submissions
| Blur – Yuko and Hiro Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I recently read a really nice interpretation about this song, so it isn't mine but it made sense to me, whether it was intended by Blur or not.
This song closes The Great Escape, and is an end to a definite period in the band's career. The song describes a trade-off between making money, and sustaining meaningful relationships.
It is clear from their following album the path they wished to follow. |
submissions
| Tom Waits – Come on Up to the House Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I just listened to "Mule Variations" for the first time the other day. I thought "Take It With Me" was the most beautiful closer to an album I'd heard in a while. Then I realised it wasn't the last song and I was a little disappointed because I didn't think the album could surpass that.. but this song is just brilliant. The music feels like the end of something - and Waits' lyrics aren't patronising, they're delivered from experience, from a man who's put himself on the cross before... in that sense, it is a very cathartic song - the album, whilst varied, is emotionally charged and this is a touching denouement. |
submissions
| Public Enemy – Harder Than You Think Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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from here it seems like chuck's saying that PE have been going for 20 years doing what they're doing, gathering no moss and not getting distracted by the routes rap was taking over the years. he's always believed in a strong sense of personal morality, empowerment through educating yourself and challenging authority - but challenging the right authority. he's saying that it's the government that need taking to task; if you're just starting on your local police then you're not doing any good.
he also slates the values of the new rap generation and where he feels they are misguided; chuck concerns himself with a war that affects millions, they concern themselves with riches that affect themselves. chuck speaks of brothers and sisters and the tv talks of ni**as and bi**hes.
i think this is a brilliant song, up there with their best. as a summary, or as d says, a preview of what PE does, it's great. a band of insight; of strength and integrity. pe should be proud of their 23 years in the business. |
submissions
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Yellow Brick Road Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Often I don't think you need to look for a overall meaning in Beefheart's lyrics, but fragments of ideas and images. I think sometimes it helps to imagine them in a non-linear fashion, ignoring the order they're written in - so as to read them and produce an overall picture, rather than listen to each line sequentially and try and decode them in terms of a structured piece of prose.
I've had two realisations with Beefheart's output. First when I realised that the music was carefully planned and executed, and second when I realised that this also applied to the lyrics. |
submissions
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Veteran's Day Poppy Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Why is this a drug song? I agree with the rest of mgetz's interpretation, but I think the drug reference is just superficial. The character is just saying, 'this poppy doesn't make me feel any better. I ought to buy a poppy but I can't, because it hurts me to think of the significance of it.' |
submissions
| Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Ant Man Bee Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Isn't 'bee' just 'free'? So you have Ant - whose whole life is to work; Man - who enjoys more freedom; Bee - who (in Beefheart's mind) enjoys the most freedom.
My interpretation is that he sees ants squabbling and running over each other constantly (and black ants and red ants don't seem to mix), then he sees man engaged in regular wars, then bees who never seem to fight. |
submissions
| Kate Bush – Hounds of Love Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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She takes her shoes off and throws them in the lake in order to throw off the hounds that are tracing her scent.
She crosses the water to try and lose the hounds. Two steps implies a commital act. One step, you can still go back; this ties in with the "I've always been a coward/and never known what's good for me" line. She wants someone to make the decision for her. |
submissions
| Kate Bush – The Morning Fog Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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A strange denouement, because I think the journey continues. But it's past life, past mortality, so it's another story entirely. I know what Kate says implies that the woman lived, but I really can't see it as anything but her having died and being able to see the world with detachment, realising what it was that she held most dear within it, and subsequently wanting to tell her loved ones what they meant to her. It's not necessarily sad, because she now better understands what her life was about to some extent.
Either way, whether it's written from the perspective of the dead or the living, the sentiments the same. What has happened to her has allowed her to understand what she values and what she would miss if it were absent. |
submissions
| Kate Bush – And Dream of Sheep Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I get from this song that feeling of drifting off: you ought to fight it but it feels good. It feels like you should drift off. And then you start getting the surreal thoughts which suggest that you're drifting in and out of consciousness. Your imagination has some enticing images and tempts you towards oblivion. It tries to trick you; it tells you that you can visit sleep and bypass this whole ordeal: you will wake to the sound of engines. As you are lulled deeper and deeper into it, your better judgement slowly fades out and you peacefully submit. It's so beautifully written. |
submissions
| Scott Walker – The Seventh Seal Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I really didn't like this at first; it just seemed quite lazy and unimaginative, but the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate it. It's really well written and musically, when the choir comes in, very powerful. |
submissions
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor – BBF3 Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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oh come on, if you can listen to this and believe a word he says, then you're as crazy.. well, as he is.
i don't think they put the sample in the song because they were pretty much in agreement with what he says... i think they included it because it makes you feel a certain way. you feel empathy for his anger, compassion for his anxiety but then it's pretty clear you're listening to an unhinged man. you feel dissonance, because you agree with a lot of what he says, but his confrontational, aggressive (and somewhat lunatic) manner means that he won't be taken seriously. |
submissions
| Scott Walker – Farmer In The City Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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"and i used to be a citizen / i never felt the pressure / i knew nothing of the horses / nothing of the thresher" is delivered so beautifully. what an amazing piece. |
submissions
| Scott Walker – A Lover Loves Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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there are a few moments on "the drift" where i am really glad that walker made a certain decision - where you would possibly expect the music to do a certain thing: a triumphant finale, a crescendo, a repeat - and it doesn't do it and is all the better for it. ending with this muted, haunting song might leave you with a strange view of the album but i'm glad it ends this way... it just makes the album as a whole more compelling. |
submissions
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Brompton Oratory Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I love this site. I hadn't really thought about the meaning of this song very deeply, and whilst checking out Nick Cave lyrics I thought I'd look at this. Cave's explanation (thanks the boatman) has made the whole song make sense. I love The Boatman's Call but I'd never thought much about this song. Now it's constantly in my head and there's something beautiful about how the quiet resignation of the lyrics compliment the fairly restrained music. |
submissions
| The Jam – Down In The Tube Station At Midnight Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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The last thing that I saw
As I lay there on the floor
Was "Jesus Saves" painted by an atheist nutter
And a British Rail poster read "Have an Awayday - a cheap holiday -
Do it today!"
Brilliant. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Running Dry (Requiem For The Rockets) Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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This is a touching song of penitence. To the secular, the need to confess cannot be met by a man in a booth or an apology to a God. And in writing a song about his inability to confess, he does exactly that. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Heart Of Gold Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I had always assumed it to be about virtue and him wanting to be a good person - he has good intentions but he has not got round to acting upon them. His life has seen him go everywhere but he still hasn't found the peace with himself that would allow him to concentrate his life on others. But then I guess everyone is going to put their own slant on it. Those who like love songs will turn it into a love song; I will try and turn it into an existential search... |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – He Was a Friend of Mine Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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i was initially very upset when i read the poster's suggestion that this song concerns the life of jesus christ.
the lyrics of a song always seemed to be about a man, down on his luck but fundamentally good, who died. whilst the jesus parallel might be obvious to some, to me, the lyrics concerned the author's bewilderment at a god who would take away a person with no justification and with no explanation - take away a good man and leave his friends at a loss.
for me, this song has always been about how cold-hearted a potential god would be. and so to equate it to the hardships of a religion is painful. i love the idea of jesus christ and i think that his story portrays a virtuous man who we should all strive to emulate.. but still, this is the closest i've been to taking offence for years. |
submissions
| Buck 65 – On All Fours Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think it's more of a mission statement. Even at a low level, people conduct themselves like they're big stars. Buck's just rejecting that idea and presents his intentions to just act with sincerity. |
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| Buck 65 – Square 1 Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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In Buck's evaluation of his albums, he completely writes this song off. I think it contains some of his best imagery (and I like the organ sample). |
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| Buck 65 – The Floor Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think he's actually managed to embellish Bukowski's poem. His additions are as good as (or better than) the lines he took, in my opinion. |
submissions
| Buck 65 – Cries A Girl Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I get a real sense of empathy from Buck's lyrics. As though he has tried hard to understand the factors that have made people as they are. It's something I really like about his words. I find this song touching. The refrain is beautifully put. |
submissions
| Buck 65 – Riverbed 4 Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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The second part, which is not written, contains the most evocative and striking lyrics for me.. certainly on this album, possibly in Buck's entire recorded output:
The houseboat must've traveled during the night
Seemingly strange outside, the climate and scenery changed
Dawn was accelerated by the sound of fighting
A woman screaming and choking, it was frightening
I ran on deck filled with dread as well as anger
To see a woman grasping for the chain of the anchor
The situation was depressing and stressful
She tried to drown herself in the river but was unsuccessful
I was scrambling to figure out what to do first
The more she wanted to live again, her screaming grew worse
I pulled up the chain with the help of a drunken tramp
She was soaking, hiccuping, spitting and choking
The tramp shouted orders to those standing around
Telling them what they should do for the drowned
The woman was broken from what she had been through
I offered her clothing for her to change into
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submissions
| Lou Reed – Sad Song Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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i don't think it's hopeful at all. the male character hasn't learned anything from what's happened. he isn't repentent about what he's done. he still thinks he's in the right. he's just going to shrug it off and do the same to some other girl. |
submissions
| Lou Reed – Men Of Good Fortune Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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in my opinion this song is the centrepiece in an incredible album. although it doesn't directly refer to the couple, i feel it's a very important part of the story. |
submissions
| Eels – Bad News Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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If you read his autobiography, it turns out that Mark had spells of being a pretty naughty kid... he developed a bit of a reputation in his town.
Seeing as how he tends to write about what he knows and how distressing it is for him to sing, I think you can safely assume it's about that part of his childhood. |
submissions
| Eels – Fresh Feeling Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I first heard this when he performed it on Jools Holland and it was incredible.. simple and delicate: I think it was just guitar and strings. It's not quite the same with that overbearing drumbeat. |
submissions
| Eels – Things The Grandchildren Should Know Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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There is a string melody that appears earlier in the album, and on Live: At Town Hall, he sings this right at the end of the song and it's beautiful.. he doesn't do it on the album. Shame.
In the context of that documentary, this song is even more bittersweet. Also, after reading the book of the same name, this song and many of his others took on a whole new level of poignance. Really an amazing songwriter and beguiling human being. |
submissions
| Talking Heads – Paper Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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i think this song is about being held up to scrutiny in front of people (in this case a lover). if you read it that way, it makes a lot of sense. keep hold of the paper, keep yourself distant, and you won't be exposed to such examination. |
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