| Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Hit 'post' too soon on my earlier comment. I wanted to post about the 'Some are carpenter's wives'... Jesus was a carpenter. Nuns are 'brides of Jesus' or 'brides of God'. The collection of the faithful/makeup of the Church is collectively, 'the Bride of Christ'. I think at the end of the song he's saying that his memories of people he used to know are washing out, and their physicality is fading into cerebral knowledge of them - they hold no attraction for him (and may as well be celibate, something associated with mathematicians and nuns). The singer wants to regain that touch 'I got to get to her somehow' with his woman who 'feels the same' but 'saw it from a different point of view'. |
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| Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[jpawloski:36518] Five years later, replying to your comment... I think he's overlaying historical literary relationships over his current one. But the timeframe of the story is 1960's-80's: bankbooks are common (not the more-modern 'balance'), 'drove that car', 'fishing boat out of Delacroix', 'topless place'. The overlay of the historical literary relationship is apparent if you don't look at the stanzas as separate items. She took him home, got him stoned (lit a burner and offered me a pipe), then got him zoned out in the world of a 13th century Italian poet, where he then lived with the literary characters through music in the streets, revolution in the air, poverty and prostitution, until the bottom fell out. I think the 'Montague Street' reference is another layer of allegory relating the historical to the recent past (there are many 'Montague Streets' in many cities - Northhampton, MA, Philiadelphia, Brooklyn NY; I think he's singing about the one in Brooklyn). |
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| The Doobie Brothers – Listen To The Music Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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In WW-II, the soldiers of the 505th PIR parachuted into Sicily. Their story, and the 504th with them, was one of long, sustained periods of fighting through winter. The 504th fought up the central spine of mountains that is Italy, while the 505th had garrison - and special - duties, some guarding Air Bases, some helping push the Germans off Sardinia, etc. Later, many of these were motorcycle messengers - and still later, added to the push up France from the Mediterranean. During all this, more than a few of them discovered a love for wine, and a need for the Army's red amphetamines. Combat and occupation are difficult things, and every little edge... and they formed an informal blackmarket distribution system with their motorcycle messenger duties. And when they left, finally, some returned to California, and together with some infantrymen from the Big Red One, formed motorcycle clubs. Sonny Liston formed them into the Hell's Angels. The song is about a lifestyle of carrying speed/amphetamines. "What the people need is a way to make them smile, it isn't so hard to do if you know how" The message getting on through is the payload, the amphetamines. and the good life they enjoyed in Europe, drinking wine and relaxing with women: "If I feel good to you, will you feel good to me?" "Listen to the music" is the lifestyle - absorb life as it goes by, and appreciate it, but be ready to deal out the music as they did in WWII. I wonder how many of today's MC members really know their roots? |
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| Yes – Yours Is No Disgrace Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Wolfhound is a helicopter. IMO, the song is about a glorious morning sunrise and a moment of reflection, for a British Naval helicopter pilot on an exercise near the equator and the International Date Line. I think it's a training exercise: sailing ship to nowhere, battleships confide in me and tell me where you are. Near the equator and Date Line: Summer turn to Winter, and Yesterday a morning came (he flew over the date line). |
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| R.E.M. – Orange Crush Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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No doubt about Vietnam, but I think you've all misunderstood the Orange Crush. It's Napalm. The singer/POV Stipe was portraying is a FAO, probably in a 'Loach', Helicopter, Light, Observation, the aircraft sounds you're hearing. I think there are three players in this song: an infantryman, a Forward Air Controller, and a Navy pilot. I think it portrays the FAC's memories of a radio conversation with a ground component/infantryman, who called in napalm just over his position (and died). I think the memory is causing the (former) FAC pain, wrapped up with the guilt for the war. "Follow Me!" is the motto of the Infantry. "Don't follow me" I think is a warning to others/listeners, and probably not an immediate one. I think the 'I got my spine, I got my Orange Crush" and the "Over me!" is the memory of the radio call from the infantryman/ground troop. The 'High on the roof', and 'Another one climbs on the waves tonight, Comin' in, you're home' can refer to the Navy fast-mover above the clouds (on the roof), then gets on the carrier. But the 'climbs on the waves' could be the waves of orange flame. It's a really depressing song. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Prove It All Night Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I look at this one even differently than both dasquien and Rolling_Beatle. It's a song about a guy and a girl who look at each other and say, 'there's no one better, let's get married' ("Buy you a gold ring"). Neither is a virgin nor particularly innocent ("and a [wedding] dress of blue). All it'll take for him to act on the notion is her agreement ("Just one kiss will get these things for you") There's no one better ("there's nothing else we can do"), and he's saying, 'forget your go-nowhere/do-nothing friends, take the chance with me, and I'll show you it was the right choice' by making love all night - proving it all night. That's in these lines: "You hear the voices telling you not to go, They made their choices and they'll never know, What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie, What it's like to live and die." |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Jungleland Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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mztk1 and PickSlide have it right. It's a song about leaving the Jersey Car Culture/scene behind and growing up. There's a reason it's the last song on the album celebrating that scene, closing the opera on the highway. |
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| Honeymoon Suite – New Girl Now Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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No comments for this gem of the 80's? I 'rediscovered' this song as my new pickup truck came with a year's subscription to Sirius Radio, and 'Classic Rewind' plays this about 1x per day... The song's about the haunting memory/guilt of a breakup, the girl wants the singer back, and he's feeling guilt about how he's left her. She isn't actually stalking him, and the words of the song, taken slightly out of context would indicate he's a controlling/domineering type ("Don't you play Good Girl with me"). Instead, it's his own guilt. "I don't want you on the phone" is his recall of her, not an actual phone call. The whole kicker to the song is that the new girl is a lot like the old one... trying to replace her and restore the memory. I have to say I love the sneer on the word 'me' in that "Don't you play Good Girl with ME' :) Just a catchy tune that exemplified early 80's popular rock (and Canadian Hair Bands). |
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| Elvis Costello – Green Shirt Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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@JTrois, Yes, but it's not the social networks - I agree with the others, the symbolism of the TV/Media makes it really overtly external: government. I tripped over this song in my collection today, and I really miss good, intelligent songwriting. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – Patterns Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Existentialism, pure and simple (not). Anyway, he's singing about free will, but not until the end of the song does he give any hope to self-destiny. |
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| The Cars – I'm In Touch With Your World Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Ric is sardonically describing a cross-dresser at a club, acknowledging that Ric is weird enough to recognize the desperation of the other guy. "I'm in touch with your world", but "nobody's gonna buy it". |
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| The Cars – Don't Cha Stop Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yes, it's about sex. It's about getting a (maybe his first-ever) blowjob. "Right here your mouth is wet and dreamy". | |
| The Doors – The Crystal Ship Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Okay, I think the Celtic/Irish stuff is whimsical, he's turning phrases to match, but there's no paired meaning with the 'Death of Aife's Only Son' here, other than this is a song of loss. It's a breakup, yes. I think it's Jim, breaking up with a girl, not the other way 'round. He's singing her the lullaby, expecting her tears (the gentle rain), on their last night together. Later, the trip is his departure to his future (not an acid trip per se), and he'll be so far out of her reach then, maybe the best she could hope for is an impersonal note (drop a line). I think he's singing he's got a wide-open future in front of him, but that she will always be remembered by him (the Crystal Ship is his memory, possibly his skull, being filled with memories of a thousand girls and a thousand pills/thrills). Tell me where your freedom lies - what's the happiest outcome for her? I think he thinks 'without me'. The streets are fields that never die - always fecund, fertile, new possibilities as he travels on, not staying (and not changing with the seasons). Deliver me from reasons why - don't tell me why our relationship didn't work in the past, and spare me the need to explain why now (though the song is explanation, sort of, or expiation, his apology after she drifts off to sleep). |
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| Coldplay – Clocks Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Okay, I haven't read any other sites. My 8-year-old daughter (youngest of three) is fond of playing the piano riff, driving the rest of the family to distraction (she's ADHD...). That got me to listen to the song again for the first time in a while. I believe the song is about Heroin addiction, the terminal stages (not an overdose). The music and production value (filter bias) are reminiscent of alabaster and ivory, everything seems slightly washed-out aurally, creating a very depressed mood to the piece. Why I think it's Heroin (or other narcotic): Lights go out and I can't be saved (nothing will stop the high of the drug while it's in the system, but I think this line is talking about irreversible debilitation from abuse) Tides that I tried to swim against (cannot fight the addiction, nor the irreversible slide to the grave) Have brought me down upon my knees (debilitated state) Oh, I beg, I'm begging please (anything at all to change fate - desperate to live, watching it slip away, unable to control destiny, the bargaining phase of coming to grips with one's demise) Singing: Come out, all things unsaid (all the things I knew about but ignored) Shoot an apple off my head (such as this completely irresponsible and risky behavior of trying the drug) And a trouble that can't be named (it can be named, but not spoken of, probably to his social ruin) The tiger's waiting to be tamed (go ahead and try to beat heroin addiction. The overwhelming majority don't) You are (it - heroin, his addiction - is. Probably the centermost fact in his life) Confusion never stops (many meanings - but trying to catch back up on life after coming down is probably what was meant) Closing walls and ticking clocks (feeling trapped as the addiction is winding down - buying time, fewer and fewer options, maybe for things to sell, or ways to hide the addiction) Gonna come back and take you home (the craving, and the relief - comfort/well-being associated with 'home') I could not stop what you now know (addiction revealed - but past the point of being able to hide it anymore) Singing: Come out upon my seas (the drug dared him: 'I can beat it', 'won't happen to me', 'see if you can handle these waters') Curse missed opportunities (many chances to get help earlier, when it was still possible) Am I a part of the cure (is it at all possible to recover?) Or am I part of the disease? (or is it something forever flawed in me) And nothing else compares Oh, nothing else compares And nothing else compares (nothing does compare to the high - especially after it's been missing) You are You are Home Home Where I wanted to go (some desire to return to comfort/well-being driving the continued use of the drug, and now, there's no joy outside of the drug, and the realization there is no home for him anymore, no enjoyment without the drug - hence the 'washed-out, ivory and alabaster' feel to the music) That's my interpretation, uninfluenced by any other site :) |
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| Yes – I've Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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John Lennon's Instant Karma was a 1970 single. The Yes Album was released late 1971. It does indeed have a background chant of "All we are saying is give peace a chance". The first part of the song is about gathering Karmic debt by being smug as one advances through the Chessboard of Life, "the goal is for us all to capture all we want", to ignore love "make the white queen run so fast she hasn't got time to make you a wife" for personal gain. Turn your heads, don't help anyone else, I'm so satisfied I'm on the fast track for success (on my way), implying 'you're not' - all anti-Karmic. "Send an Instant Karma to me: initial it with loving care" sort of represents acknowledgement of an inappropriate lifestyle, and the lyric suggests scoffing at the notion. |
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| Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To me, this is a young woman seducing a not-very-socially-adept young man (or girl, but I pick man for the "leather on" line). Shellshock - was it the cure? Hope not! She rocks his world. Is he now socially adept? Hope not! She gets to keep him (no mention of for how long). |
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| Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Songanalyst pretty much sums it for me. Folk, there is no girl in the song. If you think it's a girl he's singing to, it's his motorcycle. The machine fills the role for him, because of his desperation. I guess I could be convinced the protagonist killed someone at the beginning, a la "The Outsiders", but honestly, to me, it's more dramatic scene-setting than recounting the events off-screen. He sees himself as a killer on the bloodshot streets - nice image - and then describes himself as a young boy foaming in the heat (not so nice an image). The only thing that's good and pure in his life is his love for his motorcycle. He doesn't ride in the day (when the sun comes up... gone like a bat out of hell, which is also metaphor for his short and shortened life). When the night comes - the day is done, moonlight shining, he comes crawling back to his bike to ride (dancing through the night, riding twisty roads, a dangerous activity at night). When the night's over, he misses riding... both gonna be so alone (his bike isn't ridden by anyone else). Here, you could convince me that he's running from a murder, and after he gets as far away from his crime as the bike can take him in a night, he'll have to leave it behind (because it's traceable?), because of the lyric "make the most of our one night together". |
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| Rod Stewart – Mandolin Wind Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Its a song about love sticking by your side in the face of long, debilitating death. "The coldest winter in almost 14 years" is the toughest test of their marriage, fourteen years long. "When the rain came I thought you'd leave 'cause I knew how much you loved the sun" When things got tough with the cancer, he thought she'd leave because she couldn't stand to watch, she's a happy person, not one to tolerate decline. "But you chose to stay, stay and keep me warm through the darkest nights I've ever known" But, she chose to stay, and he's singing his gratitude for her steadfast companionship "If the mandolin wind couldn't change a thing then I know I love ya" If the sad, cold truth didn't dissuade her, then he's sure he loves her for it. "Oh the snow fell without a break Buffalo died in the frozen fields you know Through the coldest winter in almost fourteen years I couldn't believe you kept a smile Now I can rest assured knowing that we've seen the worst And I know I love ya" Hyperbole on how cold, how severe his condition is. It may actually be winter outside his deathbed... but the rest is self-explanatory here - she kept up a smiling face, terminal disease is the worst possible end to a marriage, so if she sticks through it, nothing could ever be worse. "Oh I never was good with romantic words so the next few lines come really hard Don't have much but what I've got is yours except of course my steel guitar Ha, 'cause I know you don't play but I'll teach you one day because I love ya" Sure, he'll teach her, someday. "I recall the night we knelt and prayed Noticing your face was thin and pale I found it hard to hide my tears I felt ashamed I felt I'd let you down No mandolin wind couldn't change a thing Couldn't change a thing no, no" Remembering the night of the diagnosis, how shocked and dismayed she was. He felt he let her down by having a terminal disease - which is somewhat common of a cancer patient, though he tried to mask his emotions for her sake - also very common of a terminal patient. And, it's terminal - nothing could change a thing. It's a sad song, and not all that metaphorical, either. Maggie May gets all the attention, but I really like this one - in little, tiny doses, to remind me I survived cancer. |
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