| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I'm also not too sure about the gay reference. If he's being cutting edge by painting a picture of gays, he's not painting a very positive picture. The "one-eyed midget", if it is indeed genitalia, demands "give me some milk, or else go home"--give me sex or go away. If this is indeed a gay love tale, Dylan almost suggests that gays cannot form emotional relationships--clearly not true and Dylan doubtless knew that. If all these verses are gay sex scenes, that's ALL they are--sex, no relationship. Some of the situations are even abusive--Mr. Jones needs a ticket (he must PAY) to go get a bone from the geek, who before he does, calls him a freak. If the geek is gay as well, why does he call Mr. Jones the freak? The professors he's "been with" all "liked [his] looks" but there is no further mention. He has "many contacts among the lumberjacks"--he's been with many men, not a stable relationship. The only thing remotely close to a relationship is when the "sword swallower" thanks him. The other possibility is this describes different sex acts with one person, but again it does not establish any form of emotional bond between the two men. This is almost more likely because it doesn't paint a completely anti-gay picture--lots of people have one-night stands. However, it seems to me that Dylan would want to paint a positive picture of gays since he was being so progressive by mentioning it. His other work seems oriented toward positive change--"The Times They Are AChangin'", etc., and not knocking down people for being different. After all, in "Blowing in the Wind", he asks "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man"--one of the several messages of acceptance in that song (in this case I think it's about racial equality but the general message fits). The acceptance proposed there does not fit with Dylan calling a gay man "such a freak" and portraying his lover (or lovers) as sideshow characters. I would agree if it was said that this is about Mr. Jones exploring/discovering his homosexuality: "But something is happening here and you don't know what it is", only the geek seems to be uncomfortable as well, calling Mr. Jones "a freak" for being gay. The randomness of his partners suggests that everyone is simply exploring one aspect of homosexuality: the sexual act. This shallow message simply does not fit with Dylan's depth. To me, the final nail in the coffin is that the sword-swallower crosses himself before fellating Mr. Jones. This is a Christian religious image, and there are very few sects of Christianity that are accepting of homosexuals. I think you might have overreached on the camel idea-- a camel's face isn't very phallic and why would you "walk into the room like a penis"? The "there oughta be a law against you coming around, you should be made to wear earphones" line I'm not sure about as well because I think gays using condoms may be a recent thing--this album was recorded some 15-20 years before AIDS. I am not sure of the true interpretation, and it is possible that homosexuality is a piece of the complete song, but I don't believe it is. I'm more inclined towards jersey73's idea, especially because it would make this song a parallel to "Like a Rolling Stone". |
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| Wilco – Theologians Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I was looking at "Hummingbird" and "Hell is Chrome" and the three songs fit together well. Here's part of what I put on "Hell is Chrome" as it relates to "Theologians". I also wonder about the color symbolism between the songs. If uncaring cities are chrome and the devil is also chrome and not red, then the red color is NOT the color of the devil, so when he becomes "a cherry [red] ghost" in "Theologians", he is not evil, amoral, or unfeeling, he is something else. The only other red on the album is on "Less Than You Think", where "red plastic mouths" are mentioned, and it seems to me that these are a reference to prostitution or something figuratively like it, so that's why he's a "cherry ghost" instead of a red ghost--the color symbols would get mixed up. Basically the red color symbolism enhances the trancendentalism of "Theologians" and the innocence of "Hell is Chrome". |
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| Wilco – Hell Is Chrome Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I also wonder about the color symbolism between the songs. If uncaring cities are chrome and the devil is also chrome and not red, then the red color is NOT the color of the devil, so when he becomes "a cherry [red] ghost" in "Theologians", he is not evil, amoral, or unfeeling, he is something else. The only other red on the album is on "Less Than You Think", where "red plastic mouths" are mentioned, and it seems to me that these are a reference to prostitution or something figuratively like it, so that's why he's a "cherry ghost" instead of a red ghost--the color symbols would get mixed up. Basically the red color symbolism enhances the trancendentalism of "Theologians" and the innocence of "Hell is Chrome". |
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| Wilco – Hell Is Chrome Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I first was looking at the lyrics to "Theologians" when I realized that the "standing still in the past" ties well to being "a notion, all emotion". So I went over to the lyrics of "Hummingbird" and found the "deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans" where "no one could hear him" (i.e. he was unnoticed, lost in the crowd) parallelled "Hell is Chrome". in "Hell is Chrome" the devil (who is not red, he is chrome) takes him "where everything was clean/so precise and towering"--obviously a city. However, when he gets there he "was welcomed with open arms/ [he] received so much help in every way / [he] felt no fear / the air was crisp / like sunny late-winter days / springtime yawining high in the haze / and I felt like I belong"--so he fits in and people notice and care about him. However, notice who took him there. He is WITH THE DEVIL when all these people welcome him and help him. So basically the two songs are meant to be looked at together (possibly along with "Theologians" but the connections are a little fuzzier). He goes to a city and is forgotten, but later goes with the devil (perhaps a record company exec like cherryghost41 said, or any other powerful yet amoral person) and he is a celebrity, he is noticed, he is important, he "felt like [he] belong[s]". I think it's maybe an indictment of society for not caring about people when they aren't famous or powerful. The famous and powerful aren't perfect either ("Spiders (Kidsmoke)"). The poetry here blows me away. |
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| Wilco – Hummingbird Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"Deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans" coupled with the song "Hell is Chrome"... I guess it does make sense that he gets lost in the chrome hell of the cities and lives well in the country. in "Hell is Chrome" the devil (who is not red, he is chrome) takes him "where everything was clean/so precise and towering"--obviously a city. However, when he gets there he "was welcomed with open arms/ [he] received so much help in every way / [he] felt no fear / the air was crisp / like sunny late-winter days / springtime yawining high in the haze / and I felt like I belong"--so he fits in and people notice and care about him. However, notice who took him there. He is WITH THE DEVIL when all these people welcome him and help him. I'm posting this under "Hell is Chrome" as well because they tie together so much. |
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| Wilco – Theologians Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I just looked at the lyric sheet in the CD and it actually says "I'm a notion, I'm all emotion" for the last few lines. I guess the idea of being a notion is just more transcendentalism or escapism. Maybe this song fits with "Hummingbird"--being a notion, forever standing still in the past, being all emotion (remembered only for the emotional experiences shared by the people?) | |
| Wilco – Theologians Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I've wondered mainly about the "I'm going away Where you will look for me Where I'm going you cannot come No one's ever gonna take my life from me I lay it down A ghost is born A ghost is born A ghost is born " part. I believe the "where I'm going you cannot come" is similar to something Jesus said, so if you follow it logically, Jesus "lays down his life" and "a ghost is born". I'm not familiar with the religious views behind this, but it sounds to me like he's rejecting the idea of resurrection in a physical sense. However, if he's remaining "himself" and not talking from the perspective of Jesus, it's his (literal or figurative) death, and an otherworldly new "life" that follows-- he's no longer physically real, he's "an ocean [he's] all emotion". Of course the meaning of this depends on the whether he's talking of a literal or figurative death. I believe it's a figurative death, since the line "No one's ever gonna take my life from me, I lay it down" suggests that a literal death did not occur and instead he "lay[s] it down", perhaps meaning an escape from some situation. However, the line "Where I'm going you cannot come" may mean death, but I think it's some sort of transcendance, possibly through drugs, but more likely it's some escapist mental state where he goes to get away from the hardship of reality, and in this state he feels connected to the world, that he has expanded beyond himself to become "an ocean", that he has expanded beyond physical reality and entered the mental or spiritual world to be "all emotion". anyways that's my take on it. I think I might be way off base though. |
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| The Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think the correct lyric is "his mommy butted in". | |
| The Beatles – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I always wondered if this song is an allegory for the Vietnam War. It's a song about an American going into a jungle to "hunt a tiger". It seems to me like they're mocking what they view as a typical American soldier, or, more likely, Bill is the American involvement in Vietnam personified. | |
| Bob Dylan – It Ain't Me Babe Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I always thought this song was against chivalry, you know, in terms of what a woman expects from a man. I'm not that familiar with Dylan, but I would think there's a deeper interpretation. | |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Purple Haze Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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xnodoubtstylex, I agree in general about drugs not improving musicians. The later Beatles are way better and more inventive, but I think I heard they were using some drugs even in their early days. I've also heard "purple haze" refers to the effects of psylocibin mushrooms. I won't claim to know what kind of drugs Hendrix did or didn't do, but I would not at all be surprised if he used mushrooms at some point or another. Here's a picture of the lyrics of "Purple Haze-Jesus Saves": http://www.authentichendrix.com/pgi-ProductSpec?284-402-001 |
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| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Third Stone From The Sun Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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uh, no, I'm not still with that. "kinky machine" may be sexual, but it's probably just describing his spaceship as strange (his way of life or style of dress may be the "spaceship" in this case). I've never seen a lyrics sheet, but I've always wondered if it's "serf music". Hendrix wasn't from a wealthy background, so I wonder if that has any meaning. |
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| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Bold As Love Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I wonder if the rainbow is him, because the lyrics suggest that, except "And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from, uh, Giving my life to a rainbow like you". I think this part is probably referring to some beautiful aspect of the girl, because otherwise it would make the whole song almost impossible to interpret. the color order I see is : Violet, Green, Blue, Indigo, Red, Orange, Yellow. So violet is out of place. Almost makes me wonder if this is the girl's name or something related to the girl, but it's probably just to get it to flow. |
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| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I love how the guitar parallels his voice in the opening lines. The thing that I wonder about in terms of the title is why its sequel (V.C. Slight Return) is spelled "child" instead. |
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| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Spanish Castle Magic Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I figure this song is mainly just psychedelia in terms of the lyrics. The only line that really interests me is about the "battlegrounds red and brown". The red is obviously blood (and anger, violence, warfare, etc) but I wonder what the brown is. It could be brown like a dry dead field, meaning perhaps that the philosophy that leads to war is dry and dead. I think it may also represent the corpses on the battleground. | |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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i love the supernatural element to this song, it's an excellent "slight return" to Voodoo Chile. I wonder if hendrix ever played it live as one song with Voodoo Chile because that would be awesome. it is a little eerie that it talks about going on to the next world when it was on his last album. (although it was still quite some time until his death) |
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| The Beatles – Blue Jay Way Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I've noticed that at the end it sounds like it could be "Don't belong". It's contradictory with the lyrics sheet but I wonder if that relates to the song. | |
| The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I don't think there's a definite answer to whether it is or isn't about acid. Theory #1: John wrote it about his son's picture. I've seen a picture that is supposedly the original drawing (http://67.19.222.106/music/graphics/lucy.jpg). However, even if the chorus was about the picture, it doesn't explain the verses. If Theory #1 is true, then the verses are just Lennon expanding on the fantastical child's imagination world. The song does have a childlike sound to it. Theory #2: The song is about the LSD experience. Lennon was lying to protect his reputation. I have a friend who's done acid and we were discussing the idea that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is not about drugs and he said "If you've ever done psychedelics, you know it is." Additionally, the references to kaleidoscopes suggest it is about the effects of acid. There are numerous (possible) references to drug use-- "Climb in the back with your head in the clouds and you're gone" (the clouds probably describe the feeling, not clouds of smoke--different drug) and "the flowers/that grow so incredibly high". The "high" at the end of the line is one of the trippiest sounds I've ever heard in any Beatles song or song by another psychedelic artist. The song has a very trippy sound. I personally believe that Theory #2 is correct, although I think Lennon got the original idea from the drawing and added in the drug-use references. |
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| The Beatles – Got to Get You Into My Life Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I've also heard it's about acid because supposedly Paul was the last of the Beatles to try it, however, if he said himself it was about pot, I'll agree with that. | |
| The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I don't agree (with sean7711) that it's about literal death. I think it's about Eastern philosophy and acid. Using acid is referred to as a deathlike experience elsewhere on Revolver--"She Said She Said". | |
| The Beatles – Taxman Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I wouldn't be suprised if at some point the Republicans have used or will use this song in an attack ad on a Democrat. I agree that the "declare the pennies on your eyes" reference is pretty intellectual. I didn't hear about that practice until I saw it in the movie "Troy", and I didn't have Revolver back then. If I had, I probably would have made a really funny face when I suddenly made the connection. |
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| The Beatles – Yer Blues Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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if it is about Lennon in withdrawals, it parallels with his song (when he was solo) "Cold Turkey". The line that I don't get is "My mother was of the sky. /My father was of the earth. /But I am of the universe /And you know what it’s worth." It seems like a mystical reference to me, which would fit in with the rest of the White Album's references to the visit to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I've also heard the theory that it's John talking about being away from Yoko and missing her. |
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| The Beatles – Revolution 9 Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I definitely think they helped cultivate the "Paul is Dead" rumor ("Lovely Rita Meter Maid", the part on "A Day in the Life" --"He blew his mind out in a car/ He didn't notice that the lights had changed/ A crowd of people stood and stared/ They'd seen his face before") but I don't really think Revolution 9 is part of them trying to build the rumor. I've heard it said it's a bibilical reference--Revelation 9 is about the apocalypse. I definitely think it's about some sort of civil disturbance, possibly apocalyptic, possibly a revolution. I think it's a revolution because of the crowd noises, the title, and "Take this, brother, may it serve you well" (sounds like something a good guy in a movie would say to the bad guy right before he kills him, suggesting a member of one of the warring factions killing an important member of the other). However, the flames suggest Hell or destruction, and I seem to remember biblical accounts of the apocalypse saying the world will be destroyed by fire, and Revelation 9:17-18 mentions destruction by fire. Either way I think this song is very impressive, it's like a story told with sounds. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Communist Daughter Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The line here that interests me most is "with cocoa leaves along the border". The lyric sheet actually says "coca leaves", as in leaves of a coca plant, from which cocaine is derived. The only interpretations I can think of for this line are of a war with some kind of drug involvement (dovetailing with the war theme in the album), Colombia and the war between the government and the communist rebels there who fund themselves with the cocaine trade, or the coca leaves mean that Communist Daughter is deluding herself, perhaps a teenage communist--"daughter" suggests youthfulness, and "sweetness sings from every corner" juxtaposed with "cars careening" and "bridges burst" suggests that she is a kind, friendly girl advocating a violent revolution. |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I personally agree with the dysfunctional family interpretation. I've never read the Anne Frank diaries so I'm not sure if there's any relation in this particular song. Also I think the "king of carrot flowers" line implies a child pretending or acting bigger and more important than they are. I've never seen carrot flowers but I googled an image and they're small and rather ugly, and also they are not the reason people grow carrots. So to be the king of carrot flowers suggests a self-aggrandizing person. The "tower tumbling through the trees/in holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet" part suggests to me that the "king of carrot flowers" has made a grand, ego-derived scheme(tower), but it failed (tumbling through the trees) and perhaps even backfired and caused injury to them (rattlesnakes fell all around your feet). I don't know how the first verse ties into the rest of the song, though, because if it has such a negative connotation it doesn't make sense to apply it to the person who is referred to as "you" in the rest of the song. Perhaps it is towards the mother, because she seems to play the more aggressive part in the relationship--sticking the fork in daddy's shoulder--compared to the father's passive-aggressive behavior--throwing garbage and contemplating suicide. However, the mother also takes some passive action (alcoholism), and it is the king, not queen, of carrot flowers. It could still be the father, because he is negatively portrayed as well, but his passivity suggests that the self-aggrandizement is in his mind (which is pointless, parallel to being a king of carrot flowers). So my best guess is that the King is either the father or a person not in the song. |
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| The Beatles – Helter Skelter Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Solinus said something about this being to outdo the Who on "I Can See for Miles". That made me think of "I'm miles above you". Also, I'm not really familiar with the exact details of John's first wife and why he left her. If he left her for Yoko, then I'm thinking the line "Well you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer" might be saying that he preferred Yoko because she was a "lover" and a "dancer"--dance is a very artistic thing--compared to his first wife who was only a "lover", meaning he got both physical and artistic stimulation from Yoko but only physical from the first wife. I think I'm probably overreaching there, though. |
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