| Bruce Springsteen – I'm on Fire Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Just heard this song on a concert the other day, which made me look up the lyrics. Also read through some of the interpretations here, and while i respect the opinions, I do not share the interpretations of a romantic longing. It is about a bad obsession, no need to flower it. "Alone" "bad" "desire" "knife" "edgy and dull" "freight train running through my head" these are not "romantic" expressions, these are words of a destructive obsession. The video of the song is somewhat misleading, as it puts the words into a different context (social differences making a relationship impossible) The lyrics are dark, and the calmness of the singer´s voice just adds to the creepiness. At the same time it is a beautiful song, until you look up the lyrics. Because after that it becomes beautifully creepy and "creepingly" beautiful. |
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| Skunk Anansie – Carmen Queasy Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The song works on many levels. Two of these are either as a critique on music industry (or art industry), sellouts in general, or as an indifference within one person when coming to a realization to have been a "prostitute" of this worlds things, a "hungry ghost" as buddhists say. To me - not being an artist, or really knowledgeable about the music/art business - the latter speaks more. Two sides of confronting within a person. ("My vision is distorted by my sleazy mind") Realization meeting fear. ("To picturesque an image to control this time My intimate discriminating fears you test") Indifference between possibilities and potential. ("You have the vision/power, but you keep it all to yourself") Lost in the world of matter. (lust, money, choking....) Do something! ("You do not have a choice, but you have a voice") On the baseline: the song is about the revolution of the mind :) |
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| Nirvana – Pennyroyal Tea Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I think the song is about the problem the musician has with selling his art, getting payed for it, and about the fact how all this makes him feel. It is kind of the "original struggle" in any kind of art, but here clearly referring to music. "Pennyroyal Tea" - i think it is a word play as spoken out it sounds as "Penny Royalty" (royalty paid in pennies) (To me) It makes sense in a way as from the history of the band, Cobain did have problems with "selling out" himself/his music... It seems this song is exactly about that, in a kind of playful way using this metaphor of the "Pennyroyal tea" and the words / expressions associated with tea. As like when making/drinking tea you´d squeeze out the "essence" of something, he draws a parallel to the "musical self" how that is distilled out. The essence which comes out, results is the Royalties (as being payed for music) which the musician gets and shares ("Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea") but these royalties have a price: they come with the price of "life distilled out" ("Distill the life that's inside of me"). Then later in the first verse he drives the multi-meaning of the word "Royalty" a bit further, as in the line "Aenemic Royalty" - which is a "bloodless king", kind of suggesting the (pop)"star" (=King / Royalty) who is squeezed out, thus left behind bloodless (lifeless). The second verse, makes it more clearer, that Cobain talks about music, music as artistic expression. He is referring to the "Leonhard Cohen afterworld", as kind of a wish to "get things done like Cohen did", who successfully was able to continue with his art (after being a poet switching to music, and trying to finance through music his poetry, but then completely switching to music). But then Cobain himself realizes, that he is not like that, he is unable to do that, he and he continues to feel uncomfortable... The discomfort, the struggle is expressed by "So tired... can´t sleep" - it is the tiresomeness of discomfort, as that is the one which makes somebody not sleep. In the next line we get the reason for this discomfort: he feels like a liar (probably a liar to himself and/or his fans) and a thief (taking money --> royalty for his "lies"). In the final lines we see this self, who is unable to get sleep, who is unable to feel comfortable in the position of trying to heal himself. He is referring to different kind of drugs (laxatives, antacides) which seem to be the "cure" of this discomfort - but their taste is false, it is all artificial, all not real, and finally (and probably) will not help him. Final thoughts: i think if it is true that Cobain wrote these lyrics in only 30 minutes, without much revising them, it simply shows the genius, and the sensitive person he was. The lyrics allow a lot of multi-level interpretation, as he uses the words in multiple meanings, and associations - this gives every expression more and more layers - i think this makes these lyrics even more special. |
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| The National – Anyone's Ghost Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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one thing more to live underwater for more than a month = is when lovers usually come together, the first weeks are a state like living under the water |
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| The National – Anyone's Ghost Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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this song is probably about divorce... after he was cheated.... or about not knowing what he wants.... one part wants her the other part says no... "say you stay at home alone with the flu find out from friends that wasn't true go out at night with your headphones on, again and walk through the Manhattan valleys of, the dead" she´s lying to him.... finds excuses not to meet him.... she goes with "headphones" out at night means she does not pick up his phone calls probably. didn't want to be your ghost didn't want to be anyone's ghost didn't want to be your ghost didn't want to be anyone's ghost but I don't want anybody else I don't want anybody else = i do not want to be just a ghost on your side, i want to be somebody... but i want to be with you. you said I came close as anyone's come to live underwater for more than a month you said it was not inside my heart, it was you said it should tear a kid apart, it does = she probably explained to him, that he was the man coming closest in her life, but in the and blames him, not to have loved her enough ("it was not inside my heart"). Maybe she even said that if they would be together and have a child, then after a divorce the kid would be torn apart. By stating that "it does" he means that the fact that they are not staying together tears the not existing kid apart. I had a hole in the middle where the lightning went through it told my friends not to worry I had a hole in the middle someone's sideshow wouldn't do it I told my friends not to worry The feeling one has, when a love from wich we think is meant for us, does not come true.... he found out, that she is going her on ways, and does not want to be in the sideshow... |
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| The Knife – Neverland Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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this song is describing a callgirl (or callgirls). the MJ reference is totally off.... - NEVERLAND in this case refers to a place of illusions. (btw. te original Neverland is in Peter Pan ;-)) I think from these song of girls wich are brought to western europe with promises of wealth and good life and finally enslaved there: it must seem like Neverland to them in terms of something that can never be. I find the song really strong as it really very accurately transports what these women feel. "He's pointing with the fingers that are left on his hand" - i think this picture is a metaphore for the environment these women are in - a criminal one. probably the "man without fingers" is the man who is enslaving these ladies. "the monkey" term refers porobably to the men who are paying these women for their services, and how the women refer to them as "monkeys" wich is strong as it expresses how unpersonal these relationships are. "Feed the hand that bites me" is probably referring to the act of love - giving "love" (for money) to a man who abuses her. "Showing us love that none of us can" - describing how cold everything gets, how far away these women from love are. |
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| Fever Ray – If I Had a Heart Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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this is an amazingly beautiful song about an unborn baby talking to his/her mother from the womb... "this will never end cause i want more more, give me more, give me more" = baby wants to grow, needs food, energy "if i had a heart i could love you if i had a voice i would sing" = a beautiful line how the child would love the mother if it was born "after the night when i wake up" = the moment of birth "i'll see what tomorrow brings" = and the first moments in the "tommorow" world, the child will look around and see what the days will bring "dangling feet from window frame" = beautiful metaphor for the womb with the baby inside (if you ever looked at ultrasound pics of an unborn baby, it looks exactly like this "will i ever ever reach the floor?" - baby wondering if ever getting born baby wants to come out, need more food to grow: "more, give me more, give me more" "crushed" = in the moment of birth when baby is "squeezed" through, wich can be compared like a "crush" "...and filled with all i found underneath and inside" - filled with everything wich found and got in the womb "just to come around" - coming out to you, just for being there.... more, give me more, give me more" |
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| Soundgarden – Head Down Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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hi. this song is one of my big favourites lyrically and musically (Matt and Sheperd are doing really a gerat job in theis song --- listen to the end sequence --- awesome!) i think this song is about the SELF against the OTHERS. the whole song is told from the position of the "others", but in real it is about how the self feels about the whole thing. "We see you laugh We see you dance We take that away Every day" The self wants to laugh, dance, wants be happy. But it cannot because others take it away this happiness --- you need to hide your self from others, since if you do not you get vulnerable... they do not let you. And this is the game we play -- every day. "We see you cry We turn your hear Then we slap your face We see you try We see you fail Some things never change We hear you cry We hear you wail We steal that smile from your face We (the others) listen to your cries, but in real we do not feel sorry for you, we even slap in your face. If you smile: we will make you cry, you have no chance to be your own. the last lines: "Head down, hide that smile Head high got to smile" is about this whole "theater" called human life. It is kinda schizophreniac state of mind like we see it everyday: you cannot show your happiness if you are feeling happy... no. you have to hide it. And on the other hand, sometimes you need to put the smile on your face even if you are not feeling like it. |
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