| Pixies – You Fucking Die Lyrics | 3 months ago |
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I always thought he was paraphrasing the "Frances" scene from *Stripes*: "Also, I don't like no one touching my stuff. So just keep your meathooks off. If I catch any of you guys in my stuff, I'll kill you. " |
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| Frank Zappa – Dinah-Moe Humm Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| I was 13 years old or so when this song came out and my friends and i thought it was the most amazing, funny song EVER. But now - WTF? The term "aged like milk" comes to mind. \n\nThankfully there are still some guitar masterpieces on the record that I still love | |
| Belle & Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| @[moik:39551] I read this and couldn't agree more - then I noticed, "Oh, I wrote this sixteen years ago." Ha! | |
| Talking Heads – I Zimbra Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| This song is about getting drunk in Mexico. | |
| Minutemen – Jesus And Tequila Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| What a great song - I always felt that the things said in this song aren't really thoughts from d boon but are, more or less, quotes from some old dude they met at a bar. Or maybe a friend or relative- sort of a Bukowskiesque character giving d boon, who was in his early twenties at the time, advice - advice from a guy who on the surface seems like a failure; but he's happy. He still has Jesus and tequila. | |
| Naked Raygun – Rat Patrol Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| I'm pretty sure that the guys in Naked Raygun are the same age as me. When I was a little kid there used to be a TV series called *Rat Patrol* that was only on for a year or two but was pretty popular, especially with boys. A small group of brave solders, referred to as the "rat patrol," battling the Germans in the desert. They'd tie a bunch of branches behind their few vehicles and speed around the Sahara raising up a bunch of dust to make it look like there were a bunch of vehicles in their convoy and somehow scare the Germans with this maneuver. It seems like all the lyrics in the song are referring to that TV show. | |
| Pavement – Black Out Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| I think "politics" has it right - "growing pains that come with moving into mature adult land." The narrator drives by his college (?) or wherever and thinks about all the partying he had done; but now that he is working that;s no longer going to happen, not on weekdays anyway. Then he ends by him thinking about working hard and struggling (like the sturdy scots) and (nervously?) considers "I need to know where does it go How do I get there and what will I find" | |
| Pixies – Greens And Blues Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[skibble21:30297] I think your interpretation is terrific. Lots of aquatic references in Pixies songs, certainly - don't forget *Where is my Mind*? Also I'd add the Frank Black has lived in Eugene, Oregon for a while. - in Southern Oregon there used to be a huge industry selling "super blue green algae" for all sorts of purposes (although Klamath Lake has no tides). The algae craze has since diminished. | |
| They Might Be Giants – Ana Ng Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[Girog:29781] True - but it doesn't matter. The narrator is imagining the place where she lives and if he thinks the water swirls the other direction, well, that's part of his fantasy. | |
| Guided by Voices – Always Crush Me Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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At one point I began to think of the song as being narrated by an insect - listen to it again imagining a bug is singing it. There are more lyrics: Full head of nothing Fail to see the difference Fail to feel the mercy Off to join the flagstaff Always crush me Picture my amazement When it doesn't always pain me And I will reproduce faster Commitment trailblazer Your trail is quite a puzzle And you are such a daredevil And you are such a collector Always crush me Picture my amazement When it doesn't always pain me And I will reproduce faster |
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| Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers – Hospital Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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For years I assumed this song was about a guy who was in love with a woman who was much richer and socially elevated than he was, and that she was in the hospital for some sort of mental breakdown or even a suicide attempt. But thinking of it now in a more modern, less naive, context the narrator seems more like a stalker. “Let me back into your life”? Does he follow this woman around both loving and hating her? Did he do something to her that resulted in her hospitalization? Did he injure her? I don’t know - probably I’m way off - seems a little dark for Jonathan Richman. |
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| Built to Spill – Stab Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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This song really feels like the narrator contemplates suicide then he finds a "grasp tp grab" - some sort of glimmer of hope (basically he talks himself out of it) but ultimately he realizes that even though he "rescued" himself he realizes that his life remains depressing and uninteresting, presumably because of poor choices he made (the song he wrote wrong being his life choices) but life goes on and on, etc. Brilliant. Another cool thing about this song - it's in 3/4 time (like a waltz) - 98% of rock music is in 4/4. |
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| Cheap Trick – Surrender Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[flomojo:24145] You are definitely correct about the "whore" theory - have you ever heard the original demo version of this song? It went something along the lines of "Now I had heard the WACS recruited old maids, dykes and whores." | |
| Pavement – Type Slowly Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Pavement drives me crazy. A lot of the bands that I listen to have inscrutable lyrics: Minutemen, Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets – a lot of the songs more or less describe an abstract thought; but they really don’t tell a story. No problem, then. But a lot of Pavement songs seem to be about something specific; but if you try to figure out what you get pretty befuddled, and the harder you think about it the worse it gets. Some good examples of this would be songs like Grounded or Zurich is Stained. But the one that really drives me nuts is Type Slowly. Okay, whaddaya think? I have three thoughts about this one. I work with a lot of older people including people who are demented, and to me this song reminds me of the ramblings of a demented man, waiting to die talking to his wife during a moment of relative lucidity. Some other songs on the same album, like Old to Begin and Shady Lane are clearly about aging and death. But then again probably not this song. Okay . . . there are a number of innuendoes about sex in this song: “our midnight vacation,” “One of us is a cigar stand . . . one of us is a lovely blue incandescent guillotine” And there are more - you’ll see if you look. So is this just another song about sex? Probably not. Okay, my third thought. This song came out in 99 when AOL was so popular. A lot of the lyrics in the song sound to me like bits and pieces from AOL chat rooms and message boards from that time. If you have ever experienced those AOL chat rooms they often don’t make any more sense than this songs does. Examples: “snipers posted bills,” “trolls,” “liberals say they don’t exist,” and of course “type slowly.” So maybe this song is about life in an AOL chat room, which is, of course, a lot of nonsense. |
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| Elvis Costello – (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[MalagaSlim:18027] I think you are correct - get your kicks at sixty six - 1966 is when that film was released, good call! | |
| Black Flag – In My Head Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| This song is unique - a punk song in 6/8 time (like an Irish jig). | |
| Built to Spill – Distopian Dream Girl Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I agree with Greensubmarine - excellent analysis. The narrator of the song is a solipsist. But here’s a different angle, and I certainly could be mistaken here, but what if the narrator of the song is in a lucid dream? A lucid dream is a dream where the dreamer realizes that it is a dream, and that they can do anything they want - most people decide to fly around; but you could choose to kill people, have sex with people, whatever. There are no consequences because it is a dream and you know it. Some people have the ability to dream lucidly much more easily than others. Anyway - the song is called Dystopian DREAM Girl - so there’s a clue. Also - everybody, I mean everybody, is a solipsist when they are in a lucid dream. You know your consciousness is the only thing real in the dream. The first part of the song is in the lucid dream, and in her dream her stepdad is David Bowie - in real life he probably looks nothing like him. Typical dream material, right? In the second verse they awake. The man is alright, he states. The woman, who I suppose was the dreamer (the dystopian dream girl), reconsiders what she had done in her lucid dream, which probably involved killing her husband, and decides to “let you keep on living.” Well - that’s a fun interpretation but the more I think about it the less it makes sense - but I’m going to post it here anyway. Any ideas why the title is spelled distopian rather than dystopian? |
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| Charlie Daniels Band – Long Haired Country Boy Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Antisocial personality disorder with multiple substance abuse comorbidities. | |
| Pavement – Range Life Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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What is meant by "Range Life"? Chartstopper wrote: >>The title "Range Life" appears to be Malkmus's translation of the French term "une vie rang�e," which means an ordered, structured life. A range life would be an ordinary life, an "arranged" life, a comfortable life, a life of shady lanes perhaps. Malkmus probably studied French at UVA. I realized that he must have been referring to "une vie rang�e" when I encountered the term in a poem I studied in a French class a few years ago. From what I've heard, he finally found his range life with his wife, his kids, and his well-established career. Maybe that's why his music doesn't do much for me anymore. There was so much emotion in his voice on those old Pavement records. << I think this sums it up, but I always considered it to relate to an American idiom from "Home on the Range." Something like this: Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day. Home, home on the range, Where the deer and the antelope play; Where seldom is heard a discouraging word And the skies are not cloudy all day. So the meaning is the same - the narrator yearns for a quaint, quiet, peaceful life - but not right now. Maybe the French idiom relates to the American song (?????) But there's another thought, also, in Elevate Me Later: Those who sleep with electric guitars Range roving with the cinema stars And I wouldn't want to shake their hand Cause they're in such a high protein land Is this also what SM means by "Range Life"? Probably not - but just a thought. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Right on, Rainsong, I think you nailed it. | |
| Alice Cooper – Raped and Freezin' Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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>>Felt like I was hit by a diesel or a greyhound bus<< Note to Mr Cooper = a greyhound bus *is* a diesel. |
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| Bob Seger – Night Moves Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Obviously this song is a reminiscence about early sexual experiences - but in addition to that, and maybe more importantly, it is about a relatively young person realizing he is growing old (along with all that encompasses) - maybe for the first time. | |
| The B-52's – 53 Miles West Of Venus Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I don't think this post is particularly meritorious but I notice a couple of sounds at the beginning of the song that sound like aerosol cans being sprayed - so i thought *53 miles west of venus* might be where one ends up after spray paint huffing. Probably not - jut a thought. |
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| Jefferson Airplane – Lather Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Ha ha - now they are all over sixty and instead of saying, "don't trust anybody over thirty" they are probably saying, "at this point don't trust anybody under sixty!" | |
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Moonlight On Vermont Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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infamous branmuffin - I completely understand that "Old Time Religion" is a gospel song - I think Granny Clampett used to sing it on Beverly Hillbillies. I should have mentioned that. Something like this: +++++++++++++ Tis the old time religion.... Tis the....old time religion.... Tis the old time religion..... And, it's good enough for me........ Verse One: It was good for our mothers....... It was good for our mothers.... It was good for our mothers.......... It's good enough for me...... The Chorus: Give me that old time religion.... Give me that....old time religion.... O give me that old time religion..... It's good enough for me........ Verse Two: Makes me love everybody.......... Makes me love everybody.......... Makes me love everybody.......... It's good enough for me................ Verse Three: It will do when I am dying....... It will do when I am dying....... It will do when I am dying....... It's good enough for me................ Verse Four: It will take us all to Heaven... It will take us all to Heaven.... It will take us all to Heaven.... It's good enough for me................ +++++++++++++ okay - what I was saying is perhaps CB is referring to a TRULY old time religion that predates Christianity - you know - very old pre-christian European pagan moon worship. There are several lines that suggest abandoning current strict uptight Christian mores and maybe revert back to pagan days where sex might be part of a the religious celebration. One example: Without yer new affliction Don't need yer new restrictions +++++++ just a thought. |
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| The Replacements – Mr. Whirly Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| hey sundowner120 - nice call! | |
| Carly Simon – The Right Thing To Do Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The statement "Lovin' you's the right thing to do" implies that there is a moral decision being made here. If "Lovin' you's the right thing to do" is one choice then "Lovin' you's the wrong thing to do" is an implied alternative choice. But why would it be wrong to love somebody - isn't that always a good thing? And is it actually a choice, I mean, you don't really choose to love somebody, do you? Either you do or you don't. Hey wait a minute - maybe "love" doesn't mean "love" at all in the context of this song - maybe it is a euphemism for (casual) sex. Ah hah! Why that shameless hussy! Just another song about "doing it." |
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| Elvis Costello – 13 Steps Lead Down Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Oh c'mon! It seems to me that this is a joke about various twelve step programs. The thirteenth step is recidivism. "So tonight I'm drinking to your health Because I just can't stand myself " |
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| Elvis Costello – The Beat Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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>>and "Oh, I don't want to disease you, but I'm no good with machinery" is possibly about condoms? It's hard to tell. << Clearly about condoms - absolutely no doubt. A lot of his early songs, the ones from the first three albums, seem to be about a young man's reaction to getting started with sex, the amazement and the frustrations; the jealousies and the the insecurities. Now EC is 55 and I'm 50 and we're both past all that - but these songs still speak to me - I can so clearly recall those days! |
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| Elvis Costello – The Beat Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Summer holiday or "Soma holiday?????" (Brave New World) | |
| Elvis Costello – Less Than Zero Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Dallas Version referred to above by ssinger: Jenny takes her clothes off in succession, While her husband rides a bumper in the President's procession. She's sees him on the screen as she looks up from giving head. When he's had enough of that her lover throws her on the bed to teach her she's alive and suddenly he's dead. Turn up the TV. No one listening will suspect, even your mother won't detect it, no your father won't know. they think that I've got no respect but everything means less than zero. Hey, ooh hey, hey, ooh hey. Calling Mister Oswald, calling anyone at the scene, If you were taking home movies there's a chance you might have seen him. They've got a thousand variations, every witness in a file. Jenny puts on some coffee and she comes back with a smile. She says, "I hear that South America is coming into style." chorus A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor. Mister Oswald thought he had an understanding with the law. She's got rubies on her fingers, Jenny turns and looks away. Her mind upon a basement out of the USA. She says, "Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away." |
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| Squeeze – Cool For Cats Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Actually there is a consistent theme here. In all four of the little stories, even the last one where the guy gets "lucky," the outcome fails to meet expectations. The corporal is going to be killed by the Indians, the villains get caught, the pub poseur has a black-out and a rash, and the disco guy (same guy as the pub poseur?) gets laid but still seems disappointed - doesn't live up to the guys on TV. But it's not like that on the TV When it's cool for cats It's cool for cats |
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| Talking Heads – First Week/Last Week...Carefree Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Sounds like a detached, abstract view of somebody's first week on a new job. Some of these songs seem like they are about an artist or an otherwise extremely creative (or even psychotic) person inhabiting the everyday world. | |
| Talking Heads – Artists Only Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think Morlando (above) is right on. This is David Byrne's song about art theory. The early Talking Heads were truly a college band - you can listen to songs about the things you are learning in class. | |
| Talking Heads – Happy Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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College music! "I believe that I...was born with the things that I know" This line refers, I believe, to Plato's philosophy that people are born knowing what they know and simply need to recognize the Forms. See *The Myth of the Cave* (from Plato's *Republic+) for details. |
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| The Temptations – I Can't Get Next To You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Nice review, grogley! I just want to add that this songs brings to mind the literary technique known as "unreliable narrator." Obviously the narrator can not, for example, "build a castle from a single grain of sand." The listener understands that the narrator can't do ANY of the things he claims to be able to do; but the listener does believe that the narrator, with his fast talking, ladykiller spiel can and will "get next" to his target! |
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| Alice Cooper – Blue Turk Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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THis is a nice song - but what is it about? Remember that Alice Cooper was the original shock rocker. I am pretty sure it is a jazzy tune about necrophilia. I have been hearing this o my ipod lately and kept thinking it is about sex, basically, and after the sex the narrator doesn't think much of the girl, who seems pretty passive, and I thought, "Well, he's a misogynist." But now that I am here and am actually reading the lyrics I am seeing her described as cold, earthworms, lame, graveyards - uhh - I am starting to see some necrophiliac spiel here. Only "One spastic explosion two pressure cookers go insane" doesn't fit into this interpretation, does it? If she were dead there wouldn't be "two" pressure cookers going insane, would there? It would be interesting to hear from somebody who had seen this song performed live back in the day as Alice Cooper had quite a stage show - might add some insight. |
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| Yes – Roundabout Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I thought it was about getting drunk in Mexico. ha ha ;) |
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| The Decemberists – Red Right Ankle Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song really reminds me of a poem by Yeats, which I have liked for many years. I am not saying they are reiterating this poem (see below) but just that it reminds me of that poem. Also, in an unrelated note, gonorrhea will often advance to a septic joint, quite frequently the ankle. If a twenty-something has a red, swollen, painful ankle it is considered gonorrhea until proven otherwise (I do this for a living - I am a podiatrist) William Butler Yeats When You Are Old When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. |
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| Sonic Youth – Wish Fulfillment Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| i always considered this song is about the confused, sick thoughts of a stalker. the narrator is the stalker and the person who is being stalked doesn't know the stalker. actually i think the stalked person is lee ranaldo, or somebody very much like him. | |
| Sonic Youth – Disappearer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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this song has been popping up on my ipod during runs lately and i think i have a new perspective: i think he is trying to describe a concept that he grasps momentarily, but is ineffable, indescribable, and as he tries to describe it, in this song, it slips away from him. hence it is a "disappearer." also - the lyrics suggest that this is a concept, or a dream thought, that he has had before, and has slipped away before. of course some of the lyrics are there simply because they rhyme and sound cool - so you need to filter out that stuff. at first i thought the lyrics were just nonsensical - but they aren't. i keep hearing this on my ipod and thinking about it. it is kind of like right when you are falling asleep and you have a very brief and fascinating thought. then you wake again and try to recall it and it slips away and makes absolutely no sense at all. the video shows them driving in a car - a fleeting thought while driving, on tour . . . or maybe it is about getting drunk at a bar called "western starland" - who knows? |
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| The Replacements – Mr. Whirly Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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what IS this song about? it starts out with the opening to *strawberry fields* then there is a punk version of the twist, and then this pleading to "mr whirly" bedspins? but anyway - this song sounds to me like a true precursor to the sound that made nirvana famous. |
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| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Moonlight On Vermont Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I've always wondered if the "old time religion" refers to pre-christian (pagan) religion where the moon was considered a deity (moon goddess). Perhaps he is lamenting the restrictions of Christianity. Maybe I've been reading too much Robert Graves! |
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| The New Pornographers – Miss Teen Wordpower Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i'm not sure about that. clearly part of the imagery involves somebody who lost a beauty contest and is bitter about it. but maybe losing the beauty conest is a metaphor for something else - like a failed relationship or sexual encounter. but it seems that the narrator of the song means to get over it but the subject of the song, who lost the contest, dwells in the despair. but honestly i have no idea. it seems like "miss teen wordpower" is having to deal with disappointment for the first time and the narrator is saying get used to it - "you'll find this kind of blank adventure happens all the time" - quit feeling so sorry for yourself |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"sell the kids for food" in 1729 satirist jonathan swift, best known for writing *gulliver's travels*, wrote *a modest proposal* wherein he "proposed that poor Irish families sell their children to be eaten, thereby earning income for the family." the full title of the pamphlet: A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick |
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| The Breeders – Saints Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| reminds me of the tulelake fair. observed by a hipster / outsider who realizes she actually loves the fair. | |
| The Breeders – No Aloha Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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this great song, released in august of 1993, was written and performed in anticipation of an event that would take place in august 2006: somebody would make out with a local rock promoter, with whom they were mildly infatuated, and then be abrubtly dropped as their myspace friend. |
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| Pavement – Carrot Rope Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| quack, i think you are correct about the term carrot rope. | |
| Pavement – Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| well . . . when you hear "trick" in the same sentence as "magician" do you really think he's talking about prostitution? | |
| Sonic Youth – (I Got A) Catholic Block Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| when you were raised catholic (like me) and you are no longer in that world there is still that "catholic block" with you all the time. no big deal and no reason to get too upset - it just resides in the brain next to the "fun center," and of course it can be over-ruled! | |
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