GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Have or There's?

POSTED BY: NECROSCAPE
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 07:27
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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 3:08 PM

NECROSCAPE


I have a question. I was positive that in the Ballad of Serenity, the line went: "There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity." But in two fan songs I heard they said: "Have no place I can be." So which is it?


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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 3:44 PM

TRAVELER


You were right the first time.


Traveler

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 3:48 PM

ASARIAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Necroscape:
I have a question. I was positive that in the Ballad of Serenity, the line went: "There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity." But in two fan songs I heard they said: "Have no place I can be." So which is it?




The first is correct. Plus, "Have no place I can be since I found Serenity" means the complete opposite. :)


--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 3:54 PM

NECROSCAPE


I thought as much. But like I said, songs like Done The Impossible and I think maybe Mal's Song use 'Have'.

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Tuesday, December 5, 2006 7:45 PM

NOSADSEVEN


Joss and Sonny Rhodes sing "there", but the lyrics in the Serenity Visual Companion say "have".

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Wednesday, December 6, 2006 2:48 AM

DONCOAT


Quote:

Originally posted by asarian:
The first is correct. Plus, "Have no place I can be since I found Serenity" means the complete opposite. :)

As others have pointed out, either version is acceptable.

I disagree that the meaning is different. The "have" version implies an "I" at the start of the line: "(I) have no place I can be since I found Serenity". That's the same meaning as "There's no place I can be..."

The odd thing is that it's easy to misinterpret this line. If you think of Serenity, the ship, it seems to say (roughly) "I have no place I feel at home since I got my ship, Serenity". That's a bit odd, since the characters (and we) all think of Serenity as home.

But a better interpretation (in my opinion) is that the line refers to Serenity Valley, the place where Mal "lost his way". Now the line means something like "Since the battle of Serenity I've had no sense of purpose".


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!

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Wednesday, December 6, 2006 3:01 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.


I always thought, since they 'never stop moving', that the line meant there was no place Mal (or any of the crew, really) could be (stay very long) since boarding Serenity. I'm sure there are many layers of meaning in it.


[]

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Wednesday, December 6, 2006 4:05 AM

ASARIAN


Quote:

Originally posted by DonCoat:

Quote:

Originally posted by asarian:

The first is correct. Plus, "Have no place I can be since I found Serenity" means the complete opposite. :)


As others have pointed out, either version is acceptable.



No, the book is wrong. This whole conclusion is fallacious. :) The "Ballad of Serenity" Theme Song, as heard on the Firefly DVD's at the start of every episode, clearly has:

There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity

Quote:



I disagree that the meaning is different. The "have" version implies an "I" at the start of the line: "(I) have no place I can be since I found Serenity". That's the same meaning as "There's no place I can be..."

The odd thing is that it's easy to misinterpret this line. If you think of Serenity, the ship, it seems to say (roughly) "I have no place I feel at home since I got my ship, Serenity". That's a bit odd, since the characters (and we) all think of Serenity as home.

But a better interpretation (in my opinion) is that the line refers to Serenity Valley, the place where Mal "lost his way". Now the line means something like "Since the battle of Serenity I've had no sense of purpose".




Both versions actually allow for both a "negative" and a "positive" meaning. The "there" version, IMHO, more intuitively gravitates towards the "positive" variant; it implies an "other" in the line: "There's no (other) place I can be since I found Serenity."

N.B. Come to think of it, the meaning may even be more literal. Let's consider the entire song:

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...

Perhaps it means exactly that: they burnt Mal's land, boiled the sea (meaning unclear; the atmosphere thingy?). There's nowhere he can go ("Take me where I cannot stand"). In other words: they can burn the land from under him, chase him away from every place, but the ONLY place he can still be, is in the sky, which they can't take away from him. Meaning something like: "Ever since I bought my boat, Serenity, after the War, I have no place left, but my ship and the sky."

Either way, whether taken literally, or more with the sense of having found a home, the meaning, IMHO, remains: "Ever since I found Serenity, there's no place I can be, BUT (on) Serenity."


--
"Mei-mei, everything I have is right here." -- Simon Tam

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Wednesday, December 6, 2006 7:27 AM

LITTLEALBATROSS29


No matter which one , it is my favorite line in the song.

Bryce
****************************


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