Just What Is 'The Wild Heart Of Life'? Japandroids' Album Title, Explained

Japandroids, the two-piece Canadian rock duo known for its epic sound, just released its third album, Near to the Wild Heart of Life. Singer/guitarist Brian King heard that phrase years ago and traced its origin to a line in James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

"What I really liked about the expression was the 'near to' part of it — because 'the wild heart of life' sort of implies one thing — but 'near to the wild heart of life' sort of implies something else," King tells Weekend Edition Saturday.

"I think everybody has these moments in their lives where they go through significant changes — maybe they move cities, or maybe they change jobs, or they start a new relationship or they end a relationship — and everybody's chasing this thing and I don't really think anyone ever quite gets there," he says. "That's a really non-poetic way of describing life, but just that idea of whatever it is you're chasing, you're near to it, but you're never really there."

Hear more of King's conversation with Weekend Edition Saturday at the audio link.

Sarah Handel produced the broadcast version of this story.

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