| Arcade Fire – Ready to Start Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I think most of the meanings posted have been rather positive, as if the singer is looking at the future - what MIGHT happen based on what people have told him anecdotally. I guess I have to ask... what's wrong with this song being a little darker? What if the singer is looking back on their life and realizing they've been scared to start it. If I was scared, I would start another life. If I was bored, you know I would start again. If I was yours, I'd be ready to, you might be a good reason to do it. But I'm not. There's really no impetus, no drive to do anything. The Arcade Fire are incredibly intelligent in their understanding and interpretation of subject matter. Take a look at some associated works on the suburbs and the social malaise it creates, including the problem of having no problems and thus, no purpose (and how comfortable we are with that, how fatalism and religion intersects with that, etc.): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chumscrubber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havoc_(film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desaparecidos_(band) |
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| The Hold Steady – Southtown Girls Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Growing up in a variety of places in the North and Midwest, I see a few things in this song. "Southtown Girls" could be the girls you return to see if you've moved away; you may have dated some, loved others or suspect you really should be with the one who's dating the asshole but can't seem to put aside certain hang ups that made you leave in the first place. "You know that they'll stay" might mean the girls are loyal (to whatever guys decides to be with them) or it could be that they'll always stay - in the same place, the same time, unchanging; perhaps there's allusion to a memory of them always "staying" unchanged. In that way, they always "stay" with you. There's a lot of romantic notions in that, similar to walking back into the townie bar of a city you have roots in but have ignored for so long. I read a homecoming in this song, a familiarity but also a knowing; acceptance of the way the city and its regions work and how they have affected you. | |
| Third Eye Blind – Wounded Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| For some reason, I got the feeling that this song is more about a failed marriage. I equated "hope you come around again" and "we should have known this fool" with a young marriage - perhaps because often, when you leave college or your home town, you lose touch with people and can't... meet the people they're dating and kind of... look out for your friends in this way. Point is, you sometimes stop hanging out regularly, so the news you get of them comes from other people and I've often been told "Hey, so-and-so is engaged to - " and I won't know them. The woman in this song seems to have dissolved her marriage and is now hanging out with the old friends. Another reason I feel this way is because the energy behind the song feels like its a celebration of return with the possibility of a bright future. Ideas? | |
| Better Than Ezra – Desperately Wanting Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Okay, I'm going to provide some deeper insite into this song based on my being a Kappa Sigma at the University of Florida. I agree with comments like "Frat boys can't seem to not make it about their Frat" but I just want to say that knowing the ritual, the wording choices and imagery are almost too close to actual aspects of the ritual to be taken as pure coincidence. And it's not that I WANT this song to be about that since I am ashamed of the things everyone thinks are associated with Frat life (and southern Kappa Sigs). At the same time I admit that the song could also be about everything else you say it is...old friend, drug-addiction, etc. It's just that despite all the negetive things that you would nod your head and go, "yup, that getting kicked in the face, that's frat behavior" to, that was not what I experienced. Therefore, I have to think that he is singing about a bunch of things, as artists often do...it is common for singers to go all over the map trying to describe an emotion and perhaps Kevin Griffen needed to pull from a variety of sources. So is it about KS? Maybe partially. Is it about Drug addiction? Sure. It's about all these things but it's definitely not an all ecompassing expose on frat life. On another note, I'd like to just say to all the Kappa Sigs who hear anger in this song or need to cling to this song based on its suppossed hazing references: since I've never had these things done to me (our chapter does not have a culture of hazing), it occurs to be that it might not be completely healthy to listen to this song and think about being hazed ...sounds like some Kappa Sigs want this song to be some kind of catharsis, and I sincerely hope that 1. You'd get some closure on it 2. You'd discourage this type of behavior and 3. You'd not romanticize it wherever it seems to exist. Feel free to contact me to discuss this...I'd like to be a resource to any Brother who feels mixed emotions on this subject. Thanks! A2B |
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