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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:20 am
by Detective Hunt
This article from Slate probably belongs in the "media" section, but it touches heavily on the opening song so I thought I would place it here for those interested that had not seen it yet. Feel free to move it if it should go there.

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:26 am
by Villa youth
Can someone please tell me how to download the episode off the internet???????????

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:34 am
by John Sacrimoni
I think that the voice belonged to William S. Burroughs.

As for the character/text match-ups:

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>
Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director. He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.<hr></blockquote>

This was Janice, the littlest Baccala, and then Bobby himself - his new hobby, anyway. 'Conception' was Janice and Baby Baccala and the death was the train.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light. The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.<hr></blockquote>

This was Gene and his wife.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out ... depicted as flying away across a full moon, a bird with luminous wings and head of light. [snip]<hr></blockquote>

This was Meadow.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Number four is Ba, the Heart, often treacherous. This is a hawk's body with your face on it, shrunk down to the size of a fist. Many a hero has been brought down, like Samson, by a perfidious Ba.<hr></blockquote>

This was Ray Curto.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Number five is Ka, the Double, most closely associated with the subject. The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death, is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead to the Western Lands.<hr></blockquote>

This was AJ and, in the last part, Ade in Carmela's dream.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory, your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.<hr></blockquote>

This was Ade fading out in Carmela's dream.

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.<hr></blockquote>

And this was Carmela looking up at the ceiling [and, perhaps, Tony with the shovel in Junior's backyard].

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:06 pm
by SofiaGiovanna
Interesting...AJ's the double, huh? Well he is very closely associated with the subject (Tony)....So who's his doppelganger? Someone who is self-centered, passive-aggressive, like AJ....maybe he'll turn out to be more like Livia or Junior than his dad.

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:15 pm
by DarngoodCoffee
Villa Youth:

Get HBO. If you don't know how to get tv shows, don't be asking here.

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:33 pm
by DarngoodCoffee
Man, there is a lot to think about with those lyrics and the images they showed. I need some time to digest.

JOHN SACRIMONI: Thanks for the breakdown, its really helpful.

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:50 pm
by DarngoodCoffee
I'm not familiar with the original text, and I'm not sure I need to be to make this observation. We know that Tony does not want AJ to follow him into the life, we saw how he tried to keep Jackie Jr. out of it.

We've seen in a number of mafia films that one of the overarching themes is the desire of the Don to keep his son from following his path. Last, we know that Tony wants to get out of the life, but, like Michael Corleone, he just keeps getting sucked back in. That's why AJ, as the "Double" in the song keeps making me think about this line:

"[The Double] is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead to the Western Lands."

Do we anticipate somehow AJ guiding Tony to get out of the mafia? If not, the same lyric says

"The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death"

Whose death? Could AJ guide Tony to redemption before Tony dies?

I don't know how AJ as he is could provide such a guide for Tony, he is utterly superficial, egocentric, and without focus. I also note that there seems to be no way for AJ to make his way into the way of life. He isn't friends with anyone tied to the mob, all of his friends are civilians. I think it would be nearly impossibly for AJ to even find his way INTO the mafia, given how little he knows.

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:09 pm
by Detective Hunt
Yes, thanks John Sacrimoni - extremely helpful! I am going to lay down a few thoughts that come at me just on the surface. Consider them discussion points, if you will (or care to.)

1. Janice, Bobby, etc. as "first to leave" - does this mean a betrayel of some sort by them? The reason for Tony's fall, i.e. "Director?"

2. Gene Pontecorvo - "second one off the ship" - the sinking ship of Tony's Family, and literally the second to go in the episode, just after Curto.

3. Meadow, as number three and it's description - sounds as if she might somehow escape or be spared.

4. Ray Curto as Ba - certainly treacherous as a rat, I would think.

5. Does this one mean AJ has a double, or that perhaps he is the double for Tony? Also, it describes this one as "the only reliable guide through..."

This one and seven are the most interesting to me. AJ's double could easily be Chris, as it was Jackie Jr. earlier. But we have seen plenty of comparisons between him and Tony over the past episodes.

6. Ade as shadow and memory - that's fairly easy, but fitting

7. This is mostly Carmela - the remains. Remains of the marriage? Remains after Tony is dead? Could be anything.

I also think it is curious that if basically boils down to three rats and Tony's family - his sister, his daughter, his son and then his wife - all mixed in with three traitors. Does it perhaps suggest the others might betray him in some way as well? Could any of them be working for the FBI? Would any of them work with the FBI?

Carmela is worried, she tells Ade - worries all the time. The look on her face was pained as she lay in bed. Is it possible that she is doing what Ade did? And if so, could Tony do what Chris did?

Lot's to think about and I don't have enough time to think on it at the moment while at work. But take it from here, folks. What do you guys think? Is there anything to any of this, or are we looking way too much into the song?

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Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:22 pm
by John Sacrimoni
One could also cut the Egyptian soul into five parts: the Ka, the Ba, the Akh, the Sheut, and the Ren. Some of the terms are the same, but they have variations in meaning.

The ka is seen as the life-force. That life-force is sustained through food and drink, which, God knows, Tony gets a lot of - it'd be ironic if his size is the thing that saves him.


The ba makes the person who they are, in a way. This is the part that lives on even as the person dies, so it's sort of like the Western idea of a soul. It has the ability to move between the world of the living and the dead. The ba has to come back to its body every so often in order to live.

The ba was Curto - perhaps this means that whatever work he did with the Feds will continue to have an effect on Tony's life? That could be his way of 'moving between the world of the living and the dead,' in a way.


The akh could either be seen as the part that is the least bound to the others [like a ghost, so to speak] and/or the combination of the ka and ba. This is the part that goes on to the afterworld.

Maybe this could tie in with Ade? Although Ade, in this episode, could be seen as going between the world of the living and the dead. Ade was another informant, which ties her in with the ba.


The sheut is the shadow, which protects a person.

I guess this ties in with Khaibit - Ade fading away? You cannot live without your shadow - it's your defense. Perhaps this means that the Ade murder will be the thing that tears away Carmela's deliberate blindness.


The ren is the name, as said above - however, here it is the name that is given to someone so that person could come into existence. Knowing someone's 'true' name gives you power over that person. Keeping that name known will keep the ren alive - erasing that name damns the person to oblivion.

This could connect to the whole Witness Protection Program that rears its head into this show so many times. If you wipe your name out, you hope to be tossed into oblivion [or, in Henry Hill's view, hope it and then get bored with it, viewing it as a damning]. However, your enemies keep the name alive, so you can't really escape.


ETA: No problem, people. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)">

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... imoni>John Sacrimoni</A> at: 3/13/06 1:28 pm

Re: Opening montage and voice over (7 Souls)

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:26 pm
by Stealth NYY
<blockquote>Quote:<hr>I don't know how AJ as he is could provide such a guide for Tony, he is utterly superficial, egocentric, and without focus. I also note that there seems to be no way for AJ to make his way into the way of life. He isn't friends with anyone tied to the mob, all of his friends are civilians. I think it would be nearly impossibly for AJ to even find his way INTO the mafia, given how little he knows.<hr></blockquote>

True, but what if the role that AJ plays as a guide is simply that he gets into his own trouble with the law (outside of the mafia) and to save his son, Tony then flips against the mob?

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