| Songs: Ohia – The Old Black Hen Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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The Old Black Hen would seem to be a symbol of Jason's depression/melancholy, like Churchill's Black Dog it was an old familiar which moved metaphorically with the man, but the hen also seems to have been passed down from generation to generation since time immemorial. Dogs have long been a symbol of loyalty, and in many cultures they are associated with death and the underworld, but universally canines are a totem animal which acts as an intermediary between the natural world and that of man so to embody one's dark feelings with the animal is in a way to use it to navigate the threshold between the two opposing worlds. Hens on the other hand have been used much less often as symbols of this kind, but one ancient usage of black hens involved the sprinkling of grain on the ground which a diviner would allow the bird to eat and then interpret the pattern left by the remaining grain. In relation to the song, the importance of this symbolism perhaps lies in the way that the hen predicts the future in a way with its Bad Luck Lullaby which could be dark, brooding thoughts of not only one's own demise, but of the fate shared by all life and all of creation– indicated by the lines: “Come right on in, it's midnight again time for the Bad Luck Lullaby you know the one it's the same one you sung when you wrote down the Revelations” An interesting thing about this is the way the song starts off with it being time for the lullaby for the individual, Jason perhaps, but it moves on to being the same song which was sung so long ago for the writer of Revelations, who was perhaps the hen itself singing through the words of the writer. So we move from the pain of the individual to that of ancient man who foresaw the end of all creation and back to the present time where the narrator is advising the hen to sing the lullaby to the next generation “so they know what comes next.” The final turning point is where the narrative goes back to the individual who “saw the Banner hanging over” his door and “knew who the party was for-” all of his pain, the collective pain of countless generations whose worlds died with them. The Black Record mentioned toward the end of the song would seem to be a personal embodiment of the Bad Luck Lullaby, an existential cry expressing the pain of life. In the end Jason advised the listener to look to the future, the sadness of the stranger and tell them that he was doing his best to sing the Blues the way he found them. He had created a record which embodied the Bad Luck Lullaby which he carried alone since the time of his birth and that was the best he could do. “Look down the long street And see who's that crying Tell them that every day I lived I was trying to sing the Blues The way I find them” Original demo, recorded in Jason's home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMBDXcHo4uM Cover from a tribute album for Jason Molina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGNXo-D4I84 Original album version with a country singer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRja1gNP6nA |
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| Jason Molina – Alone With The Owl Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Like many of Jason's songs, this song is about depression. Owls have always been a symbol of higher knowledge and the connection between the physical and spirit world and he uses them this way here. The noise that owls make can sometimes sound mournful and the way that it usually comes from the darkness of the woods makes them seem even more alone with their intelligence and pain- a single point of light in a world filled with darkness. Owls are nocturnal creatures (as are many depressed people for various reasons), they inhabit the world between life and death, light and dark, and for them life will always be filled with loneliness because they occupy a threshold, a space between two places. A stray black dog is one with no master, and in many cultures dogs, especially black ones, are associated with death, the underworld, and/or bad luck. In some areas of Europe it was thought that the first man to be buried in a new churchyard was eternally responsible for guarding it from the devil, so in order to protect the souls of the people buried there a black dog would be buried alive in new church yards. Man is a peculiar animal, one that is neurologically wired for a god, so he needs a master and without one he wanders alone. The ocean is a symbol of birth and the primordial origin of life, it's usually considered to be feminine in nature and waves in particular are one of the most common metaphorical elements because of their dual nature to give and take life. As Jason stood beside the ocean with not a single wave, this creates a surreal image of a motionless ocean, a life stuck between two places, without meaning. The song ends with the line “Did I have to live this way?” and this reminds me of the quote by Soren Kierkegaard, “I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.” Jason lived as he felt, alone, and this song is perhaps a eulogy to the decision which he made without making, because it was already made for him. Standing at the crossroads between here and there, one can get a good look at each but never really know them. |
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| Songs: Ohia – Just Be Simple Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This was originally a comment to one of the posts above, but I figured I'd post it here as well since you have to expand comments and it's easy to not notice. At the start of the song he seems to be singing about resigning to his loneliness, and not bluffing to friends about how he has a new plan to escape from the home he built. To me he's singing about himself in third person throughout the song, like when he says "We built that house of his"- the 'we' being his mind and body. They built that house of loneliness, why move somewhere else and rebuild the house there? This is a song about a man who has lost faith in everything. With that in mind, heaven would seem to be an ideal which has came and gone before but this time if it comes back he's hoping it fails before it even arrives because he's lost faith (in the sense of confidence/trust in things and people). Heaven is a dangerous ideal because it provides a person with a temporary sense that things will be alright when deep down he feels that they wont be. Like you mentioned, the night would be depression/darkness, and at least it knows "when it's time to get going." The night has always had that ghost who almost tells him that he's still the same person he always was- despite the fact that the woman thinks that he's changed and she hates him for it. I really relate to the line "Honey there was so much more- I just didn't get busted." Toward the end of our relationship my most recent ex said "I don't know why you're so damn sad all of the time." All I was doing was listening to music ("Whiskey in my Whiskey" by the Felice Brothers) but it was enough to affect her mindstate/feelings, I've been this same person ever since I was a small child- just because she didn't hear my music doesn't mean my feelings were different. The refrain of "Try and try and try" could be the most simple, but complex part of the song, my interpretation is that he's longing for the simple sorrows of yesterday- something that I think back to often as I didn't have any lasting sense of happiness as a child. I see how many of the other posters could interpret the song as being about a failed relationship because it is in a sense- a relationship he had with himself and his inability to overcome his own sadness and the consequence this had for future relationships. This song offers an interesting contrast to The Raven by Edgar A Poe: The narrator of this story has already built a house of sorrow and filled it to the brim with thoughts. The Raven would seem to be a more humanized version of the ideal of Heaven, it was similar in that it was also suggested that it would leave him as "Other friends have flown before— On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before." In the Raven, the narrator began to cause himself to suffer by asking questions of the Raven when he knew the answer would be the same repetition. He went from curiosity, to anger, to resignation, which is the state that Jason, or the narrator of Simple Man would seem to be in. Of course the wife died in The Raven while the girlfriend left him because she was seemingly unable to deal with his sadness so this would explain the much more intimate experience of Poe's tale and the torment of the narrator's soul. |
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| Songs: Ohia – Just Be Simple Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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@[untitled1:2926] I agree with your interpretation, but I wanted to add a few comments. At the start of the song he seems to be singing about resigning to his loneliness, and not bluffing to friends about how he has a new plan to escape from the home he built. To me he's singing about himself in third person throughout the song, like when he says "We built that house of his"- the 'we' being his mind and body. They built that house of loneliness, why move somewhere else and rebuild the house there? This is a song about a man who has lost faith in everything. With that in mind, heaven would seem to be an ideal which has came and gone before but this time if it comes back he's hoping it fails before it even arrives because he's lost faith (in the sense of confidence/trust in things and people). Heaven is a dangerous ideal because it provides a person with a temporary sense that things will be alright when deep down he feels that they wont be. Like you mentioned, the night would be depression/darkness, and at least it knows "when it's time to get going." The night has always had that ghost who almost tells him that he's still the same person he always was- despite the fact that the woman thinks that he's changed and she hates him for it. I really relate to the line "Honey there was so much more- I just didn't get busted." Toward the end of our relationship my most recent ex said "I don't know why you're so damn sad all of the time." All I was doing was listening to music ("Whiskey in my Whiskey" by the Felice Brothers) but it was enough to affect her mindstate/feelings, I've been this same person ever since I was a small child- just because she didn't hear my music doesn't mean my feelings were different. The refrain of "Try and try and try" could be the most simple, but complex part of the song, my interpretation is that he's longing for the simple sorrows of yesterday- something that I think back to often as I didn't have any lasting sense of happiness as a child. I see how many of the other posters could interpret the song as being about a failed relationship because it is in a sense- a relationship he had with himself and his inability to overcome his own sadness and the consequence this had for future relationships. |
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| Elliott Smith – No Name #4 Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song is about Elliott and his Mom leaving his abusive step-father, Charlie, when he was little. "She (his mom) got out before he hurt her bad." | |
| Elliott Smith – Flowers for Charlie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Charlie is also slang for American military men, which goes along with "i'm not a good g.i. joe." | |
| Elliott Smith – King's Crossing Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I usually don't comment on songs anymore, i used to but it's just projecting opinions since none of us know what any of the songs really mean. Also unless it is stated then the song isn't a narrative coming from the singer and therefore couldn't be a "suicide note." Just like when Poe got semi-famous after writing the Raven everyone thought he was deranged and that he was the central character in every work he wrote. In the same way you have to remember that songs are just songs, not suicide notes, one of the album's themes might have been death but it's not the only one. Likewise the line, 'i can't prepare for death any more than i already have' might have been about death but in the same way i feel prepared to die after i almost did last summer, that doesn't mean i'm going to kill myself just that i can accept things for what they are now. I feel like dissecting the song since no one commented on everything yet. I'll start with 'the method acting' which is going through the motions and putting out records on big labels; of course the 'fat man' is corporate record labels. He had to disregard his conscience, 'took my own insides out' to get his 'check from the trash treasury' which is the big labels again. 'Inject my ex wife' came from the velvet underground lyric 'heroin, it's my life, it's my wife.' When he says, 'i've seen the movie and i know what happens,' he could mean this movie about drug abuse called 'Less than zero' which seems appropriate with the song but i think it just meant he knows what going to happen with drug use. 'It's christmas time and the needles on the tree' is one of the best lines on the album i think; the needle is for drug use again and the skinny santa could represent a drug user but more often a malnourished body represents a malnourished soul. Lastly, the 'rich white lady' is a double entendre for cocaine(which he has used before in the white lady loves you more) and also probably the way our society is going with Hollywood and all, got to date that blonde reality tv star and everything will be great. Dante |
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| Alkaline Trio – I'm Dying Tomorrow Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| i always thought of this song as being about the person who is diagnosed with 3 months to live and spent his first 2 months and 29-odd days doing whatever. so he doesn't necesarrilay have exactly one day left but his life has reached an end so to speak. it's definitely not about suicide because he sees how great it is that he even has one day left and takes advantage of it. people that "commit" suicide rarely if not never see this (i never liked the word commit in that sense, it seems to be a way of saying it was a regretful thing which if it was maybe you should have thought it out.) anyone out there who thinks it's a good way to get attention or to "end it all," it isn't, it's a disgraceful way of hiding from everyone and everything that bothers you for all eternity. yes life will come to an end but honor has no end, it's all were left with when we go to sleep at night pennyless and we know we made the right decisions that day. making a decision without yourself in mind is as perfect as a human being can hope to be and for those few people who can realize this, they're names will echo throughout history for all eternity. but i stray from the topic, i look at it as if he is doing everything he can to feel good in his last hours not because it's the "thing to do" but simply because it does feel good. of course the song could just be about the end of his life and him looking back but it could just as easily be about this and my point. ~DS | |
| Metallica – Frantic Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| It seems suggestive of James' personal struggles on overcoming his numerous adversities. His "wasted days" seemed awfully productive considering the quality of their music from 83-91', so I wouldn't call them wasted in that sense. This song is represenitive of the Metallica transition, now the songs have some kind of personal emotional edge to them and while agressive and hard, they lack certain qualities that distinguished Metallica before. | |
| Metallica – 2 X 4 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| What does this one mean to me? Quite possibly the worst song on Metallica's now second worst album, it means the beginning of the unfortunate transition of Metallica as thrashing, heavy metal gods to Metallica as top 40 alternative style hard rockers. But I still like it more than most other music. | |
| Metallica – Devil's Dance Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| One could certainly see this as sexual but I can see this as any scenario when one gives into temptation. The intonation suggests to me this is not exactly sinful, but rather a fulfilment of our deepest naturalistic urges, breaking free from this sheltered bubble world of conforming existence. | |
| Metallica – Devil's Dance Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| One could certainly see this as sexual but I can see this as any scenario when one gives into temptation. The intonation suggests to me this is not exactly sinful, but rather a fulfilment of our deepest naturalist urges, breaking free from this sheltered bubble world of conforming existence. | |
| Alkaline Trio – Jaked On Green Beers Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Someone had said this song was about alcohol, interesting intrepretation but it doesn't really work out. There was a time that I thought you were a friend to me I think those times I was probably just drunk (if the song was about alcohol then this line would be literal and not poetic, which doesn't really make sense with what he's saying) The only thing that you ever really took from me were my records to sell them for coke (this would be like saying alcohol sold my records for coke) i think this song is literally talking about a person but because of their lyrical style everyone looks for a hidden message. ~DS |
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| Alkaline Trio – Bleeder Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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you came to me like a dream the kind that always leaves, just as the best part starts it ends so abruptly. (just as things were starting to get good you left, like a good dream ending early) and leaves you stunned and naked in your bedroom all alone. (the last person to respond had said this was in reference to him being left by the girl in his room "stunned and naked" but it actually meant he awoke from sleeping stunned and naked) it's kinda funny how something so soothing gets interrupted by the ring of a telephone. (his dreaming was ended by the phone ringing) and you broke me like the cigarette that i busted on the day i quit (you leaving has broken me, like the cig i broke when i quit smoking) but now that i've been drinking i'm outta smokes and i wish that i had it. woke up to my daily headache and the realization that you are gone. (now that i don't have any cigs the only thing left to do is drink until ipass out and wake up ) oh my sweet darling happiness you've been away from me all along. (my only joy, you left me before you were even here) one thing that i've never said- i'm truly happy in my heart and in my head. a lonely liver suspended in liquid. (i'm so alone without you) it's one thing that i never did was smile missing a case - lacking a lid. my heart bleeds for what you never did (i could never truly be happy, i'll always be missing that little something that makes a person whole) it's one thing that i've never said- i'm truly happy in my heart and in my head. a lonely liver suspended in liquid. it's one thing that i never did was smile missing a case - lacking a lid my heart bled for what you never did until now (someone had commented on the song seeming to go back on everything it stated with the last line - that's because his feelings changed at the end ) |
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| Alkaline Trio – Cooking Wine Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| this song is really self explanatory but i like the line "is it strong enough to burn away the cooking wine," the interestin part about this line is that he's asking "is it strong enough (the alcohol he's drinking) to burn away the cooking wine(to take away his problems)?" so he's basiclly asking if he drinks enough will it burn his problems the "cooking wine" away without damaging the food being cooked(his life) ~DS | |
| Alkaline Trio – If We Never Go Inside Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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this song is definitely the lyrical killer on this album, i tried my best but it was too cryptic for me, anyone feel free to im me with any ideas that might occur to you. A train appeared in town one night, for some of us it changed our lives A few of us never saw it coming, then like the fire it disappeared (the "train" is the keyword which i couldn't figure out, if we knew if the "train" was figurative or literally a train then the song should make sense but i don't really know; my only guess is that a train derails in a small town and it kills a bunch of people that would explain the "changed some of our lives" and they removed the train when they cleaned the area so it "disappeared" ) It happens at a wonderful age, with the traffic lights your mind can change We made up rules to follow for good (modern technology changed everything?) No wonder we're fucked up, some of us did (no wonder were fucked up, some of us did fuck up) Tonight never ends if we never go inside The moon is always full Your calendar is always pinned on summertime (time stands still or the dead, never to go inside or see a day pass again) Were you planning on staying forever? (did you think your life would never end) You don't fit in this hole, or don't you remember? (this couldn't happen to you) Hold your breath Walk, don't run, through the graveyard ("hold your breath" is a play on the old superstition to hold your breath when you passing a graveyeard but the dead person literally can't breathe, take your time going through the graveyard in your hurse it'll be your last trip you ever make) A train appeared in town one night, for some of us it saved our lives (it changed everyone's lives, for some of us who survived we turned our lives around in the right direction after it happened ) A few of us never saw it coming, then like the fire we disappear (like the fire the train disappeared and so did those who died) I'm just scared I might never say goodbye I won't be around to hold you down, pry open your ears and ask you why (i'm afraid i'll die before i get to say goodbye, i won't be here to take care of you anymore) Is this why you've worked so hard? Is this why you've run so far? Same place, same hello, same goodbye (everything is the same but different, everyone is affected somehow) Helps you pick through beat up insides (the scars stay with the survivors) looking back at this i could only see one other explanation and that is that the "train" is an analogy for some other catastrophe that happens and is gone right after like a tornado ~DS |
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| Alkaline Trio – Continental Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I've got a dying urge to feel the way you do Too close for comfort, bed and breakfast in a spoon (bed and breakfast in a spoon is referring to heating heroin in a spoon before you inject it and the relaxing feeling it brings after) The shortest breath of your young life A long walk home on Friday night You made one last stop at the store (i think he means you stopped to buy heroin from a dealer) So close to perfect, swear to hell, thought it was you This bouncing baby boy's now turning baby blue I've got your pictures on my walls I've got a long list of calls I must make to your existing family (i can't take that your dead, i have to call your living family) You had nine lives and one by one you chewed 'em up Your final coffin nail's been driven far too much (your way past dead) This won't take long, you said, I'm not going far Go wait in the car Go wait in the car (talking to ssomeone else, wait for me in the car i have to buy drugs basically) I often wonder what it feels like to be you A mess like this stuck on your hands with crazy glue (you couldn't shake the drug habit so it killed you) Ran out of time, no kiss goodbye Wish I could learn to let this sleeping dog die without lying to myself (wish i could just let it go, i knew it would happen) ~DS |
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| Alkaline Trio – As You Were Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| yeah nickman must be a bored guy since he put that same post on every song, i've got an idea for him don't watch mtv or listen to the radio because they suck. i have about 50 cds dometimes bands get famous sometimes they don't, i usually can't tell if a band has videos or singles unless it says something about a single on the cd wrapper because i don't watch tv or listen to the radio. ~DS | |
| Alkaline Trio – Another Innocent Girl Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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i like to take songs line by line but i think this song is about the kind of guy that is well into college or out of it but he hangs on to everything he learned in HS by watching sleezy guys hit on girls. he goes to a different bar every night trying to be a dark depressed figure drinking and smoking. He likes to act like he's all grown up (he likes to act mature) He wanted to grow up to be an actor But he never told anybody (he feeds something like this to every girl he meets, "you know i never told anybody this before but i always wanted to grow up to be an actor " OR maybe he did want to grow up to be an actor and that's why he can run lines on girls so good, probably the 2nd one) He likes to spill all of his guts On the top of a well stocked bar (he likes to drink and "tell everything" to the girl) And then swallow them bit by bit remembering every scar As a valid reason for every drink (as he remembers his old psychological scars he uses them as an excuse to drink, "i deserve this after what i've been through") And a new tattoo is a new reason to think (he defines himself through an image he projects onto people) He likes to pretend that he is all sewn up It makes for a much stronger case (he pretends his past is behind him and that he doesn't let it get to him) But there is blood underneath that skin That scar is not so easy to erase (but he's human, he can't let all of his past go) He walks with a glass cane now He's careful when holding his body up straight Can't go outside when it's raining Can't smash up that beautiful face (he's careful now that he has his own image, he chooses to not let anyone know him) Another innocent girl just made his list That self pity shit is just too hard too resist (some girl falls for his self pity act) And when we get home you'll see that this part of him is now part of me (this lines a little harder can't really tell who's perspective this is since he isn't the "barguy" or the "innocent girl" unless the perspective changes for the final lines but i'd assume it's after the bar guy "takes the girl home" she realizes what happened ) And its way too easy to fake this smile lead you on Maybe I'm wrong but everyone gets bored once in awhile (it's all the bar guy knows what else would he do?) |
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| Alkaline Trio – 5-3-10-4 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Schoolyard freaks are freezing, down getting teased again (obviously the "freaks," him included, would get beat up on the way to or from school) I'm looking back and down and watching it go by (he's looking over his shoulder for anyone behind him and looking down because he's depressed) Down at the stockyards cattle screaming, the trains squeak by again (everyone else assumed he was on a train which he wasn't, the "metal coffins" in the songs are the train cars used to transpot the cows which are to be slaughtered for beef, leather, etc) I can feel my breath and I'm so thankful I'm not one of them (it's freezing and he's glad he's not one of the cows taken to be butchered ) The sound of the ground freezing is pounding once again It comes with the wind that once wiped off our smiles (it's freezing, still) Alarm clock bells are screaming out the same routine again Scrape open your eyes, rise and fucking shine, 7 am (school is the same routine everyday, have to get up at 7) Sit down, dead weight, and wonder Unsure, unslept, uncovered (sit down at school til it's over) The new light of dawn discovered by ungrateful eyes, Through 5-3 eyes (a new day begins again, presumably his eyes and he's 5 foot 3 inches tall) Schoolyard freaks are freezing, pushed to the ground again (the "freaks" are being beaten by bullies, pushed to the cold ground ) I'm looking up and west for black to fill the sky (he's waititng for the day to be over, darkness to come from the west ie the night sky) The sound of bottles breaking still breaking in my ears They opened just in time to empty out and gouge away the years (the first line could go 2 ways because of it's vagueness, i think anyway, him and a friend could be out drinking somewhere "they opened just in time to gouge away the years" in other words they opened and were drunk just in time to numb the repetitve pain since he was obviously underaged he was probably drinking behind a friends house or in a secluded place and throwing the bottles after they're done ) Schoolyard freaks are bleeding, down getting kicked again I can taste the earth and feel it in my eyes The sound of cattle screaming, still screaming in my ears They came in metal coffins - (the cows came in on trains again, you'd be noisy if you were a large animal crammed into a train car with so many other cows) chained me up and hacked me off my years (the bullies took my childhood away) i found oralstd's entry interesting but the darkness from the west was obviously just the night simply because his explanation was overcomplicated, why would they reverse 4-10 to be 10-4 just because it sounded better. as for the particular verses, i don't know which version of the bible he was referring to but i know that ephesians 5-3 doesn't match the verse that oral gave. i don't know about rocknroze's entry but i personally wouldn't believe it because everyone seems to "know" a band when they're entering a comment here and the only person that confirmed there entry was the sweaterkid who became a member 3 days after rocknroze so that could be a second name or a friend confirming it. ~DS |
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| Alkaline Trio – One Hundred Stories Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| yeah i loved the last lyric too. "you couldn't see across the ocean, but I was turning over 'till the vampires sleep"... that one is really great too. ~DS | |
| Alkaline Trio – '97 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I've got a thorn in my side the size of a Cadillac (This is killing me) Drive it through (Let it kill me) 'cause backin' up now would be next to impossible (because there's nothing else it can do) I had it all When I was with you I forgot about everything (i had everything when i was with you, ie girl) Eighteen months Eighteen months seems like fucking eternity (together for 18 months before she left) And you'll be there To dry my eyes When I breathe you in In '97 (only you can comfort me, when 97 comes again =never) i'm not sure if the pot thing was supposed to be serious but if it was there's nothing there, he says breathe and dry my eyes. whoa i'm convinced, i just smoked pot someone "dry my eyes." ~DS |
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