| The Lumineers – Ho Hey Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I just discovered this song a few hours ago but it speaks to me right now and I'm really moved by it. The sound of this song and the video and the musicians and the rest of their catalogue that I am exploring seem filled with joy, honesty and "truth and beauty bombs." Although there is sadness in the lyrics about some decisions regretted or roads not taken I find that in my life it speaks directly to me at a time where it is not too late to make the decisions that make for a happy ending. This entire interpretation comes from that personal perspective of mine as advice coming from the future at a timely moment. "I been trying to do it right I been living a lonely life I been sleepin' here instead I been sleepin' in my bed I been sleepin' in my bed" This sounds like a regretful lament about the dissatisfaction after choosing not to pursue a relationship, instead trying to make the smart, right or sensible decisions in life, not taking the wild leap, bowing out, waiting for the right time or for the situation or your state of mind and heart to be better. Instead of some reward for being sensible or safe or "doing it right" the singer is left feeling lonely with a missed opportunity. "So show me family All the blood that I will bleed" Although this may be a stretch, I can read this from my perspective as asking for an image or vision of the "family" or relationship the singer could have built with that partner, of the "blood" ties or family bonds and experiences they could have created or "bled" together... I think I may be stretching the lyrics toward where I want them to go here, but the words and connotations and imagery here are powerful even if the meaning is not as fully clear as the rest to me. "I don't know where I belong I don't know where I went wrong But I can write a song" This is much clearer to me as feeling lost after passing on this relationship, as though their place in life and sense of belonging in their own present is decreased, even though the singer cannot see which step or choice they could have made or done differently. Even with this confusion and uncertainty about what was done wrong or where to go next, the singer can still summon up their art in the form of writing a song to express what they are feeling inside their heart instead of the more rationale choices or the ideas in their head about sadness and regret. "I belong with you, you belong with me You're my sweetheart I belong with you, you belong with me You're my sweet-(Ho Hey Ho Hey)" In the singer's heart (and in their "art" which I see in the chorus which is the "song they can write") the confusion melts away and the misgivings or regrets are not relevant, only the pure emotional conviction that even though they chose not to be together there is a certainty that they do belong together as sweethearts. "I don't think you're right for him Think of what it might have been if we Took a bus to Chinatown I'd be standin' on Canal and Bowery And she'd be standin' next to me" I can't really improve on bellabella's excellent interpretation here about the bus to Chinatown signifying a specific instance or point in the chain of choices where the two lovers could have changed it all and gone down the road not taken, which might have brought them to Canal and Bowery (apparently the most famous place in the world to buy engagement rings) and then to a happy life together. I do love the subtle sort of caring touch I sense when the singer refrains from being directly dismissive or aggressive against the person his would-be-partner chose instead. To me saying "I don't think you're right for him" instead of something directly putting down the new partner does make it seem more like the singer is still caring for and a looking out for the partner they love and wishing for the greater happiness they could have together had they made the choice to take the "bus to Chinatown" when they had that opportunity. "Love we need it now Let's hope for some Cause oh, we're bleedin' out" I think this reads to me in two ways: 1. Again showing a concern for their mutual happiness, instead of just the singer's own, and claiming that being together would stop the slow pain and diminishing that stemmed from choosing to be apart. 2. A general statement to the world at large about a need for love, and to pursue it and share it and reach for it, because the lack of love given, taken and shared is causing all of us collectively to wither and bleed out. |
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| The Lumineers – Ho Hey Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| A beautiful and personally touching reply that fits the song just right. | |
| The Lumineers – Ho Hey Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This feels insightful and right on target to me. | |
| Dar Williams – When I Was a Boy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Amen. I <3 Dar Tony, who was a girl too, and you were just like me... and I was just like you. |
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| Dar Williams – When I Was a Boy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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1. I have always loved that compact little line that you chose for your screen name. 2. Go Team Canada! I was born and raised in Ottawa. 3. I do love to maintain a distinction between the adjectives: Childish - which for me includes egotistical behaviour, immature tantrums and an inability to find mature instincts and behaviours like empathy, generosity, consideration, selflessness Child-like - which for me includes an open-eyed ability to constantly see wonder, joy and fun all around you and to act out with joyful noise and be fundamentally unselfconscious and present in your behaviour. I try not to miss the days of being child-like. Instead I continue to live every day as child-like as possible, singing in the streets, skipping arm in arm, constantly and gleefully making a fool of myself long before it could occur to someone else to make a fool of me. Tony |
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| Dar Williams – When I Was a Boy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is almost exactly my own response. I was almost irked with Dar the first time I heard this song because, despite how perfectly she was descibing the life of a small boy on her bike who knew the tricks that all the boys knew, I felt that she was leaving me out... and then came the last verse and I heard myself and my experience expressed in every line. Of course I am still in touch with the girl inside of me, and can still always cry, including almost each and every time I hear this song whether I am walking the streets, on a bus, at home or in my office. Tony |
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| Regina Spektor – Braille Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think the majority of the people on page or two that I read are teasing out a reasonably clear picture of the story told by the lyrics: a young couple have an unplanned pregnancy, the child grows up with a likely somewhat poor single mother, playing with matches and making mistakes in life has led her to different places and over the years she lays alone and reads her stretch marks, scars and wrinkles on her skin for the stories they tell. I feel that is likely the results of her "mistakes" were really just the valued stories of her life, and not tragedies at all. I heard this song on my iPod on my way in to work while I was going through a certain experience that is not at all related to that narrative, but I found some of the snippets of the lyrics resonating with where I was too, in ways that are more about me and my thoughts and feelings right now than about anything Regina Spektor was specifically thinking or singing: "She hadn't been a virgin and he hadn't been a god" - The rising power of emotion in a burgeoning relationship can make people see each other as greater than they are, up on pedestals and unfairly seen as some perfection instead of as their real selves. This recognizes that they are real people, not some perfected ideal, and comes to terms with that. "They were just two jerks playing with matches 'Cause that's all they knew how to play" - People can so very often find themselves acting on potentially dangerous but thoroughly enticing desires, especially two people embarking on the warm and fiery, passionate beginning of a relationship. The second line suggests not knowing any better, perhaps due to ignorance or youth, but I also feel in my case that it speaks to the power of emotion to override "logic" and how sometimes the only way to play is to accept that what could seem like a bad idea on some logical level is actually so emotionally compelling that there is no other way to play it than to see it through. "And she knew they were destined to become Sacred road kill on the way And she was listening to the sound of heavens shaking Thinking about puddles, puddles and mistakes" - This suggests to me the result of making "mistakes" and I feel that "sacred road kill" is the idea that even the result of mistakes can be a consequence that is necessary or beautiful. I feel that many times the mistakes and what they write on your skin can be more deeply sacred and rewarding than playing everything safe and doing everything "right." Also, I like playing in puddles and damned if I care how soggy my pant legs become. "After all I'm still a jerk playing with matches It's just that he's not around to play along I'm still an asshole playing with candles Blowing out wishes. Blowing out dreams." - Even without someone to encourage you to heights of passionate mistakes and playing with matches, each person will continue to find their own "mistakes" to make throughout their life, and with each choice they make they extinguish an alternative wish or dream, leaving that road not taken in favour of the one they choose each time. Also blowing out wishes and dreams, extinguishing flames, is a somewhat opposite gesture to playing with matches and lighting fires and getting burned. Perhaps blowing out wishes and dreams is suggesting what happens when you chose the safe path and don't play with matches. It sounds potentially more tragic to me than getting burned. "Just sitting here and trying to decipher what's written in braille upon my skin" - Trying to read the messages and narratives, written as experiences in and on my body and heart, and learn from the past or realize that every leap or mistake marks the experiences into an onto the body, and learning to read them and treasure them after they are done without judging them as wrong or right or regretting things overmuch is part of how a person grows. - Tony O' the Kilt |
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| Gillian Welch – Good Til Now Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The meaning for me in this song stems from a particular experience I had that shaped it for me. One night I went to the "pop oracle" event called Radio 8-ball. A guest musician puts 12 songs they can play on a board and the entire crowd writes questions on papers and then puts them in a box. A slip is chosen with the left had (I believe for synchronicity's benefit) and then that person spins a zodiac wheel (again with the left hand) which selects a song from the board that is then played by the guest musician. All of this ritual and theatre serves to connect one random persons question with some random song performed like a musical 8-ball to answer the question and then give room for them to discuss with the host and crowd how the felt about and interpreted the answer. My situation: I was struggling with a failing relationship in dire straights that I was struggling to save. My question: "Should I continue to strive and struggle and persevere in this endeavour or should I let go and prepare to move on." My "pop oracle" answer was this song. I wept openly on stage during the entire performance. These lines following lines help purge the feelings I had about how hard things were with her: "Rocks in my pockets and a devil on my back. You won't even come across the tracks." And I also heard an affirmation of how it was worth expending the effort to respect the relationship and try to heal. It was good til now, but with the energy expended it was time to say goodbye to my darling. "Balled out, wasted and I feel I'm going down. Goodbye, darling, I been good till now." |
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| Elbow – Ribcage Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Please forgive a fairly emotionally raw tone here, but this song hit me like a freight train recently. Several Elbow songs were playing in the background the other day and suddenly the rising chorus singing "And Let the Sun Inside" called my attention to this particular song and it just took over my consciousness for a couple of days now. I was going to come here and describe what it has meant to me over the past days since I first heard it and to find BlackEyedAngels' description here already, so close to my own thoughts, was an unexpected surprise. I have been going through long troubles with my wife over the past months and through the many ups and downs we ended up separated, but still spending time, being close friends, going to counseling, and having some hope for more healing between each other. At the same time we had agreed that we could see other people and she had found some very rewarding relationships over the months, which I supported her in. Then recently I discovered something special with someone new as well. Although neither my wife and I entirely wanted to give up hope on each other we had both been exhausted by our attempts to repair things and our hope had been bruised and stripped away by the hurts we had exchanged in the past and continued to exchange, despite our intentions to be kind to each other. Just yesterday we sadly came to a point where we both felt that we needed to let it dissolve and move on as gracefully as we could. It was sad and is still raw. At the same time, every word of this song is speaking to how I (and also my wife) can move forward now. Pull my ribs apart and let the sun inside. How each of our new loves they can each give themselves a name and peel away the shame. And then the new sun shines, sending me a lifeline. She comes to, both visit my city and visit my heart. She finds her way into my room and reminds me what happiness was like, so long ago. The red stain blossoms... I have just now thought of it like the blood that seeps from the wounds of my dying marriage. This song is on repeat today... along with The Bones of You, Good Til Now by Gillian Welch and She's Already Made Up her Mind by Lyle Lovett. |
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| Kinnie Starr – Buttons Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I love Kinnie Starr and I remember this a cappella track from her original Scrappy Bitch tour days (1996?) and her old "Learning 2 Cook" cassette tape. I love the rapid, almost aggressive rhythm of the words on at some points in this one. This is one of those that I have memorized to bring forth at will for sharing with others or just to myself while walking, but I am always most struck by the following: "And we can call it out when it doesn't suit us both, 'Cause there's a magnitude of choices and a really big boat, and that big boat floats on a restless ocean, Singing about the chances of protective devotion..." I have time and time again used these very words when advising someone about a relationship. The idea I take away from it is that a relationship that does not work for everyone involved does not work for anyone involved. It is okay to recognize when that is true and to tell each other and either change the relationship or allow it to end. One person suffering through a relationship for the sake of another is not healthy or necessary. For me it is not about fleeing from any relationship as soon as issues come up, because I don't believe in that at all. I believe that the comfort of a relationship often makes a safe space for your own internal issues to arise, acting only as a catalyst to let you work on things that need the work whether with this person, another person or on your own. Running from the relationship whenever anything tough comes up can be very short sighted. Still, for me it is about recognizing and accepting when something that doesn't work for everyone involved needs to either change or end. Also understanding that allowing something to end is not as much a tragedy as it usually seems. It is not some horrible moral failure. And there is a magnitude of choices on this big boat floating on a restless ocean. There is valuing in allowing each other to part and find other choices that may fit each of you. And there is virtue in remembering and treasuring the good parts, shared experiences and the friendship, even when you decide to end romantically. Remember that you were friends before and perhaps still can be is a truly valuable thing to strive for as an alternative to closed and locked doors or burned bridges. |
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| Spirit of the West – Ships In Full Sail Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This has been a favourite of mine ever since I first played the dubbed cassette copy of the "Old Material" live album of Spirit of the West made for me by a friend. I have a outline symbolic personal philosophy that covers some of my thoughts about our past, present and future and how to integrate them, and this song plays an important role in the mobius strip, "siempre" description of the future. I talk about journey over destination, process over product and "being" instead of "having" as ways to look at your future, goals and plans. The signature of this kind of future philosophy is the last verse, and in particular the lines "I began to understand horizons don't get closer, rather you extend them further every time you make some gains." This is one of those songs I keep close in my memory and can sing from beginning to end, either to myself or to another, whenever the mood strikes me. The song/poem itself starts with the singer rejecting the idea of risking hardship or pain in search of some goal, enrichment or adventure. He contemplated only that his life was more confortable without the ruthless, lonely risk of setting out to strive for more. Then later thoughts arose of trying to bring change instead of resting under inertia in the safe, possibly ordinary place where your life and choices have brought you. And so he chooses a goal or destination to reach for, begins to believe he can attain it, and begins to strive toward it. The key revelation and meaning in the song for me comes in the last verse when he is discouraged because he cannot seem to make visible progress toward his goal and wonders whether it is a waste of time to try. Finally the idea becomes clear that it is not the goal that is most important, it is the striving toward it, the journey, the process, the brings the growth and progress that enriches your life and makes more things possible for you. I love the use of the horizon image, one that we can all bring to mind and whose behaviour we visually and instinctively understand. I makes a clear and beautiful metaphor for of a goal that seems to forever shift out of reach and stay too far away to attain, but the movement of the goal further away is a result of your progress, how far you've come, and also it brings access to more of the world and more to experience as you "extend your horizons." |
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| Judy Collins – Send In the Clowns Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I was planning on linking the lyrics to this song so I searched on the web and here on my favourite lyrics site. The web led me to some rather in depth info and interviews the Stephen Sondheim, the writer of the song for the original musical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Send_in_the_Clowns#Styles Right now the sad side of this song resonates with parts of my life... but there is a wistful and self-deprecating humour to it that is not hopeless to me at all. |
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| Crystal Gayle – We Must Believe In Magic Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song has always held a special place in my heart, ever since I was a young boy carefully dropping the needle again and again and yet again on this song on my mother's record. There was also a strange and beautiful rendition of the song on The Muppet Show with some striking and ethereal Muppets accompanying her. I still remember it to this day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlHTa0JpvbQ As for meaning... right now my current life experiences will colour my interpretations but this is what I see: The captain is mad and the misfit crew of poets instead of sailors is flying blind. We must be out of our minds to stay on this crazy ship of life bound for tomorrow when no one seems to have the skill or sense to direct it. Still, even if we are all blind poets unable to direct our ship, we should believe in the magic of the providence of the universe and the guiding hand or whatever forces of synchronicity, destiny or deity we apprehend or subscribe to. Also we should not feel helpless and we should realize that all of us are shipmates and we are all just as blind and struggling. I feel it is not about giving up control to the "guiding hand" or destiny or deity. Instead I would say trusting that the magic of whatever we believe in, be it our friends, our gods, our goals or our selves, will be enough to let this blind poet, dreamer and clown be the mad captain of their own ship, guiding their life boldly into the future with whatever skills and powers they have, even if it is only dreams, poetry and laughter. That belief and conviction will give them access to the universe of their own possibilities at their command. In the end there is no better choice than to boldly believe and go forward, because this life is a ship on the steady winds of time bound for our tomorrow and our tomorrows and our light years of tomorrows... ...and nothing can turn it around. - Tony the Tiger |
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