| First Aid Kit – Stay Gold Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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The first verse of this song owes so much to Nothing Gold Can Stay that it would almost be fair to call it a pop song re-imagining of Robert Frost's poem. It centers on the metaphor and the theme of the poem. But rather than observing the inevitable end of childhood and adolescence from a distance, it's narrated from someone standing in that very moment. Looking back at years that just recently rushed past with melancholy and nostalgia, while feeling anxiety for what it to come. The line "What if to love and be loved's not enough?" still gets me from time to time. It's a simple line, but in its context it perfectly sums up how scary that point in life can feel. It's a derivative work to be sure, but as such I think it is absolutely brilliant. |
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| Marah – Point Breeze Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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To me, the whole song reads a bit like a tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light. It has a rhyming scheme very reminiscent of Blinded by the Light, relying heavily on in line rhymes. And it's got the same stream-of-consciousness flow in its approach to its subject matters. The mention of "weather charts" is probably not coincidental either. That and, uhm, they're dropping the title of the song in the chorus ^^ That's not to say it's not a song in its own right though, or that it can't have a meaning of its own. I kind of like it too, it would be cool if anyone had any other thoughts on what it's about. |
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| Jonathan Coulton – The Future Soon Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I really love this song. I think the premise is relatable to anyone who was labeled a nerd (and didn't have much success with the opposite sex) while growing up. The language and the premise are both quirky kind of funny in a childish, relatable sort of way. Yet it manages to hit those beats that makes it resonate on an emotional level and reminds you of how you sometimes felt when you were younger. It's so well written in that sense that it took me years to notice how dark the last line of the song really is. No matter which way you look at it... "She will scream and try to run But there's nowhere she can hide When a crazy cyborg wants to make you his robot bride" ... is neither quirky nor relatable, and it really does clash with the otherwise pretty innocent tone of the song. At first this kind of put me off, but the more time has gone by, the more I've come to really appreciate it, not in spite of the pretty uncomfortable turn, but rather because of it. I think this song is not so much about the innocent childhood fantasies of nerds in love that vow to use their superior intellect to take revenge upon the world and claim the women who laughed at them, but rather about how toxic thoughts like that can be. No matter how much of a victim you feel like, even if the unrequited love is unfair, even if the shit you have to take is cruel, giving in to bitterness never leads you anywhere good. Seeing yourself as the villain and vowing for revenge might feel good, but it leads down a trail of thoughts with pretty dark conclusions. It's not an uncommon theme, but the upbeat tone of the song and the way it's written makes it all the more effective. Not letting your bitterness twist and distort you into a bad person is not just some made up science fiction narrative, it's a challenge faced by a lot of people growing up, and something a lot of us should be able to relate to. Maybe most of us won't end up becoming masters of a giant robot army, but ultimately it's not just the narrator's body that has been stripped of its humanity by the end of the song, but his mind as well. It is (as so many of Jonathan Coulton's songs) a pretty heavy message wrapped up in a rather innocuous package. Now, I might be overreacting at those last lines (I know a lot of people that I've talked to who didn't reacted at all as strongly to them as I did), or I might be reading too much into the song. I can't speak for the author's intention, but at least this is the effect it's had on me ^^ |
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| Elvis Costello – I'll Wear It Proudly Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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The way I interpret it, it's sung from the point of view of a man who's fallen head over heels for a woman in a way he didn't expect and is perhaps a bit ashamed of. He talks about his feelings for this woman in a way he admits sounds stupid and makes him feel like a fool, but decides to ignore that and wear his "crown for the king of fools" proudly. "Like a fifteen year old kid wears a vampire kiss" "And I wear it like a badge that you put all over my face" "But in shameless moments you made more of me than just a mess" To me, they all seem to be lines that indicate a sense of shame over what he feels, but in one way or another still gives the impression that he thinks his feelings are justified, no matter how stupid they make him seem. I agree that "The bell rang out and the air outside turned blue from fright" is probably a reference to the building being set on fire, but I would say it's probably a metaphorical fire, rather than a literal one. I could be missing something here, early Elvis Costello lyrics about love and relationships are mostly known for being spiteful and cynical. But given that he was recently married to Cait O'Riordan at the time, maybe the idea that he would write a more straightforward love song is not that much of a stretch. It does appear on the same album as Jack of all Parades, which is also a lot less cynical than his other love songs. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Queen of the Supermarket Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I agree that it gets some undeserved criticism. Sure, it's a little silly, and the lyrics aren't exactly graceful, but I don't think that necessarily has to be a strike against it. The song is about a guy with a crush on a cashier at his local supermarket, it's a a very ordinary situation, more than a little mundane, maybe even a little silly, but no less powerful because of it. It's about something extraordinary inside of the ordinary, about how something so unremarkable can seem so beautiful, and I think the lyrics fit that theme perfectly. Almost as if the song is being narrated by an everyday guy, someone who clearly feels very strongly for this woman but doesn't quite have the ability to put his feelings into words the way he would like to :) I don't know if it was intentionally written that way, but it's the way I've always seen it. It's still far from the best song he's written, but I kind of like it, it's definitely the most interesting track on Working on a Dream. |
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| Elvis Costello – No Hiding Place Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It doesn't seem strange at all, it struck me as being about the Internet too. I think it's a critique of the changes it has brought about, especially in how we interact with each other. | |
| Lita Ford – Kiss Me Deadly Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"I went to a party last Saturday night I didn't get laid, I got in a fight" Best first line in a song... EVER! |
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| Lisa Miskovsky – Still alive Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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God I love this song :) First time you hear it after beating the game it just fits right in. It just makes me feel at peace every time I hear it. As for the lyrics, they are about the game. As somebody mentioned earlier, she sings to the city. In the game the main character lives in a heavily surveyed city. Everything is clean, safe and sterile, but the city has lost it's soul and the people have lost their freedom. She wants it back the way it was, dangerous and filthy, but alive. But then again, it's all really vague and you can read whatever you wish into it ^^ |
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| Def Leppard – Now Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I agree with Shadydan, at the very least on the first line, it's definitely "I'm tired of make believing". As for the lyrics, they are pretty straight forward ^^ |
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| Meat Loaf – You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The song plays on the saying "You took the words right out of my mouth" i.e. saying something right before the next person was going to say the same thing, in this case "I love you". In this case making it both figuratively (she said "I love you" in the moment before he did) and "literally" (she did so by actually taking the words out of his mouth while kissing him). | |
| Bruce Springsteen – The River Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Heard it live last Sunday, it's such a sad yet amazing song. The lines "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true Or is it something worse, That sends me down to the river Though I know the river is dry" are just amazing. Sort of makes me feel empty inside each time I hear them. |
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