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| Bob Dylan – Like a Rolling Stone Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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The greatest pop song ever written. I have no describable interpretation of the infinitely deep, obscure, puzzling, powerful, inspired, mystifying, impenetrable, multi-textured lyrics. Only awe. And a desire to listen to them over and over again. |
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| Tom Waits – Way Down in the Hole Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I didn't really appreciate how great this song was until I started watching the Wire. After seeing all 5 seasons I can say that this is the perfect title song for that brilliant series. And all of the cover versions were interesting, but I think the best version was The Blind Boys from season 1. |
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| Carly Simon – You're So Vain Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think David Geffen could be one the composite males that make up the subject of this song (His middle name has an "r" in it. The biggest clue for me is the "clouds in my coffe" line. I think "clouds" refers to Joni Mitchell's 1970 album of the same. Both Mitchell and Carly were under contract with Geffen's Asylum label, and Carly was jealous of the attention Geffen was lavishing on Joni and her recordings, presumably at the expense of Carly's work which hadn't yet broken into the mainstream. The two ladies were rivals and since Joni broke out first I could see Carly being somewhat envious at that point in her career. And if there was a man involved in all this, multiply the tension by 100X. Just my theory. |
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| Elvis Costello – Beyond Belief Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Possibly the most complex, multi-layered and damn clever wordplay in pop music history. As someone said upthread these lyrics are worthy of T.S. Eliot. Perhaps this could be called the "The Wasted Land". However much as Costello is applauded these days he is still underrated (except maybe by Colbert who truly seems to appreciated the guy.) |
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| The Magnetic Fields – The Book of Love Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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One of the simplest, yet most beautiful and touching songs about love ever written. Stephen Merritt is an absolute genius and the fact that he wrote 68 other songs about love in a single release without wasting a word or a note is testament to his brilliance. This is definitely the signature song on that masterpiece as it kind of sums up the entire theme. Although the song (and the 69 songs album) is ostensibly supposed to be a commentary about the expression of love through music rather than love itself, the singer/narrator does laps into the feeling of love itself in the second verse. This is what makes the song both ironic and incredibly touching. The cynical, cerebral narrator himself cannot elude love's irrational grip.
The song is a natural for being covered and it really doesn't bother when other artists attempt their own version of it. However, I think most attempts are doomed to fail because they can't approach the stark simplicity and authenticity of the original without just copying it completely which would be pointless. Peter Gabriel's version is remarkably uninspired because his style (lush compositions) doesn't suit the irony implicit in the songs lyrics, and his musical vision is so different than Stephen Merritt's.
I would have loved to have heard Jeff Buckley cover this song (sadly that can't happen) or someone with an equally supple and expressive sound. Somebody upthread mention Leonard Cohen and and there really is a similar style and approach. (I wonder if and how much SM was influenced by Cohen). |
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| Björk – Unravel Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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One of the most beautiful and emotive songs ever written. I think it really defies analysis and needs to be felt more than anything. |
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| Boards of Canada – Dayvan Cowboy Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I wish this song had lyrics so I could go on at length about how much I love it. The video with the high altitude skydiver is amazing and conjures up more words than a bob dylan album. |
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| XTC – Real by Reel Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Just rediscovered this song after not hearing it for at least 20 years. It sounds even better now and it's lyrics have lost none of their bite. Andy Partridge = genius. |
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| Jane Siberry – Calling All Angels Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Definitely one of the most beautiful female singer/songwriter songs to have appeared in the past...18 years? Wow, time flies. This track first appeared in Wim Wenders movie, "Until the End of the World" way back in 1991 and I was struck by it's haunting, delicate beauty. Since then it's popped up sporadically in various media, including "Six Feet Under" and "Pay it Forward." Despite this it's never quite penetrated the mainstream, probably due to its serene, almost glacial pace. The lyrics themselves are pretty straightforward--life is beautiful and painful in roughly equal doses and one must endure the latter in order to fully cherish the former. Is it worth the price? Does any of it have meaning? No one knows. |
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| The Beatles – Abbey Road Medley Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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It's entirely correct to consider this medley to be one song: it's like the Beatles' precursor to Supper's Ready and various Pink Floyd tracks of epic duration. Lyrically it's not quite as well structured as Supper's Ready but it's all tied together quite neatly by "The End".
Personally I think it's a shame that Her Majesty even exists as it trivializes what should have been the greatest career closing moment of all time. Oh well, that's Paul for you, always having to get in one last dig in at the expense of the others. |
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| Tom Waits – Table Top Joe Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Wow, I had no idea this was based on a true story. I think Johnny Eck may have been one of the freaks in "Freaks". Tom Waits never ceases to fascinate. Having only heard this recently for the first time it has quickly become one of my TW favourites. |
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| Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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My favourite Radiohead song and 2nd favourite song of all time (Like a Rolling Stone has the top honour). Lyrically I think this is Thom Yorke's strongest effort. Sometimes during live performances he introduces this song as being about Canary Wharf--a large commercial development near central London that contains a number of Britain's tallest buildings. If anything it's known for it's sterility and generally banal corporate architecture that could be located anywhere.
Now, Yorke is notoriously cryptic and sarcastic when discussing anything about his craft but it's quite possible he derived inspiration from the many fake gardens and trees that dot the underground shopping labyrinths of Canary Wharf. Or it could mean a million other things taken from his complex imagination. The classic line "Gravity always wins" could apply equally to the futile battle women wage to keep their breasts perky and upright despite their advancing years, and the fact that those imposing office towers will one day be reduced to rubble. The general sense of this song is that the faith and hope we put into technology to fulfill our growing needs and achieve a sense of self worth is emotionally and spiritually exhausting and doomed to failure. |
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| Radiohead – Just Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Great song and probably the greatest music video ever made. I think the guy at the end says something to the effect of, "why do you people keep working and pretending to have busy, important lives when you're all going to be dead in a few years." Thom Yorke sings frequently about death and that's about the only thing "so tragic" as the video director claims, that would make everyone lie down and stop what they're doing. I mean, what is ultimately more depressing than one's imminent, inevitable death? The death theme also ties in with the suicide imagery of the 15th floor and the overall "stink" of depression that still clings to the song's narrator after being in the company of his gloomy, self-absorbed friend. |
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| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I think of this as the last act of Thom Yorke's "Death Trilogy": Street Spirit (Fade Out); Motion Picture Soundtrack; Videotape. Play these three songs in a row and you will experience the incredible emotional weight of dying, or at the least, the sad, devastating, irrevocable fact of what awaits us all. There is no other artist, in any medium--except maybe Bergamn and Tarkovsky in film--who has captured the inevitable fact of one's mortality as stunningly as Yorke has. Depressing, but spiritually moving. |
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| Radiohead – Lurgee Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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An absolutely gorgeous song and one of their most neglected and underrated. The lyrics are deceptively simple and can't really be understood without listening to the Thom York's delivery. Though filled with self-affirming sentiments and claims of being "over-it" the tone of the lyrics couldn't be more filled with the sorrow and longing of unmended heartache. He knows he will be over it, someday, but that day hasn't come yet. |
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| Laurie Anderson – Sharkey's Day Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This is such a complex, beautiful and mysterious song that it's sometimes hard to pin down what the lyrics are about, aside from the fact it focuses on a character named Sharkey. But it's never clearly explained who he is and what the circumstances are. There are many images and references that infer that he may be God (All of nature talks to me...nobody knows my name...I turn around it's love...) Or he could just be the derelict, mentally declining owner of a grocery store with a massive ego and delusions of grandeur. The song has many references to nature, life, evolution, as well technology, capitalism and the state of America. If Sharkey is God he has certainly lost control of his creation and is helplessly/cluelessly watching it lurch towards the abyss. If he's a grocery store owner, he's late for work, passed out on his sofa watching nature films, as his earthly responsiblities drift away from his awareness and control. It's also possible that this song may be about Ronald Reagan who was president when the song was released--but that's just my personal theory.
Whatever the interpretation the song is a masterpiece and deserves much more recognition. |
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| The Church – Under The Milky Way Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Along with being a great film, Donnie Darko deserves praise for reintroducing this beautiful, majestic song to the world. Anyway, for me, it's not really the lyrics that stand out but, rather, the overall mood created by the lush, multi-textured sound which climaxes and becomes truly transcendent during the dizzying bagpipe solo. Aural candy-floss doesn't get any better than this. |
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| Joy Division – The Eternal Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song just digs down into the deepest, most dank and dark recesses of tortured, unyielding depression. It almost sounds like Ian Curtis is issuing this personal testimony of his inner demons from beyond the grave. I wonder if anything could have saved him at this point. If he had received treatment would his art be compromised? Does art even matter when a person's life is at stake? The tortured artist suffering for his art certainly can be a cliche, but in this case it was never more true. |
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| The Tragically Hip – Nautical Disaster Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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After Wiki-ing "Lancastria" I have to agree with wonderdog's assessment that the titular disaster does indeed refer to the sinking of that doomed troop-ship during WWII. The facts as well as some of the imagery do indeed correspond very nicely with Downie's lyrics.
However, as most people realize, the actual event is a metaphor for a doomed relationship, hitting a reef or being sunk by enemy fire--or whatever relationships do when they're not working out. Personally, I don't think it really matters which tragedy is being alluded to; it's about emotional distress--possibly incurred by the woman in the song--and how it manifests itself into the narrator's sub-conscious. Maybe he had a grandfather who died on the Lancastria and somehow that seeped into his dreamscape. Who knows, dreams rarely make sense. But the song is very powerful, dark and moody. Like a bad relationship in its final throes.
On a final note: the song is definitely NOT about Dieppe. |
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| Bob Dylan – Most of the Time Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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An underrated classic from the master songwriter of the 20th century. The lyrics, tone and vocal delivery are so perfect and self-explanatory that further commentary almost feels unnecessary. It just captures the langour of that final stage of grieving over lost love, just before one is able to throw ones heart in the ring again, |
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| Radiohead – Go Slowly Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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A beautiful song that could mean just about anything that involves emotional stress and a loved one. The first image that came to mind was Thom in the maternity ward waiting for his wife to give birth. But it could be about anything |
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| Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Definately a powerful, moving and haunting ballad about a real tragedy that had no survivors to account for what actually happened. Lightfoot's evocative lyrics and the funereal melody provide a chilling sense of the horror and sheer helplessness of what it must have been like to be on board the vessel for those last fateful minutes. Lake Superior is indeed an intimidating stretch of water that can be downright forbidding when ill weather makes it cranky.
As an aside, Gordon Lightfoot gave all royalties from the song to the surviving families. That has prevented the song from being used more often in pop culture because the 29 families have to approve its' use. |
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| Genesis – Supper's Ready Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I finally decided that this is my favourite song of all time. I had listened to it a few times in the seventies but, being a kid, naturally found it way too complex and difficult. I rediscovered it recently and finally can appreciate its epic, majestic sweep. I believe this is the height of prog-rock and I'm not sure it can ever be improved on, regardless of all the new digital technology at muscians disposal.
The lyrics--as with many of Gabriel's most inspired early Genesis songs (Carpet Crawlers comes immediatley to mind) are highly metaphorical, poetic, mystical, elusive and endlessly open to interpretation. Of course there's lots of Biblical/religious overtones mixed in with human emotions of love, betrayal and redemption. I'm personally not religious but the lyrics and the orchestral compositions always put me into a spiritual trance, especially the last three minutes which are, arguably, the most moving, passionate three minutes in the history of rock. Gabriel's voice is--like his namesake--angelic here, and he has never sounded better. Anyone who has seen this live in it's original form should feel very lucky. |
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| Tom Waits – 9th & Hennepin Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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"til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin..." My favourite line but the whole piece shimmers with endlessly evocative images and states of mind. It's difficult to do the song justice by trying to craft additonal words about it. Either you're hooked by it or you're not. One thing I've always been curious about are Tom Waits' possible Minneapolis connections--he writes about the city a fair bit. Anyone with info on this? |
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| Tom Waits – Frank's Wild Years Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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There's so much meaning contained in this brief, poetic, spoken-word song. Obviously it reads as a stinging rebuke of the American-consumerist dream/nightmare. In this regard it makes a nice bookend to Tom Waits' earlier and much more sarcastic recording, "Step Right Up." One thing I've always wondered is if the character "Frank" is in some way the central persona of the whole "swordfishtrombones-raindogs-frank's wild year's" trilogy, or if he exists purely as metaphor, and thus merely adds another shade of meaning to the various narratives spun throughout the trilogy. |
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| Tom Waits – Step Right Up Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Quite possibly the best laundry list of marketing jargon ever to appear in a pop song. One of my favourites from Tom Waits' "accessible" (pre-swordfishtrombones) period.
Best line:
"Change your shorts, change your life, change your life
Change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy, get rid of your wife."
And, no, this song is NOT about heroin addcition. (Though it does predict Viagra.) |
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