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| Joanna Newsom – Good Intentions Paving Company Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think the talk about tilt and the recurrence of the word "right" probably are in some way a commentary on politics. Not to mention "waving the flag and feeling it drag." I'm not really sure what she is saying, yet. |
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| Monsters of Folk – Man Named Truth Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think this is about Osama bin Ladin, Afghanistan, and so forth. The "pretty little twins" are the twin towers. I think Osama is the narrator in this song, it has him moving to the mountains. I think he's comparing Afghanistan's riches (oil, opium poppies) to cortez' gold, and the US to Cortez. I assume The Man Named Truth is America. Truth, justice, and the American way, as they say. |
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| Joanna Newsom – What We Have Known Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I hope you don't think I'm wearing liberal-colored glasses, but I think this song is a about the politics in America ongoing when the song was written. It's almost a poetic restatement of 2002. "The terror seething sees a way" is a pretty clear reference, for example. "And all the baby boys we've born... Sent off to die in perfect form" is about soldiers being sent off to die in Afghanistan. There is a clear theme about ignoring history as we use "satellite photos, rhetoric" to make the case for war. "All the books our fathers wrote" is probably talking about our forefathers, that wrote the constitution, and "are in the middle of the road" means that they're about to get run over, metaphorically ignored in our government's haste to get somewhere.
I know some people are going to disagree about this, but try to keep an open mind :)
PS: "Ladies, breathe deep against your whalebones" is a reference to corsets being reinforced out of whalebones. |
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| Van Dyke Parks – The All Golden Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Lyric Corrections:
Firstly, I think the real title is The All Golden.
Secondly, I think the word is "fare" in the first line, not "faire".
Thirdly, I think the line "Nowadays a Yankee dread not take his time to wend to sea." is "Nowadays a Yankee dreadnought takes his time to wend to sea."
Opinion:
"Constant commentary by the wayside / Nowadays them country boys don't cotton much to one two three four." is some sort of reference to the antebellum south. The usage of the word cotton is deliberate wordplay, possibly just reminding us of the south's history of slaver. I think the one two three four part is meant to mean the military --I suppose he is saying that the country boys don't like the draft.
"Constant calm might still our stately union. / Nowadays a Yankee dread not take his time to wend to sea." This is some sort of reference to the civil war. Dreadnoughts are gun-heavy battleships, and ironclad gunships played an important role in the civil war.
The whole album is a kind of Whitmanesque tour of America, so I guess it's some sort of analysis of the deep south. I'm seeing pieces here but not really getting the whole picture, sadly. |
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| David Bowie – Young Americans Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think this song is about the way America relates to the rest of the world and ways that the American Dreamâ„¢ sometimes fails. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Baby Birch Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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An additional thought: I believe her reference to stars and engines is a metaphor for god's plan for the world, and she thinks that the abortion (probably hers) broke part of that plan. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Baby Birch Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think this is about the character (perhaps Joanna, perhaps this is just the point of view she is singing from) having an abortion, and why she did it, and how she wishes things could have worked out another way. I suppose the singer is being haunted by thoughts of what could have been, had things worked out differently. |
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| Amanda Palmer – Oasis Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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It's a satire on shallowness in youth culture, and on empty quasi-imperialist britpop crap. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Ampersand Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I think she is telling an anecdote about a fire in Boston and using fire-related metaphors to describe her thoughts about romance. She thought she had to be "flame retardant" meaning not fall in love, that sort of thing. She doesn't want to be on one side of an ampersand because she is too independent, but her lover already thinks of them as being practically married, he has picked out the headstones for their graves when they are buried next to each other. Great song. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Night Reconnaissance Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"You think you're poet, a folksinger, ??? "
is
You think you're a poet, a folksinger, poser! no
although I'm not quite sure how to express that properly with letters |
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| Joanna Newsom – Emily Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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The continued references to water, lakes, and hydrocepalism are all part of the larger themes of Ys, which is the profundity of water --which ties in with the original fable of Ys. |
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| Beirut – The Penalty Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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It seems to have something to do with eloping, possibly drawing on his own experiences of rambling across Europe instead of attending high school. |
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| Devendra Banhart – Cripple Crow Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I'm sticking with the native american interpretation, as I don't think it is convoluted nor do I think any plausible alternatives have been given. References to corn, gifts, deceiving peace, and genocide, all seem to have more to do with amerindians than with anything presently happening. Maybe there is allegory to something modern, but I don't see it and I certainly haven't read any better ideas on this page. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Here's my take: The song may or may not be autobiographical.
The narrator is surprised by someone she thought out of her league professing his affection. She doesn't like him back so much, but she can't afford to be as choosy as she would like. She interprets his lustful looks, the phrase "knocking me down" is a play on "knocking up" which is slang for pregnancy. The narrator implies that she fears pregnancy.
When the narrator says she is "riding its back when it used to ride me" she means she is the less infatuated party in the romance, and as a result controls the relationship. The riding is a strong sexual metaphor as well, and the "galloping manic" stanza implies sexual indulgence.
The narrator is "blue and unwell" and "bolts like a horse" away from the relationship. This may imply that she became pregnant, but I don't think so. She became unsatisfied with a relationship where she didn't return the other party's affections, and so terminates the relationship and "watches it go".
Post breakup, the guy has "changed some" and the narrator begins to warm up to him a bit, her heart melting a bit as "water runs from the snow."
The last stanza deals with the narrator asking herself if she is really that special and unique to warrant the attention of this guy, while the fear of pregnancy is expressed using fruit as metaphor for a pregnant woman's body. Peach is the normal state, plum as she starts to bulge, and pear during the final stages of pregnancy. Perhaps the narrator regrets ending the relationship, but her continual fear of pregnancy remains and prevents her from doing anything about it. |
submissions
| Joanna Newsom – Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song is adapted from the poem written by Isabel Pagan, a Scottish poet who lived from 1740 to 1821. Pagan is considered to be a "blue-collar" poet. This version of the poem uses less antiquated language than the original. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Erin Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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1) It's spelled Shenandoah
2) The version of this song I have heard says "hairy little runt" not "hairy literary", which may be a mistake as well.
3) I believe the Erin in this song is both a person _and_ a chronicling of Irish-Americans. |
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| Modest Mouse – Dashboard Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I think this song is using a car as an analogy for the planet.
It has a lot of geographical themes (east to west horizon, dawn and evening), and how despite mankind thinking we're doing all right, it's still headed for a big crash (it was impossible, we ran it good) and this is the last laugh before the planet shakes us "like a cold".
I'm not quite sure what the radio is a metaphor for, and I'd love to hear some ideas. |
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| Arcade Fire – (Antichrist Television Blues) Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song is from the perspective of Joe Simpson, who started off as a preacher of the worst kind and moved on to marketing his children to america as sex symbols. The song is really sarcastic and has a lot of word play, "show the men it's not about the money" "so they can see themselves inside my little girl" etc.. This fits in with what I think the album's overall theme of criticizing pop culture, and mentions a black mirror which presumably shows no reflection, which I think is a metaphor for soullessness. |
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| Current 93 – The Bloodbells Chime Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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A gestalt of Louis Wain's "Entrenched (A message from Tommy (C)atkins at the Front)" and the misery of war and perhaps existence in general. |
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| Current 93 – The Frolic Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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It does seem to be about one of John Doe's frolicks, excepting the stanza about Avalokitesvara which seems to be about David renouncing Buddhism. And also perhaps the stanzas dealing with the birds and their deaths, which seem very revelations or perhaps TS Eliotesque. I think a lot of things are happening at once in this song, the narrative is jumping between different viewpoints. A very beautiful and horrifying song. |
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| VNV Nation – Darkangel Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I think this song is about Caesar recanting his empire, and its eventual fall. It also more generally applies to all empires, most pertinently the present Pax Americana. The next song on the cd (Arclight) is about a new empire being formed from the ashes of the old. |
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| VNV Nation – Distant Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song is Caesar controlling his destiny through deliberate willpower alone. Pretty neat. |
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| VNV Nation – Fragments Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song, as well as the entire album, illustrate the seeming glory but ultimate folly and failure of the concept of empire. Especially Hitler's. |
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| Current 93 – A Gothic Lovesong (For N.) Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song is David Michaels' denunciation of his former self. I'm a little uncertain of the timeline involved, but I suppose this was prior to his serious involvement in his present expression of religion, during that "upside down tree of life" phase. |
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| Current 93 – Falling Back in Fields of Rape Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song is a play on words juxtaposing rapeseed fields with the field of battle.
It mixes imagery about how the father of a family goes away to war and wreaks havoc while the family stays at home and washes their hands of it.
The part about Mulberry bushes is very similar to a similar line in The Wasteland, by TS Eliot. |
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| The Decemberists – Sixteen Military Wives Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The lyrics and the music video are not anti-war in general, but they are against the Iraq war. The dig at "pristine moderate liberals minds" is pejorative of the flaky celebrities that are paraded as liberal on the media; it is their flakiness/pristineness and the pedestal the media puts them on that is deplorable, not their liberality.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that America, in the music video, is obviously the school bully. America is seen as the world's bully by many people, including (apparently) the Decemberists.
I think the last stanza is about how the American public are no better than cannibals, because we "eat" the celebrities up, when they are served to us via the media. |
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| The Legendary Pink Dots – Hellsville Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I think this song combines father-imagery with the idea of god the father. The "they come from lonely stars" seems to be references to angels/aliens, which are often conflated in LPD songs. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Truce Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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warlock: upon review, you are absolutely correct about the 9/11 imagery. I'm embarrassed that I didn't understand that before. The cold war imagery is there as well, though. |
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| Bright Eyes – Old Soul Song (For the New World Order) Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I'm pretty sure this song is about one of the anti-Iraq war protests, where the police were restraining the crowd with a lot of force. The camera mentioned took a lot of pictures of the police brutality, which is why it is so important (being held like the bible, because it contains and can prove the truth, metaphorically). So he's in the dark room hoping that the pictures managed to capture what the police did, because it is the only evidence he has, and as they develop he sees that they did indeed capture everything that happened (all begins to bloom).
The last paragraph I'm a little less certain about. It refers to those electronic store displays with lots of tvs all showing the same thing, but beyond that I can't say. |
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| Bright Eyes – When the President Talks to God Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song displays the absurdity of Bush claiming that he speaks directly with God (which he has stated several times). This song also explores the arrogance of that claim, and the ungodly effects of Bush's decisions. It really captures the bitterness of being helpless in the face of what many of us consider a flawed political process. This song is a coping mechanism for losing control of the country.
In regards to the calling 'a spade a spade' line, it is a reference to the racism involved in many peoples' support for the war, and presumably Bush's personal (god-supported) racism. I don't happen to believe that Bush is especially racist, but the sentiment is definitely out there amongst his supporters.
I don't think this song is childish at all. I think a lot more people are turned off by the low production values than by anything else. Sorry it doesn't have a drum machine in the background or a filter over Conor's voice, guys. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Me and the Minibar Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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It is the narrator's birthday, and she wishes that the person she loves was with her at the hotel she is staying at. She wants to be left alone, and is drinking because the person she loves (in the sixth stanza) is gone. As she drinks her way through the minibar she begins doing something self-destructive that would cause onlookers to 'vomit and run'; perhaps it is cutting herself, or even burning herself with the candle mentioned in the fifth stanza. This song is beautiful and lonesome. |
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| Against Me! – Baby, I'm an Anarchist! Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I was being sarcastic, and you are both being morons. This is a site about song lyrics, not a soapbox for people to rant about political systems that they think won't work. His post had nothing to do with the song, and was uninformed and unqualified besides. At least your post talks about how you dislike the song, even if you don't talk about the song meaning. I think the song criticizes middle class liberals with mushy ideas, like oh I dunno, kalleigh. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Truce Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song has nothing to do with 9/11. It juxtaposes breaking off a relationship with the cold war and how the soviets and americans basically divided the world between them. The people breaking up are trying to avoid seeing each other ever again, so they have to agree not to go to the same places. This song takes that to an absurd degree and they start dividing countries, alphabets and such. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Sing Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The blank word is "ganja weed" which is anathema to the soccer moms, must as terrorists are anathema to the president. And it's "but for now let's just pretend we're all gonna get bombed." And I'm pretty sure they're singing something like "you motherfuckers, you'll sing some day" in the final chorus.
This song works on two levels. The first meaning is about how wonderful singing is and how cathartic is is. The other meaning is a criticism of some aspects of certain parts of present-day politics, like urban violence (or perhaps lax gun control), fearmongering, and having an asshole for a president. Why do you hate america, Amanda Palmer? Why do you want to make the bald eagles cry? |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Bank of Boston Beauty Queen Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Don't feel bad for her, this is autobiographical. Amanda swoons when she sees the hot skateboarder kids, because that's who she was chasing around when she was their age. There are a lot of implied sexual overtones, like she has to monitor what she's thinking because they're so young. Perfect_fit, I have no idea how you came up with that. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Mandy Goes to Med School Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This is a different version than the two that I've heard. In the other two versions (including the studio version on the new album) it seems to portray Brian (the drummer) as being available if it turns out they wanted to be pregnant after all, which is really funny in context. This is a really good song, but it's not as rock and rolly, so tastes will differ. |
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