| The Decemberists – Down by the Water Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The "Main Drag"(at least in the argot with which I'm familiar) refers to the main commercial street in a small city or town, usually Main Street or High Street. I'm with you on stanza 3 - I distinctly hear, "the last flashing leader of Pier Nineteen." |
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| A Flock of Seagulls – I Ran (So Far Away) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Everyone here has gotten it wrong, especially when the answer is so blatant: the song is a geography lesson, in that Iran is, indeed, so far away. ...seriously though, I have a retrorgasm every time I see the video. |
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| After the Fire – Der Kommissar Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Volksfrei: I believe it's a reference to "Slippery Slope" theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope Basically, one event will set in motion a chain of events which will inevitably lead to a catastrophic result. Given that "Der Kommissar" was a popular 'cop' show in Germany in the '70s, and the female character in question is acting rather strange, I think the theme is that of drug use... the 'slippery slope' being that once one starts doing risky things like abusing drugs ('the more you live...') the greater the chance that you'll end up spiralling downwards ('...the faster you will die'). I like the Falco version better as well, but this is a pretty faithful translation, I think. |
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| Franz Ferdinand – Outsiders Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is a rehash of a track Kapranos recorded around 1996 with The Blisters, called 'The Only Difference.'(check http://www.franzferdinand.org to d/l a copy) That song was quite a bit more electronic, with only a single guitar besides the synth. The (quite different) lyrics referenced Alex's friend Andrew Conway and alluded to his job as an astrophysicist. As for this version? I like it, but it has such a different flavour from the earlier song that they just don't compare. It's one of my favourite tracks on YCHISMB, especially considering 3/4 of the songs on the album sounded better as live bootlegs than as polished studio tracks. |
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| The White Stripes – The Big Three Killed My Baby Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Easy easy easy! The biggest symbolism should come from the fact that the Stripes are from Detroit, former home of the world-leading American auto industry, and now the centerpiece of the Rust Belt. This song is a general indictment of the American auto industry. From the title ("The Big Three" are, as mentioned above, Chrysler, GM and Ford) and the mentioning of the burdens upon the consumer ("my stickshift hands are swollen," "a billion others don't seem to care" that the cars are generally unreliable ["why don't you take the day off and try to repair"] whilst "a billion others don't seem to care" represents the lasting image of superiority despite the decline of American automobiles in general quality. Both "Tucker's blood" and "creative minds are lazy" rail about the unwillingness of American auto manufacturers to adopt any measurable innovation in their vehicles, perhaps because "oil company faces are grinnin'," and "gasoline's not measured in Metric," suggesting the refusal of the Big Three to consider 'green' cars, which in turn implies collusion between oil producers and traditionally-inefficient US automakers. Perhaps the most damning line is the referral to "planned obsolescence," which is a reference to Ralph Nader's _Unsafe At Any Speed_, which outlined how the then-dominant(in the '60s) Big Three intentionally designed inferior products to ensure that they were upstaged by later models from the same manufacturer, therefore generating sales within the marketshare which had bought their products very recently. |
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| Beck – Farewell Ride Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I\'d wager it\'s a reference to cocaine. The term \'riding the white horse\' is a rather well-known allusion to cocaine use, and the fact that they\'re \"in a line\" adds to that assertion. He describes how some people need love, money, happiness, riches, yet he cares not, and is blind to everything in the world around him except \"two white horses in a line/taking me for my farewell ride,\" which sounds like death by overdose to me. Hopefully it\'s not biographical :-/ |
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