| Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The song is allegedly inspired by "Little Red Riding Hood." Derived from folkloric tales, the earliest printed version of "Red" as we know it was included in a collection of stories by Charles Perrault in 1697. Perrault explained the 'moral' of the story: "From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers. And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner. I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition--neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!" The story demonstrates how an innocent victim can be taken in and controlled by a criminal mentality, therefore facilitating the crime in an effort to isolate the victim by drawing her to another location "away from the public eye" where the criminal entity has complete control over the victim. So if the song is inspired by "Red," certainly it may be about a woman being pursued by a male who sings of his pursuit. Examining the lyrics, we see a possible "Red" connection (obvious and repeated lines omitted): Dark in the city, night is a wire | Steam in the subway, earth is afire [The city can be a safe and public place. Night in the city, however, is like walking the high wire: stay on the narrow path of the wire and all is good; one false step and meet your doom. One can be easily misled by hot spots (in every sense of the term) that lead to the underworld.] In touch with the ground, I'm on the hunt, I'm after you [I know the turf you're on better than you, now that you've been led away from your safety zone...and I will get you.] I smell like I sound, I'm lost and I'm found [stealth--you don't smell anything wrong just as you don't hear anything wrong, but if I lose (my stealth) then I will be uncovered for who I am.] Straddle the line, it's discord and rhyme [similar to first line "night is a wire"] High blood drumming on your skin it's so tight [tension is running high, as when you feel your heart pounding under your skin or in your ears, like a drum, that needs a tight skin in order to make sound.] I howl and I whine I'm after you | Mouth is alive with juices like wine | And I'm hungry like the wolf [I howl and beg for you; I drool for your goodies (Depending on the translation, Red was taking to Grandma either grape juice and banana bread or wine and cake, and the wolf wanted these), you're making me want you.] We're burning the ground, I break from the crowd [burning the ground = moving quickly, break from the crowd = follow the path least taken (move stealthily)] Both "Red" and the song can paint the woman (red) as a slut and/or a tease, naively or not. When the wolf talks with Red Riding Hood, she hauls out her goodies for him to see, which makes him want "her goodies." In the song, the male can taste the woman in his mind, which makes him want "her goodies." In either case, she smartly or foolishly or teasingly doesn't give in, causing his pursuit. Both the story and the song have been described as a depiction of rape (or attempted rape). Rape is not about sex, but about power--taking consent and, thus, power away from someone in order to build one's own power and self-esteem. The song talks of the male's pursuit of the woman, but ends before he actually overpowers her and assaults her. The story goes in a number of directions, so in some versions, Red Riding Hood is at risk of being assaulted, but never is. At the other extreme, the wolf procedes to devour (rape) Grandma, then devour (rape) Red Riding Hood, and then attempt to devour (rape) the woodcutter/hunter. The wolf does not care if the victim is young or old, male or female, because his objective is power. The song can also be viewed as a romantic chase, albeit a quite animalistic one. Not once does the male suggest anything without the woman's consent and cooperation. We assume that the male will eventually catch the woman and devour her (in some way) because he's on the hunt and he's hungry like the wolf. Keyword here! LIKE...he is hungry LIKE the wolf. He is not the wolf, and he should not be expected to act the way we would expect a wolf to act because, first and foremost, he is not a wolf. A related note--life imitates art: Simon Le Bon wrote these lyrics in 1982. Two years later, in 1984, while engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Le Bon began wooing a fashion model named Yasmin Parvaneh. This would make him a wolf of sorts. After seeing Parvaneh's face in a magazine, he went on the hunt, telephoning her modeling agency to track her down. Le Bon and Parvaneh married in 1985 and have three daughters. Oh, and by the way, nearly thirty years later, the couple remains married and the family lives in South West London. |
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| Coldplay – Viva la Vida Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| The song is about the Triune God. I have no doubt that the song could be about any number of beings. However, I noticed a God connection when I first listened to the lyrics. I analyzed the lyrics line-by-line and connected each with God through the Bible, tradition, revelation, folklore, and just plain common sense. All of the proofs and quotations are too much to print here, so I compiled my detailed analysis into a webpage that I could link to this site: http://is.gd/coldplay | |
| Blondie – Maria Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I do not doubt that "regina" refers to Regina Russell, but do not forget its other reference, more obvious to anyone who has spent any time around Roman Catholicism in general, and female Roman Catholics in particular (which was pretty much established in the songwriter's experiences). "Ave Maria" translates to "Hail, Mary" but the word "Salve" also translates as "Hail," and is very often followed by "Regina," the Latin word for "Queen." The "Salve" is omitted since "Hail" is already included by the "Ave." English speakers tend to prefer the Latin pronunciation of the word (ri-GEE-nuh), rather than the accepted English pronunciation (ri-DJAI-nuh) because it sounds too much like the word "vagina." (Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan is pronounced \ri-DJAI-nuh\ after the British Queen Victoria, whose proper name was Victoria Regina. And, yes, Queen Elizabeth's proper name is Elizabeth Regina...she uses, as a shortened signature, "Elizabeth R.") I realize this is a very minor point by itself. But when viewed with all of the "Ave Marias" and other references, like "a million and one candle lights" and "blue as ice and desire" (the Virgin Mary is shown dressed in blue about 85% of the time) and "don't you wanna take her home," we see a guy struggling with a Madonna-whore complex in which males categorize females as either pure and untouchable (like Mary or Mommy) or hot and sexual (like a bad girl or a whore). When a female like Maria elicits both purity and sexuality for the male, he has a real problem making sense of his feelings. BTW, the Madonna-whore complex does not affect all males; there is usually something in the male's early years that builds these mental images of females, so that later the images can torment the adolescent (or older) male when his hormones start to run amok. |
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