| Modest Mouse – Blame It on the Tetons Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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^ This. Making a mountain out of a molehill? |
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| Radiohead – 4 Minute Warning Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Thanks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_warning |
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| Rufus Wainwright – Sally Ann Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Song takes an interesting meaning if Sally Ann is Sally-Anne test: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally—Anne_test Attributing false beliefs to others. |
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| Arcade Fire – Deep Blue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Some really great interpretations here, but I wanted to add my own about the "end of the century" verse, which I think fits hand in hand with many other interps. We watched the end of the century Compressed on a tiny screen A dead star collapsing and we could see Something was ending I think he's talking about watching the ball drop on TV, New Years 2000 (not truly the end of the century, but it was treated as such). I like the "dead star collapsing" bit – to me this evokes imagery of the ball dropping and lighting up. What was special about the year 2000 was that there was a lot of uncertainty about what was going to happen when things switched over to 00:00:00 1/1/00, and there were literally people stockpiling water, food, and ammunition in fear of the worst. And estimated $300 billion was spent worldwide to address the problem. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem#On_1_January_2000 The fallout was very minor, but there were all sorts of rumors about what might happen and I think everyone was holding their breath a bit waiting to see what would happen. I think this plays in nicely to the rest of Deep Blue and the idea (I'm generalizing here) that we're slaves to the technology we've created. I think the idea that humans were in control of their destiny was what we could see was ending. |
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| Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Continued) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| "Well, I've got to ask" means he's asking for it back, even after admitting that he'd only waste it. | |
| R.E.M. – Stand Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| For some reason I always thought this song was about the onset of Alzheimer's. Having to stop and think about things that used to be automatic. It's odd for me now to think about it being a "call to action". | |
| Elliott Smith – Between the Bars Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I alway have thought of this song as Elliott singing to Elliott. Two conflicting viewpoints in his head with one trying to comfort the other. The old angel/demon on the shoulder. This seems to be a common thread among many of his songs (perhaps most on display in Bottle Up And Explode). I'm not sure if I 100% buy the baby imagery, but I certainly see the case. "The potential you'll be, that you'll never see…" I think anyone who's ever been down and out has looked back at their younger years and potential with regret and sorrow. |
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| Arcade Fire – Keep the Car Running Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think there are multiple things going on in this song. I agree with those who've posted comments about a restless traveler type of thing going on, but I also can't ignore the New Testament language. I mean, the entire "they know my name" stanza sounds like a biblical attribution to Jesus Christ! Here are some possibilities: (1) A song about restlessness (2) Christians who are only hanging on to life in hopes of a rapture (3) Jesus being a rolling stone who convinced all of his friends to always have some food and a bed ready in case he happened to be swinging through their town |
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| Arcade Fire – Crown of Love Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This may be simply a boy-girl relationship, but I think it can also be interpreted as a relationship between Win and god –Â so much of the song has the religious "love" feeling to it, and by the end it devolves into a rapturous fury of sound. I'm not saying that's what the song is actually about, but it certainly seems to have elements of someone toiling with their faith. One thing is certain: this person is very confused about their feelings! Talk about a rollercoaster. :-D |
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| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Excellent! I will say, though, that I think that this neighborhood started well before late 90s. I was born in 1980, and this part really hits me: Ice has covered up my parents' hands Don't have any dreams, don't have any plans Growing up in some strange storm Nobody's cold, nobody's warm I think the parents with icy hands, no dreams, no plans, who grew up in a strange storm where no one was cold or warm are… the baby boomers who grew up during the Cold War. |
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| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Bravo! | |
| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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*applause* Excellent! |
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| Ben Folds – Late Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Interesting take. I always imagined the first two pieces as one. I imagine this is Folds after he got the news. He finishes a show and eats alone, then he gets into his van and pops a live tape of Elliott. |
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| Ben Folds – Late Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I disagree. I just think Ben wanted to write a tribute to a musician he had a lot of respect for. It's also a great reminder that we should take the opportunities we have to let people know what they mean to us. You never know what's going on in their head. This song reminds me of "Just Like Anyone" by Aimee Mann in that regard. |
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| Ben Folds – Late Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I'd like to think the "quiet truth" were the lines Elliott wrong about and not heroin. Excellent analysis. |
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| Ben Folds – Jesusland Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think this song could describe a number of cities in the "bible belt". I would imagine that Fold's wrote this in part because he noticed how prevalent this type of city is. | |
| Radiohead – Reckoner Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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In rainbows… I think this is related to the ripple separation bit – the whole separation of white light into a spectrum of color. While we think of rainbows as being fixed in the sky they are not. A rainbow has no physical location –Â they are optical effects and thus can never be reached. In addition, Goethe thought of rainbows as something in a state of perpetual change (like rippling water): "Yet how superb, across the tumult braided, The painted rainbow's changeful life is bending, Now clearly drawn, dissolving now and faded, And evermore the showers of dew descending! Of human striving there's no symbol fuller: Consider, and 'tis easy comprehending –Â Life is not light, but the refracted color." Any opinions on why "yer" is used? I've noticed that the Turkish "yer" has a lot of compelling meanings: place, position, and the planet earth just to name a few. |
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| Radiohead – Reckoner Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Not sure I'm with you on the ripples bit, but I think you're right about Faust. | |
| Ben Folds Five – Missing The War Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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My second take on the song: Anyone who's done any reading about wars knows that soldiers hate the spans between battles because they're so monotonous and dull. Perhaps he's saying his life is too peaceful and he misses the struggles he used to have. I also like the idea kind of put forth by billseph that there's a really monumental event happening somewhere and he's literally missing it. |
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| Pulp – Like A Friend Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Fantastic song with such great imagery! And the last line is the best bit. "It's lucky for you that we're friends." Obviously the person the song is written to doesn't care about whatever imagined friendship exists between the two. They're just using the singer, yet he still clings to this idea that a friendship exists and is sinking his own ship. |
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| Pulp – Glory Days Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song reminds me SO MUCH of "Hope" by REM. I can't listen to it without having that song pop into my head. I think the other interps are more or less spot-on. One day you'll look back on your days of cleaning toilets and sleeping in as the best days of your life. |
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| Pulp – The Day After The Revolution Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I like stephsays interpretation, but to me this song is about getting old and one day realizing your life has passed you by. The revolution came and went, but you don't feel any different; you still have the same problems. | |
| Pulp – Help the Aged Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| A hilarious and sad song about helping old people get off sexually "cause one day you'll be older too and you might need someone who can pull you through". | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – Holland, 1945 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"'Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore And it's so sad to see the world agree That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes ' "this is very powerful, i think it means that the world would rather just mourn those dead in the holocaust..." Right on, carrot_carrot. |
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| Pixies – Dead Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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>One question I have: any idea what the line "you're suffocating you need a good shed" means? Shed is an easy rhyme with dead. I think it's David telling her, "You're place is pretty small, baby. You can hardly breathe there. Come on over and live at my place." |
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| Spiritualized – Cop Shoot Cop Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Hmm... Very nice, beer_good. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Passenger Seat Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| For those who got the parent/child (as did I), I've always thought about the last few lines as the parent's voice. | |
| Spiritualized – Cop Shoot Cop Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| From 6:28 to 7:13 you can hear a piano play the melody to "America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)" | |
| Sonic Youth – New Hampshire Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Here's a Thurston Moore quote from a Nude as the News interview with Thuston Moore: "'New Hampshire' is a song I brought in, written about.. sort of a sentimental thing after reading the oral history of Aerosmith. I grew up in the early '70s in New England, and this book was the first one I'd read to really capture what life was like up there during that time. Being in bands and trying to do something and driving down to New York.. that kind of lifestyle. At the same time, I'd gone to see this blues event at Madison Square Garden that Martin Scorsese did. [Aerosmith members] Steven [Tyler] and Joe [Perry] came out. It was a really genuine thing for these guys. After all the bullshit of fame, drugs and all this stuff, it came down to them being so happy to be in the same place as B.B. King. That really struck me. The song was basically noting certain things happening at this show." So apparently I was wrong about it referencing Woodstock. BTW, it's a great article with a lot of insights on Sonic Nurse. When I found it it was here: http://www.nudeasthenews.com/interviews/70 |
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| Wilco – Ashes of American Flags Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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READ THE ABOVE POST. Wow. I think that nailed it. |
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| Sonic Youth – New Hampshire Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Johnny Winter was a blues musician who performed at Woodstock but doesn't appear on the record or video. I believe that Steve and Joe are Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, who formed Aerosmith in New Hampshire in 1970. "They're doin' it for life." Maybe intro's mention of trace paper is talking about how one generation of artists influence the next. BB King influenced Johnny Winter who influence Aerosmith who influenced Sonic Youth who influenced... |
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| Howie Day – Numbness For Sound Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think it's about trying to decide how much space and time to give someone after a fight. | |
| Ben Folds Five – Missing The War Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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While he "war" could be about a girl, I think it was the period in his life when he was more alive and fought for everything. Now he's got no fight left in him. I think that the jotted figures could be taxes or bills to pay. He drive home pissed and beaten because he doesn't like his job. And though his partner is perfectly content with the life that they're living, he wonders when it was that he surrendered to this lifestyle. |
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| Spoon – The Beast and Dragon, Adored Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"[T]he working title for 'Gimme Fiction' was 'The Beast and Dragon, Adored,' which is also the name of the lead-off track. It's a phrase that Daniel found in a book of French tapestries; one of them was called 'Apocalypse: The Beast and Dragon Adored.'" I think that the song has to do with realizing that the world may not end, so you need to pick yourself up and get on with life again. |
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| Spoon – Merchants Of Soul Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Are all songs about drugs? Ralph Reed founded the Christian Coalition and represents the extreme right in political issues in Washington. I think that "Merchants of Soul" refers to those who turn religion into a money making machine. Not to cocaine. Hint: You can also put your nose into a book! |
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| Bright Eyes – When the President Talks to God Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| PS - I'm all for songs that critique (see Drive - REM, 2+2=5 - Radiohead, Hello Birmingham - Ani Difranco), but this is just a lash out song that rips on the religious beliefs of a single public figure and ignores the larger sociological issues—which is probably why so many of the posters here have been so turned off by it. | |
| Bright Eyes – When the President Talks to God Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Ugh... This was the first I heard of Bright Eyes when a local radio station played it on regular rotation after the election. If I were Conner, I would be a little embarassed by this one. The first few times that I heard it, I thought that it was something that some angry teen had recorded at home and posted on the internet. It's a pretty sad example of modern political rock. Quite frankly, it's just crying for a parody. It could start out, "When Conner writes a song" and go on to talk about how easy it is to throw stones and how stone throwers like Conner and Michael Moore should spend less time trying to soil GW Bush's name and more time trying to repair the system that allows horrible politics from both sides of the aisle. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – Rocket Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I miss me I miss everything I'll never be These two lines sum up the whole meaning of the song. Billy wrote this song about a time machine that was shaped like a rocket. It was in this time rocket that Billy was able to view and meet his possible future selves. Billy became great friends with some of his future Billy's—the one that ended up marrying Courtney Love, for instance. This is why he says that he misses himself and misses who he'll never be. Eventually he had to ultimately decide on one future path and stick to it. |
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| Frank Black and the Catholics – Robert Onion Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Each line's first letter spells out ROBERT THE CASE FOR MARS ZUBRIN. Robert Zubrin wrote a book called "The Case for Mars" which proposes that humans colonize the red planet. The actual lyrics of the song seem to express interest in the idea of human travel to Mars. The siren Diana is probably the moon, as Diana is the godess of the moon. The first words of the last stanza combine to form FOUR THREE TWO ONE. A countdown for launch... |
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| Radiohead – Let Down Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Lovely, mayday! I like that a lot! I used to think that the lyrics were "You know where you are when floor collapsing, falling, bouncing back." I'd heard the whole floor falling out of a bar thing that Thom's allegedly said, so this made me imagine a bunch of people being hung in a bar. The floor collapses, they fall, bounce a bit when the rope goes tight, and they are, quite literally, let down and hanging around. Morbid, yes. But after hearing this song, so is killing a bug. |
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| R.E.M. – Driver 8 Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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To me, this song has always been a metaphor for life. The destination is the grave, hence the desire to shield the hated heat (of hell). This interpretation gives added meaning to the line "We can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away." Love the song. |
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| Talking Heads – Heaven Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I've got to agree with Boss Man. I think this song is about getting too much of what you want. Like hearing your favorite song on loop for an entire night. I love the beginning of this song, though. Everyone's trying to get to a bar... a bar named Heaven. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – Spaceboy Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think that it was on VH1 Storytellers that Billy said that it was about his brother. If I remember correctly, he said that his brother wasn't handicapped but was "different". To me, Spaceboy is a perfect song—probably the best Pumpkins song—about an unbreakable bond between two brothers. Whenever I hear it I think about my younger brothers and how much I love and miss them. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – Geek U.S.A. Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't know what this song is about. I thought that I'd read that it was about drugs somewhere (imagine that), but if it wasn't here, then I don't know where. The basic idea was diamonds=cocaine, I believe. I can't help but notice the Adam & Eve storyline, though. It would seem that the song could be about the fall of man and how a million years later, society pretends that we're not sinners and haven't done anything wrong. We've created our own paradise with riches and diamonds. It's a bizarre connection, but I think that the Adam & Eve references are there for some reason. And the whole Siamese Dream part seems to be a reference to him being connected to the wrongdoings of his lover, similar to Adam and Eve both being booted from Paradise when Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Of course, Adam ate the apple, too. I don't know. Anyone want to expand upon the whole Adam & Eve thing? The geek perspective doesn't seem to be supported much by the lyrics, in my opinion. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – Today Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Haha! I love the "Annie" comment. I think that most of the interview quotes are right on, though I used to think that it was kind of a downward spiral song. That is, today is always the greatest day because each passing day is worse than that last. Not pleasant, but at least makes you want to live each day to the fullest. |
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| Wilco – Ashes of American Flags Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I gotta agree with Fypast on this one. I don't think the song really has any political meaning. He's just wants to feel passionate enough about something to fight for a change. He wants to feel excited about things again. Also, ashes of American flags and falling leaves both (to me) represent a kind of circularity. Something that does die only to come back new. Flags burn because we live in a country where they can. And leaves fall but return anew every year. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – Thirty Three Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't care what Billy has said about this song, he was putting himself through Christ's last days on earth when he wrote this song. That's not to say that it's not about more important and personal issues that he was dealing with, but I view this song as the opposite side of the Bullet With Butterfly Wings coin. I read a great online analysis of this song once, so most of what I'm going to write was borrowed from it. It's stuck in my head for years. Before you get all ticked about religion, just go with the story of Christ as reality. Or at least as a really good fable. Buy into it and the song will make sense. Some say that Jesus was about 33 when he was crucified. The bible describes him as being very distant during his last days. He was preparing for what was about to happen to him and he spent a lot of time praying and doing things that those around him didn't/couldn't fully understand. He had a schedule to keep. One of the scheduled items was the famed Last Supper. Although he knew that he must die, in the back of his mind he must've thought that he could ask the father God for more time and it would be granted. Hence, "tomorrow's just an excuse away." Jesus had to face his destiny alone. His disciples all left him and he even shouted about God forsaking him before dying. He had to carry his cross while the crowds around him laughed and shouted blasphemies. Now we get to the meat. Why must he die? For eternal love. He dies. And the graceful Swans Of Never (S.O.N. of God) topples to the earth. We'll get back to "You can make it last forever." Jesus is wrapped up in cloth and placed in the shelter of a tomb. You might say he's wrapped in the pleasures of the world. The bible says something about him journeying to hell, where he fights satan or evil. And then he returns to his earthly body. On earth, his old friends are still hanging out in the same places. He visits them. They have many questions, but he cannot tell them everything. Some mysteries cannot yet be revealed. He tells them that he'll return and ascends into heaven. "Love can last forever. You can make it last forever." Now it's up to us to keep Christ's love alive in our own lives. Sometimes we have to be crucifed and fight the devil himself to make it last. It's a decision that we each make every day. That's what Thirty Three means to me. And I would venture to guess that it means something like that to Billy, also. Even if he's not ready to reveal all of his mysteries. |
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| Zwan – Declaration Of Faith Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think JxPx is stretching. Ask anybody's girlfriend about "this man you love, this boy you hate". It probably means that she loves him sometimes, but others he acts like a little boy and she can't stand it. |
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| Zwan – Baby Lets Rock Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's a plea to someone. Notice "I'd love somebody like you in my life." He's saying "I'll be the greatest thing you have, and not because you don't have much but because 'I'm good like that'". |
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| Zwan – Jesus, I Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think that Billy's sympathizing with Jesus. Saying that they were both crucified unjustly. And now Billy's come back to life again. Just my 2¢. |
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