| Cat Power – Good Woman Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song is absolutely beautiful and is one of my favourite relationship songs ever. It's amazing the complexity it conveys considering how relatively simple the lyrics are. For me, it is about being with someone you love and who loves you back but for whatever reason, the relationship is not viable. It's simply not meant to be in this time and place and the narrator sees this and is trying to be the bigger person and right the situation, even though it breaks her heart (and his). I think it differs from other relationship songs with the line "I will miss your heart so tender." I think Chan is talking about a very specific type of love here, one filled with tenderness and sweetness, perhaps bittersweetness, as she says that she will "love this love forever." It is something she will take with her for the rest of her life and possibly a love that changed her at the core of her person, never to be the same again. I sense no malice or needy co-dependence here in this song (compared to so many typical pop love songs). It's very pure and unadulterated in its sentiment and I suspect the lyrics came from a very deep place...made deeper by a very deep love. You're very lucky if you get to experience this kind of love even once in your lifetime, even luckier if you're able to survive its demise. I've never really looked at it from the cheating angle. I had always assumed that it was doomed for other reasons, either for personal conflicts or circumstantial, such as a conflict of interest or something similar. For me, I look at it through the lens of my own personal experience. I broke up with the only person I've ever loved and had to move out of the country to pursue my education and career. We loved each other dearly and still do but it was and is for the best that we not be together. He was my professor and I was his student and in the relatively small city in which we lived, it would have only been a matter of time before it had gotten out that we were together. He would have lost his job. I would have been kicked out of my university. We both would have been ostracized by our friends and family. Everything we had worked for in our personal and professional lives would have been taken away from us and I couldn't let that happen. He was too brilliant to be taken down by a scandal and I couldn't let my potential be snuffed out by the relationship's discovery by the wrong people. We parted ways romantically and we are doing better every day in our respective lives with more time to focus on other things, but it is still hard and my heart still breaks every time I speak to him. I suspect this is how it will always be and I have to learn to accept that sometimes love is not "all you need." I will always miss his "heart so tender" and yes, "I will love this love forever." Because I want to be a good woman And I want him to be a good man, I am lying when I say I don't love him anymore. |
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| Ani DiFranco – Alla This Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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It's hard to believe that no one's commented on this one yet. The lyrics are absolutely incredible, like an Ani Manifesto! :-p She is taking strength in her counter culture approach to life, restating her values and moving forward with the power of her own convictions. Favourite stanza: I will maintain the truth I knew naturally as a child I won't forfeit my creativity To a world that's all laid out for me And I will vow to bear in mind That all of this was just someone's idea It could just as well be mine |
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| Concrete Blonde – Take Me Home Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Agreed. It is definitely very poignant and simple. Also, this is probably the best conceptual video they've done to date (definitely check it out). The lyrics do most of the explaining for themselves... It is a simple, sometimes sad but long-held love, perhaps with an old lover or a long-time friend, and the support you give each other at the end of the day. Absolutely beautiful song. |
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| Leonard Cohen – A Thousand Kisses Deep Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Giving in to passions, enjoying an encounter with the knowledge that it will not last or amount to anything...Leonard Cohen is the King of Pathos. This is an amazing song to dance to with that particular person...or engage in other activities with while playing in the background. Nice atmosphere and the lyrics...what can one say? Vague, but beautiful. |
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| Concrete Blonde – The Sky Is a Poisonous Garden Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I can't believe no one has posted anything on this! But then...in comparison to say, certain bands like Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World, their overall popularity here isn't exactly that great... This song is so powerful. It just pulsates with sexual energy. The lyrics are actually pretty self explanatory, but it's still an incredible song sung by an incredible woman. Speaking frankly and carnally about a sexual encounter, it's almost empowering for any woman to listen to (as long as they have the lyrics handy, that is). It's a great song to listen to and an even better one to drive under the night sky to. Definitely one of my favourite all-timers. |
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| Concrete Blonde – Dance Along The Edge Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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"We always seem so careful. We're always so unsure. Our past mistakes they make us shakey...eyes on the door. When do we stop searching For what we're searching for? Then when it comes, we question love and try for more!" Truer words were never spoken. :-) Fear of love, fear of being hurt because of past relationships, losing the ability to recognize love when it's given to you because you're so hellbent on finding its flaws or anticipating that next blow... Written by a woman that's been around the block or two, methinks, and is tired of the "game" we play. |
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| Concrete Blonde – Darkening Of The Light Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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While I can see how you could work in the loss of a friend/lover interpretation, I think it's more of a metaphorical loss than one of death. It seems as though she is lamenting the loss of a great friend, a particular person, someone who has been to her a great "light" and now, for whatever reasons, has "gone to the dark side," so to speak. It's as if the person had their optimism or zest for life taken away, and it leaves Johnette dumbfounded. The "clouds at my feet whisper sounds so familiar" line could be symbolic of a sense of familiarity with that friend, old conversations, their laugh, the sight of their face, but then she is reminded of this sudden change somehow and tries to find a remnant of the old person in the new that stands before her, a shell of the person's former self. I don't think it's something that's so bleak or hopeless, though. "Shine on, friend" and the overall mood of the music makes me think it is only a temporary departure from the old self. Really, it's a melancholy piece, but poignant and beautiful, and to me, full of hope for the future. :-) |
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| Concrete Blonde – I Don't Need a Hero Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I absolutely love the lyrics here, the back and forth of the emotions, pushing the other person away ("I don't need a hero") and then pulling them back ("It's just that any one of us is half without the other one"). It seems to be about a complex relationship, possibly one that spans years, and the two have grown older/matured together. The expectations for the relationship change, as do the people in it, but the feelings...not quite. There are so many layers here. The whole "I don't need a hero" bit could be a nod to feminism and the "we burn like a house on fire" part has multiple possible interpretations. Mostly, (as I see it) it's about a relationship that has changed you and helped mold you over the years, possibly with an older partner, a person you admire that has opened you up to many new things, and while the relationship is moving into a new direction, there is always the appreciation and sense of fondness for what it was and where it has brought you. Lyrically, this has to be one of my favourite Johnette/CB pieces. |
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| Concrete Blonde – Cold Part Of Town Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think we've all been in a similar situation at one time or another. :-) I always thought of this as the more melancholy sister to I Wanna Be Your Friend Again. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory, but the tone is rather somber and one almost gets the feeling of having so many more things to say, but being afraid to say them. It's really a beautiful little song, and the lyrics are a gem - simple, straight forward, and unabashed. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Democracy Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Well, I don't know about only *guy*, but definitely not the only person. :-) I love this song, although I must admit to liking his "spoken word poem" version better. It's very dark, showcases his voice perfectly, and very fitting considering the subject matter. I think it's pretty self-explanatory in meaning. However, I find it interesting to note that a born-Montrealer (now NYer) manages to capture so perfectly the notion of contemporary American democracy. Perhaps it shows that the concept of Americanism is a universal one. At any rate, lyrically, Leonard Cohen > Bob Dylan. :-) |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Savior Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is such a beautiful song. My uncle dedicated this song to my grandfather a few years back and wrote out the lyrics for him inside a birthday card. It IS about the father-son relationship and is absolutely touching. "Just like you 'cuz you made me/All that I am. All in a hand." ...although, these lyrics seriously need to be fixed. Your hero's DESTINED to waver, not designated... :-p |
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