submissions
| Patty Griffin – One Big Love Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
Wow... Almost nobody includes the verse following the bridge (too hard to figure out the lyrics?), and those that do get it totally f**ing wrong. It's...
Everybody run till you're flyin'
Touch the sky without even trying
Everybody's swinging from a big star
Everybody's ridin' in a big car. |
submissions
| The Pretenders – Precious Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
|
Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress were bands in Cleveland back in the early 70s. She's not referring to the comic, or that lame movie based on it. Those bands "stayed" in Cleveland, while she "fucked off" to Engand, because she was too "precious" (which in thi context means, "too good") |
submissions
| Nina Simone – Pirate Jenny Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
|
Judy Collins recorded Pirate Jenny on an album released in the mid-60s called In My Life. I suppose that predates Nina Simone's version by a few decades. Although Simone's version is far superior, IMHO. |
submissions
| The Who – I'm a Boy Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
|
That's because it's a fallacy that sexual orientation and gender are connected. Most cross-dressers are heterosexual, while a lot (not all but most) of homosexuals have very masculine identities. Besides, it's clear in the song that the boy isn't happy with his situation, and would rather do typical boy-stuff: "Wanna play cricket on the green Ride my bike across the street Cut myself and see my blood Wanna come home all covered in mud" |
submissions
| The Beatles – Long Tall Sally Lyrics
| 14 years ago
|
|
When this song was first written by Little Richard and Bumps Blackwell, the original title was going to be Bald Head Sally. I've heard a few rumors to the effect that the song is a coded reference to gay sex and "long tall Sally" refers to an appendage that's... well, long and tall. And "bald head" Sally refers to the same thing. I make no judgements. By the way, the second verse above is incorrect according to the Beatles recorded version, which goes "Well Long Tall Sally she's built pretty sweet, she got everything that Uncle John needs" The original Little Richard lyrics (according to Wikipedia, anyway) are. "Well Long Tall Sally she's built for speed." |
submissions
| Grateful Dead – Touch Of Grey Lyrics
| 14 years ago
|
This is one of the more entertaining songs to look up the lyrics for on the net. It seems that nobody remembers "paint by numbers" (popular in the 60s) and struggle in vain to figure out the third line of this song. You get some amazing stabs at it. The lines about "I see you've got your {fist/list} out", "cow is giving kerosene", and "kid can't read at seventeen" get some amazingly creative attempts as well. The only song I can think of that has had some even funnier misheard lyrics is Night In My Veins, by The Pretenders.
Anyhow, Touch of Grey strikes me as almost the quintessential Dead song, in it's neo-hippie laid-back optimism, and what a terrific curtain call for Jerry. He always knew how to hit the nail on the head, somehow, with his lyrics. |
submissions
| Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
Thanks, JosephWolf, for a comprehensive and (as far as I know) accurate analysis of this song. And I agree that the song escaped being banned only because back in the 70's most people didn't know what "giving head" meant! |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
I love the live version of this song on the POV video, with Youssou N'Dour and Les Super Etoilles de Dakar. So much energy! And Manu Katche has to be one of the most under-rated drummers of all time. Watching him play in that vid is almost like watching a magic show. |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
Absolutely true, Ewan. The "real" version has "piss on the goons." But that was apparently a little too raunchy for AM air-play, so it was overdubbed with "kissing baboons".
Just like "funky shit" was changed to "funky kicks" in Steve Miller's Jet Airliner, the line about "making love in the green grass" was overdubbed in Brown-Eyed Girl, "do goody-good bullshit" was removed from Pink Floyd's Money, the whole "See that little faggot" verse was removed from Dire Straits' Money for Nothing... etc. etc. It seems that radio stations all think we're all about 10 years old. |
submissions
| Fairport Convention – Crazy Man Michael Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
I suppose since i use this song title as my login handle i'd better comment on it...
Apparently the basic story behind this song came to Richard Thompson in a dream. It took a while for him and Dave Swarbrick to get it together as a song, but when Sandy Denny (RIP) joined the band Thompson thought her voice would be perfect for it. Richard Thompson has always had a kind of morbid sensibility, and this one is quintessential Thompson. It's one of his faves from the Fairport years (and mine too). I played bass and guitar for about 5 years in a celtic/british folk cover band called Crazy Man Michael. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – On the Turning Away Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
On the PULSE DVD there's a cool feature called "bootlegging the bootleggers" (a bunch of bootleg floyd concert vids that they collected and stuck on the dvd... way cool). One of the tracks is On the Turning Away. The quality is great and Gilmour puts so much emotion into the vocals and his kick-ass solo at the end... when my girlfriend and i watched it together, she burst into tears. It was THAT powerful. |
submissions
| Chicago – 25 or 6 to 4 Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
I have go agree with Scrappy999 on this one. Why does every song where the lyrics aren't immediately obvious have to be about drugs? Jeez. From what I have heard in interviews with various members of Chicago in the early days, especially Robert Lamm and Pete Cetera, karaoke is right. The song is about not being able to think of anything to write a song about. Now, given that this song was written in the early 70s, it's entirely possible that Lamm was blowing a fatty WHILE he was writing, hoping for a little inspiration, but that's not what the song is ABOUT. When you think about it, the idea of writing a song about writer's block is actually kind of clever. Proves that inspiration is where you find it. |
submissions
| The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
Once upon a time I actually owned a theremin (it was a Paia kit, actually, really easy to build). It was the coolest! Then I went to Europe for a couple of months and I gave all my musical equipment to a "friend" for safe keeping. He then disappeared, and I never saw my theremin again! (Sob!) |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Biko Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Just for interest, Yihla Moja is from the Zulu national anthem. I read somewhere that it means "arise, spirit", but I also read an interview with Peter who said that it meant "descending spirit". Not sure which is correct. |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Biko Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Just for interest, Yihla Moja is from the Zulu national anthem. I read somewhere that it means "arise, spirit", but I also read an interview with Peter who said that it meant "descending spirit". Not sure which is correct. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – The Great Gig in the Sky Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
The spoken words on DSOTM were mostly from interviews done with guys in and around the studio when the album was being recorded. I think Alan Parsons (the producer) actually did the interviews but I could be mistaken. He'd start the interview innocuously with questions like "what's your favorite color?" and then move on to "when was the last time you were violent?", "were you in the right?" and "are you afraid to die?" The doorman at the studio contributed the "I'm not frightened of dying, any time'll do I don't mind" part, and also "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark" which appears at the very end. And yes, kdiddy33 is correct. TGGITS was originally recorded as just a piano track, but Parsons thought it lacked something. He hunted up Clare Torrey, with whom he had been working on another project, and who happened to be in the building at the time, and told her to think about despair, hopelessness and death and sing whatever came into her head. She nailed it in one take, then apologized for not being able to come up with "anything decent". Parsons and the band were utterly, jaw-droppingly speechless. I still laugh when I hear that story. (and yes, she recently sued Pink Floyd for royalties and writing credits. They settled out of court and her name now appears on the re-release of DSOTM as co-writer with Richard Wright.) |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – The Great Gig in the Sky Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
The spoken words on DSOTM were mostly from interviews done with guys in and around the studio when the album was being recorded. I think Alan Parsons (the producer) actually did the interviews but I could be mistaken. He'd start the interview innocuously with questions like "what's your favorite color?" and then move on to "when was the last time you were violent?", "were you in the right?" and "are you afraid to die?" The doorman at the studio contributed the "I'm not frightened of dying, any time'll do I don't mind" part, and also "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark" which appears at the very end. And yes, kdiddy33 is correct. TGGITS was originally recorded as just a piano track, but Parsons thought it lacked something. He hunted up Clare Torrey, with whom he had been working on another project, and who happened to be in the building at the time, and told her to think about despair, hopelessness and death and sing whatever came into her head. She nailed it in one take, then apologized for not being able to come up with "anything decent". Parsons and the band were utterly, jaw-droppingly speechless. I still laugh when I hear that story. (and yes, she recently sued Pink Floyd for royalties and writing credits. They settled out of court and her name now appears on the re-release of DSOTM as co-writer with Richard Wright.) |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – Learning to Fly Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Great tune, interesting production (flanging and filtering on vocals for "above the planet on a wing and a prayer...") cool. By the way, Gilmour and Mason are both pilots, but the cockpit chatter WAS from Mason's first solo flight. |
submissions
| Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Paul Simon has said in a number of interviews that he really has no idea what "the mama saw" down by the schoolyard, that the song was just a piece of fluff that he wrote for the hell of it (he apparently liked the sound of "me and Julio"). Whether he's being truthful here or not, who knows... |
submissions
| Emmylou Harris – I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
I just love this song. The production is gritty, down and dirty and just gorgeous, and Emmylou's voice in its mournful mode is perfection. I very much doubt that this is what the song is about, but every time I hear it my fiendish brain makes me think of oral sex... "I got down on my knees for you", "I wanna go down", "No one would do the things I do"... or maybe it IS???? |
submissions
| Emmylou Harris – I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
I just love this song. The production is gritty, down and dirty and just gorgeous, and Emmylou's voice in its mournful mode is perfection. I very much doubt that this is what the song is about, but every time I hear it my fiendish brain makes me think of oral sex... "I got down on my knees for you", "I wanna go down", "No one would do the things I do"... or maybe it IS???? |
submissions
| Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Apparently the genesis of this song came when she was driving by herself down to a recording gig in Nashville, and passed through a little hick town called Meridian Mississippi. The name had a rhythm that appealed to her, and she started to come up with rhymes, like Gideon, Lillian, etc. The soil in the area was mostly red clay. By the time she got to Nashville she'd pretty much written the entire song. |
submissions
| Emmylou Harris – The Pearl Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Surely there are some Emmylou fans out there. This is probably my fave song of her extensive catalog. In Wrecking Ball and Red Dirt Girl she's done something that very few artists achieve: she's essentially invented a unique genre that, for want of a better term, could be called "alternative country" (yeah I know that sucks. We need a better term.) The line "And fear the silence is the voice of God" gives me chills every time I hear it, and I think the meaning of the song can be summed up in the final line of the last verse: Until we behold the pain become the pearl". The Buddha said that "life is suffering". Emmylou is saying that our task is to somehow transform that suffering into something of beauty. And yes, dolfan, it IS brilliant. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – Brain Damage Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Ashley, it may not have a whole lot to do with the meaning of the song AS WRITTEN, but as mentioned by kdiddy44 during the live performance of Brain Damage on the P*U*L*S*E DVD the movie screen behind the band shows footage of various politicians, Reagan, Thathcer, Hussein, etc. "The paper holds their folded faces to the foor, and every day the paperboy brings more..." Excellent. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – The Great Gig in the Sky Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
The spoken words on DSOTM were mostly from interviews done with guys in and around the studio when the album was being recorded. I think Alan Parsons (the producer) actually did the interviews but I could be mistaken. He'd start the interview innocuously with questions like "what's your favorite color?" and then move on to "when was the last time you were violent?", "were you in the right?" and "are you afraid to die?" The doorman at the studio contributed the "I'm not frightened of dying, any time'll do I don't mind" part, and also "There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark" which appears at the very end. And yes, kdiddy33 is correct. TGGITS was originally recorded as just a piano track, but Parsons thought it lacked something. He hunted up Clare Torrey, with whom he had been working on another project, and who happened to be in the building at the time, and told her to think about despair, hopelessness and death and sing whatever came into her head. She nailed it in one take, then apologized for not being able to come up with anything decent. Parsons and the band were utterly, jaw-droppingly speechless. I still laugh when I hear that story. (and yes, she recently sued Pink Floyd for royalties and writing credits. They settled out of court and her name now appears on the re-release of DSOTM as co-writer with Richard Wright.) |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Lay Your Hands On Me Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
In his live concerts, during a lengthy instrumental vamp Gabriel would walk to the edge of the stage, turn his back to the audience and fall backwards into their outstretched arms. I've seen the video of this dozens of times and I still get chills up and down my spine when he does it. It's incredible, and an incredible demonstration of trust and connection between performer and audience. Wow. |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Who else but Gabriel could write a song in 7/8 time and make it so damn catchy? the guy is a musical genius. And yeah, he once said in an interview it was basically about his decision to leave Genesis, although there are many other interpretations. Still a fave Gabriel track, and that's saying a lot. |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Shock The Monkey Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
Jealousy for sure. On the concert video POV (produced by Martin Scorsese, which by the way contains the best version of In Your Eyes ever!) he introduces the song by saying "This is a song about jealousy..." I suppose that's gotta just about seal the deal. Mind you, I've gone through the lyrics a bunch of times and I really can't figure out where jealousy comes in... I think Ind3005 probably has the best interpretation. |
submissions
| Peter Gabriel – Come Talk To Me Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
TheSyndicate88 is correct. In the Gabriel video "All About Us", he speaks extensively about how the inspiration for this song came from what he perceived as a growing gulf between him and his daughter Melanie (who performed with him on the Up tour). |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – On the Turning Away Lyrics
| 18 years ago
|
|
I usually just lurk in this site, but I had to log in and add to what K-Wise wrote... as a guitar player myself, i gotta say that Gilmour's solo at the end of this track is one that can actually move me to tears. Along with Comfortably Numb the guitar work here is among his best, and that's saying a lot. He's one of my main influences. He can say so much with just a few well-chosen notes! |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
