submissions
| New Order – Love Vigilantes Lyrics
| 14 years ago
|
|
He didn't survive. The point of the song is that he realizes he's dead when he gets what he most wants; to see his family. |
submissions
| Woody Guthrie – Sowing on the Mountain Lyrics
| 14 years ago
|
|
It's biblical, it's figurative, but I only wish these Wall Street clowns were held to this principle. These clowns to think they'll all get away with enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else. Some will, sure, but most have and will end up the punchline of their own joke given enough time. I have to believe this. |
submissions
| Johnny Cash – Drive On Lyrics
| 15 years ago
|
|
Easy to say "who cares," but it really does matter the world. Otherwise, why would they say drive on? |
submissions
| Bad Religion – Shattered Faith Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
I'm inclined to agree with fuckyou1. Purpose or no purpose, we're here and we have to deal with it. The only question is how we deal with it. Do we spend our lives adhering to one axiom or the other, wallowing in the futility of either absolute or do we understand that meaningful living involves accepting both our limitations and our ability to act as agents of change? |
submissions
| Bad Religion – Pity the Dead Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
Kinda rips apart the platonic idea of a transcending soul. The underlying assumption here is that the physical world is nothing more than a crude and temporary manifestation of the perfect and eternal form undergirding all of reality.
In the contemporary Western context, this notion is promoted by theologians who talk about how dirty and sinful this "worldly" existence is. Yeah, well, if this world is so lousy and your posthumous eternal paradise is so wonderful, then why exactly do you pray for the dying and pity the dead? |
submissions
| Bad Religion – Don't Pray on Me Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
This one reminds me of my Mom after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and suckered into joining the United Pentecostal Church by some jizzball who promised her all sorts of ridiculous shit about salvation, eternal life, and such. She ended up devoting the short remainder of her life and her money to those scumfucks. My father ended up alienated from her and my life became a constant nightmare of being forced to attend church services at the expense of my friendships, hobbies, and schoolwork. Between her manufactured desire to buy her way into heaven and the costs of chemotherapy, my family ended up having to file for bankruptcy. Good times, good times.
Anyway, it takes a genuine shitbag to prey on the vulnerable and scared and all too often, that's precisely what I see these malignant crusaders doing. Needless to say, this song pisses me off every time I hear it. |
submissions
| Bad Religion – Don't Pray on Me Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
This one reminds me of my Mom after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and suckered into joining the United Pentecostal Church by some jizzball who promised her all sorts of ridiculous shit about salvation, eternal life, and such. She ended up devoting the short remainder of her life and her money to those scumfucks. My father ended up alienated from her and my life became a constant nightmare of being forced to attend church services at the expense of my friendships, hobbies, and schoolwork. Between her manufactured desire to buy her way into heaven and the costs of chemotherapy, my family ended up having to file for bankruptcy. Good times, good times.
Anyway, it takes a genuine shitbag to prey on the vulnerable and scared and all too often, that's precisely what I see these malignant crusaders doing. Needless to say, this song pisses me off every time I hear it. |
submissions
| Bad Religion – The Answer Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
Yep; complacency. The unfortunate inclination to embrace the comforting answers instead of understanding and accepting the hard explanations. |
submissions
| NOFX – The Separation of Church & Skate Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
What the fuck is everyone bitching about? Man up and call these pussies out on their bunkum behavior instead of sitting on the Internet stewing about it like a bunch of witless infants. |
submissions
| NOFX – The Cause Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
I hope I'm the only person ever to hear this song and think it's a tribute to The Cos. Yeah, Bill Cosby and, yeah, I must be a fucking retard. |
submissions
| NOFX – Linoleum Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
Why do so many people think this fucking song is about "omg i love nofx"? |
submissions
| NOFX – Eat The Meek Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
Punk is about whatever the denizens of the Internet dictate. So, shut the fuck up. |
submissions
| NOFX – All Outta Angst Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
"OBVIOUSLY this song is about being pregnant."
Bullshit. It's about suicide, drugs, and cock like every other song out there. |
submissions
| Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
I accept that the song is actually a reference to R. Budd Dwyer, but whenever I hear this song, I think of Flavius Claudius Iulianus, aka Julian the Apostate, aka Emperor Julian, last pagan Emperor of the Roman Empire. He's one of my favorite historical figures, because of his willpower, even-handed temperament, and devilish wit.
After Constantine The (perhaps-not-so) Great's political maneuvering of Christianity as the Roman Empire's official state religion which led to factional disputes amongst early Christian cults, the destruction of numerous pagan temples, the killing of Hypatia, and subsequent burning of the Library at Alexandria and its ancillary temples.
Basically, Julian tried to reverse the tide of cultural genocide that state-sanctioned Christianity had wrought upon the Empire. He attempted to reinstate the old Hellenistic philosophies of religious inclusion and freedom, much different from the mutually exclusive monotheistic doctrines of the powerful Christian orthodoxy.
Long story short, he made a lot of headway and had he not died in a pointless campaign to regain Persian lands lost by his cousin Constantius II (third son of Constantine The Great, the world today might be a very, very different place. Or.. it might not. Who knows.
As a person who loves to see the status quo immolated with extreme prejudice, my posthumous words to Julian are summed up nicely by this song:
I wish I would've met you
Now it's a little late
What you could've taught me
I could have saved some face
They think that your early ending
Was all wrong
For the most part they're right
But look how they all got strong
That's why I say hey man, nice shot
What a good shot man |
submissions
| Rush – Hope Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
This is the kind of song that steels and comforts my sometimes weary mind. |
submissions
| Rush – Faithless Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
Yeah, uh, I'd dare to say hundreds of millions of religious people around the globe would disagree with the idea that religion isn't necessary in order for someone to be moral. That said, it is a significant statement being made. It's a message that's increasingly being forgotten as war, genocide, and socio-economic inequity stoke the fires of religious and cultural fanaticism around the world. Religion certainly isn't the cause of all the world's problems, but it certainly is one of the time-honored excuse to cause problems.
Anyway, the lyrics remind me of the countless nonbelievers I've met over the years who have wanted nothing more than to live their lives quietly and peacefully despite the fact that they're still thought of as Bolsheviks in the popular consciousness, distrusted for their supposed immorality, and misrepresented by clowns like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, et al. The point of the song is not to claim victimhood, though, but to remain confident and steadfast in the face of ignorance and misunderstanding. |
submissions
| Rush – Bravest Face Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
err, correction (got ahead of myself, heh)
"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy."
-Carl Sagan (from The Demon-Haunted World) |
submissions
| Rush – Bravest Face Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting reality."
-Carl Sagan (from The Demon-Haunted World) |
submissions
| Saul Williams – Tr(N)igger Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
I interpret it as a counter-argument to the axiomatic social status quo upon which racism relies for its existence. I say it's axiomatic because of the stark contrasts between good and evil, white and black that exist in the social consciousness. The status quo relies on the assumption that it is good while anyone who exists contrary to its mechanisms is obviously evil. It's an polarized and narrow mentality that flies in the face of a gradient reality, defiant of the rigid consensus.
In the case of the word nigger, it's often imbued with the worst, most misguided sentiments people are capable of expressing towards each other. Want to write off people who are different as "niggers?" Okay, then chances are, you're the "nigger," who's simply too myopic and pretentious to witness and accept the vibrant menagerie of human diversity. We're all different and they're nothing wrong with that, but don't exaggerate the fact based on entirely arbitrary premises and expect anyone to take you seriously. |
submissions
| Orgy – Fiction (Dreams In Digital) Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
|
She dreams in axiomatic absolutes. This narrow, digital schema, when applied to an analog reality, is an inadequate interpretive account. Her coma represents her comforting disconnect from the broader, multifaceted nature of reality. |
submissions
| Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self Destruct Lyrics
| 16 years ago
|
This is one of the songs that forced me to confront the ugly reality of my narcissism. My self-love, which is just a mask for my self-hate, has turned me into a largely unaware monster of sorts. Years of seemingly arbitrary fuck-ups, dashed relationships, and eventual desires for self-destruction are the hallmarks of this condition. Leave it to a narcissist to ramble on about his own problems though, eh?
Anyway, I wonder whether the narrator of this song and other songs from The Downward Spiral ever considered himself to be a narcissist. We all have our dark passengers of sorts, but some of us never realize it until it's too late. |
submissions
| Eels – Dog's Life Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
This song makes me think of my cat. If only I could afford to live a simple, carefree life like his. Hopefully, the alien overlords will make me their pet cat. |
submissions
| Eels – Dog's Life Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
This song makes me think of my cat. If only I could afford to live a simple, carefree life like his. Hopefully, the alien overlords will make me their pet cat. |
submissions
| Explosions in the Sky – Greet Death Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
The song reminds me of the film Jacob's Ladder, with Tim Robbins. How we approach our ends is at least as important as how we've lived.
To borrow a line from Danny Aiello's character in the film, Louis the chiropractor, "Eckhart saw Hell too. He said, 'The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.'" |
submissions
| The Verve – So It Goes Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
Vonnegut's ubiquitous theme of the everyman within an indifferent universe is central to this song, I think. I'll leave it at that. |
submissions
| Yo La Tengo – I Feel Like Going Home Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
I'm inclined to agree with JeffV regarding a possibly suicidal element. Specifically, the first line reminds me of the haunted Quentin Compson in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, who saw "grottoes of the sea" before deciding to commit suicide. |
submissions
| Eels – Railroad Man Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
|
This one reminds me of my old man, who, certainly enough, happens to be a retired railroad man. |
submissions
| The Verve – The Drugs Don't Work Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
As a couple people have already pointed out, I think the importance of these lyrics lies in their transparency of meaning.
For me, they remind me of when my mother passed away from cancer after a long struggle. She'd underwent chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and was, of course, on a heavy regimen of drugs.
These lyrics have a double meaning for me, however, since I was also using quite a few myself at the time to cope. In the end and as the song goes, the drugs didn't work, and that was that.
Every time I hear this song, I think of her. |
submissions
| Rollins Band – Liar Lyrics
| 17 years ago
|
Regarding the "I'll turn you into me" line, I take it as describing the tendency for victims to internalize and become that which controls or oppresses them in order to shift from object to subject status. In other words, the victim becomes the oppressor in order to reverse the tables of power. The archetype "Liar" knows this better than anyone else, though, so the balance of power remains the same and the victim's efforts are in vain.
Ultimately, I think it's this underlying lie of the impossible victim-turned-oppressor that really gives this line meaning and it reminds me, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster." |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
