| The Lumineers – Ho Hey Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Upvote because I think you've nailed it. Nicely done, IMO. | |
| Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Lovely folky celtic sound here, but I have to say the words are like notes which fit - not quite as meaning-free a vocalisation as the Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins warblings, but try as I might I can't discern an actual message in here, apart from the meta one which says enjoy the words which flow together. | |
| Peter Gabriel – No Self Control Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| What a great song. Obsession. That's what this is about. That driven, OCD madness. Brrr. | |
| Peter Gabriel – Down the Dolce Vita Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
Love this song. I think it's a sort of Odysseus tale of heroes going to battle. The proper lines are, fdor the last verse: 'Don't fight' said Gorham's smile. All the time his hand was on my shoulder. |
|
| The Stone Roses – Going Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
A live version of this is played at the end of Shane Meadows' awesome film 'A Room For Romeo Brass'. A meeting of two topnesses right there. It's a lovely song about something that isn't lovely. Not with my bird, who sports a cludge like a dropped kebab. |
|
| Electric Light Orchestra – Jungle Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I've always believed that, at the end, the bell that rings is an alarm clock, meaning the whole thing is a dream. There's a nice echo of the chorus after the bell, which is like remembering a fragment of your dream when you wake up. |
|
| Ash Koley – Don't let your feet touch ground Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I think this rather lovely, light, summery song is just about feeling good. That slightly kooky way you don't make perfect sense when you're in a very good mood. It might be about the Vietnam War, though. You never know. |
|
| Mozart – Die Entführung aus dem Serail Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I think this song is about an abduction from a seraglio. My friend Tony thinks it's about fish, but he's confusing it with some other opera tune. That fish-based one by Verdi or Rossini. I dunno. | |
| Mozart – Dies Irae Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
I used to think this was about ricing up your whip. New glasspack muffler, airfilters, maybe even remapping the injection to squeeze some top-end bhp. But I realise now I was wrong. It's about the death - the end of the world. The Day of Wrath when we stand before our maker to be judged mercilessly on our lives and deeds. Where once I heard a parable about lowered suspension and burning and turning whitewalls on the blacktop, now I think it's more relevant to consider the ideas of Joachim of Fiore (1145-1202) who postulated that history could be divided into discrete ages, and that the Age of Spirituality would end in 1260. He called it the Day of Wrath, the Dies Irae. Mozart wrote The Requiem in 1791 as he was literally dying. Never has one man translated his own imminent demise into music so effectively. His death would be the end of his world, but perhaps also, with his famous arrogance, he was saying that his death would affect us all. This was, after all, a man who KNEW what a genius he was. His debauched lifestyle would also cause God's anger and we'd all suffer. Note that it's not just Day of Judgement, but Day of Wrath. God will find Mozart the flawed genius as he finds us all. Wanting. Day of Wrath. But all that aside I also think the song applies to the 2011 Shelby GT500 Mustang. 510 ft/lb of torque? In your Fiat-driving Venetian face, Antonio Salieri. |
|
| Oasis – Fuckin' In The Bushes Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I hear you, BigJonnyH. Think I might go start some trouble right now. | |
| Feeder – Just A Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Love this. Love it love it love it. And I feel a bit bad because it's not about the most positive elements in your life. But if you drink, this is how you feel. | |
| Cocteau Twins – Fotzepolitic Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I agree lovelyritalucy. The best Twins song. The energy it has is astonishing. x | |
| Jónsi – Tornado Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Utterly beautiful. When I first heard this song it took my breath away. I hope the advertising world doesn't grab hold of it to sell us stuff. That always devalues great songs, I reckon. Also, owing to recent events, I now love the line "erupt like volcano". Here in England I've just had days of clear silent blue skies thanks to Iceland's volcano and I've loved every con-trail-free second. |
|
| Mark Knopfler – Border Reiver Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
There's not much I can add to the comments to this great song, apart from to confirm that the "heel-and -toe" does refer to what was called double-declutching - changing gear by briefing letting the cogs spin in neutral in a manual box without a synchromesh. And no, apparently you couldn't adjust the seat in an Albion Reiver! I love the line about "she's not too cold in winter but she cooks me in the heat". I haven't been able to find out if that was something Reivers were known to do - I'd be willing to bet it was. Mr. Knopfler likes to get things like this right. And finally, 'sure as the sunrise' was actually a 1950s and 60s catchphrase/ ad line of Albion's, referring to the rising sun emblem on the front (and of course their reliability). |
|
| Mark Knopfler – Remembrance Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
This is of course about those lost in the First World War. The line "we will remember them" comes from a poem by Laurence Binyon called 'For The Fallen'. The most famous verse is: They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. I think the list of men's names - the village's cricket team is a neat, unmawkish way of showing the absolute devastation this war caused to the male population of villages across Britain. |
|
| Mark Knopfler – Monteleone Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
It IS about making guitars but there's actually a man called John Monteleone who builds the most beautiful guitars from scratch in his workshop in NY state. He started by making mandolins, as mentioned in the lyrics. |
|
| Lou Reed – Romeo Had Juliette Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I love this song. A poem to the dirty, wrecked, beautiful town he adores. And the people in it - the hopeless, the hopeful, the innocent, the violent and the greedy. I like the the idea New York is sinking into the Hudson - like ancient Rome it's too big for its own good. - I think that bit is about Gore Vidal and his book Empire (1987) which compares the empire of Rome to the Empire of America - no offence but power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (And remember it's pre 9/11 so it's about a big town not an icon). But even then within the big town there is personal hope and love. That's the message I get from the song. Amidst the toughness there are real people doing and feeling real, honest things. And her voice was like a bell. |
|
| Mike Oldfield – Moonlight Shadow Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I love the song too, but I can't help chuckling at "4am in the morning". 4am HAS to be in the morning. Otherwise it'd be 4pm. I wish he'd written "4 o'clock in the morning'... But that's a small thing. I do love the song. |
|
| The Magnetic Fields – Fear Of Trains Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Just downloaded this after not hearing it for years. Whew. It's utterly great. And yes, I think it's about one person suffering as an entire tribe (nation, really) suffered from the coming of the 'fat man'. But like others, I'm puzzled by "the straw that broke the camel's back was you' because it seems so personal. Perhaps it just fitted well. His deadpan delivery is a bit like Lou Reed's, and I am so pleased I rediscovered it. |
|
| Laurie Anderson – O Superman (For Massenet) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I love that the rather deep "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is the motto of the US Postal Service. Not being American, I've only just found that out. But I agree 100% with those for whom "here comes the planes" has a chilling edge now. I like this song and I like people who like it as well. |
|
| Feeder – Just A Day Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
The song is, I think, about excess. It's about the cycle you fall into where you overdo the drink-drugs etc. and feel bad and wreck friendships and so on, but then you do it over and over again because it becomes a habit and then an addiction and then a way of life. And all the time a part of you knows you have to stop, but you can't. And the people who stay your friends during this descent are your real friends, and you cling to them. |
|
| Mark Knopfler – Boom, Like That Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
Chuckewe, thank you for the info. The song's great but it's so easy to see the story it tells and nothing more. I never knew about Joan. And thanks to you I;m better for knowing now. Many thanks. And yes. The song's great. Knowing more about it makes it even better. Thanks again. |
|
| Sigur Rós – Hoppípolla Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
Sometimes songs do tap into your soul. It's about being happy, being sad, it's about youth, about age, about whatever you want it to be. It is, though, utterly, utterly beautiful and uplifting. I love the story, which I believe is true, that when Sigur Ros wrote it they referred to it as 'The Money Song' because they knew they'd created something special which would be a commercial hit. That doesn't detract from it - it simply means, for me at least, they knew they'd tapped into our very souls. Thanks, Sigur Ros. |
|
| 10,000 Maniacs – Don't Talk Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I also get the sense that the man, her partner, can be bewitching or entrancingly clever when he's drunk. His flights of fancy, promises etc. are wonderful. But she can't believe him. When he's drunk she can't believe a word he says. | |
| 10,000 Maniacs – Stockton Gala Days Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This song is so vivid it's almost feverish. Utterly brilliant. | |
| Lou Reed – Sword of Damocles Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| It's crystal clear what this is about. There's a tension and fear in it that is so vibrant. A great song about a bad thing. | |
| Peter Gabriel – I Have The Touch Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Flore. Thank you. You have the soul of a poet. |
|
| 10,000 Maniacs – Back O' The Moon Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I don't think I've ever heard such an evocative rendering of childhood. The mixture of fairytale, memory and over-vivid, almost feverish imagery. And no smart looking geese in bonnets dance with pigs in high button trousers no milk pail for the farmer's daughter no merry towns of sweet walled houses means, to me at least, that none of it exists. |
|
| Dire Straits – Single-Handed Sailor Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Yes, I agree with the previous answers, but I also think the the "mother and her baby" is another reference to the big Cutty Sark and the baby Gypsy Moth, right outside the Naval College of War. Incidentally, the Cutty Sark has just been extremely badly damaged by fire, possibly started deliberately. It made me think of this song again, after many years. |
|
| Peter Gabriel – Moribund The Burgermeister Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I always thought that it was about ergot-infected rye. In the middle ages sometimes whole towns' stores of rye got infected with a fungus which caused animals and people to go crazy. It was called St Anthony's Fire, and made them convulse and hallucinate. | |
| Kate Bush – Cloudbusting Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Slightly at a tangent, the video was shot at White Horse Hill near Uffington in Oxfordshire, England. The 3000 year old white horse can be seen a few times. It was the perfect place to film this. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Postcards From Paraguay Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I like the cheery, sunshine-filled tune, in obvious contrast with the lyrics. A lot of MK's songs are based on reality, but this one seems too vague to pin down to any event or person. Might it be something to do with Enron? |
|
| Mark Knopfler – 5.15 A.M. Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I love this song. Gentle and calm, but about tough and dangerous things (both the cut-throat world of the new clubs, and, of course, the mining communities). I never understood what “they gather round the glass” meant so thanks, psychobob for pointing out that the ghosts of the mining people are around the car, presumably to meet a new ghost who’s met a violent, lonely end a little like they have. Oh and the jobs mentioned at the end of the song are: The hewer is the man who actually hacks the coal from the seam. The crutter was the man who cut the passages towards the coal seams, often using explosives. The trappers were (heartbreakingly) young children who operated wooden trap doors to let through the carts. The traps were there to direct the fresh air and ventilate the mine. These children would remain at their posts, in the dust and darkness for up to eighteen hours a day. Putters were the men who loaded and took away the baskets or barrows of coal left by the hewers. Often a boy would be used for his agility and size, but if he wasn’t strong enough to carry the baskets, he’d have an even smaller boy to help. This little lad was known as a foal and the bigger boy was called a half-marrow. Foal here refers to a child not a pit pony. The hod boys took the baskets of coal to the wagons, which would usually be pulled by pit ponies to take the coal out along the passages, or rolley ways. The rolley-way men made sure these passages, which the ponies used, remained clear and free-flowing. Incidentally, black lung is pneumoconiosis, caused, as you’d expect, by inhaling coal dust. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.