| U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Wow, I think a lot of people are way off on this song, though sixedheart comes closest. I have always believed this song to be about Madonna. It's bizarre to me that people could think that's it about Batman(?) or boy bands. Clearly it's about a woman. The erroneous lyrics doesn't help. It's not "Dressing like your sister..." it's "Dressing like A sister..." And it's not "TURNING tricks with a crucifix" it's "And your tongue tricks with your crucifix..." All of this relates to Madonna--especially when you consider the era of this song. Madonna loved to stick a crucifix in her mouth, and I think Bono as a Catholic was always kind of appalled at how she used/demeaned religous icons in her act. That's why he was saying that she was dressing like a sister--a nun--but "looking like a tart." Like others, I also like the line "Don't know what you're doing, babe it must be art." That's a dig on Madonna, too, or so I believe. She has always tried to portray herself as a serious artist, and I think he's saying "You're just a pop singer--accept it." This theme comes up again years later in "Vertigo," where Bono is "asking for the check" (in other words wanting to leave) in a scene where a girl is dancing with "Jesus around her neck." That's more subtle and not necesarily referring to Madonna, but it's another song in which Bono disses someone for sexually "using" a crucifix. |
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| Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think that the phrase "Heaven or Las Vegas" arose in a much earlier Cocteau Twins song. Lawrence, the singer of Felt, told the band how much he loved that phrase, in that it's so ambiguous: Is it saying that Las Vegas is heaven or hell or both? I don't think it was inspired by them going to Las Vegas--at least I've never heard that. Naturally, though, they ended their US tour of that album in Las Vegas. |
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| Elvis Costello – Accidents Will Happen Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Elvis talked about the meaning behind this song on a VH1 Storytellers episode. It's about his first marriage, but he hid the fact when he recorded the song. What he REALLY had in mind with the chorus was a subtly but critically different verse: Accidents will happen, I only hit and run, I used to be your victim: Now you're not the only one. So he was seeing himself as both victim and assailant in the relationship while acknowledging that his wife was not "the only one" for him anymore. |
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| Julian Cope – Reynard The Fox Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is a wild song on what might be Julian's most drug-influenced album. The lyric goes back and forth between the point of view of the fox and a human's point of view, presumably Julian's. "Reynard" is French for "fox." From Julian's autobiography, the last bit of this refers to an incident when Julian--"fried" on drugs on stage--actually poked a hole in his stomach on stage with a mic stand, literally sickening some members of the audience when his blood poured out on the stage! |
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| Belle & Sebastian – I Don't Love Anyone Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Surprised that no one has said what I've always understood this song to be about! Stuart of B&S is a big fan of a 1980s group named Felt. Their singer, Lawrence, is a notorious eccentric. I remember reading an interview with him saying that he basically spent all day at home alone, reading books, washing his hair, and basically passing the time until he did band-related stuff at night. I know that he hated Christmas and revealed that he spent the last Christmas at home alone, cooking and eating an entire turkey by himself. I don't know if he ever said the words "I don't love anyone" but it fits... but the REAL clincher is that Lawrence wrote a beautiful, delicate song called "The World Is As Soft As Lace." So I think that at the end of the song Stuart is marvelling at how someone could write a song such as that and ironically not love anyone at all. |
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