| PJ Harvey – Joy Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I agree, this is loosely based on Flannery O'connor's work it seems, even though Pj is using it to represent themes within her own experiences and reflection on society as well. Flannery O'connor also inspired "a good man is hard to find" by sufjan stevens. I really admire her work and the way she can portray tragic themes of the human spirit so cleverly, this is one of the same reasons i admire pj harvey. In this song in particular there is also somewhat of a play on words such as "hope, joy, and faith" all which can be used as female names, so perhaps there is a suggestion of joy's personality being "personified" into these three different words. I perceive the "wanted to go blind, wanted hope to stay" as indicating that if she didnt see the possibilities of the world that she knows she'll never be able to have, then she could be blissfully be ignorant to them. This would in turn allow her to retain some kind of false "hope" that might come had her condition been in fact worse (where she couldnt even physically see that which she is missing), because at least she wouldnt have to face what she cant have as obviously as she does now. It may be depressing, but it's the awful truth, and it haunts you whether you like it or not. Pjs guitar notes and shrilling voice make one's mood more tolerable and at ease when you find yourself being haunted by an awful truth and trying any form of escape. | |
| Modest Mouse – Heart Cooks Brain Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This song always creates a bit of nostalgia for me during autumn time, perhaps it was the circumstances of experiences in my past. But i turn it on and still feel the same today. I have nothing quite new to add to the analysis here, as it seems most people have guessed the obvious interpretation of what "heart cooks brain means". It is not a hard song to figure out, but it is one that i always go back to when admiring lyrical brilliance in my favorite artists. This song expresses a certain condition that happens to some of us..the condition of being overwhelmed/exhausted and burned out by the very things we need. The brain and the heart need each other, yet the co-dependence is fatal through constant contradiction. The notion of emotion versus logic, and the constant battle between them that ensues, and how there is really no solution to it. I think this song is another example of how music and lyrics can most accurately describe a human emotion where as day to day conversation can not. It's another example of how through music we cope with these feelings that have no solutions, and we feel if only temporarily, slightly better by the poetry and notes seeping under our skin and providing relife. Oh modest mouse, how i always come back to you. | |
| Interpol – Narc Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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this song is to me about manipulation obviously. doesn't have to be about drugs or sex. why would an artist write a song in a straight forward manner? songs are never about what you think they mean on the surface. Regardless of the actual supposed quote from him, the great thing about music is sometimes you can interpret it on a deeper level than even the artist themselves intended. Regardless of any of the lyrics before or after "just you , me and this wire" has to be one of the greatest lyrics to describe what goes on in dysfunctional relationships. It doesn't even have to be a dysfunctional relationship, it can be that both or only one of the people in it are themselves dysfunctional. Wire is obviously the metaphor for "hearing in on" or someone or something inside one of them telling one of them to say or act a certain way to try to retrieve certain words or actions that are desired out of the other person, something we all find ourselves doing. Its a metaphor for either not being able to be yourself, hiding something, or trying to get out of the person something you desire but have to go to great clever lengths to do so. But mainly its a metaphor for the many layers of subconscious manipulation that go on for both parties in a relationship with unbalanced power dynamics. it touches on the notion of a feeling of being fooled, but being aware of it. "the gazing eye wont lie" "she found a lonely sound" things are questionable nonverbally but they would rather acknowledge that everything's ok with how they act on the outside-"poses we'll make soon will reveal our sense of right." But like some narcs..at somepoint(s) their true nature is revealed, not necessarily for better or worse, just because the truth is hard to hide. " you should be in my space, you should be in my life" does seem to be a positive note though of wanting to share your true self with someone rather than being strangers together. |
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| PJ Harvey – Horses In My Dreams Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think with the city and the sea concepts that they can be analyzed as two forms of escape when needed at different times. The city representing the need for stimulation and distraction from the sort of emptiness or hole that you may feel when sinking into that numbness that everyday life gives you. The sea is the quiet and isolation escape that may be needed to hear your own thoughts and truly become in tune with the real you again. Either way both forms are ways to hide within business or calmness as a means to escape. Sometimes it is the only way to be at peace and not on stage and subject to others, in essence. In this song i do think it is meant to be powerful and somewhat uplifting in the sense that you are reminded of that peace that you can have when escaping and being free to roam the world by yourself. When you are alone you aren't subject to others having an emotional influence on you and you can control your own thoughts and behaviors better. The quiet of not being reminded of the emotion is what makes you feel strong. I do think the horse symbolizes the tamed wild nature, and that through riding the horse you can be free in the sense of being in control of your emotions, and by way of that confident feeling and at peace. It is an uplifting song, but like true pj style obviously the indication is that this is something she needs to remember she is capable of versus something she may feel at the present time, and it may be something she frequently comes back to as a thought of peace when she feels that depression starting to come back. Horses in my dreams are the reminders that somewhere that place of being free of emotional heaviness does exist. | |
| Tori Amos – Pancake Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Besides the obvious religious interpretations I think this song could also touch on when it comes to being in the presence or someone (or groups of people) who simply don't have the same way of thinking as yourself. "who's fooling who here" there is a facade that everything is fine and going well, but underneath there are some core differences in the way you and the other person question things or relate to the world, and perhaps you are both in denial. When you are somewhat deep in your mind in thought usually out in a public situation with someone and you want to believe you are on the same page mentally, but then after all this deep thought the person says something as simple as "i ordered you a pancake". It's the quintessential moment that makes you see the surface level of what the dynamic is that you might have with them. It could be innocent and not intentional but it shows how no matter how well you can relate to others no one may quite understand the depth of your thoughts. The statement of "i ordered you a pancake" very much represents the lack of ability to converse about things that really matter, and it gives you a kind of epiphany on the reality of your dynamic with the person. This isn't quite touching on the religious analysis which can be tied into that notion ( which i could partake in as well), but i've always interpreted the lyric in this way, having had these situations in the past. | |
| Echo and the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| This song can mean the obvious, about an unattainable girl, but perhaps she is only unattainable to the wrong men. "you'll" could be referring to those who will not get her sugar kisses, but the "my" may be the man who does get them and who she won't flee from. the mirror might be his reflection in the lake he sees, as he sees the two sides of himself, while he is flowing down the river for her, because perhaps she is worth it. Mirror kisses could be his own "reflection" but it could be either the lake or the girl. | |
| PJ Harvey – Grow Grow Grow Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I've heard a lot of debate about the themes of abortion or lost children on the white chalk album, but actually i tend to think there is truth to it. Pj does an incredible job of cryptic lyric writing, which is why i adore her. You can also read into it in incredibly varying ways, so I realize this may just be my interpretation. My personal analysis would say that the "seed" is in fact the child that was not able to be born. You bury a seed of a person much like you bury a plant seed, under ground, so she buries the seed (the abortion or miscarriage). Since the child couldn't live she plants another "seed" (the actual rose) next to it and it represents the growth that would have been the child's. this flower or plant would be marked in time by it's growth just as her child would have. She can pass it later on and see it having bloomed into something beautiful, and almost see the child as the rose. the rose is then personafied as her daughter in "Teach me mummy How to grow How to catch someone's fancy Underneath the twisted oak grove." The rose will "learn" to catch someone's eye the more it blooms and grows, much like her daughter would have. But it's a sad and beautiful truth that this is what has become of her. |
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| PJ Harvey – That Was My Veil Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| One of my favorites by Pj. "Veil" can be taken as a symbol of marriage but i think it mainly represents the thing that she's able to hide behind, and her innocence, her secret. In that regard, if she has lost her innocence or fragility/purity to some extent, it is the expression of her feeling used and the person not realizing her value. One could stretch as far to say her "virginity" but this song can be taken many different ways. It also means her emotional shield and respect, they were able to tear it down, and now she is left unguarded, and she wants to feel strong again. | |
| PJ Harvey – Black Hearted Love Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I don't think its so much about "obsession". It could also be about realizing a fantasy of something or someone who has always been just be a fantasy, the black hearted love that you are fatally attracted to. "When you call out my name in rapture I volunteer my soul for murder" the inevitability of the harm. she is okay with knowing he makes her give up complete control (if even just for that brief moment). She knows she is helpless to all that he embodies (the "dark" one who will never be good for her, but she's come to terms with it). He'll actually lurk around in her mind from the past and she'll wonder, occasionally seeing him "in the shadows". He's the black hearted one, but her being able to "take you to a place" means she is aware of things he is not and has just as many secrets to show him, so perhaps they are on an equal level. but yes, fatal love. |
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| PJ Harvey – The Darker Days of Me and Him Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Pj is one of my favorite artists. In this particular one it's obvious she's feeling drained from a relationship, but I think a lot of her lyrics (at least the ones on relationships) seem to generalize the feeling shes had from several past relationships not just one. The overall feeling coming out of all of them is a sense of there being a reason for her needing to have gone through them "you taught me a lesson i didn't want to learn" but now that she realizes that she wants to just pick up and be in something that isn't so emotionally exhausting. "With no neuroses And no psychoses No psychoanalysis And no sadness" "tape the broken parts together, limp this love around" is one of my favorite lyrics when expressing trying to make something work that just isn't meant to be. |
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| The Organ – Oh What a Feeling Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| "they'll have whatever they want" can more accurately describe passiveness and general acceptance in a situation where there shouldn't be, kind of a resignation to something that isn't good for you. Often when you come out of these situations you begin to feel alive again because your life can be opened up to passion rather than passivity. I have similar themes to this in a song i wrote called Acquiescence. | |
| The Organ – Oh What a Feeling Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think this song describes that kind of disassociation that comes when you are in a not so compatible relationship(s) but cannot get out. The duality of the body and the soul meaning the two parts of her that she has lived in and out of and she can switch back and forth between the two but this person does not bring out the "whole" of her, they force her to have to choose one or the other. The "ghost" can even be damages of the girl she used to be that she was trying to get over, and this person has brought all of her bad tendencies back again. "And I get the strangest feeling When I float up to the ceiling All the blubbering and moans come From my body down below" to me this most obviously represent the numbness of sex with someone she doesn't love where her mind and heart isn't in it, but it could also mean just her general habit of not being present while she is with this person (or mundane people in society). She realizes people need to be connected to others "twos, pairs" and does feel the loneliness, but isn't sure what to do about it. "they'll come in twos" "they'll take whatever they want" -society's expectation of people being connected and having relations (relationships, etc) is so strong that they will try to force her to be happy in one, and they can try but she may not listen to them "swing a broom, bat them out" because they don't understand how things are more complex and happiness isn't something that can be easily solved that way. |
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| The Organ – it's time to go Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| This song couldn't be any more obvious. I won't dissect (because there isn't anything to dissect) this song so much as to say that i identify with it currently. When you find that the few places that feel like "home" have gotten old in a world where you otherwise don't fit, it leaves you wondering where else to go. Move to a different place physically? or perhaps just adopt a different mentality and adjust the type of activities you start doing by redefining "fun". You can keep your love for certain style and music, but sometimes the general crowd and atmosphere of a noisy bar or club just gets draining. You want to find deeper meaning in life with people and places that are not void of it. | |
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