| The Smashing Pumpkins – United States Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[elliot:22433] cha Yes, you're right. It was seven years ago so I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that definition; probably was just mixing it up with some other random word. | |
| The Shins – Caring Is Creepy Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I've always thought this song's title was fairly literal, that it's about that moment when you realize that some person you have a crush on has absolutely no feelings for you whatsoever and you've just been deluding yourself the whole entire time. All that stuff about cold is both referring to loneliness and the idea of cooling down at the same time. Then the bit about words and tricks is all about hearing different meanings in the things that person says so that you can continue hoping. So then that title really brings home the feeling of shame when you realize how badly you've been acting as a result of your feelings. I think a lot of guys have been there, right? I've never actually had someone call me creepy, but sometimes I look back and just go... "What the hell was I thinking?" Though it probably seems like a bigger deal to me than to anyone else. |
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| Alanis Morissette – Joining You Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I saw her on Hey Hey It's Saturday one night (Australian variety show) playing this song, and it's the kind of show where, if a musician is a bit dorky, they'll make fun of them with text at the bottom of the screen. They started out doing this but stopped altogether as the song continued, because it was just that good a performance. I'd essentially put off buying this album because at the time it was a bit dorky to be an Alanis fan but this was the song that made me just think, "Fuck it, I don't care who has a go at me about it, I'm getting this album!" |
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| Ladyhawke – Anxiety Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I thought this was possibly about getting off medication. Most of the medications related to mental health have uncomfortable side effects, among which nausea is a frequent one. So, she's always been cautious about having the medication when she's meant to but simply can't deal with the side effects any more. However, people who aren't on such medication don't really understand how bad it can be, doctors included. So she's saying she's not choosing to lose the war but can't keep fighting it. Then the chorus, with its different pacing is about getting advice I thought. Maybe she knows someone who had similar symptoms but managed to control it without medication. I was puzzled about the words "It's yours to take back"; because if someone has taken away her anxiety then why would they need to take it back if they already have it? But then I thought, maybe the previous line "You've got away with my anxiety" is actually "You've got a way with my anxiety". (Notice "a way" rather than "away".) So it's like the entire chorus is about someone taking her away, maybe on a mini holiday to help her de-stress, and she's basically offering to do the same for them if they ever need it. |
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| The Asteroid Galaxy Tour – Th Golden Age Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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1st! Love it... but someone spelt "The" wrong, lol. Just a fun, groovy song about "better" times... I don't agree with the assessment but I can appreciate the sentiment. Who doesn't know someone who's into something a little retro? |
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| Le Tigre – T.K.O. Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I was thinking that maybe with the "technical knock out" definition, it's about "winning" an argument by being good at arguing as opposed to actually having the truth on your side. | |
| Clouds – 4 P.M. Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Awesome song, so evil. Seems like it's from the point of view of a serial killer maybe. A serial killer who writes awesome music. At the same time I imagine that it's metaphor-ish... like you might write a song like this if you were feeling disproportionately guilty about something. I really appreciate the way some of their songs sound like they've been derived from a story somewhere instead of the usual stuff about songwriter's lives. Not that I don't like the latter, but something different once in a while is nice. The Clouds were a truly under-appreciated band... never went mainstream, though their first album went gold. It's a demonstration of how the music industry is designed to profit big labels rather than promote what the public actually likes. |
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| Cults – Walk At Night Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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No comments! Weirdness. This is my favourite song on the album. When I walk at night, I think of this song :) Of course, I get the impression that "walk at night" in the song is actually a metaphor, probably for being alone, possibly for being single. Pretty sure this line: "I wanted and that's right for me" should be "I wanted that you'd expect for me". |
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| Florence + the Machine – Strangeness and Charm Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Best song on the album imho. Firstly, primarily I love it for the sound, but also I think these lyrics are brilliant. It's more than just a love song with the way it's exploring how amazing it is that all this crazy chemistry and physics and so on has formed into her feelings. You could argue it both ways, that it's using physics to explore the concept of love, or that it's using love to explore physics. In reference to the latter concept, I really appreciate the way she turns all that stuff into all those metaphors and poetry... the "drug for angels" line is really cool. | |
| Moloko – Come On Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Huh... no one's commented on this... how bizarre. The meaning is pretty obvious I guess, what I love about it (aside from the music -- I love the style of the song) is the sarcastic sounding "ha ha" throughout the song, like when you laugh at something that's not really funny. | |
| Lykke Li – Youth Knows No Pain Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I see this as a kind of satirizing of people who don't take young people and their problems seriously. When I was growing up and still among a lot of people I know, there was and is an attitude that children are resillient and that you can ignore their problems because they'll outgrow them. | |
| PJ Harvey – The Words That Maketh Murder Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| My first interpretation was simply that the "words that make murder" are the last line of the song. But Daphne's interpretation is a bit more interesting. I guess that doesn't necessarily make it right... anyone have words from the horse's mouth? | |
| PJ Harvey – Let England Shake Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Apparently PJH started writing this album way back in 2007, so I'm sure that it has nothing to do with this except that she's commenting about violence and politics in general, but I'll always remember that I bought this album a couple of weeks before the london riots. | |
| Sarah Blasko – Explain Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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No, she knows... it's just something she can't explain :) Love this song; 2nd favourite on the album next to The Albatross. |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – United States Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Actually, not sure if it's pro-revolution or not... you have "I'll lead the last charge to bed " and "I wanna fight a revolution". I think some people assume that the last one means he wants to fight for a revolution, but what if it means he wants to fight against one? I also wonder if the "what will they do to me/you" is about the government, or what would happen to people if a violent revolution occurred. Annienitemare... without having watched the movie (if Billy Corgan is in it I totally retract this comment), I just wanna mention that I've heard of the zeitgeist movement, but zeitgeist is also a German word referring to the love of life. The album title could simply be about that. |
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| Metric – Glass Ceiling Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Oh yeah, I did mention feminism there, and I do remember glass ceiling being a feminist term, but I don't think this song only applies to feminism... it's anyone who's unhappy with their situation. | |
| Metric – Glass Ceiling Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I agree with neutral milk. I think it's telling people to do things for themselves, and not wait for others if they want to get further in life. It's probably aimed at people who complain about society not being fair while not doing anything about it. Like if you think you're being treated unfairly and something needs to be done about it, do it yourself. Thus "break your own glass ceiling". This "Can't count, can't catch the pieces falling" looks to me like she's saying so many people are doing it, you can't count. My guess about this verse: "Only do what I'm told, only do what I'm told Last to leave cold calling You're gonna lose your arms, amputate plasticine There's no knight in silver armor shining" is that it represents someone working really hard but getting nowhere, waiting for someone to fix the unfairness of the situation for them. Finally, this line: "How am I gonna know I'm letting you down" ... this seems to me like a commentary on feminist icons, and how people analyze things they do and complain if they do the "wrong" thing. So this is part of the overall message not to look up to other people, look up to yourself. Incidentally, I love the sound of this song. The musicians in Metric are brilliant. |
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| Metric – The Police and the Private Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I'm going to draw attention to two lines: "Felt up and fingerprinted waiting for the train" also, "When they close the gates I'll cry" So, with those two lines, the first perhaps referring to being searched, and the second to airport gates, I thought it was about the whole security movement, and so on. As an Australian, I see no reason why people outside USA wouldn't write about that, and this stuff was around for as long as there have been governments. There's a famous quote, I forget who: "A society that sacrifices liberty for security will lose both and deserve neither." which is way older than 9/11. |
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| Metric – Patriarch on a Vespa Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"her mouth is full of questions" I see this song as ambivalent... it is challenging, but also questioning. Are all those fears hurting us? Are we meant to be this? Or that? I love the ah-ah-arrgh at the end of many of the lines... like a maybe-sarcastic cry of fear -- suburban life, run! I just don't see that as an argument that everyone should be like her. Woot, proof of my point... I just found this in an interview with Emily Haines: NIKA: I always appreciated the unconventional way you handled gender politics in songs like "Poster of a Girl" and "Patriarch on a Vespa." You find fault with both sides—it's not just girl power. HAINES: Totally. On those songs I was exploring my own discomfort and trying to state a way to overcome it. "Patriarch" is about my fears of domesticity and normalcy–I mean, who wants a floral couch? But I never really "took a stand" on the side of women, because I never really experienced my life that way. I don't define myself by my gender. That's not really our battle anymore. It's no longer men vs. women. The topics have changed. Now, the allegiances are more tribal. |
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| Metric – Soft Rock Star Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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So, I just looked at these words and thought they were wrong, that some words had been added, but then I listened to the "Jimmy vs Joe remix", and that has these exact words as far as I can tell. Lol @ Lalagurl, I don't understand why that would make you lose respect for them; even if you don't like pigs, it's not like she's saying positive things about them. I see it as advice for talented people: "swine" or pigs or "School yard junior high style bullies" will always try to buy and then pervert or put down what they don't/can't have, so save it for someone who will appreciate it. I like Ashricat's interpretation of "the check is in the mail". I'm also noticing "But failed till now" in the 2nd version of the chorus... I wonder if that "till now" refers to people buying the songwriter's album? Maybe this song (or perhaps just that line) is kinda "haha, now I'm famous" like "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" by Ben Folds Five? Following that idea (sort of), I thought the "soft rock star" line was as opposed to hard rock star or just rock star, that it was referencing the idea of music that's more pretty than normal rock (kinda like Metric), which high school kids might not appreciate. (I'm recalling how Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots became uncool in high school after they went "soft". Also how there was this girl who got up in an assembly and sang in front of the school, and then got picked on mercilessly afterwards.) But I guess the "soft porn star", interpretation could be right too... not completely convinced by either one. |
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| Regina Spektor – Pavlov's Daughter Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Can't be the bible... the person didn't remember the book in question -- who wouldn't remember the bible? | |
| Regina Spektor – Your Honor Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Okay, few people have mentioned the basic story to the song, but I think the theme here is pacifism vs violence, and the wall between the two. Of course, a lot of non-violent people would have difficulty understanding why an otherwise reasonable person would get into a fight, and a lot of people who can be violent have difficulty understanding how you can just let some things go. Hell, maybe if she heard what provoked the fight, she would understand, but he just didn't want to upset her by repeating it. | |
| Regina Spektor – Oedipus Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Oh, just discovered that there were 2 more pages, and someone had actually come up with my idea (more or less). Incidentally, people need to actually go and read the story before making references to it. kittywitty32123, Jocasta killed herself after finding out the truth... no chance for her to be locking herself up in her chambers. | |
| Regina Spektor – Oedipus Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Yeah, it's possible that this song is connected to the original story, but only if Regina didn't know much of the original story. I'd like to think she's smarter than that. For starters in the original story Oedipus wasn't the 32nd son of either his birth parents or his adoptive parents, and that's just for starters. Who says that when the character in the song wakes up and thinks "Oedipus", that he's thinking of himself? After thinking that, the character decides he's gonna make himself count. Then... "Long live the king"... isn't that what people say at the coronation of a new king? I actually think the implications are pretty disturbing... basically sounds to me like the character was inspired by the story of Oedipus Rex, to kill his father, then become king, by marrying his mother. I wonder if it could have been based on a historical event... some of the details seem fairly specific, but I don't know of any such story. |
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| Lisa Mitchell – Oh! Hark! Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Not sure if it's about death... seems like it might be a vampire story actually... if that's correct, wonder if it refers to any particular story/novel. I was thinking that it seems, with the lines like "I hear the devil cooking up a new storm" and so on, that it might be some hero vampire story, like Angel (the spin-off from Buffy), since it seems like it refers to fighting evil and so on... "my world ends on a regular basis" goes with Angel too, since he regularly has to deal with an impending apocalypse. | |
| Amanda Palmer – Runs in the Family Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think song writers can often write from the perspective of exploring an issue while not neccessarily having a particular perspective on it, and I think this is one of those songs. I think she's actually wavering here between believing that mental illness is genetic and that it's the result of the way your family treats you... probably like many people she thinks that it's a mix of the two. See these lyrics: "This family that carries me to such great lengths to open my legs up to anyone who'll have me." which suggests that her family's pressure for her to find a man is one of the things that creates problems for her. There are other lines that suggest that kind of thing. Another line I want to direct attention to is this one: "I'm telling you 'cause I just want you to know me, know me and my family. We're wonderful folks, but don't get too close to me 'cause you might knock me up" I don't think this song is so much an attempt to lay the blame for behaviour outside of herself, so much as an explanation for prospective boyfriends. I mean, for one thing, it seems like she's worried that maybe she has problems that could be passed on to her children. On top of that, I'm sure that like most people walks her own line between trying to fit in and being true to herself (I think for people who aren't neurotypical it's hard to get close to the fitting in side of that dichotomy), and is just trying to explain what that path is like for her. I'd also like to comment that in order to write a song like this, you'd have to have the humility to acknowledge that some of your behaviours cause problems for yourself and/or the people around you. Most people aren't self-aware enough to notice something like that or they just don't care, and so never come to reflect on how their background affects them in the present. |
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| Lykke Li – Possibility Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Heh, don't think the song was necessarily written exclusively for Twilight. She talks a bit in her other songs about being shy... Tell me when you hear my silence There’s a possibility I wouldn’t know I'm a quiet person myself, and I always get people asking why I'm not talking, as if something's wrong, when I'm just enjoying listening to them. So I think in this song she's referring to a relationship where she's saying to her partner if she's not talking not to think that she's not enjoying myself, just say so because she's probably not aware of how quiet she is. Guess it might not a coincidence that I relate the song to my own experiences (though it's not like I find that this happens with every song I like)... maybe she meant something completely different by the lyrics. |
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| Lykke Li – Dance, Dance, Dance Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Oh yeah... this verse; easy conversations, there's no such thing oh, i'm shy, shy, shy my hips they lie 'cause in reality, aye i'm shy shy shy I think it's a comment on how people assume enthusiastic dancers are extroverts, while she is actually shy. |
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| Lykke Li – Dance, Dance, Dance Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It's a kinda funny song, saying that she can best describe how she feels by dancing, because she's shy... but a song is obviously made up of words. | |
| Lykke Li – Breaking It Up Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I just interpret this as her being in a relationship that she's not really serious, even pretending that she's really into the guy, when in reality she's preparing to break it off. | |
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