submissions
| The Birthday Party – Mutiny in Heaven Lyrics
| 2 years ago
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Calling this a drug song is limited and overlooks the main themes of \'Mutiny in Heaven\'. The song\'s central message is the way that the idea of original sin in the Catholic Church makes children internalise guilt and ultimately self-loathing. The narrator rebels against the manipulation and control of the Church by becoming a drug user, fulfilling his Luciferian role of the song\'s title. If this is Heaven, then he\'s bailing out. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Fire Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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We all walk streets of fire. That's life. We walk along, trying to hold our nerve and get through the flames that are life's uncertainty and unpredictability, and find our way. |
submissions
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Gates to the Garden Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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His lover is dead and he imagines being with her as he visits her grave. Interesting twist at the end: "Let the saints attend to the keeping of the cathedrals", which suggests that he is no longer so crippled by grief. The song is about moving on from losing the ones you love, but without forgetting them. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Aneurysm Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[MoonMonster11:5739] And I thought it was "she keeps a poppy stain on my heart"... we are all wordsmiths |
submissions
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – As I Sat Sadly by Her Side Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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I think the woman in this song is quite naïve in that she believes that the universe is full of all of these people working together happily in unison and function.
Nick believes the universe is full of so many people that we can't help but step on each other as we try to succeed.
She tells him not to be so arrogant as to concern himself with all of the world's suffering.
So why is he smiling at the end where she cries? |
submissions
| Joy Division – The Eternal Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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@[blood:3987] is thin I hate it - is he saying his daughter is a waste of his time? I'd prefer to think it's "wastefully spent" because he cannot connect with people or he knows that he'll be dead soon anyway and can't have an impact on her life. |
submissions
| Billy Joel – Angry Young Man Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Everyone has missed the point: Joel isn't deriding anger, he's deriding SELF ABSORBED anger, where the young man is merely self-pitying and whiny instead of motivated to change what he cannot accept. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Stay Away Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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"Rather be dead than cool" is more interesting than ironic... at the time it just meant the high school macho type of guy, which was all that 'cool' was, yet this very album would soon change the idea of what 'cool' could be. And Nirvana was it. |
submissions
| The Stooges – Rich Bitch Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Without a doubt the most sophisticated cut from the album (musically, of course). 'Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell' is the better of the two of this subject matter. |
submissions
| David Bowie – Lady Stardust Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Of all the 'Ziggy' characters, Lady Stardust is my favourite... that opening verse when he defiantly stands before all those who mock him and simply performs as himself until all the boys watch him intently and "make their point of view"... the courage to be your wonderful self. |
submissions
| My Friend The Chocolate Cake – Sirens Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Haunting... all the possibilities that summer holds restrained by our fears and the ever present threat of bushfires... if there is a greater summer song I haven't heard it. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Drain You Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Cobain's idea of a love song, says 'commitment' and 'passion'... just in a really weird way. "With eyes so dilated, I've become your pupil... pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss from my mouth to yours." |
submissions
| Pavement – Range Life Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Everyone talks about Pumpkins v Pavement and no one even mentions the poor old Stone Temple Pilots. No wonder they're so foxy to everyone. |
submissions
| The White Stripes – Little Room Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Enough. This song is awful. It should never have seen the light of day and it takes some outrageous pretension to say anything else. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Aneurysm Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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A love song that could be about heroin or a girl...
For what it's worth, I thought the last line was, "She keeps a poppy stain on my heart," which would be both a symbol of innocent, flowery love or the poppies that heroin is made out of |
submissions
| U2 – Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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"Well you stole it cos I needed the cash
And you killed it cos I wanted revenge
You lied to me cos I asked you to"
The narrator considers the bad things his lover did that ended their relationship and realises that he may have pushed her towards them. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Adam Raised a Cain Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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The sins of the father are visited upon the son... the narrator loves his father but is aware that he risks being tied to his failures and wants to break free of them. |
submissions
| John Lennon – How Do You Sleep? Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Seldom has music ever had a character with such good, undeserved PR as John Lennon. Some call him the first tormented artist of rock n roll, I just consider him to be the spoilt brat with enough rebellion for people to romanticise. This song is a hack job against McCartney, pretending that he was the mainstream, moneybags nice guy compared to Lennon's more appealing frustrated outlaw... and I hope that before he died Lennon realised the irony of criticising McCartney for being subservient to his partner. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Clothes Line Saga Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Love this one: it's like everyone's in on some joke or conspiracy but the narrator. The Vice President goes mad and everyone's suspiciously chill about it and they send the narrator away... good smirking vocal from Dylan. |
submissions
| Arctic Monkeys – Dancing Shoes Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Don't act like it's not happening
As if it's impolite
To go and mention your name
Instead you'll just do the same
As they all do, and hope for the best
Truer words have never been spoken. Case Study 1 of the greatness of Turner's writing on WPSIA |
submissions
| The Smiths – Still Ill Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Yes the difficulty of sexuality - most likely a homosexual in between coming out and staying in - seems to be the focus of this one. But my favourite line is "There are brighter sides to life and I should know because I've seen them (but not very often". Morrissey's greatest strength was not only to define and capture the pain, misery and overwhelming challenges of life but to make them so amusing that they seemed like a beatable part of everyday life to the listener. |
submissions
| The Smiths – The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Wonderful song. Great balance of threatening lyrics - the storm outside, the ceiling shadows, the phantom's piano, the bloody cleaver, the bogey-man - that enhance the avowals of parental protection. Actually one of Marr's simpler performances - just that one arpeggio loop, would've been nice if he'd found another part but no biggy. |
submissions
| The Smiths – Pretty Girls Make Graves Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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The line "give up to lust, Heaven knows we'll soon be dust" is from Andrew Marvell's poem 'To His Coy Mistress' - "Your quaint honour turns to dust/And into ashes all my lust" |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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When he asks for his pretty baby to be on his lap I think he means his gun...
Great shake up for Springsteen, the car being a vehicle for destruction instead of opportunity. |
submissions
| Kanye West – Gorgeous Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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"Got caught with 30 Rocks, the cop looked like Alec Baldwin"
Clearly showing the white, middle aged patriarchal power structure -
Yes... but.... he. Had. 30. Rocks. |
submissions
| Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Being so totally consumed in the minute details of your life - fashion ("drill holes in themselves"), life security ("lock up their spirits") - that you are unable to comprehend the beauty and wonder of that which you don't believe in. |
submissions
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Finding a moment of peace and happiness when everything else around you is harsh, nagging and unhappy...
BTW I thought "Aqua seafoam shame" was "I concede full shame", "Married/buried" was "Mary, Mary" and "Sunburn and freeze burn" was "sunburnt and free as a bird." |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Meeting Across the River Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Disagree that this is a song about drug dealing... seems more like they're immigrants trying to get to a land of opportunity where they'll be able to learn more.
Certainly is a sense of danger in the meeting: the narrator tells Eddie to stuff something in his pocket so that it looks like a gun and they're clearly very wary of the man
Actually wish I hadn't checked the lyrics: I thought "Two grand" was "That band's" ... as in an engagement ring, which he had bought from the money he got pawning the radio and THEN SHE LEFT HIM FOR IT *heartbreak* |
submissions
| Led Zeppelin – Since I've Been Loving You Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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"You know I might have one of them new kinda back door men"
Sly allusion to Plant's earlier lust beating line in 'Whole Lotta Love' "I wanna be your back door man"... karma has come full circle and now the same type of guy is having an affair with his gal. |
submissions
| Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Just to add my two cents worth:
"You cry out in your sleep/All my feelings exposed."
She's sleep talking about how unhappy she is in the relationship and he's listening and knowing that this is how she truly, honestly feels. |
submissions
| The Doors – The End Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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About the end of the Sixties Dream through the Vietnam War:
"All the children are insane/Waiting for the summer rain"
The children in the US were torn between trusting their Government and disillusion
The children in Vietnam were driven insane by the violence and bloodshed
"The killer..."
The soldier who, having been sent to war by his parents' generation, returns home as a killer and murders his parents
"The blue bus"
'Blue bus' was slang for the truck that took away dead soldiers in Vietnam
"A desperate land"
US (morally) and Vietnam (socially)
"The West is the best"
Cold War: Conviction that democracy was better than Communism |
submissions
| David Bowie – Heroes Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I will climb walls, dodge guns and overcome shame to be with you just for one day.
That is 'Heroes', and that is why it's the greatest love song ever written. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Tombstone Blues Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Always thought this one was about "useless and pointless knowledge"...
1. Kids who are well educated but not taught about real life: "fattens the slaves and sends them out to the jungle"
2. John the Baptist's unthinking devotion to the cruel, batshit Commander in Chief
3. The National Bank "sells road maps for the soul" |
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