| Arcade Fire – Rococo Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I have to say it's ingenious of them to make Rococo the chorus. It makes you sing along and then wonder what you've been fed. Then you feel foolish having bought into it. I don't think Arcade Fire is taking a jibe at their fans though. The songs in this album seems to speak to a public that readily accepts the status quo either out of frustration of not being able to change things or because it's been seduced by all the entertainment, promise of status, and material attainments. It seems more like a harmless experiment using music to show how programmable we are and to get us to question if you can be so easily conditioned to behave in a particular way through a song, what about other aspects of life? |
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| Owen Pallett – The Great Elsewhere Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| My impression is that Lewis here is trying to take his own life - surely, the ultimate betrayal to a creator - but is stopped by a Heartlander who is still a believer. He doesn't succeed in his attempt but his resentment towards Owen the creator grows, and this leads him towards a path of retribution rather than resignation as the song that follows is Oh Heartland, Up Yours. Not all of the lyrics match, but that's how I saw the story panning out in this song. | |
| Jason Mraz – The Remedy (I Won't Worry) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Anyone who dismisses the song as being only about cancer, doesn't really know much about Jason Mraz's ideas about life, politics, etc. It's to his credit that people think he's just a fun-loving carefree musician. In fact, he is one of those you might consider more socially-conscious and is mindful about his impact on the environment. I'm not saying he's Bono, but I appreciate that my musicians are capable of singing about more than just love or the 'small' stuff and are willing to take on tougher, riskier turf of politics. | |
| Jason Mraz – The Remedy (I Won't Worry) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Reacting to your comments two years later... Supajay, I wouldn't way that the political interpretation of the song is wrong. Indeed, the first verse is inspired by his friend's battle with cancer. But the great thing about this song, as some earlier posters have pointed out, is that it reflects and combines all the different issues that motivate people's behaviour positively or negatively - disease, war and love. You can choose to guide your actions with fear or take them all head-on, warts and all. That's why the comedy is that it's serious. We may be able to laugh off the worries that plague us, but they still would have impact on us as after all, we live in a society. Facing up to these issues and problems is no easy task - thus, it's a dangerous liaison. Watch the video for this song on YouTube, Mraz shoots a gun that releases a flower. That to me indicates the song's somewhat pacifist slant and commentary on sociopolitical issues. The beauty of it is that it's so subtle that people who might not want to see it that way, can still enjoy it. |
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| Arcade Fire – Modern Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Buy a ticket and you might win the lottery. That's what the modern man's role is in society. Just play the game, join the system, take part in the rat race. The modern world as a result of industrialisation and capitalism saw modern man standing in line in a factory adding a cog to each good produced, you just waited till the conveyor belt brought the good to you and repeated the action ad infinitum. A good illustration of this is Chaplin's Modern Times. But as capitalism's reach has grown the modern man has been trapped in this action that preserves the overall status quo. People can only dream of escape - they can only worry about the small stuff, join the line at the bank, in the airports, at the supermarket, keep coming to work and hope for that lottery - the promise of escape that will never come. | |
| Islands – J'Aime Vous Voir Quitter Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| am i the only who doesn't hear the parlez vous part? nice song nevertheless. | |
| Page France – Chariot Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| i like this song. i just ignore the likely christian references. to me it's not about Jesus so it has a different meaning, Christian inspiration or not. it helps that the references are symbolic and not so literal like say, Joy to the World or something. anyway great song. speaking from a non-Christian of course. btw, i too found it through Weeds. | |
| Jenny Lewis – It Wasn't Me Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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yeah, i was just making that link based on that article i read but i didn't really check if she was still in movies after that. there goes that theory heh. anyway, i may be wrong but in "The years transform my memories, Of all the countless decades of grief" -- I seem to hear greed instead. There seems to be a hard D sound rather than an F sound. That would also make sense now that roxyjl's cleared that up. Anyone else? |
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| Modest Mouse – People as Places as People Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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i agree with tensecoke and amnull. i think the song is talking about people's search for identity, the meaning of who they are. that's the question that we're always trying to answer. i get the feeling like he thinks that we only ever come close to what the answer might be but we never really know. i think the quote he made about the album cover, about everything always being in stasis sums that up (http://stereogum.com/archives/album-art/sir-isaac-explains-the-we-were-dead-cover_005045.html). to figure out who we are, we look for places and people that we relate to or aspire to be. so in this sense 'the people we loved but didn't quite know' can be pretty much anyone...friends/lovers/musicians we idolise etc. it's also kind of absurd...we shouldn't have to ask, because shouldn't we, as the people in question, know who we are? but in general, despite the absurdity of it, i think he's pretty optimistic. maybe finding someone you love and want to be with helps you to answer the question, or makes the question irrelevant? |
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| The Eames Era – Boy Came In Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| awesome, thanks! put more of their song lyrics up if you know them? they're just so catchy! :) | |
| Okkervil River – You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| maybe it's not exactly Kool-Aid, but what he means is they're stopping for drinks and he doesn't feel like going or he's not thirsty so he sits in the van and wait? i don't know, but i definitely here crew instead of coo. | |
| Okkervil River – You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| could it be your crew Kool-Aids? like they stop for Kool-Aid or something? | |
| of Montreal – Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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interesting bit from that Deerhunter guy. this is such a fun song to sing along to. i love all the sudden stops and shouts. it's kind of a schizophrenic song in that sense. if he did actually cheat on his wife with this Eva girl, i'm glad things are getting better for his family. and of course Kevin Barnes' manhood is now available to the world, i guess it makes it fair that it's no longer only privy to Eva - granted neither it is to his wife, but anyway... why am i even thinking this?! lol, back to my point. it's a fun song! |
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| Okkervil River – John Allyn Smith Sails Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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very touching retelling of John Berryman's (aka John Allyn Smith) death by suicide. the opening verse immediately got me interested. the next few verses reference the key moments leading up to his death - him imagining his own suicide when he was younger, perhaps traumatised after seeing his father's own suicide ("so when my mum and John came in, I would be cold") and his alcoholism ("breaking in a case of suds"). you can read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Berryman also, i like the throwback to Sloop John B. to me it's fitting both lyrically and melodically, especially since the ship (the John B.) and the subject of this song share the same initials. nice touch! |
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| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| drstringz for what it's worth, i do like that theory. | |
| Okkervil River – Unless It's Kicks Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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And on a seven day high That heavenly song Punches right through my mind And pumps through my blood --> That's more logical, but for some reason i hear "and it comes through my blood". And, oh, it's a lie --> i think it's "And I know it's a lie" But I still give my love And my heart's all alive(?) --> Not sure about this one either For your hands to pluck off Also, I imagine this song would be AMAZING live. i haven't heard the rest of the album yet, but like everyone else said, this is a really great song and I REALLY can't wait to hear the rest of the album! |
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| Regina Spektor – Buildings Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| bloomingauthor7, that was what I was aiming for with my comments. you summed it up brilliantly! :) | |
| Johnathan Rice – The Middle of the Road Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Very interesting take DCFCAlex. I've no idea what this song means but if some of it was about Jenny, i'd be inclined to agree because of its possible references. This verse in particular reminds me of a couple of her songs: "To live out in the wilderness, You gotta learn to start a fire. But you can stand out there with your fist in the air, While the rest of us get on with our lives". Jenny has had a few songs with fire references. In 'Acid Tongue' she mentions this line: "Let's build ourselves a fire", pretty similar to Johnathan's "start(ing) a fire" in the wilderness lyric. Also, her lyrics in 'Fireplace' mostly has this line repeated multiple times: "Throw another log in the fireplace". As for the next part of the verse, the "fist in the air" line reminds me of 'Rise Up With Fists' in which she says "I will rise up with fists, And I will take what's mine." Of course I'm not saying that Jenny is the true copyright owner of all fire-related metaphors and proclamations of first-raising. It's just interesting how these lyrics could be connected. Maybe they write off of each other in that way and it wouldn't surprise me if they do, given that they've written a song together. |
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| Regina Spektor – Buildings Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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argh i wasn't done, but i hit enter. my bad. anyway, as i was saying, he makes the buildings comment in reference to the ones he saw in the ride back home with her. so he mentions this 'icebreaker' so to speak. it's a way for him to retain a sense of normalcy amidst the drama in their relationship, so he casually mentions those buildings he saw while she's barely conscious and puking. and...i really need to stop analysing this song. |
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| Regina Spektor – Buildings Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i think the idea of 'time sit(ting) through its sift' is a really accurate and pretty imagery. it makes me think of an hourglass, and how these two, as some of you have pointed out, remain the same despite all the rapid changes going on around them. they somehow can't move on even given a lot of time, they remain stuck in their self-composed stasis. also when he says, "they build buildings so tall these days", i imagine him to be saying this sort of under his breath while she's barely conscious, so it's his own little private moment, a way for him to avoid dealing even further with one of the many problems in their marriage. so he pretends this humdrum routine of taking her home after her partying, is a joyful ride home for the both of them. |
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| Sondre Lerche – The Curse Of Being In Love Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| oops, that should read "it's the age-old 'love is not a noun, it's a verb' adage. you've to keep working at it if it's to remain. | |
| Sondre Lerche – The Curse Of Being In Love Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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great song...pretty self-explanatory i think. there are no certainties in life and especially so in love. it's the age-old love is not a noun, it's a verb you've to keep working it if it's to remain. embrace the curse, so it doesn't get worse...brilliant summation of one way to deal with it, a little bleak but at least it's honest. |
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| Andrew Bird – Cataracts Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i just wanted to say the whistle solo here is amazing. | |
| Rilo Kiley – Troubadours Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| this is one of my favourite RK songs. it's not their best, but i think it's lovely. | |
| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| thanks blame monster and eisey for giving your take on what 'time's a crooked bow' might mean. blame monster, i do know that not all of the lyrics are meant to be explicitly referring to something in particular. but i was asking more because i thought there might have been some specific references that i missed. looks like i didn't. thanks anyway :) | |
| Rilo Kiley – Glendora Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| thanks cRILOzKILEYj for the explanation. makes more sense now. and yeah, superjenna, this song always makes me laugh! | |
| Andrew Bird – Armchairs Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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In time you need to learn, to love The ebb just like the flow Grab hold of your bootstraps, and pull like hell until gravity feels sorry for you, and lets you go As if you lack the proper chemicals to know the way it felt the last time you let yourself fall this low wow, this part is my favorite. i agree with bobwronski, this song is quite an epic. i think it's about the (imminent?) crumbling of a relationship. in the first stanza, he seems to be conveying the emotional distance between two people, even though they're only a chair apart. i don't know how the verse beginning with "Fifty-five and three-eighths years later" would correspond with that. what exactly does time's a crooked bow mean? |
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| Andrew Bird – Heretics Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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seriously, this song is amazing. and yeah it never left my head till about 3 or 4 days after, although it felt really awkward to sing along to "thank god it's fatal". i guess that fits the meaning of heretics (according to merriam-webster, heretics are dissenters of an accepted belief or doctrine). the song embraces death so passionately that it's kinda morbid. but maybe that was his intent - in situations involving euthanasia & suicide, some consider death as a relief from pain and suffering. both euthanasia and suicide could be considered as a heresy, since there is some violation of accepted doctrines/religious beliefs. i've also noticed this pattern of embracing death/mortality in 'Fiery Crash'. in that song, prior to his plane taking off, he says "to save our lives we've got to envision a fiery crash; it's just a formality". i think all of these ties in with the first 4 lines of this song: "Born host to a tongue, So sing a song about it, Held a breath for too long, Till we're half sick about it". he's basically singing about expressing the other (more controversial) viewpoint. |
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| Rilo Kiley – Somebody Else's Clothes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| great song. i think it's talking about how people are forced to adapt to their circumstances and thus become a new person in order to cope with the changes.as a result, they evolve into somebody else and have to deal with the strangeness of being a different person in order to meet the needs of their new situations. | |
| Rilo Kiley – Glendora Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| perhaps someone could explain it? | |
| Rilo Kiley – Glendora Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i don't get this whole verse: I arrive, there's something you forgot to mention. An afterthought, straight to the tabby, 'Sorry Angel, went to Reno', happy happy. It ain't the rest, why do you Jenny? |
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| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Underwater (You and Me) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| also, if this song was released a few years back, it would've been quite fitting for the life aquatic with steve zissou. | |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Underwater (You and Me) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i thought it was "we'll design a clever disguise" but it doesn't make much of a difference anyway. this might be my favorite song of theirs if no other song on the album, tops it. it seems like a straightforward narrative of lovers running away together leaving behind a trail of mystery in their path (someday your secret will be revealed). basically celebrating romanticism maybe? | |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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he sounds very tribal in this song, especially the part where he goes "they are going out to bars, they are getting into cars". it cracks me up every time. granted, his singing style is generally quirky but i feel it's even more pronounced in this song. maybe it's an effect he's using to show how even though we've modernized as a society, when it comes to dealing with our fears we still respond with our most basic instinct sort of like in a very "tribal" way ("There are things we can't control but Will we give ourselves a fright, When we become less than human?"). ok maybe i'm just reading into it too much. anyway, i like CYHSY and their songs, but i do prefer listening to alec's demos sometimes just because the vocals aren't so exaggerated in them. |
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| Owen Pallett – Peach Plum Pear (Joanna Newsom cover) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i love this cover. i like a lot of joanna's songs, and i think her songwriting is great but i still can't get used to her voice (no offense to anyone, i just can't get used to it). so basically i like this cover a lot and i think there's some evolution that happens to the person after relations between her and someone else didn't work out. at least that's what i think. | |
| Albert Hammond Jr. – In Transit Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i don't really like the new verse he added. it was nicer when it was more sparse. oh well. | |
| The Strokes – Razorblade Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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hahaha terri kaye, i'm glad you pointed out the barry manilow vocal line. the first time after i listened to it, i found myself going "oh mandy...." LOL. it's similar in that sense but with the strokes, it doesn't sound cheesy at all. it's infinitely better. as for the meaning, i think the lines "my feelings are more important than yours" basically sums it up. in love it's always about who's feelings are at stake. and it's always gonna be a battle of feelings. |
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| The Strokes – Razorblade Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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hahaha terri kaye, i'm glad you pointed out the barry manilow vocal line. the first time after i listened to it, i found myself going "oh mandy...." LOL. it's similar in that sense but with the strokes, it doesn't sound cheesy at all. it's infinitely better. as for the meaning, i think the lines "my feelings are more important than yours" basically sums it up. in love it's always about who's feelings are at stake. and it's always gonna be a battle of feelings. |
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| Cat Power – The Greatest Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i agree with apollo and ellie about how it could be about a person who's been humbled by situations/circumstance/other people. it's that moment of clarity when you realise, your dream is just that, a dream. but instead of disappointment, it's acceptance. i take the "lower me down" part to mean that she's not fighting her fate, she's happy where she is now and with how she came to be i.e. the "culprit south" that made her become the person she is today (didn't chan come from the south?). it seems to me that she wants to steel herself and regain herself as much as possible now so that she can live up to her full potential later on i.e. "for the later parade". | |
| Tapes N Tapes – Insistor Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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basically about a guy who can't get over a girl who doesn't belong to him. the girl is probably an actress he's obsessed with - someone who probably acts in a lot of love stories (cos he perceives her to "fight for lover's rights). because he can't get over her, she's like a nagging thought in his head, an "insistor". i guess mickey is someone who's protective of kelly and he's warning the guy not to touch her or he'll stab him with his razor or do something equally painful to him. and i might be wrong but if the lyrics about "kelly hold your water" is literal, then maybe she's also pregnant and he's insisting that he wants to raise the baby with her but since she refuses, he's wondering who the man who has won her heart and reversed his fate with her. |
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| Regina Spektor – Summer in the City Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| this song captures loneliness and longing with such emotional accuracy and so beautifully. the intensity makes it seem like she's speaking from experience. | |
| Regina Spektor – 20 Years of Snow Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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ironically, i only "got" this song when i turned 20 this year. i think it's about how a father's troubled past later shapes his daughter's life. the father was very wounded and having been damaged, he became reserved and stoic, eventually not being very generous with his emotions. i'm not sure why he's a dyign breed though. later on, when he has a child, his stoicism affects his daughter's emotional outlook on life. because of the lack of love embraced in the household, she's unfamiliar with the concept and ends up cold, thus the metaphor of "snow falling" for her. all her acquaintances and relationships were nothing more than superficial - hence the "she's twenty years of strangers looking into each other's eyes". and because she was never really immersed in any substantial emotional involvement she never really felt passionate about anything ("never truly hated anyone or anything"). so she lives her life like a blank piece of paper, acummulating nothing, choosing not to hurt herself by not hurting or loving anyone. but she longs for the moss, which is to say, she doesn't want to be all clean anymore. she wants to break, to feel, to live and to love. but she ends up looking for it in all the wrong places - since she didn't know where to start and ends up in some dodgy street with lots of dirty old men and weird people. so her conquest for some adventure ends up in disappointment and once again she's disillusioned and heads out for the books that are a more secure alternative as she's merely the vicarious observer, and delights in watchin "the words float out like holograms". |
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| Cat Power – Metal Heart Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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i'm not really a cat power fan, i just have a couple of her songs that people sent me and i've listened to them only once or twice. i have to say tho, it didn't hit me how great this song was until i gave it another proper listen when i was really down in the dumps. i think it's about freeing yourself of the self-restraints you put urself up to to protect yourself. and the way i see it, she's somewhat chiding herself for putting up all these defences, altho she understands that it may be necessary to protect yourself, to cushion yourself from the possible hurt (damned if you don't, damned if you do). but i see this as her reaching a moment of clarity where she decides 'i'm not gonna be all closed-up anymore', because she finally sees how self-destructive that can be. ("how selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming") |
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| Jenny Lewis – New Song (Untitled) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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well the one that i notice immediately is "baby there's just no being me" vs "opie and me". the third verse doesn't sound right either, but i've no idea. |
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| Regina Spektor – Fidelity Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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yep, i think venus in mohair got it right. it's not as lyrically dense as some of regina's other cryptically versed songs, so it's pretty straightforward. i think in the second verse, in addition to wanting to protect herself from heartbreak, she finds herself also regretting her decision to let him in and she contemplates if it had been better to live within the imagination of the songs rather than the real life experiences she had with the guy. ("suppose I never ever saw you, suppose I kept on singing love songs just to break my own fall"). it could also be about missed opportunities - maybe she had to let him go to seriously pursue her music. and while the music soothes her, it also breaks her heart because she is reminded of what she left him for and contemplates her decision. this song reminds me of the first time i heard a regina song a year or so ago and immediately thought, "i'm really gonna like her". now i can't wait to get the album! *long wait* i think regina has outdone herself with this one. i always think she has, but then she comes and surprises again. |
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| The Elected – Did Me Good Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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based on talk some time back on RK.net, Emily is the girl in the 'Not Going Home' video and she is apparently Blake's girlfriend/ex. i guess if that's true, then she's not merely a character. but yeah, in songs like these, where the name and identity is not specifically obvious, the other could be anybody or nobody. i tend to believe that there is an Emily, just because I can see a difference in songs where Emily is mentioned and those where Jenny is insinuated lyrically. there's just something different with his impressions of them. like in Emily vs The Bank & Trust (which is most likely Jenny). |
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| Arcade Fire – Cars and Telephones Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| damn it, i cried while listening to this song today. it's his voice, it sounds so pained. | |
| Bright Eyes – Blue Angels Air Show Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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possibly my favourite bright eyes song. i love this song because there seems to be so much possibility in it what with the new opportunities ("doors opening", "how people just walk in"), which is a different take on most bright eyes songs. i don't know why but conor's descriptions on this song is more intriguing for me than the others. first, of how the crowd is so entranced by the planes ("and join the crowd's heavy gasp one for each time they pass overhead"). and then with his observation of claire. it's amazing how with just one line "and shyly replies as to which boy she likes at her school" he draws a caricature of her, as a young & seemingly quiet girl who's slowly blossoming through the changes in her life. much like how the colour of her hair absorbs the changing environment around her. she seems to handle the changes around & within her gracefully - with her slight reluctance to reveal her perceptions of these changes and the one blossoming in her heart - the boy she likes at school. he painted her so beautifully, it makes her really intriguing. |
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| The Elected – Did Me Good Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| thoward, correct me if i'm wrong, but by "she" i'm assuming you meant jenny? if so, what makes you think it's necessarily about jenny? i'm just wondering, that's all. cos it was very obvious (intentionally?) in The Bank & Trust, but over here, it remains rather vague. i've always assumed that it was about Emily - the muse that seems to appear in almost all of Blake's songs. | |
| Jenny Lewis – It Wasn't Me Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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i read in a magazine (filter maybe?) that 1991 was when she decided that she'd quit acting or the year where she actually quit acting and took music seriously. hence the line "it was cut & run in '91". i can't quite say what the different verses mean - they seem to have deeper underlying meanings beneath (almost like a song within a song) - but from what i gather it's about the things in life that you're not proud of. like when you made a fool of yourself when you were really drunk, or when you cut your ties with someone who played a significant part in your life whether romantically or not, or just stupid things you did that couldn't warrant any substantial reasoning. you can't really explain why it happened, and you're not proud of it, but it did. and like "your little red wagon", you can't escape your sins/mistakes even if you've changed. your mistakes follow you wherever you go, as though you're parading them around as your little red wagon. and even though it's glaring and often precedes you - "you've gotta pull it". i absolutely love that metaphor. she's got a knack for metaphors doesn't she? my fave from the album. |
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