| Jens Lekman – Psychogirl Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
I can't really see why this would be seen as cruel. This is one of my favourite songs by Jens, the melodies and the lyrics are both perfect. The song is obviously melancholic and honest. There is a type that attracts people with lots of problems (mental disorders mainly), and I have been at both ends of a situation like this. This song addresses how relationships can't turn into therapy - you're there for the other person, granted, but you can't solve their problems. They can't rely on you with everything that's wrong with them, that will just put too much stress, pressure and whatnot on the other person (who already has problems of their own). A relationship where the other one is trying to drag their partner out of depression, for example, is likely to lead to both needing help and straining their relationship. "Who would be the psychologist's psychologist?" very clearly states that they have their own problems to deal with, they can't then try to make the other person get better. I see this as a very truthful song about something that is both difficult and common. It is not cruel, it is honest and makes an important point. Partners are not supposed to be each other's psychologists, and no matter how sad it would feel, that sort of a relationship is better left unpursued. |
|
| Dry The River – New Ceremony Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I feel like this is about an affair with someone you're really in love with while you're in a relationship with someone else. "It's anybody's guess how, The angel of doubt came down, And crept into your bed." I think this refers to the doubt in the actual relationship. You find someone else, and what was once your everyday life, a relationship you're used to, seems less perfect now. Maybe there's something better out there, the one you're having an affair with. "Now the stairs forget your shoes, And the gate don't creak for want of you. But the jury's out on me." The affair has ended, they're not seeing each other anymore but the narrator's still got to take responsibility of their actions. "We're wise beyond our years, But we're good at bad ideas, my love. Or so it seems to be." While the affair has ended, they're still in love or feel a deep connection. They're wise, they know what matters in life and they know what they are supposed to do. Maybe they've had conversation neither of them can have with anyone else. They know exactly what they're not supposed to do, yet they do. Even though they know they're hurting themselves, each other and everyone involved. Because the narrator is truly in love with the person s/he's having an affair with, "Or so it seems to be" refers to how they might not see the affair as such a bad idea after all. They know it won't end well, but they still hope it might because after all they're in love. The narrator is a romantic. "Shine a little light, Don't wrestle with the night, Don't think about the future now. I know it's gotta stop love but I don't know how." There will be darkness, things will go wrong and they'll be found out and everyone will get hurt and they will have to stop their affair at some point. The narrator's persuading them not to think about their impossible future but live in the moment and do what they want to do once more. They both know it can't go on forever but they don't want to stop it as it feels right. "My little one, My kettle drum" This shows how they are truly in love with each other, it's more than just a sexual affair. "My babel tongue, My come-undone" Babel is "In the Bible, a city (now thought to be Babylon) in Shinar where God confounded a presumptuous attempt to build a tower into heaven by confusing the language of its builders into many mutually incomprehensible languages." The idea of the person was heavenly, yet doomed in the first place. "My prison kiss, My dying wish" The person is the one thing the narrator wants anymore, it's always the one they'd choose, the last person to think about, the only person to see. |
|
| Mumford & Sons – I Gave You All Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I like many other interpretations to this, but I've personally always seen this as a song about a relationship where someone has treated you wrong. For the sake of clarity, I'm going to refer to the narrator as A and the person they're singing it to as B. "Rip the earth in two with your mind Seal the urge which ensues with brass wires" This is A after they've heard that B has cheated on them. A is angry and trying not to do anything stupid, A is trying to stay calm despite all the anger in their head. "I never meant you any harm But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearm" This is where B is feeling all sorry and remorseful, they may have turned the whole situation around by acting as if they've been hurt, or they've been driven into hurting A. A is somehow the one consoling B. "I close my eyes for a while Force from the world a patient smile" A is trying to put up with B's behaviour, smile and say everything is ok and say that they don't hate B and B shouldn't cry. "How can you say that your truth is better than ours?" This sounds like it's to do with religion. Atheism vs. religions, how atheists tend to say that their belief is right because it can in many ways be proven. However, I believe that the religious theme is something that Mumford & Sons tend to include in almost every song, and while this line is clearly on religion, it can also be seen as a smaller scale argument on personal truths. Maybe it's about A and B's relationship problems, arguing what's behind them, who's to blame et cetera. "Shoulder to shoulder, now brother, we carry no arms The blind man sleeps in the doorway, his home If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy I could have won" The last line is one of my all time favourites. To me this is about not feeling anything, or trying not to feel anything, either being so depressed that nothing really matters anymore or protecting yourself from all the pain e.g. loving someone can cause. A wants to appear cold and distant, even emotionless, in order to not get hurt. However, the coldness and the apathy, the fact that you don't really care about anything anymore (like people rarely do in modern world - hence the first two lines) is actually what makes you screw everything up, every relationship. A being cold is what has made B so desperate and driven B to cheat on A - to find some emotion in someone else and also maybe to upset A, to see if A has any feelings for B whatsoever. A does, and A knows that their inability to love with their whole heart and/or show their feelings is what caused all the problems in the first place. What was meant to protect A from pain, has in fact led to all the pain they're both going through now. If A had had an enemy bigger than their apathy, they could've fought for B. But as apathy is their biggest enemy, A can't see the point in trying. If things don't work out, there's nothing to be done. "But I gave you all" Despite the fact that A's cold and doesn't show their emotions, A has done everything for B, to show that A really loves/needs B. Even if A hasn't been able to tell B how much B means to A, A has certainly shown it and B can't possibly say that A didn't care. "But you rip it from my hands And you swear it's all gone And you rip out all I have Just to say that you've won" B has done everything they can to hurt A, to show that they have power over A's emotions. B has cheated on A, A is hurting so B has won. B has shown A that B really matters to A, and has really hurt A only to "win". Only to know B wasn't just some person A was in a relationship with but who didn't influence A's life at all. B isn't just one of the others but someone who actually mattered, and the only way to show it to A, in B's opinion, is causing as much pain as possible. "Well now you've won." Yes, B may have won. It's clear that A loved B. But in this line, there is also a sort of "I-don't-give-a-shit-if-you-win-anymore" tone. B has won but A actually gave their all to B, which is more than they've ever done for anyone else. Even if it seems a little to B, it's big coming from A. B doesn't realise this and for one last time hurt A so much that A is ready to fall into complete apathy and never give their all to anyone else again. |
|
| Jens Lekman – Maple Leaves Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think this is about a person who is in love with a depressed girl. The girl is talking about how much she hates herself and how her life is falling apart, but the narrator fails to realise this (and also concentrates more on how they feel about her, not how she feels about herself). I think the style of the lyrics is very typical of Jens Lekman; while the narrator sounds somewhat humoristically naive (thinking that she is talking about the band when she's talking about "the fall"), it is yet very honest and human (mishearing, seeing things from a slightly different perspective than the other). | |
| Jens Lekman – Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| He definitely does sing "kanske är jag kär i dig", although the later one is just "kanske är jag k-". I think the phrase really sums up the whole idea of this song; him being in love with someone and therefore making a fool of himself and talking about stuff that doesn't really matter. I also think it adds credibility that the line is in Swedish. It could sound somewhat cheesy if instead of that he sang "maybe I am in love with you". | |
| Pulp – I Spy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I've always thought that this is about a man who wants to hurt another man who has once hurt him. Possibly they've been best friends at some point but the one who is now married and leads a "good life" once stole the other man's girlfriend, and since that he has been longing for revenge. Clearly he's enjoying the situation (him sleeping with his wife and showing her all the passion the other man never gave her) and I absolutely love how twisted it is. He's mocking their upper class lifestyle and despises how fake and cold it all seems (no passion, upper class parties and masks that never slip), even though he is somewhat jealous for still being "stuck here". | |
| Glasvegas – Change Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I actually think it's about someone who has been in prison for the last three years and has been wanting to get out. However, now that he actually IS getting out, he is afraid of the freedom and the possibility of making the same mistakes again (not being able to change no matter how much he wants to). He is afraid of the responsibility the freedom brings, as he's used to being "safe" in prison where he can't commit crimes. Freedom means that the choice is his, he has to resist all the temptations he faces. In prison there were no such temptations so it was easier to act in a non-criminal way, but after getting out he is in the same position as he was before, so why would he not go back to his old ways? Outside prison there are also people who know what he's done and will treat him as the person he was before: it is more than possible and easy to be that person again (even though he doesn't want to). The mum is understanding and tries to encourage the son. He loves his mum very much and wants to make her proud, therefore trying to change for her (although being unsure of whether or not he can). She points out that in order to make things better he has to change for himself, not for her. | |
| Battle – Tendency Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think it's "It's clear that we don't breathe the same air" | |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.