenting. Gloria is being a bad mother while raising baby Jimmy. She’s stubborn. She always fights with his husband. However, it is clear that her husband loves her, and is very understanding. She hits her husband with a bottle of alcohol. This may be a symbol that her alcoholism make her lose people in her life, as she left her husband, wounded. But the lyrics say that Gloria doesn’t want to wake up after getting drunk. She wants to die. However, she came back running to their house for Jimmy. Jimmy was almost her hope.

CHAPTER II: JUNIOR

Track 4. “It Wasn’t Easy to be Happy For You”
Junior is product of a fucked up family. And of course, it wasn't easy to be happy. This MV is either a hallucination due to his loneliness, or a recollection of a happy memory he had with a girl that left her because "it want easy to be happy" for him... One difference of Junior from his family is he doesn't seem to drink, but he smokes.

Track 5. “Leader Of The Landslide”
Junior is unlike Jimmy. He hates Jimmy being an alcoholic. We can assume that Jimmy was physically abusing Junior. As we saw when Jimmy was about to hit Junior, Junior was throwing self defense martial arts. Meaning Junior started to learn self defense as a coping mechanism from a possibly repetitive behavior. However, we saw a softer side of Jimmy at the start when they’re about to bury the dog who’s probably lived with them for a long time since that dog was there since the “Donna” MV. The dog is possible a symbol of Junior’s Mother, Bonnie. When Junior was lying in bed, he saw vision of her mother. Later in “My Cell” MV, Jimmy also saw that same dog. Bonnie (or Gloria) might be the one Junior is referring to as the _"leader of landslide"_.

Track 6. “Left For Denver”
Bonnie left for Denver. So Junior is sad and at the same time curious why her mother left. He hates her mother leaving him with his father. He ended up burning the piano/keyboard that Gloria was playing before. Her mother, Bonnie, probably played that piano a lot too. “What did you know that I didn’t?” While searching for answers, he found a gun in his father’s things. This might also be a reference to the Lumineers' _'Gun Song'_. Check it out.

CHAPTER III: JIMMY

Track 7. “My Cell”
In the start of video, Jimmy was having sex with the girl who entered his house at the latter part of ‘Leader of the Landslide’ MV. "The shark" entered the room hitting him hard. It turned out that the girl, Julie, is "only after the wallet" of Jimmy, probably for unpaid debt. While the girl is about to leave, Jimmy tried to stop the girl, which reminded him of his wife. Another woman left him helpless (First, Gloria, then Bonnie, then Julie). He also saw a vision of the dog.

Track 8. “Jimmy Sparks”
The lyrics explains it all. Jimmy was a prison guard so he’s used to being a tough man. This can also be an irony and a metaphor because the ‘My Cell’ song talks about Jimmy being imprisoned by his emotions, by the past, or by his alcoholism. The lyrics explains how Jimmy actually tried to be a good father while Junior grew up. He struggled raising Junior alone. He even "gambled in bars" to pay for Junior’s hospitalization. He incurred debt. Growing up, Jimmy advised Junior to "not let hitchers in the car" because it’s “us or them”.

We see what happened to Jimmy after his encounter in 'My Cell' MV. "It was 3am."_ Jimmy is wounded while walking alone in the road. Parallels: that road again, where Gloria had an accident. “Now Jimmy's son is trying to make his way home, His graveyard shift had ended and it was starting to snow, He sees an old man walking barefoot alone, His old man waved his hands with tears in his eyes But Jimmy's son just sped up and remembered daddy's advice, No you don't ever give a hitcher a ride.”

This reminded me of the lyrics in ‘Donna’ — “You love to judge strangers' karma”

Track 9. "April"
Just Junior following Jimmy's advice. Lol.

Track 10. "Salt and The Sea"
The lyrics of this song equates alcohol to salt and the sea — which are both regarded as cures for anything. When you read the lyrics, it's actually the alcohol speaking to Jimmy. "I'll be your friend in the daylight again, There we will be, like an old enemy". Again, alcoholism is a disease. And for someone with it, they think alcohol is the only answer to their problems. Alcohol is their only friend.

However, in the music video, we see the father and son in their home. At this point, Jimmy is exhausted from a long walk, and Jimmy just came from a bank robbery. Both hopeless and helpless. Except they had each other. Here, we see a parallel again from 'Gloria": the police coming into their place. But now Junior is the one running away instead of Gloria.

One thing I loved about the ending of this series is that: In contrast to the lyrics which portrays alcohol as Jimmy's friend, the video shows that in the end, Jimmy and Junior became each other's friend, last hope, saving grace, lifeline, or cure — like salt and the sea. I'd like to think that they both realized this at that point.

Alcoholism creates a cycle difficult to break. It affects all the ones that love and care for you. The damage can go generations after generations. So help others, and help yourself. <3

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