| Belle & Sebastian – Is It Wicked Not to Care? Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think this song is about existential angst. The narrator is trying to avoid the bitter truth of dying. | |
| Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Ballad of Broken Seas Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| The broken seas would be rough seas- wind and high waves, crashing down on the narrators in their "gilded sailboat of sin". They loved each other but got in to some shit and found ruination. I think this is a good lead up to 'Revolver', you have the narrator brooding over his regrets and "praying that it won't be long", then in the next song you have the narrator dreaming of "ending in a violent way". | |
| Belle & Sebastian – Jonathan David Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Or maybe the Jonathan one, as it turns out. | |
| Belle & Sebastian – Jonathan David Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Unfortunately, I find myself in the David position right now. | |
| Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Well the Sunset Strip has been around since the Prohibition days in the 20s. A bus that could take you from LA to the Rio Grande has been around since probably the late 30s to early 40s. So it nothing really rules out it being written that long ago. The 'worn out suit' seems to allude to it actually, since wearing a suit day to day would have been more expected back during those eras. | |
| The Lonely Island – I'm on a Boat Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think you guys are being too negative. This song isn't bashing bad rap music, it's celebrating the joy of being on a boat! | |
| The Finches – Nightswimming, AR Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Nightswimming represents recklessness in general, I think. The singer is wondering if she's wasted all of her best years and if she's too old to goof off a little. I went nightswimming in the ocean a couple months ago, and it really made me feel alive. A lot of the singer's angst could be that they're reconnecting with a feeling they've lost and wondering if they'll ever feel it again. | |
| Camera Obscura – French Navy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think it's 'lending out my art', and it's tenter hooks, not tenderhooks. | |
| Blitzen Trapper – Black River Killer Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The first verse really leaves it ambiguous whether or not he actually killed the girl. I could see it being about a man wrongly accused and put in prison, which turned him into the killer. Note that the first prison gives him a gun, and he shoots someone with it. The second prison gives him a knife and he kills someone shortly after as well. Also, I don't know if there is any merit to a theory I have, but there was a river called the Black River near Seattle that dried up in 1916 because of manmade activity. If this was the intended river in the song, the "Black River Killer" could be the Lake Washington Ship Canal... but this is a little far-fetched. |
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| The Lonely Island – I'm on a Boat Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Finally, someone has captured the joy that I feel when I'm on a boat, in song form. | |
| Fleet Foxes – Drops in the River Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I'm pretty convinced it's actually "Here as the caves of my memory fade." | |
| Fleet Foxes – Oliver James Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This song has made me cry. | |
| Fleet Foxes – Meadowlarks Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| After "hummingbird, just let me" I believe it's either "die" or "dive". I'm leaning more towards "die". | |
| Fleet Foxes – Innocent Son Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The final words are a reference to a song by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler called "Run Rabbit Run". The lyrics go: On the farm, every Friday On the farm, it's rabbit pie day. So, every Friday that ever comes along, I get up early and sing this little song Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the farmer's gun. Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run. Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun! He'll get by Without his rabbit pie So run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! The words "I am no innocent son" always reminds me of the chorus to CCR's Fortunate Son, also. I don't know if that was intentional. |
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| The Finches – Human like a House Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This song references living in San Francisco. "By the bridge" and "looking out the golden gate" refer to the Golden Gate bridge. The Golden Gate is basically spanning the gap that connects the ocean and the San Francisco bay, hence "by the ocean, by the bay". | |
| Fleet Foxes – Innocent Son Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The final words are a reference to a song by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler called "Run Rabbit Run". The lyrics go: On the farm, every Friday On the farm, it's rabbit pie day. So, every Friday that ever comes along, I get up early and sing this little song Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the farmer's gun. Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run. Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun! He'll get by Without his rabbit pie So run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run! The words "I am no innocent son" always reminds me of the chorus to CCR's Fortunate Son, also. I don't know if that was intentional. |
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| Fleet Foxes – Ragged Wood Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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There are more references to poems from Yeats' book In The Seven Woods (which The Ragged Wood comes from) in here. FF: "In the evening light, when the woman of the woods came by" Yeats (Under The Moon): "And the wood-woman whose love was changed to a blue-eyed hawk;" "The evening light" could be a reference to the title "Under The Moon". FF: "To give to you the word of the old man" Yeats (The Old Men Admiring Themselves In The Water): "I heard the old, old men say 'Everything alters, And one by one we drop away.' They had hands like claws, and their knees Were twisted like the old thorn trees By the waters. I heard the old, old men say 'All that's beautiful drifts away Like the waters.'" Could Drops in the River be a reference to this poem as well? |
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| The Finches – The House Under The Hill Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I love the image of someone's lost and forgotten memories all living together and celebrating when something new arrives. | |
| Fleet Foxes – Drops in the River Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The crown of leaves is a symbol of ecstacy, revelry, intoxication, etc. It is associated with Bacchus, the god of said things. In the first verse, it's the morning after those events. The narrator is putting things into perspective- this is a fleeting moment. I believe in the second verse the narrator is reflecting upon earlier days when he was younger and wilder. Now, he is alone and looking back on his past relationships. "On the shore, speak to the ocean and receive silence" is a powerful line. It could be that the 'shore' is the narrator's view of the future, and he feels alone. I think we get down to brass tacks in the chorus: the narrator misses somebody who doesn't miss him back. He's remembering the night they had together, but knows he must "let it go". And, in the final section, he's resigned himself to his fate. |
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| Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Deus Ibi Est Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The chorus is actually from a hymn, specifically the first line of each verse. Specifically, the line is: "Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est." Caritas is charity, amor is love. Deus ibi est means 'God is there', and ubi is 'where'. So it means, "Where charity and love [are], God is there." |
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| Fleet Foxes – English House Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I am pretty sure that the first verse is: You go with your two feet bare Down through the cold lane there to Brighton A country house, a liar and a louse live there This would make sense, as it's an "English house" as the title implies. The second verse I am not as sure about, but I think it goes: Go with your arms held wide Happiness in your eyes convincing you To stay the night, turn out every light you see And lay them down buried in the ground for me The third verse is more problematic. My interpretation is: The tongues of the creatures wait Drawn by the fragile legs you walk on A cold wind blows Brighton to the coast for me A cold wind blows Brighton to the coast for me I think since he's already talking about Brighton, it makes more sense that it would be "Brighton to" instead of "bright into". I am fairly sure that it isn't "right into". |
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| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Ballad Of The Sin Eater Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| "Powers" refers to John Powers whiskey. Superficially, the song is about getting drunk in new and interesting locales. | |
| Camera Obscura – Anti-Western Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, naturally. | |
| The Pogues – Sally MacLennane Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Jimmy was a male prostitute. Also, Sally MacLennane is a beer recipe. | |
| Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Revolver Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| If it's strictly a Mark Lanegan song, it's funny that Isobel did a solo recording of it and that she plays it in concert when Mark Lanegan isn't present. | |
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