| James – Sit Down Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I love this song, like most people who have ever heard it. It's universal because we can all relate to that feeling of being a stranger or an outsider in life, and it's powerful to hear another weirdo reaching out to you through the dark. :) Here are some general comments made about the lyrics by Tim Booth for The Guardian: "The opening line, "I'll sing myself to sleep, a song from the darkest hour," refers to my insomnia. I was writing at 2-3am. The lines "Now I'm relieved to hear that you've been to some far-out places, it's hard to carry on when you feel all alone" were me thinking of Patti Smith and Doris Lessing. They both connected to me when I felt very alone and misunderstood. Throughout my teens, I'd had an undiagnosed illness and my skin was almost yellow. When I was 21, I'd almost died, so I was feeling pretty tortured in those days. That line "I swung back down again" is about the mood swings I used to go through. I was meditating a lot to try and find some meaning to it all, and you can get quite high on that. Then you come back down to reality. I was celibate, no alcohol, vegetarian and living a monkish life, but when you're meditating for days at a time you get to some pretty far-out places. So "If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor" is about the places I reached through meditation – the riches are psychological. When I'm writing, I let this stuff pour out spontaneously. If I start thinking about it too much, I usually bugger it up. The lyrics about empathy with the sick and mentally ill were probably my way of wanting to be a beacon for other people in the way Smith and Lessing were for me. The line "Those who find themselves ridiculous, sit down next to me …" somehow stops the song being pompous." |
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| M83 – Teen Angst Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I don't know where everyone is getting these theories for the last couple of lines. It could be 'I hear the planet crying' could be right as M83 are French and tend to pronouce their 'the's as 'ze's. But to me it seems that they're singing 'I hear somebody crying'. It certainly makes a lot more sense than 'Hate is a kinda crazy world' or whatever. As for the 'keep out' part... anyone's guess :P Just my thoughts. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Colleen Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| ^ Me too! Annelise, come back! | |
| Amanda Palmer – Oasis Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Any idea why Britpop is referenced so heavily in this song? I mean, Blur and Oasis aren't around any more and at the time they were, wasn't Amanda living in America? It's just one of many British references on the album, like Leeds United, or "waiting at Sainsbury's counting my change" and I sometimes think Blake has references to William Blake. I love it, being English myself, but I'm interested to know why... |
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| Amanda Palmer – Strength Through Music Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think the sound clip at the start is a metaphor for the shooter. The narrator sees some broken twigs and connects dots that aren't there, making the large leap that he is destined to make gold from sulphur and iron. The shooter is someone who sat all day on his computer, thinking he was seeing the world, but really just seeing the internet. We all know how people can act on the internet, the world could seem like an inhospitable place, and because no one ever reached out to the guy why shouldn't he come to that conclusion? Like the narrator in the sound clip at the start he connects dots that aren't there, but it's not entirely his fault, society is to blame as well. |
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| The Knife – Girls' Night Out Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Reminds me of a night out on ecstasy/speed. They feel 'chosen' and aim 'for high speed'. Gets me in a dancing mood too- also driving fast to this... OMG. |
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| The Knife – Neverland Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| That said I actually think that naeroqah is right about the meaning of this song :P | |
| The Knife – Neverland Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"dude doesnt deserve a song" I disagree, Michael Jackson may or may not have done something bad (after all the courts say he was innocent, it's only really the tabloid press who villify him), but you can't ignore that one of the greatest entertainers of modern times is now a washout. How does that happen? For the collective conciousness of society to suddenly flick from hot to cold like that? It's DEFINITELY something worth examining in a song. What's art about if not questioning important things like that? I hope this song IS about Michael Jackson. |
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| The Knife – She's Having a Baby Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think of a mother, a father and their daughter sitting down to talk, and the mother saying the title of the song "She's having a baby". So now the father feels left out, because the mother knew, and it's like they left him out because they thought he would be angry, but he wouldn't've been, and now he's just sad :( | |
| The Knife – The Cop Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To me it's about how abusive of their power cops are. And they are. In this country (England) at least, they are a pack of racist, homophobic bullies who can legally exercise their bigotry. Plus they're all thick as shit and make split second decisions (like shooting people who are running) without considering possibilities because they have some kind of fantasy about being in a movie. |
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| The Knife – One for You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think it's about telling someone who is grieving about a death that there is no heaven "something above the mountains" and that people just say that to make death easier. The last verse is tricky "and still you refuse to see/why everything has to stay ugly" maybe he/she still believes in the afterlife regardless? |
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| The Knife – Pass This On Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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"just the general feeling of wanting to consult a friend with something that is quite absurd" EXACTLY! The Knife are so amazing at passing on an atmosphere and tapping into your feelings directly, it's not always about the words. I always like to think someone told the girl from The Knife that they liked HER brother (isn't he the guy from The Knife?) and the song IS her passing it on :) |
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| The Knife – A Lung Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| pearandgreen has got it spot on in my opinion. I also love it deeply. It's like a person out of step with everyone else. I can relate strongly to that feeling. Finding someone who needs that difference is very special. | |
| The Knife – Still Light Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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People are missing the obvious about the time frames here- The doctor came in the MORNING, but the patient is asking if it is STILL light outside. It seems to me that this patient has been in a coma for a VERY long time but doesn't realise it, and so is very out of the loop on how light it should be. Compounded by the fact that they ask "where is everybody?". People can't hang around a hospital bed for years. I always think the start of the song almost sounds like somebody waking up aswell, you know that feeling when you've been asleep and you slowly start to surface conciousness. I also think it's about a suicide attempt, but it could equally be about some kind of other nervous breakdown brought about by stress. Love the idea of the long scandinavian days and nights aswell. |
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| The Knife – Forest Families Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To me this song is highlighting the differences between growing up in the country and the city while focussing on themes of feminism, liberalism and change. I think it's a story where the narrator is singing about her childhood through which she felt misplaced and alone in a right-wing, country dwelling family (hence the title). She's left the country and family now and lives in the city. Ok so first of all you have this "TOO far away from the city". That makes it sound bad, too backward, too isolated. Then in the first verse "They said we have a communist in the family/I had to wear a mask". She has to hide the fact that she's liberal. You know how right-wing people often label left-wing people as communist? She has to suppress her liberality for fear of her family finding out. Also in the first verse you're told that she doesn't live there anymore "Some kids left on their own". Next verse, obvious feminist ideas coming through. The men in the family all have jobs, specifically jobs traditionally considered as 'manly' jobs, the women seem to the narrator to be fussing about the house "What the mothers did I didn't know". That line is echoed in a later verse when "The mothers walked towards the forest". More on that in a bit :P Then the chorus, to me the chorus is a flick back to the present. In between her retelling of the story she seeks to find comfort in what is new, she wants the music played by what is perhaps a lover? Perhaps the city? Perhaps they're both the same thing? The first two lines of the next verse I take to be about the narrator's mother. The first two lines I imagine to be about her having sex, her daughter sees her and she is laughing while she does it, maybe this is a point about the debasing of women, but something tells me The Knife isn't quite as radical as that. Either way she views an act considered by much (too much!) of society to be dirty, but this person turns around and says that SHE is the one who is dirty for reading books, and for being an intelligent woman. Maybe she is trying to make the point that in order for men to like you and have sex with you, "You should not show you can read". Next verse, maybe just illustrating how far away the city seemed. "Green-tones hide the blush", not sure about that line. Maybe green tone to cover up her happiness at certain things, part of her mask? Green-tones because green is the colour of illness on a face but also a colour associated with nature/the country. In the last verse, the country is portrayed as something good. I think this verse might be telling us WHY the mothers did that to themselves. They wanted clean air, a safe oasis so they walked towards the forest not realising quite how malicious the forest and country ways of life can be. This is obviously all just interpretation, different things fit for different people. This fits for me because I can very much relate to the narrator's point of view... |
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| The Knife – You Make Me Like Charity Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think eva, wake up has hit the nail on the head. It seems that the song is about that weird feeling that I know I have, whereby my country has participated in an unjust and terrible war and I haven't really felt it. Logically I know that it's horrific and thousands have died wrongly, but I don't really have the emotions to back it up. I don't cry myself to sleep over Iraqi civilians... but I should. The singer has a sudden moment when s/he sees the war, or maybe the country, as a rape victim, finally wakes up, and heads off to actually DO something about it instead of saying how terrible it all is and how something should be done. |
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| Grandaddy – Underneath The Weeping Willow Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I love this song! To me it's about someone who needs some time out to sit and wallow in their misery. You know when you just want time to sit and cry and not think about anything else? He's surrounding himself with a kind of shield of tears, using the metaphor of a weeping willow. Then after a while, it'll heal him and he'll feel like he can move on. |
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| Grandaddy – Chartsengrafs Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Lol, when someone said about doing drugs it made me think of Belladonna (deadly nightshade). When you ingest it in the right quantity, it produces some fairly trippy effects. I'm sure it's not the original intention of the song, but the whole thing sounds like a Belladonna trip. First we hear him tramping through woodland (where he found the Belladonna?) and he says 'birds come, then they go'. This is pretty interesting as one of the things that is common at the start of a belladonna trip is that things pop in and out of existence. It's as if once you stop paying attention to something, it will just disappear. And if you want to talk someone, hey presto! A person will be conjured for your amusement. Then it like just before the real stuff begins, he has a bit of a moment of reflection about his life and how he finally is letting go, then as he sings 'my mind' he starts really feeling it until you're left with that wicked synth when he's tripping his balls off if you'll pardon my french :) Like I said, probably not the original meaning of the song, but it works well and it made me laugh :D |
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| Grandaddy – A.M. 180 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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When I hear this song it makes me think of two people who have found eachother but at the wrong time in their lives. He opens by asking her to not stray to far ("don't change your name") so that he is able to find her again when "something good happens" i.e. when he is in a better place to hold a relationship with her. The rest of the song sings about their future relationship, how they'll be the greatest couple ever, but only when (s)he's worked through whatever is going on. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Three Little Babes Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Well I remember studying an old (like really old, based on Scottish folklore maybe) poem for A-Level that was basically this exact story but I can't remember what it was called or who it was by and it's driving me completely mad. The story is that the three children were sent away and the woman became a widow. Later the children died, but returned to the woman as ghosts. She prepares them a feast and makes them a bed not realising they are dead, ... and I can't remember what happens then. There is something about the sons telling her about heaven maybe? Telling her that she isn't long for the world and will soon join them in death? I can't remember. Please, if anyone knows the name of the poem or story it's based on, post a link or something! Gah... |
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| Joanna Newsom – Only Skin Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Wow- I mean this song is like the grandmother of all of Newsom's songs. I don't feel I could possibly interpret all the meanings and symbolism within the lyrics, not just because they're so dense, but also because I think some are extremely personal to JN's own life. Would I would point out that wasn't mentioned in Annelise's excellent analysis, is the shift in the melody and format of the song starting with the verse about bones. The lyrics become a dialogue between a man and a woman, and on Ys the man's parts are sung by both Newsom and a man. It almost even sounds like rockaby baby, particulary, "well when the bough breaks, what'll you make for me? a little willow cabin to rest on your knee what'll I do with a trinket such as this? think of your woman, who's gone to the west" that makes me think there's something maternal about the song? especially since she keeps calling then man 'son'. Like I said, the imagery and meaning is extremely dense and I don't think anyone except Newsom herself could properly pick apart the song and extract its intended message. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Colleen Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Argh this song is so frustrating because it's one of my favourite Newsom songs, but it's so hard to work out exactly what it's about. So there's obviously these two opposed lives at work, that in which the narrator is some kind of sea creature, linked intricately with nature and that in which she is one who lives among humans living by their constructs. I think this song is about the calls of nature, perhaps on mothers, but also more broadly applied to humans in general. The lyrics seem to say that you cannot tame natural spirits, or the instincts given to us by them. When 'Colleen' is first 'run-aground' we hear her story as she was told it by other peoples that she had encountered. Therefore in the first few verses the sea is powerful and violent, threatening and dangerous as this is what the sea represents to them. Colleen doesn't remember it being violent however, as she has forgotten everything by this point. Next, the people take her in and give her a name, say she is 'blessed' for having forgotten. This is a recurring theme in a lot of art, that those who have no memory are innocent and pure, like a baby who has no memory of sin etc. An example of this is Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope- the basis for the film Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind. I agree with above posters that the name Colleen is significant for being the gaelic for girl, I didn't know that before I read it here. This whole verse deals with societal construct and artificial imposition. By naming her, they're labelling her and taming her wildness. Next, Colleen tries to grow things; this is where the theme of reproduction is first introduced. She can't do it because she works under different rules, the rules of the wild, the rules of the sea. She tells us her frustration in that amazing verse about the missing stair- God I love it :) Then, it's as if we're told the reason for her failiure, the sea is not threatening at all but something like a child. In the dream Colleen dives for the child with a 'wildness' and her frustration is relieved in satisfaction. I think this represents the natural instincts of motherhood and how they should be preferred over the artificial treatment of a child such as the administering of 'bitter herbs'. In the new dream, however, it seems like a whale (gray and sloping-shouldered thing) has found her wearing its baleen. The whale is dismayed that Colleen has forgotton the ways of the sea and used the natural baleen as a item of clothing- a symbol of civilisation. The travellers from the sea seem to know who colleen is. Perhaps this is because they have a stronger connection with nature than the townspeople. When Colleen sees the whale in the book she recognises it from her dream. The second name of the story is given: 'He-Who-Easily-Can-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky'. This is significant. This name is far less of an arficial construct than Colleen- it reads more like a description. In fact it describes one who is at one with nature (easily curves against the sky). This non-name goes back to an ancient tradition in which the true names of spirits in nature were not known to or spoken by human beings as the power that the name held was too strong. Instead names were descriptions of natural artifacts. This could be why the traveller refuses to speak Colleen's real name as she is in fact a part of nature. This all seems to have a profound affect on Colleen. Perhaps it's echoing the Madeleine incident in Proust's 'À la recherche du temps perdu'. In the novel, the Madeleine sparks an involuntary memory and the sensation is described as 'awakening'. This seems very similar with what has happened to Colleen, she looks 'perturbed' because she is remembering her true self reinforced by the traveller saying that she 'ain't forgotten everything'. She is told that the peace she has found is more like a 'dread disease'. It's a complacenct regime that Colleen, who is wild at heart cannot live under, which is why she cannot grow plants or make sense of the world around her. Colleen finally realises this when she kind of angrily sings 'I don't know any goddamned Colleen'. And so she returns to the sea where she is wild again. She is no longer self-aware now, merely sentient, like an animal, or somebody who is in a dream. Memory and societal norm is now unimportant to her and she has 'never felt so free'. She forgets 'Colleen' and simply exists under the water. As a final observation, though this may be completely off, does it seems to anyone else like there are massive parallels between this tale and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson? I mean there are far more differences than similarities, but it seems as if the story wasn't far from Newsom's mind when she wrote Colleen. Anyway, though it's kind of fumbled, that's my interpretation of this song. |
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| Joanna Newsom – Colleen Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Argh this song is so frustrating because it's one of my favourite Newsom songs, but it's so hard to work out exactly what it's about. So there's obviously these two opposed lives at work, that in which the narrator is some kind of sea creature, linked intricately with nature and that in which she is one who lives among humans living by their constructs. I think this song is about the calls of nature, perhaps on mothers, but also more broadly applied to humans in general. The lyrics seem to say that you cannot tame natural spirits, or the instincts given to us by them. When 'Colleen' is first 'run-aground' we hear her story as she was told it by other peoples that she had encountered. Therefore in the first few verses the sea is powerful and violent, threatening and dangerous as this is what the sea represents to them. Colleen doesn't remember it being violent however, as she has forgotten everything by this point. Next, the people take her in and give her a name, say she is 'blessed' for having forgotten. This is a recurring theme in a lot of art, that those who have no memory are innocent and pure, like a baby who has no memory of sin etc. An example of this is Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope- the basis for the film Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind. I agree with above posters that the name Colleen is significant for being the gaelic for girl, I didn't know that before I read it here. This whole verse deals with societal construct and artificial imposition. By naming her, they're labelling her and taming her wildness. Next, Colleen tries to grow things; this is where the theme of reproduction is first introduced. She can't do it because she works under different rules, the rules of the wild, the rules of the sea. She tells us her frustration in that amazing verse about the missing stair- God I love it :) Then, it's as if we're told the reason for her failiure, the sea is not threatening at all but something like a child. In the dream Colleen dives for the child with a 'wildness' and her frustration is relieved in satisfaction. I think this represents the natural instincts of motherhood and how they should be preferred over the artificial treatment of a child such as the administering of 'bitter herbs'. In the new dream, however, it seems like a whale (gray and sloping-shouldered thing) has found her wearing its baleen. The whale is dismayed that Colleen has forgotton the ways of the sea and used the natural baleen as a item of clothing- a symbol of civilisation. The travellers from the sea seem to know who colleen is. Perhaps this is because they have a stronger connection with nature than the townspeople. When Colleen sees the whale in the book she recognises it from her dream. The second name of the story is given: 'He-Who-Easily-Can-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky'. This is significant. This name is far less of an arficial construct than Colleen- it reads more like a description. In fact it describes one who is at one with nature (easily curves against the sky). This non-name goes back to an ancient tradition in which the true names of spirits in nature were not known to or spoken by human beings as the power that the name held was too strong. Instead names were descriptions of natural artifacts. This could be why the traveller refuses to speak Colleen's real name as she is in fact a part of nature. This all seems to have a profound affect on Colleen. Perhaps it's echoing the Madeleine incident in Proust's 'À la recherche du temps perdu'. In the novel, the Madeleine sparks an involuntary memory and the sensation is described as 'awakening'. This seems very similar with what has happened to Colleen, she looks 'perturbed' because she is remembering her true self reinforced by the traveller saying that she 'ain't forgotten everything'. She is told that the peace she has found is more like a 'dread disease'. It's a complacenct regime that Colleen, who is wild at heart cannot live under, which is why she cannot grow plants or make sense of the world around her. Colleen finally realises this when she kind of angrily sings 'I don't know any goddamned Colleen'. And so she returns to the sea where she is wild again. She is no longer self-aware now, merely sentient, like an animal, or somebody who is in a dream. Memory and societal norm is now unimportant to her and she has 'never felt so free'. She forgets 'Colleen' and simply exists under the water. As a final observation, though this may be completely off, does it seems to anyone else like there are massive parallels between this tale and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson? I mean there are far more differences than similarities, but it seems as if the story wasn't far from Newsom's mind when she wrote Colleen. Anyway, though it's kind of fumbled, that's my interpretation of this song. |
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| Joanna Newsom – En Gallop Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This is one of my favourite Joanna Newsom songs. For me the meaning seems clear- it's about growing out of university and graduation, realising that post-student life is very different from what was expected. So. Verse by verse: "This place is damp and ghostly I am already gone And the halls were lined with the disembodied And dustly wings, which fell from flesh Gasplessly" It seems this takes place soon after graduation, perhaps it even details graduation itself. We move quickly from present tense to past tense. I think the wings represent the aspirations of the students living in the halls, and how those aspirations die away without ceremony (gasplessly) after graduation. The tone of the verse is one of sombre melancholy, with death-like imagery and sad reflection- that's what makes me think this person is somewhat relieved to be leaving, like they've grown up and they think they're ready for the next step. "And I go where the trees go And I walk from a higher education For now and for hire" Now the song takes on a more upbeat sound, it's a bit faster and more powerful, the imagery is of life, trees, walking from higher education, from the misery of the first verse. She is for hire, ready and expecting to find a job and make something of herself. "And it beats me, but I do not know It beats me but I do not know I do not know" Now she realises that in actual fact, while she thought she was so educated in the ways of the world, she actually knows very little, and it's annoying (it beats me but I do not know). After throwing everything she had into university, she is left fairly ignorant of real life. "Palaces and storm clouds The rough, straggly sage And the smoke And the way it will all come together In quietness and in time" Ok, so unable to cope with the all too real situation she finds herself in, she retreats to the fantasy of real life. The first three line of this verse are like something out of a fairytale, juxtaposed immediately with the belief that things will somehow all just work out, in the last two lines. A pretty common belief for those studying the arts at uni (as Newsom did). "And you laws of property Oh, you free economy And you unending afterthoughts You could've told me before" Now she's angry at the reality, unable to sustain her fantasy of how she thought things would turn out, she gets annoyed at the pressures of everyday life, getting onto the housing ladder, earning enough money just to pay the bills, she wishes she'd known more about these pressures when she was still an undergrad. The unending afterthoughts could be the debts she owes to pay for her time at university. I prefer the Walnut Whales version of this when she kind of shrilly shouts bitch! at the start of the first three lines :) "Never get so attached to a poem You forget truth that lacks lyricism Never draw so close to the heat That you forget that you must eat, oh..." Ok so my favourite part of this song, it's like she is stepping outside of herself and her situation to give a word of advice to the listener. Don't get so involved with your studies (which ultimately will prove useless), that you forget that at the end you will have a ton of debt and bills to pay. Do something useful and learn about the real world before delving into complex imagery and metaphor. I could probably learn a thing or two from this song :P |
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| Regina Spektor – December Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Personally I think it's about divorce. I especially love the 'evacuate this house' part, when she sounds like a 1940s cockney. The wartime imagery kind of goes with her warzone of a family. It sounds like her and her kids standing defiant and refusing to leave the house, he's the one who'll have to leave :) Regina Spektor has this amazing ability to make her voice elastic, do you know what I mean? |
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| Regina Spektor – Carbon Monoxide Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I don't think this is about suicide, though it superficially seems that way. I think it's about someone who never falls in love properly, then through the course of the song they do and it's more than they can bear. First we hear how this person can't hold down a relationship very well: "If I don’t got my socks on right They slide right off off my feet" She can't keep it together because she's never really in love. But, suddenly a lover comes along and she understands what it means to be in love, but the emotion is too strong for her: "The first time I get my socks on right But I don’t have a gas mask on" It's like she just drops out of everyone's radar, spending all day in bed with her lover with no way to protect herself from the feeling he gives her. She uses the metaphor of suicide, the love being the carbon monoxide. "They’ll just say we’re living our whole life in bed" They wouldn't say that if the pair were ACTually dead... She sings to her lover because they may aswell be dead. Just as carbon monoxide is a way people choose to end their loves, so this person has chosen to effectively 'end their life' with obssessive love. The come on daddy makes me think of someone sitting in a cloud of carbon monoxide, trying to commit suicide and kind of trying to hurry it up a bit by saying 'come on, come on'. lloydre, I LOVE your Sylvia Plath interpretation by the way :) |
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| Neutral Milk Hotel – Two-Headed Boy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think the two-headed boy in reference in this song is Anne Frank herself. Here's my justification. 'All floating in glass', Anne lived much of her life within the confines of her hidden room, the only link to the outside world was her diary, but it is only read retroactively. Through her diary, Anne taps on the glass of her isolated existence, and Jeff, in reading the diary, and trying to identify with the girl protrayed through its words, 'listens to here where [she is]'. 'The sun it has passed now it's blacker than black' refers to the sun of her youth, gone are the days of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", Anne, by now, is now trapped in the nightmare of the room in which she would live out the rest of her life. Essentially I think this song deals with her death. The repeating stanza: "We will take off our clothes And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine And when all is breaking Everything that you could keep aside Now your eyes ain't moving now They just lay there in their climb" Sounds an awful lot like a Nazi raid, probing the most intimate parts of the victims, their homes, their bodies. It is disturbingly personal. 'When all is breaking everything that you could keep aside', this is the Nazis destroying the only piece of life that the Frank family had left, kept in that room. Towards the end of this stanza, Anne is gassed in a concentration camp, her eyes frozen in their 'climb'. Kind of grizzly. My favourite lines are the ones about a radio created by the two-headed boy. The radio would've been important to Anne, her source of news in the outside world. But each day would bring bad news about the war leaving her 'choking with her hands across her face'. However, in keeping with the duality of the 'two-headed boy', Frank creates her own radio 'And through the music he sweetly displays, Silver speakers that sparkle all day'. This is her diary, sending news back into the world. The two radios are somehow merged into one. For this to make sense, you have to know Anne Frank's diary. She often alluded to the two separate halves that made her her. She was fascinated by the notion of duality. At one point she falls in love with two boys of the same and wishes they would merge into one, because it is that one merged boy that she feels she is truly in love with. Finally, in the last stanza there is some consolation. Though Frank is dead, there is something almost spiritual in the words Jeff sings. 'The world that you need is wrapped in gold silver sleeves, Left beneath Christmas trees in the snow'- we get the impression that Anne has somehow found peace, and we are told by the last words of the song that 'all you did will wait until the point when you let go'. A clear reference to Anne's diary, exposing her life to the world that she so wanted to be a part of. Now she is. This is one of my favourite songs of all time, and I love some of the interpretations that people are putting up. :) |
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| Sia – Breathe Me Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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There seem to be all these 'theories' about what this song could mean, for me, this song is about all of those things. I think at it's core, the song is just about having a breakdown. We've all been there; at least I know I have. When you fuck up your life somehow, and you have to turn to others for support. She's right, the worst part is there's no one else to blame. You feel guilty, and shitty, because you have to blame yourself, and you're forcing your problems onto someone else, but you know that the alternative, of being alone, is so much worse. This song makes me think of a girl lying on her bed in the foetal position, wishing there was someone there to help her through her thoughts, it's scary to think that we're alone. I love how the first word of the song is "help.". In terms of what breathe me means, I think it's that feeling of just wanting to be absorbed by someone, so that you can take a backseat for a while while they sort out your issues. It's needy, but we can't help feeling needy sometimes. I love the lines "Hold me, wrap me up/Unfold me", like she just wants someone to be there, manipulating her, making her feel like she can rest herself for a little while, letting this person take control. Someone said in a previous comment that they cringe when her voice breaks. Imo, that's the best part of the song- it gives me goosebumps. Sia sounds like she really means what she's singing, and this song vocalises exactly how I've felt in the past. Beautiful, perfect, and so so true. One of my favourite sia songs. |
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| Regina Spektor – Samson Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think this song is about a woman who loved Samson before Delilah (I loved you first), who cut is hair not because she was accepting bribes, but because he wanted to be vunerable with her. I think the line 'the history books forgot about us, the bible didn't mention us' supports that, because obviously, Samson and Delilah are in the bible. Together, they couldn't destroy the Philestines (we couldn't break the columns down), but what they had was more important than what Samson had with Delilah. The narrator seems to be reflecting on her sadness that that isn't how it played out as they became history. |
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| Regina Spektor – Chemo Limo Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Ok, Everybody seems to be saying that she has cancer in this, but I don't think she does. I think she only dreams that she has cancer. When she wakes up she remembers how the dream made her feel, like she didn't want to spend all her money on chemo, thousands of pounds spent on prolonging a life that is made unbearable by the very thing that's saving it. She wanted to spend it on good memories with her kids, so she orders a ride in a limo. Interesting how the driver is referred to as the doctor. Like the two experiences are equivalent. My favourite part in this is the way she compares Barbara to her mum, it kind of puts her in the position of being a child again, only now she has to worry about her future and the future of her own kids. |
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| The Enemy – You're Not Alone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Hey just to shed some light on that job thing- I live in Coventry where The Enemy are from, there was a major job layoff here from a car manufacture fairly recently. Coventry isn't the happiest of towns at the best of times and there was (and still is) a bleak feeling hanging round here ever since. I think this song is their reaction to the big companies who are outsourcing all their work and creating huge pockets of unemployment around the country. The lines in the streets are most likely the dole queues. | |
| The Decemberists – Leslie Ann Levine Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Is it possible that the unborn child could have survived the fall of the mother in WBGDT? If so, that would make the most sense, the fall of the mother triggering a premature birth, after landing in a dry ravine. The baby could only survive for 3 hours without any kind of attention. | |
| R.E.M. – The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I like the idea that the sidewinder might be the telephone cord. I think the narrator has just moved out, away from his girfriend and is ringing another friend to give him instructions on how to handle his departure. They have to call the payphone when she wakes up and realises he's gone. "There are scratches all around the coin slot like a heartbeat, baby trying to wake up," The scratches are like the desperation of someone as they've tried to force money into the slot in order to wake the sidewinder up, and use the time to call someone they love. I love the verse about how the narrator needs something more substantial, then lists objects of complete emptyness and notorious unsubstantially. There's a lot going on in this song, and honestly I can't work out even half of it, but I love the lyrics and it's a classic record all the same. |
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| Bush – Machinehead Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The meaning of this song seems pretty obvious to me, I don't think it's about a car wreck at all, and I can't believe this isn't the majority interpretation: The narrator is someone who just met someone he is interested in and suddenly realises that the best years of his life are over, and he has wasted them, let them pass him by (deaf, dumb, thirty), without ever feeling what he's feeling now. The Machinehead lyrics is like a metaphor for his emotionless existence up to that point, just breathing in and out, existing, but not really alive (unconcious all the time). He's been spinning on a wheel, but has now met someone that forced him to slide to the right (i.e. off of the wheel), feeling them like electric light. This sudden flux in emotions is like a late rebellion to his former life (for our rise against the years and years and years), he walks from his machine. It's clear he regrets not meeting this person sooner from the last two lines: if I had it all again, I'd change it all. What does everyone else think? |
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| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think this song is about a kid who all his life wants to leave home and get away from his family, who drive him mad- and vice versa. As soon as he gets the money together he leaves. He "tore our images out of his pictures" and "He scratched our names out of all his letters". However he fucks up. He doesn't succeed in the world and comes crawling back to his family. "If you want something, don't ask for nothing If you want nothing, don't ask for something" However, his family reject him, remembering all the hurt he caused them, remembering how he sucked away their lives, like a vampire, and now he's going to have to pay. |
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