Tally Hall - Ruler of Everything | The Cat Edition

inspired by Chase Hukill's video :)

[westernslav]

I love how somehow this feels very 2009ish and yet also unquestionably modern at the same time

[RelyableLerilay]

This is actually the closest thing we can get to a history of cats on the internet
Soooo many classical clips and images, it's impressive

[cfinegan]

Ah yes, a song about the everlasting effect of time and how it never stops regardless of circumstances being used for cat videos, a timeless practice.

[deki]

A masterpiece. Hope the algorithm loves it too.

[R.Weimar]

The final one fits perfectly, let me explain, when the white cat is serious because when it says "fool" it becomes sad then smiles.

[FishVirus]

seeing the "zirconium pants" line was crazy, as my grandparents have had a screenshot of an email containing that cat image up on their fridge for longer than I've been around!

[ludwigthestrange]

I needed this. I'm at a time in my life where I have no control over anything I do, this is a simple comfort. Thank you. This returned me to simpler times. I'm weeping. THank you.

[Cadesworth]

3:10 Funnily enough, my reaction to that abomination was also "oh no no"

[glitchtheproto]

The entire ideal of this song is that time convinces a random man that time is the most powerful thing in the universe

[axotheaxolotl]

Cats truly are the rulers of everything. If they didn’t exist, the internet simply wouldn’t be the same.

[NeoTheNoobie]

Hello, fellow commenters. Please join me as I explain the meaning behind “Ruler of Everything”, a song written by tally hall, a small indie band. I will be skipping the very first verse as it is easier to explain later.

“In the gallows and the ghetto, in the town or the meadow, in the billows, even over the sun.” - This can be summarised to “everywhere you have ever known or will know”, as gallows are below us, towns are where we are, billows are around the clouds and over the sun is over the sun.

“Every end of a time is another begun”
- This just means that time never ends, and knows all.

“You understand that mechanical hands are the ruler of everything, (a) ruler of everything, (a) I’m the ruler of everything, in the end”
- This tells us that the entire concept of time is talking to us, and explaining that they rule over everything, hence the “mechanical hands”

“Weird noises before the main verse”
-When reversed, time describes someone as a jackrabbit. As earlier in the song, we hear a person names “Juno”, let’s pretend it is them.

“Do you like how I dance, I’ve got zirconium pants”
-This line tells us that Juno is both vain, dumb and insecure. We know this as when Juno is met with the concept of time, he just dances. Additionally, Zirconium is an element which is used to make fake diamonds.

“Consequential enough to slip you into a trance”
-Time makes fun of Juno

“Do you like how I walk, do you like how I talk, do you like how my face disintegrates into chalk”
- Juno about now realises this is the concept of time and realises his looks do not matter, and nothing can save from what time will say, but keeps on bragging anyway.

“I have a wonderful wife, I have a powerful job, she criticises me for being egocentric”
-Here Juno once again knocks him/herself down. We hear time laugh at the end of this, as time is about to tear Juno to pieces.

“You practise your mannerisms into the wall”
-The next line is unimportant, as here time calls Juno like an alarm clock, practising how he speaks so he seems interesting.

“I saw your slobber over clovers on the side of the hill, I was observing the birds, circle in for the kill”
-Here, time says Juno slobbers over clovers, meaning Juno thinks that luck will save him form bad circumstances. Juno tries to defend himself claiming he likes nature, and time is getting ready to “circle in for the kill”, to break Juno.

“I’ve been you, I know you, your facade is a scam, you know you’re making me cry, this is the way that I am, I’ve been living a lie, a methphorical scheme, detective undercover brotherhood objective obscene, oh no no oh yeah.”
-Here, time calls out junk for being fake and Juno realises his life is a lie, but thinks that’s what he needs to know. Time says his mission is not done as what Juno must understand is that nothing he does matters, only time matters.

“Insert rap part in here”
-This part is meant to sound incomprehensible, and that’s because here Juno realises everything is a lie and nothing matters as one day he will die. In here he asks time whether “do you hear the clock stop when you reach the end?” To which time says “no”, you don’t know if or when you die, even after. Now, he tries to calm down Juno by telling him to stop pretending to understand and to give it up, be a fool and smile. He then repeats this so Juno can see what it’s like from time’s perspective.

“You understand mechanical hands are the ruler of everything, (a) ruler of everything, (a) I’m the ruler of everything in the end”
-Time explains again, that they are the ruler of everything. It is here now that we must see the connection and realise Juno is a metaphor for mankind, in which we try and pretend we matter, when really no one will ever remember us. It’s nice to think we matter, but we really don’t.

“Like a bumbling dragon I fly, scraping my face on the sky”
-Here time tells us that it forgives us, as it knows we will only make this mistake again, in which we will, thinking we matter.

Now, I will go back to the start to make sense of the very first verse. Also, you’ll notice that this song loops from the end back to 0:12, which makes sense once you understand the first verse.

“Juno was mad, he knew he’d been had, so he shot at the sun with a gun, shot at the sun with a gun, shot at his only one wily friend.”
-This tells us that no matter what we do, we will think we matter and “shoot at the sun with a gun”, upsetting time and causing him to have to explain again why we don’t matter. Forever, we are stuck to this time loop until we die.

I did not copy and paste this, I spent multiple days analysing this poem to use in my junior cert in 3 months time. If you have read this far, please spread the knowledge of the number 27, as it is the best number. Goodbye,
Tabby

[formacat]

0:46 i love the way he sings "meadow" and that specific cat clip makes it more majestic

[SpectreProtogen]

watched this after seeing the in depth explanation of the song, The cats do not make the song any less terrifying

[PicassosCat]

unironically my favourite lyric video for this song

[digbydog]

Idk why, something about this song and a taxidermy cat flying off into the cloudy unknown made me die laughing.

[sauceman]

1:51 that’s so well synced with the cat

[stoopidapples]

Man, I love how recognisable so much of this video is. It's beautiful really. Well, time to go listen to every tally hall song again

[mrrandom]

This is truly remarkable, the ability to make me laugh and my demons laugh, its underly incomprehensible, a true beauty, a masterpiece, what you have done is truly remarkable, it puts tears in my eyes.

[Carpofishyboi]

Appreciate your cats while they’re still here, and alive. They won’t be forever, and when they’re gone, don’t forget.

[axtumnnn]

Can we talk about how perfectly synced 1:50 is?