submissions
| The Kinks – The Contenders Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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A terrific introduction to one of the greatest albums of all times.
This sets the stage for story of the fake band (let's call them The Contenders), from their rise and triumph in the music industry, to their disillusionment.
One note -- while most consider this album to be merely a satirical look at the music industry from top to bottom, I think it's a story. It starts with a statement of intention (I don't want to be a constructor of highways/a sweeper of sidewalks, I gotta do it my way), followed by an acknowledgement of The Contenders' talent (We're not the greatest when we're separated/but when we're together I think we're gonna make it). |
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| Mac DeMarco – Salad Days Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Sucks to get old.
Adult life may be rewarding and fulfilling, but it'll never be as fun as it was during the salad days of your youth. |
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| Dr. Dog – Broken Heart Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I love Dr. Dog's fascination with the self-marginalized - the Shadow People, the lonesome, the willfully alone, etc. Makes me rethink some of my life choices. Maybe you should too, before Dr. Dog's songs are about YOU. |
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| Wilco – Why Would You Wanna Live Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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"Why would you wanna live in this world?"
"Why wouldn't you wanna live in this world?"
Both perfectly valid questions. There's something so brilliantly simple about putting them side-by-side like JT does here. |
submissions
| Simon and Garfunkel – Bleecker Street Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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NO comments?! Not ONE? Goodbye cruel world, it's over.
Lots of obscuring going on here…"voices leaking," shadows touching shadows, the shepherd losing his flock…and lots of religious imagery…Canaan takes on meaning as "the land which is God's gift" and "the place of abundance"…I guess S&G don't see humanity reaching enlightenment any time soon. |
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| The Kinks – Lola Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I don't think people appreciate the full brilliance of this song.
Yes, it's a fun reveal about a romance with a transvestite, but there's so much more to it than that. The rest of "Lola Vs. Powerman and the Money-go-Round" is all about pre- and post-stardom life ("Get Back in Line" vs. "This Time Tomorrow"). It's all about playing and trying to make a hit...and Lola just happens to be that hit. The next song is "Top of the Pops," indicating The Kinks KNEW "Lola" would be huge, because it's the point at which the album turns, from pre-fame angst to fun of making it.
They set up "Lola" to be huge, and it was. The Kinks pulled one over on us. |
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| OutKast – Spread Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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F*cking Dre, man…he GOES for it. This song would be ridiculously stupid in less capable hands. But he pulls it off. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Kitty's Back Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I hate when people pull the whole "why are there so few comments here" bit…but seriously, why the f*ck are there only 2 comments here? This sh*t is the jam. One of my very favorites, and one of my very favorite albums.
C'mon, people. |
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| Interpol – Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I don't think death has anything to do with it. Maybe death in the Shakespearian sense of the word, I suppose.
"At the bottom of the ocean she dwells" is simply a nice way of explaining this vacuous young woman's predilection for giving oral ("she goes down, down, down, down into the sea/down, down, down, down there, down there for me/right on").
It's about a stupid, amorous girl who is acutely aware of her reputation ("she knows there's people watching"). |
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| Adele – Someone Like You Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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It does transform the message from something universal and relatable into something almost pathetic. |
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| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Man, I really can't do any better than you guys when it comes to assigning meaning, but when it comes to certain lyricists like Stephen Malkmus and Andrew Bird, impression can be everything.
That being said, a few things stand out. The song's timbre and the image of the armchair (in combination with the line "An Armchair calls to you/It says someday…") recalls a deep malaise.
The second is alienation through time and space. The climax seems to deem our efforts to navigate the spaces between us a failure ("You didn't write/you didn't call/it didn't cross your mind at all").
What do you guys think?
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submissions
| Starfucker – Astoria Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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We all maintain this abstract, unattainable mantra (I want a simple life), but, in the same way instruments are continually added and layered over one another, we are always adding things to ensure our lives our anything BUT simple.
Love these guys. |
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| Primal Scream – Beautiful Future Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I'm sure Bobby Gillespie was hating the "dead heart of the control machine" when he accepted his latest advance check from the studio. |
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| The Beta Band – Rhododendron Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I love the way percussion, synth and xylophone come together…beautiful. And simple. And a great lead-in to Liquid Bird.
Reminiscent of the way Sunshine & Clouds leads into Details of the War on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's self-titled.
Who needs lyrics? |
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| Pavement – Black Out Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Pavement's finest work…fitting it should be snuck in behind a great song like Rattled by the Rush.
A real gem. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Dancing Days Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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"I told your momma I'd get you home,
But I didn't tell her I had no car…"
Love it every time.
It's the kind of sexual bravado I wish I had. |
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| My Bloody Valentine – Soon Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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My initial impression is that this song doesn't fit with the production of the rest of the album…and it doesn't, but it's the spot of lucidity that the album needs. |
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| Sun Airway – Put the Days Away Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I'm no whizz when it comes to deconstructing songs - and maybe there's nothing to find - but I'm trying to find what's beneath the cynical veneer.
Beautiful either way, I guess. |
submissions
| Sun Airway – Oh Naoko Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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So, so beautiful.
I can't speak to the source material, but I do love the hinting at the passing of time vs. the constancy of the narrator's love. |
submissions
| LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Love is an open book
To a verse of your
bad poetry
And this is coming from me
I'm just now realizing the humor in the last part of the line. At first blush, it seems to fit into the song as part of the back and forth between the 2 parties (never change/I can change. But, taking into account James Murphy's unfortunate reputation as a terrible lyricist, the line becomes both a poke at (or nod to) critics, and extra "punctuation" for the idea that love is sh*t, which it is. |
submissions
| Neutral Milk Hotel – Holland, 1945 Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Jeff is "assigning" Anne a new life (as the piano-playing boy) purely because he has no way to cope with tragedy this serial and despicable. |
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| The Beta Band – Wonderful Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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My nomination for the #1 creepiest song ever…the simple mantra, the driving and predictable hand claps… it just screams "obsession" to me. |
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| Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Why does everyone like Donnie Darko so f*cking much?
I'm not one to rag on peoples' sensibilities even though I'm doing it right now, but that movie has nothing that should elevate it to some sort of coming-of-age classic.
Great song. Sucks it was in that movie, though. |
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| The Big Pink – Velvet Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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This has the same thread of cruelty running throughout as Dominos…I hear nothing but the trappings of a womanizer when I listen to this song. |
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| Oasis – She's Electric Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Why the f*ck do I keep listening to this song? Why do I love Oasis?
The lyrics, even by their fairly mediocre standards, are sh*t. The music isn't particularly…interesting, I guess.
But add it all up, and it just sounds good.
This song is a sort of microcosm of the way I feel about Oasis. |
submissions
| The XX – VCR Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I can't put my finger on what the VCR represents here…
There's something utterly obsolescent about the device, something decayed or decaying, something just plain old.
At the same time, there's something comforting and unassuming about the VCR. I can't tell which they're going for. |
submissions
| Sound Team – No More Birthdays Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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It depresses the shit out of me to see good songs like this with one comment.
PS I don't "get it." I never read Kafka, though I am familiar with a certain all-time great video game villain, with an awesome laugh… |
submissions
| Grandaddy – The Crystal Lake Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I tend to go with Kendreeke's explanation… bringing Starbucks into it only makes it hit home even harder (especially on the U campus, where there's at least 4, 2 being across the street from each other.
It's hard to ignore the Lake Tahoe connections, but Lake Tahoe to me is where the elite would go to hold their Italian Leather Winter Games… it's a fashionable place, like Martha's Vineyard, where the well-off would go to get their fill of "canned nature" before they head back to the creature comforts. It doesn't seem to jive with the feel of the song. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Do It Again Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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No one loves some unwarranted extrapolation like yours truly, but I never looked too deeply into the meaning…
This is THE quintessential song about human nature. None of the 3 verses need to be linked…the point remains the same: give a tiger chance after chance, but he still won't change his stripes. Not sure what Steely's overall position on this is, but this song is deeply cynical about the utter failure of ANYONE to learn a lesson, then apply that lesson to similar future decisions.
Best song ever. |
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