| Josh Ritter – Bright Smile Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| i always thought imogene and abelard was a reference to heloise and abelard -famous star crossed lovers from history- but aparently imogene isn't a variant of heloise after all. which leaves me stuck. unless Josh got it wrong which i highly doubt! adore man is only half himself ... compare to every heart is a package ... the idea that we are made whole by another person. | |
| Josh Ritter – Best for the Best Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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on the live cd/dvd 'in the dark' josh introduces this song "this song is dedicated to mark twain, who said loyalty to your country always, loyalty to your government when it deserves it". which makes me think there's a political subtext here that i'm missing. anyone noticed the huge number of mark twain allusions in josh's songs? |
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| Josh Ritter – Best for the Best Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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on the live cd/dvd 'in the dark' josh introduces this song "this song is dedicated to mark twain, who said loyalty to your country always, loyalty to your government when it deserves it". which makes me think there's a political subtext here that i'm missing. anyone noticed the huge number of mark twain allusions in josh's songs? |
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| John Mayer – Daughters Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| maybe it didn't fit with the song, and maybe he doesn't see it cos he's a guy, but i totally disagree with the idea that 'boys will be strong/boys will soldier on' ... yeah they will, by burying all the issues so deeply that they never surface, and by essentially smothering their ability to connect emotionally. in some ways i think men are more fragile than women, damaged or not, but in our culture men are expected to suck it up through a big fat straw and get over it ... women get to be scary and damaged and emotionally needy. parents have such an enormous responsibility ... to all their kids not just girls. | |
| John Mayer – Your Body Is A Wonderland Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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So it's about sex. Big deal! It's a sensitive celebration of an intensely sexual relationship. I can't think of another song that gets so much airplay that isn't either all about love and the assumption you'll be together forever (notice love is not actually mentioned...it's about the sex people) or incredibly edibly mysogynistic. What did you think 'slap that' was all about? ewww. This song treats her as his equal, and someone to be respected at least during the time they're together...there are worse things in the world for sure. |
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| Josh Ritter – Thin Blue Flame Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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not being american myself gives me a slightly different perspective on the anti-war message; just like girl in the war which still (and always i suspect) will be about the loss of faith and the destructuveness of violence to the human spirt, and antiwar in general, not just irag in particular. it's a bigger picture. we (and i mean the whole of the west here) have been meddling in other people's affairs for far too long, and generally screwing up the middle east (or at least helping!) for over 2000 years. what a shame we can't seem to do what is right. |
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| Josh Ritter – Thin Blue Flame Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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not being american myself gives me a slightly different perspective on the anti-war message; just like girl in the war which still (and always i suspect) will be about the loss of faith and the destructuveness of violence to the human spirt, and antiwar in general, not just irag in particular. it's a bigger picture. we (and i mean the whole of the west here) have been meddling in other people's affairs for far too long, and generally screwing up the middle east (or at least helping!) for over 2000 years. what a shame we can't seem to do what is right. |
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| KT Tunstall – Other Side Of The World Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i'm with those who think this is about the end of of relationship...the way that a long term relationship can end 'not with a bang but with a whimper' and it can take a while for you to admit to yourself or to each other that it's over. her being like and iceberg could be the way she's allowed herself to become withdrawn, static, unchanging. the most interesting parts to me are the two last verses...the 'panic light/holding on' could be the way that a loveaffair flares up again as you realise that it's over, but scared to let go, so you hand on harder that ever. and 'can you let me go/can you still love me' is asking the partner to let go. meaning, how can you still love me when you don't even know me any more, so let me go. great song. don't base too much on the video of this or any song! |
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| Suzanne Vega – Gypsy Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i remember suzanne talking about this song on Austin City Limits years ago, exactly what seventyx7 says, but i remember her saing in her selfdeprecating way that when she played the song "he was very moved. he gave me his bandana". i just loved the juxtaposition...she wrote him a song and he gave her a bandana! | |
| Josh Ritter – Bone Of Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"the chords of a covenant king singing for the ark" is a reference to King David, who has been called "Israel's sweet singer". Many of the psalms are attributed to him (including the 23rd, 'the lord is my shepherd', which josh references in 'rainslicker'). i think this has to do with the idea that musical, and other kinds, of genius are somehow 'other' and apart from us; divinely inspired in a way. interesting the similarity here to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which contains the lyric "I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord". |
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| Josh Ritter – Thin Blue Flame Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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another masterpiece. i could teach class for a week just dissecting this song, and actually may do so! thanks bubbagump for your (marvellously lucid and very much along my thoughts) comments, and ameteurxx for a great summing up--very much what i think. i do wonder --i'll have to study this a bit more-- whether there really is the reference to the holy land, or just the middle east, that i think there is --royal city as jerusalem perhaps?-- the missiles, amputees, refugees seem to fit. and i absolutely love 'bringing justice to the enemies not the other way around'. george w please take note! |
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| Josh Ritter – Monster Ballads Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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oh WOW, love this song and intend to use it with my students to illustrate the use of allusion. i think it's about a journey, maybe literal, maybe metaphorical, and the way that when you're travelling your mind wanders--the very real spiritual nature of journeying. the stanza "ones and zeroes" has a reference to the 'still small voice' which s what the king james bible says that god is--was it isiah? god is not in the earthquake or the hurricane or the fire, but in the still small voice -- which is what he (in the song) hears when he turns off the radio (bleedng mesa noise). stations of the cross refers to the road to golgotha when jc carried teh cross up the hill a la the passion of the christ. the wire albatross also represents jc i think--via the rime of the ancient mariner. th river days i _think_ references huckleberry finn. anyway great song. |
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| Josh Ritter – Girl In The War Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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okay: i think this is about loosing your faith. 'all those words we wrote' = new testament--and he's chucked out he rules because something in his life is haywire ('a girl in the war') and god doesn't seem to be helping. the keys to the kingdom--come ON, saint peter guards the pearly gates & holds the keys to the KINGDOM of heaven--and he's lost the keys, ie his faith. faith isn't easy for him anymore. 'angels fly around inside but we can't seem them'. i do like the anti-war reading too but i think the faith metaphor can be applied to that too, and i also think that the biblical allusions are too strong to be ignored. peter (the rock on which the chruch was founded) is starting to doubt and paul says, come on man, just trust, believe that it will be okay. |
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