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| Jason Isbell – Speed Trap Town Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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If there's any songwriter working today more adept at telling an entire story in a three-minute song, I'm not aware of him. |
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| Vic Chesnutt – It Is What It Is Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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"I don't need stone altars to help me hedge my bet
Against the looming blackness
It is what it is"
This is about as confident an affirmation of atheism as I am aware of in song. |
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| LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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This song seems to me to about a friend, probably girlfriend or wife, of the narrator who is constantly, irritatingly argumentative. Their group of friends expect to see them fight every time they go out together, and also expect to have their own thoughts ridiculed by this person ("you're blowing marxism to pieces... their little arguments to pieces"). The person always turns any casual discussion into his/her "show" to and mission to educate the people with the "little arguments". I think we've all known people like this at some point in our lives. I don't know what the title refers to, but since it is in "text-speak" it makes me think it was a text that the narrator got/sent after a nasty argument with this person. |
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| Vic Chesnutt – Flirted With You All My Life Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Should be:
Oh Death, you hector me
Decimate those dear to me
I had not heard Vic in several years but happened upon this song after he died. The line "
She fought, but then succumbed to it
but you made her beg for it
really hit me off-guard. This is one of those songs that is so personal you almost feel ashamed listening to it. |
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| Don Henley – The End of the Innocence Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I had never really questioned my interpretation of this song, because I thought it was clearly about divorce, and more specifically about the effect of divorce on children. Then I read the comments here and elsewhere and everybody seems to think it's about Sputnik or God knows what. Well, I still think it's about divorce, from the point of view of a father that is spending an afternoon with his child before having to leave her; the innocence being lost is that of the child. Yes, there is clearly some confusing stuff about Reagan in there, but look at the lines
"Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly"
This could be the whole song right there: we don't all get to live "happily ever after" as we've been led to believe that we will as children, and at some moment in our lives we figure this sad truth out. The "lawyers" lines make perfect sense to anyone who has been involved in child custody negotiations.
I guess I could be wrong. I always assumed that this song was about Henley's divorce, but wikipedia doesn't say anything about him being divorced, so hey, maybe it is about the Cold War in some weird way. But it REALLY sounds like divorce to me.
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| Drive-By Truckers – Zip City Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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With this song and "marry me" Cooley is sneaking up on Isbell as my favorite DBT lyricist. That last line is just killer, isn't it? If you wanted to wrap up the whole story in six words, you couldn't pick any better. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – Marry Me Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Cooley's songs are generally my least favorite, but the first two lines of this one are among the most awesome I've ever heard. |
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| Paul Simon – Graceland Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I don't see how "graceland" could be just a placeholder word. It is integral to the basic story of the song, which is about a father and and son driving through the Mississippi Delta to see Graceland, which is a popular tourist attraction in Memphis, TN (at the top of the Delta). If it were another word like "wasteland", it wouldn't make sense to the story. As far as any deeper meaning, that's open for interpretation. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – Decoration Day Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Isbell does such an amazing job of telling a whole complex story in just a short song. The ambivalence of the teller toward his father is palpable. Plus, killer guitar tones. |
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| Drive-By Truckers – That Man I Shot Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The Onion A.V. club called this "one of the best (and angriest) protest songs about the Iraq war yet written". This is a protest song in the same way that "Born in the U.S.A" is a protest song--rather than explicitly stating how horrible war is they take the example of a soldier who killed a man and is suffering from PTSD because of it. In my fiction writing class the big mantra was "show, don't tell" and that's what they do here. |
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| Skip James – Cypress Grove Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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These lyrics are freaking amazing. Cypress trees only grow in the swamp, so Skip's saying that he would rather be buried in a swamp than have a woman he can't "control"... whatever that means. That last stanza is chilling. Amazing. |
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| Skip James – Cypress Grove Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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These lyrics are freaking amazing. Cypress trees only grow in the swamp, so Skip's saying that he would rather be buried in a swamp than have a woman he can't "control"... whatever that means. That last stanza is chilling. Amazing. |
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| Songs: Ohia – Blue Chicago Moon Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think this song, and this whole album, is him trying to sing through his depression, and that's awesome. I can just imagine him saying to himself "you are not helpless. you are not helpless" |
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| Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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This is an awesome song. So many great lines: "John Henry was a steel drivin' bastard, but John Henry was a bastard just the same". I think John Henry is a sort of allegory to the working class, and how big business tramples them. Jason Isbell is one of my favorite lyricists. |
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| LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Two other things I thought about listening to the song just now: 1) Why would he be writing about a breakup when he has a wife? People rarely write about breakups years later. 2) More importantly, when he says "you WERE human" it is the past tense. Gotta be a death. |
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| LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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That story by epiphony11 would certainly solve everything, but I'm not sure it passes the smell test. At any rate I think this has to be about a death--the description of the phone call, and the surprise at how nothing about the conditions fits the mood; I've had that exact same reaction. The line "you're smaller than my wife imagined" says to me that at the viewing of the body his wife is surprised by how small the person is, given how he talked about him as if he were a giant. He says that he wishes that we could talk about it", meaning the pain of the person's death, with the person, but "that's the problem" -- of course he can't (this lends credence to epiphony's story, too). What seals it is the repeated "and it keeps coming 'till the day it stops" in which he is ruminating on how we complain about all the hardships in life that suddenly come to a halt at death. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Well, I still think that I lot of people are projecting their views onto these songs, but I guess there is no need to go on harping about it. I agree with you that there is a lot of animosity towards Christians, and a lot of it from me; sorry about that. This doesn't mean I won't do it again, though :) |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"Guys, Sufjan is a Christian. Sorry. It's not like I (or any of my friends who happen to agree with this particular interpretation) go looking for spiritual applications where they are non-existent."
Sorry, got to disagree with you there. Go look at the guy who says that the fact that Gacy took 27 minutes to die is evidence of "God's hand" (as opposed to say, stopping him from killing anyone). Better yet, go read the comments on "Casimir Pulaski Day". Every time I write anything on Sufjan, I always have to qualify it with these same stements: I KNOW that he's a Christian. I KNOW that he HIMSELF may have no doubt whatsoever about God's existence and His plan. I have ZERO DOUBT that he often writes songs that are completely devoted to the praise of God. But look at what this song is about. It is about a serial killer who's life path was determined (not wholly, at least) not by his own struggle with good vs. evil, but by factors outside his control (his abusive father, having a brain injury), and, as such, it is more of a introspective song about what, if anything, makes the narrarator different than Gacy, rather than a song about how great God is. This almost certainly INVOLVES God, but it is NOT ABOUT God, nor is it saying how great He is. I think the major problem people have with this song, and also "C.P.D.", is projecting their own beliefs, or even projecting Sufjans' beliefs, onto the song. I don't think it diminishes your belief, nor Sufjans, to acknowledge that these two songs are not entirely complimetary to Christianity, just as it does not diminish my belief (or lack thereof) that all of "seven swans" makes a fantastic case for it. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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sorry-- realizing I am being a bit of an a-hole... let me say again how awesome this song is. I have heard a ridiculous song by Rascal Flatts about a girl with cancer, and have wanted highjack the radio to tell all the listeners how much better this song is. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Nobody has written about this song in a few days so... well, I thought I would throw my two cents in (again). First, let me admit to being a bit uncharitable towards religion in general, so that you know that I am biased, and admit it. But I have to say, from as objective a viewpoint as I am capable, all of you who can make something positive of Christianity from this song remind me of those people who swear they see the Virgin Mary in a grilled-cheese sandwich or something. Yes, I suppose it is POSSIBLE that Sufjan is in some riddler-esque way reaching out to tell us how great it is that his friend has been killed in a horrible, unjust way, but isn't it far more LIKELY that he (or, more accurately, his character in the song) is, in fact, having a sort of crisis of faith, like mother Teresa? Be honest, here. Now, as was the case with "john wayne Gacy, jr", I have to qualify this statement with the fact that I have no doubt that Sufjan himself is very devout (possibly himself having no doubt whatsoever---that is irrelevant) and I'm not suggesting that he is trying to tear down Christianity or anything like that. I am the first to acknowledge (and in fact I love) the joyous religiousity of such songs as "he woke me up again" and "seven swans", but why must you find that face in what is so clearly just a grilled-cheese sandwich? Remember, this has nothing to do with YOUR views, just as "seven swans" has nothing to do with MY views, but rather what the song is about? |
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| Papa Roach – Forever Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I had to write about this song after I heard it on the radio... because it's so damn terrible. "a paper man cut into shreds by his own pair of scissors"? I literally laughed out loud at that line. This is the music that all you teens are going to be embarrassed that you liked when you are older (hey, I listened to Warrant... it happens to everybody) |
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| TV on the Radio – Tonight Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I can't believe that more people haven't commented on this song... it's awesome. I'm not sure what exactly it's about, other than the heroin reference that seems fairly concrete, but for some reason I find it very inspiring. It reminds me of the (similarly named) Smashing Pumpkins song "tonight, tonight", about discovering your potential and giving up the things that are holding you back. Perhaps this is a bit "after school special" but that's how I feel about it. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I haven't checked on the level of discourse on this song in a while... pretty much the same as the last time.
I stand by everything I said previously. I still don't understand why everything that Sufjan says has to be overtly Christian. I got "Seven Swans" recently; everything on that album IS overtly Christian... why does this story have to be, too? It reminds me of a Simpsons episode. Reverend Lovejoy comes to the Simpson house, and when Homer opens the door, he says, resigned: "This is about Jesus, isn't it?" To which Lovejoy replies. "Oh, Homer, everything is about Jesus... Except this." Why can't you guys accept the same? |
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| Radiohead – Go to Sleep. (Little Man Being Erased.) Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Well, James W, you have a good point, except for a few things. One, Britain has the second most soldiers in Iraq. Two, all the members of Radiohead were VERY vocally anti-war and anti-Bush, and remain so to this day. I saw Radiohead in Houston in 2001, before Iraq was in anybody's mind, and Thom Yorke made many derisive comments about Bush. And finally, there is the little point that this song is from an album called (wait for it).... HAIL TO THE THIEF!!!!!!!. Who do you think that refers to? Woodrow Wilson? Must be. But, oh yeah, "rag and bone man" DOES mean junk dealer (which obviously couldn't be used to describe Bush, could it?) This ain't Fox News, James. Perhaps you should take your music recommendations from Limbaugh from now on and leave the analysis to us "morons". |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I would say that this song IS definitely about being mad at God... in fact it is as overtly about being mad at God as "For the Widows in Paradise" is about how Jesus is great. Look at the lyrics: "...we pray over your body but nothing ever happens" "and he takes and he takes and he takes" and "...All the glory" which is meant to be ironic--christians are all the time saying that when something good happens, never when something horrible happens, despite the fact that both are implicitly His work (for proof, see the post above mine). Sufjan is putting the thought back into Christian music... well, I guess it was never really there to begin with, so rather he's putting thought into Christian music, by pointing out both that God is amazing sometimes, but that most of the time he seems like he doesn't care. The Christians who "claim" Sufjan for some reason always gloss over this, want to make him into Scott Stapp. But it is incontrovertably there. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I am not a "christian" in typical terms and I believe that man is naturally evil. This is the thing: there is no doubt in my mind that his Christian beliefs play into probably every word he speaks, but to make the assumption that this song is about how Gacy and him are no different except that Sufjan has "come to Jesus" is really just projecting your beliefs onto it where they don't apply-- especially considering how, as it has been pointed out, Gacy himself was a fervent Christian. You could probably point to the "total depravity" reference in this song with the tenets of virtually any religion in the world. It's like if he wrote a song about how he likes turkey sandwiches, it doesn't have to mean that he's praising God for Butterball. And it still seems unnecessary to me, because when he DOES write a song about God, it is so OBVIOUSLY about God. I guess it comes down to the duality of trying to get your own meaning out of songs while trying to guess what the artist was trying to say (for the penultimate example of this, look at any Radiohead song) |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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There is a little piece in the new Spin in which Sufjan says that this song is about how man is naturally duplicitous, greedy, and sinful, and he can't see how he is any different from Gacy in that respect (paraphrasing). So while I don't doubt that Sufjan is a model christian and goes to church every sunday, I can't see how this is about God per se. It seems like people are projecting their beliefs onto this song. That's fine, but seems so unneccesary to me, given that Sufjan writes songs that are blatently about his religious beliefs like "For the widows in paradise" and "Casimir Pulaski Day" (which is not that complimentary to Him, you'll note). It might be "about" God in the same way that those songs are, which I've said is the most thoughtful that I've heard yet, in that he acknowledges that believing in God sometimes doesn't make much sense (and just try to refute that!). Ironically, to me, as an agnostic, makes me much more open to his Christian beliefs, because you so rarely hear anybody Christian (especially for me, growing up in the South) willing to talk about that duality.
Sorry, I've said nothing about the song... it's great.
BTW I read my previous post in which I said somebody was "stupid"... bit harsh. My bad. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This song is definitely about Jesus, but like Casimir Pulaski day it has some undertones that are distinctly different from "christian" music. It certainly is about the sacrifice of Jesus "I'll do anything for you". But there is also a definite hint of uncertainty in his thinking "even if I come back, even if I die" (this last line is amazing to me, because it implies that Jesus wasn't even sure that he would come back!) "is there some idea to replace my life?"--hoping that his death will mean something. Then at the end, he says "I did EVERYTHING for you!" (I think it should be punctuated like that)--speaking to Jesus' frustration with his people (or maybe God, but probably people) for continuing to do... something. I think it's a mistake to read any more into it that that, like what that thing(s) is. This sort of "christian" music actually does so much more to make me sympathize with Jesus that so much "God is perfect all the time and we should always thank him" jibberish that most christian music is. It points to a humanity that is lost in that stuff; Jesus' humanity, yes, but also his beliver's humanity, in admitting that there are periods of doubt even for the most devout. That sort of thought is anathema to most christian music. Stevens should be lauded for putting thought into christian music. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Pretty much all of Sufjan Stevens' songs are written from a narrative perspective of a character; therefore I think that when he says "I am really just like him" he is speaking from the POV of a character who may well be a killer. I think it is a mistake to view this song with any overt christian message, because it seems to imply that all people have a bit of Gacy in them: "are you one of them?" Some other songs he writes have to do with faith, but this one is about human fallibility. The attempt to humanize a "monster" like Gacy is laudable, and few people would take it on. This song is downright spooky. |
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| Radiohead – Go to Sleep. (Little Man Being Erased.) Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This song is about feeling powerless. Note all the quotes in the song. It is someone repeating mantras of sanity over and over "we don't really want a monster taking over" "over my dead body" and yet that's exactly what happened. This stuff was written back in the buildup to war, when there where marches in the streets and people shouting, all of which didn't do a damn thing. Thom Yorke (who was very much involved in that shouting) is writing about how powerless it made him and all of us feel to know that there was not a damn thing you could do to stop it, even though he knew how crazy it was. The urge to go to sleep is not just the goverments' desire to make you forget, but also your own, to avoid the guilt of letting this happen. I think the "tiptoe around, tie him down" thing is about the realization that the sort of peacenik thinking that we had become accustomed to, the leaders actually paying attention to the populace, isn't going to work with these people. Radiohead have actually said in interviews that this album isn't about the war or Bush and Blair but about how powerless they felt in the whole mess, so I think this is justified. |
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| Puddle of Mudd – She Hates Me Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This might be one of the worst songs to ever fart its ay onto radio... This song shouldn't even be on this site because there's no sense in discussing what it means (hence "songmeanings"). It means that some idiot put on a baseball cap backwards, made up some stupid words about nothing, put them to some stupid music about nothing, and made a million bucks. Mystery solved. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Sufjan stevens is often criticized for writing "Christian" music, but here is a good example of why that isn't so... this song is about the loss of a friend but also, more importantly, how God can seem not to care about those who pray to him. Sufjan may well be a Christian but this is not christian music, which has at its core the desire to praise God; just music about how he feels... in other words, "music". I love that last line. I guarantee you will never hear that on an Amy Grant record. |
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| Iron & Wine – Dearest Forsaken Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I love this song, as I tend to love all of Sam's darker songs. I think this song is about a woman who kills her abusive husband by tying him to a stump and letting him drown in a flood. The savior "fielding forces of nature" I see as one of those big Southern storms that last for days and make all the creeks and gulleys overflow. Being a Southern expatriot myself a lot of his songs bring me back home. I'm surprised nobody has commented on this song yet--I think it's so cool. |
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| Iron & Wine – Upward Over the Mountain Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I tend to think this song is maybe a little darker than most comments here--largely because of the lyric "mother I made it up from the bruise of a floor of this prison". To me this always seemed like a son who has done something terrible and is now paying the price for it. He asks two things from his mother: one, to remember all these good and bittersweet times together, and two, to forget him "now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to", which I envision as literally throwing the cradle in the creek, as is common practice is some rural places to throw old furniture into creeks, but obviously also a metaphor for growing up. All the rememberances seem unconnected. This remindes me of (and I have no justification for this, it just reminds me of it) the scene in the movie "dead man walking" where Sean Penn is reminiscing with his family before he is executed; there is a need for your mother to remember you and a horrible need for her to forget you to lessen the pain. "sons are like birds, flying upwards over the mountain" is a metaphor for how sons find it necessary to constantly struggle and do everything the hardest way possible. I can imagine a mother saying that to herself, for the umpteeth time her son gets into trouble. That particular phrase I find just beautiful and heartbreaking. This song is just ridiculously gorgeous in every way. The guitar work is perfect. As a son I find it very moving as well. |
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