| Tom Waits – Bottom of the World Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Emily Haines did not write this song. She has a song with the same title, but they are not at all the same. This one is by Tom Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan. | |
| Joan of Arc – Thanks for Chicago, Mr. James Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Good attempt! There are a lot of lyrics that are tough to catch in this one. Here are more complete lyrics, based on the original Scott Walker version of the song: You always said I wouldn’t stay I guess you knew the way before it all began I’ve always been a changing train And when you think on this, you might forgive me then Thanks for Chicago, Mr. James And all the shiny suits, and all the shiny names The things a country boy can’t place Without that look of shame upon your city face And you wanted more Than just the smile I wore You picked me up on my way down That dusty one-horse town I won’t forget the jail The mayor’s wife and Cadillac The sheriff on my back ‘Til you put up the bail Thanks for Chicago, Mr. James You’ve got a lot of grace, but you’re an empty place The dawn falls hard upon my face I’ll move as I began, through fields without a plan Thanks for Chicago, Mr. James That world of gray and gold that watched you growing old The things I never saw, I see And to think that I’m still free, and I’m not feeling cold |
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| Ben Folds – You Don't Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It's "errant dog," not "arrid dog." | |
| Feist – Secret Heart Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"Maybe you're just not bad enough" should be "Maybe you're just not man enough." |
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| Blonde Redhead – The Dress Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I take that back. I think Aaaandy's response below is probably spot on. The song is about her horse. | |
| Blonde Redhead – The Dress Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It doesn't necessarily have to be about her accident. She rides a lot, so it could just be something that occurs to her. | |
| Blonde Redhead – Suimasen Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"Suimasen" is just a colloquial pronunciation of "sumimasen." Sometimes the Japanese write it like that on purpose the same way write "gonna" or "prolly." In some cases it can have a kind of teasing tone, like if you made an inconsequential faux pas that people are more likely to laugh at than be mad at. "Oooops! Suimasen..." |
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| Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"Eight million stories out there and they're naked" is wrong. The full line is "Eight million stories out there in the naked city, it's a pity half of y'all won't make it." It's a reference to the famous last lines of "The Naked City" from 1948: "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them." Jay-Z just broke up the line to keep it rhyming. |
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| Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Whatever. Alicia keys sings like an overtrained frog. | |
| Blonde Redhead – (I Am Taking Out My Eurotrash) I Still Get Rocks Off Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The first line of the brother's verse is definitely "And it's so inviting, a word, a phrase of song." The first line of the song is more likely "Am I to be blamed," not "Am I to be paid." But who can really be sure? This was the first BR song I ever heard. |
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| Nirvana – Yes, She Is My Skinhead Girl Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Yeah, pretty sure the recording of this song floating around at there that's been attributed to Nirvana is actually Unrest. But for those who care, the correct lyrics are a lot closer to this: I said I want to meet you I said I want to fuck you all the time I said I want to fuck you I said I want to meet you all the time I said I want to meet you I said I want to fuck you all the time I said I want to meet you I said I want to meet you Yes, she is my skinhead girl Yes, she is my skinhead Yes, she is my skinhead girl Yes, she is whiter than a pearl Fuck-fucking on sandy beaches Kissy-kissing all over your faces Smack-smacking on my own round races Suck-sucking where there are no traces Yes, she is my skinhead girl (etc.) Gee this girl, this girl is swell You're saying you're better than you look That would be impossible For you to look better than the face of God On a sunny day Sometimes I feel like I'm on a mission I'm on a mission to kill myself Yes, she is my skinhead girl (etc.) I'm gonna take her for a whirl Yes, she is my skinhead girl Yes, she is whiter than a pearl *The section about "looking better than the face of God on a sunny day" is actually lifted from a James song. |
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| Billy Joel – Somewhere Along The Line Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| No, he's actually singing about a cigarette, and how he people didn't use to realize how bad they were for you. The song is basically just a list of things that start out great but can come back to get you later: gluttony, smoking, infatuation, old age. | |
| Feist – When I Was a Young Girl Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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For anyone who's intersted, here is another variation of the lyrics, including a verse that Feist doesn't sing. Also, "salivated" is apparently a reference to the excessive amount of saliva produced by people suffering from mercury poisoning, in this case brought on by ingesting mercury in order to combat the syphilis. When I was, a young girl I used to seek pleasure, When I was a young girl I used to drink ale; Right out of the alehouse and into the jailhouse, Out of a barroom and down to my grave. Come Papa, come Mama, and sit you down by me, Come sit you down by me and pity my case; My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking, My body's salivated and I'm bound to die. Go send for the preacher to come and pray for me; Go send for the doctor to heal up my wounds; My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking, My body's salivated, and Hell is my doom. I want four young ladies to bear up my coffin, I want three young maidens to carry me on, And each of them carry a bunch of wild roses, To lay on my body as I pass along. One morning, one morning, one morning in May, I spied this young lady all clad in white linen, All clad in white linen and cold as the clay. |
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| Lady GaGa – Alejandro Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure this is basically about a love affair with a hot Mexican dude who she only wants for the sex. She doesn't know his name and doesn't care what it is anyway. That's why each line of the chorus ends with a different stereotypically Mexican name. There may be more to the song than that, but I think that's the basic story. All the comments about love triangles and the like are off the mark, I'd say. |
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| Sean Kingston – Fire Burning (On the Dancefloor) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Does anyone have any idea what "birthday cake" and "red black card" refer to in this song? It's driving me crazy. | |
| Unrest – Make Out Club Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I always thought it was "Come on now, do not be coy," not "Come on now to my depot." But I haven't heard the song in years. I just sing it in the shower. | |
| Jellyfish – The Ghost at Number One Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Yup, it's got to be Jeff Lynne, also a member of the Traveling Wilburies (you know, the dude with the big 'fro, the "nappy superstar"), friend to the Beatles, and producer of Tom Petty albums. | |
| Os Mutantes – Cantor de Mambo Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I personally think this song is making fun of Carlos Santana. All the guitar licks are a straight-up impression of him. All the lyrics are about a mambo singer performing in America. I think they're saying that he's acting like this big rock star, but he's really just another mambo singer. | |
| Os Mutantes – Bat Macumba Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an ancient religion. I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an ancient I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an I heard this song was about a bat-like god from I heard this song was about a bat-like god I heard this song was about a bat-like I heard this song was about a bat I heard this song was about a I heard this song was about I heard this song was I heard this song I heard this I heard I I heard I heard this I heard this song I heard this song was I heard this song was about I heard this song was about a I heard this song was about a bat I heard this song was about a bat-like I heard this song was about a bat-like god I heard this song was about a bat-like god from I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an ancient I heard this song was about a bat-like god from an ancient reliegion. |
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| M.I.A. – Paper Planes Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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You're really about a thousand miles off the mark on this one. The song is not gangster rap. It is not a glorification of "street life." It's about third world immigrants struggling to survive in the first world. In my personal opinion it's not even about drugs. "Hustling" means anything you have to do to survive, in which sense the third-world immigrants who clean our toilets, pump our gas, drive our taxis, and slaughter our animals are all hustlers. Yes, some of them might be dealing drugs, and there are people who don't consider it so ridiculous to draw a connection between the way people are forced to live in the third world and the way lower-class blacks are forced to live in the first world. But the drug reference is only PART of the song, and not the POINT of the song. You've clearly got some kind of chip on your shoulder against rap music, but your ire is really misplaced here. M.I.A. grew up in the third world, and almost all of her songs have some element of the struggle between the first world and the third world. Almost all of her songs are PROTEST songs, meant to make privileged Americans like me THINK about what the world is really like. I know that the gunshots in the chorus are distracting for you, but they really only work on the level of a metaphor. The idea is that the first world has it, and the only way for the third world to get a piece of it is to take it. It's a song about inequality and the realities of the world (the WHOLE world) in the 21st century. So please, give it another listen. Because you're wrong. |
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| M.I.A. – U.R.A.Q.T. Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| feel me loud, she's singing in character, not as herself. There are a lot of shitty girls who think the way the girl in this song does. I hear them fighting on the subway and the radio more often than you might think. It's the classic low-self esteem-addled way of thinking that says "If your man sleeps around, it's because there's something wrong with you. Therefore if he only fucks another girl once but stays with you, there must be something wrong with her." | |
| Bob Marley and the Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In order to get the second verse, you have to cut out the middle: "Most people think great God will come from the sky...but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth." He's not talking about looking for your "high" on earth, he's talking about looking for your "god" on earth, i.e. Haille Selassie. The song is about Rastafarianism and the concept that religions like Christianity which promise joy in the afterlife are used in this world as a means to pacify oppressed people and keep them from standing up for themselves. Malcolm X had similar things to say about Christianity and the way it affected the black community. And might I add: what a bunch of pot-smoking idiots. I mean, seriously. You guys are missing the point. |
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| Peter Gabriel – Mercy Street Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I don't know anything about Anne Sexton, but I've always assumed this song was about sexual abuse and digging back in your personal history to deal with it. No one has mentioned "the secrets in the warm velvet box," which is probably a vaginal reference, as well as a reference to sexual abuse. The sea has always been used to represent the subconscious, so the image of someone riding the water with a priest, trying to figure out what went wrong in their past, makes sense. And Mary is Mary, Jesus's mother. She's all about mercy. I can't see any other possible interpretation. |
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| Estelle – American Boy (feat. Kanye West) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Holy shit! I love this song like no man should love a song. This will be my song for summer '08. I haven't loved a song like this since "Pon the Replay" back in '06. You forgot the cute bit before the rap where Estelle yells "Tell 'em wagwan, bloke!" |
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| The Beatles – Lady Madonna Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The song is about a single mother, and ironically identifies her with the Madonna, the most famous single mother ever. I've always thought the song included a message about how unfair it is that Jesus's mother is revered for being a single mother, but in real life people look down on single mothers. I don't think the bridges have anything to do with prostitution. The lines in the bridges are all just references to the protagonist's feelings of frustration, fatigue, and abandonment. The papers don't come. The children are growing up and getting into trouble. A guest who arrives without a suitcase is one you have to provide everything for. And yet she still manages to slog ahead. |
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| The Police – Born In The 50's Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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psssst! He's being sarcastic. The song isn't arrogant, it's self-effacing. "Weren't we so dumb and arrogant, we thought we knew better." A question that has nagged me for years: what is a G.C.E.? Is it a British thing? And when did the king fall down the stairs? |
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| Men Without Hats – Pop Goes The World Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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What maggot brain said. Also seems to have some elements of shared human experience. Jenny and Johnny are just two more kids creating something together. Some people make it big doing that, and some people don't. The best part is the bridge about the world going wrong and being right. Something about it gives me chills. It's about being young and having fun to forget about the big questions that would keep you up at night otherwise. |
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| Talking Heads – Psycho Killer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I'm pretty sure the second verse is the killer describing why he finds his fellow human beings so irritating. He doesn't understand people's need for meaningless banter. | |
| Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Rikdad is totally right. Basically all he's saying is: this song is silly, but the guy singing it knows it's silly, and that's why he likes it. | |
| The Cure – In Between Days Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I couldn't figure out that line about "It couldn't be me and be her in between without you," but I think I get it, and it's very clever. He's basically saying to her "yeah baby, I let another girl come in between us, but there'd be nothing for her to come in between in the first place if I didn't love you!" Genius. |
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| The Cure – Let's Go to Bed Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think you've all got it wrong. It's about a relationship that's already broken up, but they keep sleeping with each other because it's comfortable. They know they shouldn't, that they should move on, but they keep doing it anyway, and feeling stupid for it. In the meantime he's thinking about how his life is passing him by and he still hasn't found the right girl, etc. All the things you think about when you're still sleeping with the person you thought you wouldn't be. I win! |
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| The Pogues – Fairytale Of New York Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Yeah, Pharoah, I think you're wrong about the hospital bed. She's "an old slut on junk," a heroin addict. | |
| Belle & Sebastian – The Blues Are Still Blue Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I agree that the black/white thing is not so much about how a loved one changes your perspective, but just a complaint about how his girlfriend fights with him all the time and it makes him sad. Edited by mellow_harsher on April 19 2007, at 07:37PM |
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| Pizzicato Five – Twiggy Twiggy (japanese) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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translation: I waited three whole hours Me, with the cat. Then the phone rang I talked like a cat I turned down the TV And spoke in a voice like I was lying Wearing a Twiggy miniskirt Striking a Twiggy pose Wearing a Twiggy miniskirt Me, little and skinny like Twiggy |
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| The Cardigans – Rise and Shine Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I believe they have said in concert that this song is about a cowboy sleeping on the beach. | |
| The Cardigans – Step On Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The lyrics on this album really sucked, this one especially. | |
| The Cardigans – Happy Meal II Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| In concert Nina said this is about a blind date. | |
| The Cardigans – Fine Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's a list of all the places she's kissed her boyfriend. Can't tell if they're still together or not. | |
| M.I.A. – Galang Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Quest is right about the morons on this site. Too bad he has to be such a total dick about it. What everyone else said (i.e. "wa gwan," West Indian slang, etc.) But I don't buy that "galang" means "go along.' If that were the case, why is it pronounced to rhyme with "slang" rather than "long?" |
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| M.I.A. – Galang Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Nevermind, I'm wrong. Carry on. |
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| M.I.A. – Galang Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Quest is right about the morons on this site. Too bad he has to be such a total dick about it. What everyone else said (i.e. "wa gwan," West Indian slang, etc.) But I don't buy that "galang" means "go along.' If that were the case, why is it pronounced to rhyme with "slang" rather than "long?" |
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| M.I.A. – Dash The Curry Skit Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I second those corrections. How do some people on this site come up with the lyrics they come up with? "A knight in a hurry?" | |
| Amy Winehouse – Rehab Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The last line of the refrain is "Just try to make me go to rehab, I won't go." And the last line of verse 3 is not "I've gone mad," but "I'm on the mend." | |
| Amy Winehouse – You Know I'm No Good Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is fantastic. Verse 1: a fight breaks out in the bar when her boyfriend confronts one of the gus she's sleeping with on the side. Verse 2: she's sleeping with her ex-boyfriend, but she can't get off unless she thinks about her current man. How romantic. Her boyfriend says it's okay for now, but it'll have to stop when they get married. She cries for him because she knows she'll never be faithful. Verse 3: she and her boyfriend have worked things out, but then he notices a carpet burn on her skin and knows she's been getting it on with another dude. Instead of making a big deal out of it, he just shrugs, which actually makes her geel even worse. I love how the song is less about her feeling bad about her behavior, and more about her just feeling bad for her boyfriend. |
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| Amy Winehouse – You Know I'm No Good Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| After "You shrug and it's the worst," I think she's saying "to truly [stuck] the knife in further." Except I don't know why "stuck" would be past tense. Maybe that word is different? Anyway, she definitely says "to" at the beginning of the line, so it's not "who." | |
| Belle & Sebastian – It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I'd never thought about the stroke/stroke thing. I always assumed it was the medical variety as well. Now I see that for most of the song he's actually talking about a stroke of genius. The artist has a stroke of genius at 24, and it's all downhill after that. By the last verse he's old and weak, apparently having had an actual stroke. How clever. Apparently a dansette is a kind of old multi-disk record player: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dansette Safeway is actually an American supermarket chain, with stores in the U.K. and Ireland. |
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| Belle & Sebastian – Me and the Major Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| It's just about classism, which is still much more prevalent in the U.K. than in the U.S. At least in the traditional sense. | |
| Belle & Sebastian – Like Dylan in the Movies Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think the Dylan thing is just a clever thing to say. The song is about looking out for rapists in the park when you're walking home alone. Although, come to think of it, the Dylan movie is heavy on scenes depicting Bob Dylan surrounded by (and fighting with/fighting off) adoring fans. It's not his money they want, it's a piece of him they're after. So maybe there's some meaning there after all. |
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| Belle & Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I always thought he meant to draw a parallel between Anthony, who actually killed himself, and Hillary, who became a nun. He's saying if you're going to devote your life to the Catholic church, you may as well just off yourself. I'd also like to point out the line "The vicar (or whatever)..." "Vicar" is a word used to describe a protestant clergyman, not a Catholic one. He uses the line to show that he doesn't really know that much about the Catholic church, and doesn't really care. Genius. |
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| Belle & Sebastian – Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song ain't about nothing. It's a collection of clever words and avocative images, strung together along a catchy melody. It's one of my favorite songs ever. Each individual line has meaning, and the entire song has a particular tone, but I don't think it has any specific meaning from beginning to end. | |
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