| The Walkmen – The Blue Route Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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"It used to be some kind of joke And all the debts you’ve come to know" "Eleven blackbirds in the sky A hundred fireflies for miles Your tired eyes are open wide What could you do But keep replaying through the days That have brought you to this place You wandered down an open road and you kept going" I see this song as shock of self-awareness after a time of despair and aimless wandering. |
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| The Walkmen – Canadian Girl Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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"Blown by strong winds, but if you fear All that you said to me is still so very clear" :) |
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| The Walkmen – My Old Man Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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"I refuse to talk this out, 'cause I don't need this now." "And last night you did something that I don't wanna hear." "And all fun stops here. Something throws me from my chair. Bring your sister out, and we'll be leaving now." I'm not clear on whose point of view the narrative is taking. Because of the title, the part where they're all driving in his car, and the odd reference to 'your sister', I think he is acting out some anger he saw from his father. |
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| The Walkmen – Many Rivers to Cross Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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This is one of their best recordings. Just amazing. Most of the album is a fun exercise, but maybe not quite up to the strength of the Nilsson/Lennon recordings. This one surpasses the original. High praise indeed, since the original is also amazing. |
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| The Walkmen – Little House of Savages Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| This is a song in which he is justifying his infidelity. He has come to regret moving in with his girlfriend --wife?-- and he feels that instead of choosing her, he should have chosen the girl he has resorted to seeing when he goes out. Or maybe he feels like he coasted into it on the strength of her feelings, and didn't make his own choice about it when he could have. But it's too late now, he is committed. And he is terrified of seeing her when he gets home. | |
| The Walkmen – The North Pole Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Missed a couple of lines before the ending: Your Monday morning train takes you uptown Your Friday evening bus brings you back down It's times that these that you say you want out That's all we seem to ever talk about So here's what they're saying I'm sincerely yours |
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| The Walkmen – Wake Up Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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It's hard to make out a couple of parts, but I hear: "Nothing's on, it's like a joke that's told without its final line. Where's it going? We had it wrong." "elegance and sentimental songs of shame." "Hear the call of a new world, As they climb to the next floor." "And in a way it's fine, We're walking through it. Unfamiliar scene, We're choking on it. And we're shaking hands with someone we don't know now!" I related to this one especially hard in the wake of my first breakup. Had to keep getting up early for university, even though it was the last thing I felt like doing, and face the stark new reality in which I found myself. The harshest feeling of solitude. The sky outside was usually bleak and gray. No direction to go but forward. Climb to the next floor, try to keep up with everyone else, even if there's no emotional investment. |
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| The Walkmen – I'm Never Bored Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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My weekdays, So busy, it's my schedule. Well, given my apartment's just as full. Those ceilings and white unforgiving walls, I know that's rigid then. The days lined on my calendar, As subways trains that roll. Being home late it's hard to keep proper intervals of sleep. I like it though. My weekends, I travel and I visit friends. Sometimes I go out, sometimes I stay in To entertain myself. It's only in the humor In a story I recall. I mimic with my arms as I Exaggerate a joke. Oh, there I go! It's only in this drama In a story I recall. I mimic with my arms as I Exaggerate the plot. I go to Unhook the VCR cable and Laugh at the mess of tangled grey and black. Antenna cord's somewhere in the back. I'm leanin' over, down behind the TV stand, a radiated pulse A hissin' light, extended hands Spits among the dust. I give up. |
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| The Walkmen – Rue The Day Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I know you won't be thinkin' of me now, its been years. But I hope you'll change your mind. When we were introduced, We both laughed, cause we'd been friends since long before we met today, But I've never thought of you one single day. But yesterday, I remembered drivin' with no headlights, We would tip toe out in the evening. Never done such things before! But I have never frowned once Thinkin' of you since. I'd be lyin' if I said your name never came up, As I'd be thinkin' of just how I'd like to cash my days in now. And all I ever do is think of yesterday. Man it's hard to stand up straight all of the time. We'd tip toe down to my basement. Never done such things before! I'd drive you home for goodness sake. I could barely stand up straight. Oh, there's a memory callin', Callin' way too loud and way too strong. Twistin' all the bad things into good. I'm a lucky guy now, but I never know it 'til it's gone. Yeah I never know it 'til it's gone. |
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| The Walkmen – That's The Punch Line Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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"That's the change of style, you're eccentric when you smile." He's saying that the coolest most fashionable thing she can do is smile and be her quirky self, because people respond to that. |
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| The Walkmen – That's The Punch Line Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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"Remember this world, it's not so bad, it's coming off of you." What I interpret here is that when people treat her unkindly, it's because of her own negative attitude and the mean-faced models she emulates in her quest to look attractive. She is the source of the stink she's always complaining about. That's the punchline. |
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| The Walkmen – Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Clothing crashing to the floor. Insane. Much worse than first thought. The horrific scope of the infidelity committed against the narrator is hitting in waves. |
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| The Walkmen – Bows + Arrows Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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One small but important line correction. I hear: There comes a time, there comes a time To make it right when all is wrong He is accepting that they both made mistakes, and he is past trying to assign blame. |
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| The Walkmen – French Vacation Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[impact:35113] Thank you for the lyrical correction. Makes much more sense now. The second verse has him meeting up again, but then in the third he's lost him again. I know I'm reaching here, but the second verse sounds like what he's expecting to say when he sees him again, but then he just never shows up. The story is more disturbing that way, which works better with the vibe of the music. |
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| The Walkmen – The North Pole Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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He sees her in a new relationship, and he's not impressed. He can tell that even she is not impressed with the new guy. He doesn't expect to be seeing more of him. He expects her to come crawling back, and when that happens, he knows he'll take her back in spite of everything. But he's feeling cold and bitter as fuck right now. |
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| The Walkmen – Little House of Savages Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| He regrets moving in with his girlfriend, and he feels he should have chosen the girl he is seeing when he goes out. | |
| The Walkmen – Roll Down The Line Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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A lie that pulls, a lie that binds. The rest of the song makes more sense once you have that. |
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| John Cale – Look Horizon Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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This is one of my favorites by John Cale. A lament on the losses we as humans are bringing about on ourselves through our own stupidity. For a long time I thought of the 'look horizon' in an abstract way-- like our depth of understanding is leaving us behind. But he could also be talking about the way the tide gets sucked away before a tsunami. |
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| Technotronic – Rockin' Over The Beat Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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This song busts me up every time because I hear a mondegreen: "Feel like rockin' the whole track team" |
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| Technotronic – Rockin' Over The Beat Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I hear: Not like candy, you taste and say it can't be Why MC oh you're too good to be true, and you'll agree |
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| Radiohead – Last Flowers Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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The title says it all, really-- "Last Flowers to the Hospital" suggests a final visit with a loved one who is dying. Even while you're dying, life goes on around you, and there are always those regular annoyances that must be dealt with. A coffeemaker will still give you hell, and kids can be so oblivious to any suffering happening around them. "I can't face the evening straight" says that there's too much pain and horror to contemplate-- he needs painkillers, or a drink, or anything, just to get by. This person needs company. He misses home, and would give anything to go someplace familiar, where the nightmare can become a little less real. He doesn't have much energy left for speech, and doesn't even know if he can-- so when he's ready to let it out, he won't want to be judged, or have to waste precious energy arguing. These bright hospital lights are overpowering, as is the stark reality of life and death. I'm reminded of another hospital song, "T.B Sheets," by Van Morrison. That song is framed in such a way that it's about the visitor, who can hardly stand around and watch his beloved suffer. I'm pretty sure "Last Flowers" is about the one who is dying, but it could be flipped to be about the visitor too. |
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| The B-52's – Rock Lobster Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Great song. No idea what they're talking about half the time. That theory on the 'air hose broke' section made me laugh so hard I snorted, though it's a funny verse either way. Lots of bad puns in this song. Wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that whole last section is a build-up to a fat joke. | |
| Devo – Pink Pussycat [Demo Version] Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| This is one of those rare cases where the demo is better than the released version. Not that the released one is bad, but this one is better. The pacing is a bit slower, and the callouts of "pink pussycat" are more labored. The album version sort of glosses over itself in a hurry to get on with it, whereas the demo drives home the sexual frustration and longing that rides along under the song's grossly obvious metaphor. | |
| Devo – Ono Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I take this to be a song about going through life with a partner, and finding only sickness, overwork and old age. The laughter on the end of this track is up there with Devo's most disturbing moments. | |
| Devo – Chango Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I think this is a version of "Heart of Darkness" set in the future. I don't think Chango is a part of a primitive culture, I think he is a de-evolved member of future society who snaps and decides to take out his lack of maternal affection on random people with the advanced tools offered to him. It's a satirical take on the kinds of violence we see today. | |
| Devo – Goo Goo Itch Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is absolutely disgusting. And catchy. And hilarious. "Hardcore Devo" lives up to the promise in its title with this one. I'm not going to explain what this is about, because to not immediately understand this subject matter, you'd have to be under twelve years old. Or to have lost your penis in some sort of an accident with a mechanical thresher. Dear almost-a-sir who my imagination has concocted, I'm so sorry you won't know the goo goo itch. It is worthwhile to note that this is the only song (that I'm aware of) that muses on the idea that sex turns men into babies. You know, it sorta rings true. Most uncomfortably. |
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| Devo – Gates Of Steel Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| With "Come Back Jonee" as a total subversion of classic rocker "Johnny B. Goode", this song establishes that the demolition of classic rock tunes is a Devo M/O. Here we get a namedrop of "Twist and Shout". It is only a namedrop this time however. Thematically, "Gates of Steel" is a different beast, though that namedrop has a purpose. By conjuring that happy song from the past, a song people loved to dance to, it makes you notice how comparatively hopeless things are getting now. The idea of twisting and shouting used to be a good time, but now it sounds like something unpleasant. | |
| Devo – Come Back Jonee Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| "Come Back Jonee" is a lyrical deconstruction of "Johnny B. Goode," a rock'n'roll classic by Chuck Berry. The original holds a very straight focus, about a boy who everyone knows will one day go far because he's so good on his guitar. The Devo song tips that song onto its side and scoops out its belly, delving into Johnny's other potential issues. It explores the idea that he's in a failing relationship and can't live up to other expectations in life, and that his obsession with his guitar ends up costing him everything else. | |
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