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Radiohead – The Bends Lyrics	14 years ago
Willboe, I Am Not Amused is right. Thom Yorke has said so himself. http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=1995&cutting=27

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Tool – The Patient Lyrics

14 years ago

This song is beautiful. Lyrically, what makes it so beautiful is that there are no definitive answers given to the questions Maynard asks. "If there were no reward to reap, no loving embrace to see me through this tedious path I've chosen here, I certainly would have walked away by now." He's saying that he trusts his judgement enough to change direction if his work became fruitless, but what really paints the complete picture is the line "And I still may." He hasn't yet decided if the reward is worth the struggle, yet he will continue on the path so long as he is in limbo. This is a path that many of us find ourselves walking, myself included. Every element of this song articulates that heavy contemplation and indecision in the way that only Tool can. Brilliant.

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Nine Inch Nails – Closer Lyrics

15 years ago

This song is among NIN's greatest, regardless of how overhyped it is. It is, by itself, about catharsis through sex. The narrator gains the total power and control that evidently eludes him in every other aspect of his life. He is powerless and insecure, but becomes a Godlike figure when fucking this girl (refer to "Piggy" earlier on The Downward Spiral). He is able to release the isolation, hate, and absence of faith during sex. On a more personal and less interpretative note, if you haven't had sex to this song, you really need to. Best sex of my life was to this song as I sung with it to my girlfriend; she couldn't resist.

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Nine Inch Nails – Piggy Lyrics

15 years ago

Okay, there have been a lot of very valid interpretations so far if you analyze the song by itself, but I think it must be analyzed in context with the entire Downward Spiral. If you analyze it that way, Mr. Self Destruct serves as an introduction to the story, vaguely foreshadowing some of the specifics that will happen in the story (his abandon and metaphorical overthrowing of God, the power he achieves through sex, etc.), and Piggy is the start of the story. A relationship in his life has dissolved, probably an abusive relationship in which the narrator was the perpetrator and the "piggy" is the victim. Now, the "piggy" has had enough and has left him, rendering the once powerful and in control narrator pathetic (as evidenced by the whimpering vocal chants of "nothing can stop me now"). This is only the first "chapter" of the story, and I had better stop myself now, because if I continue, I will end up analyzing the entire album in this comment box.

submissions

Nine Inch Nails – A Warm Place Lyrics	15 years ago
Nine Inch Nails and Tool both have that effect on me as well...along with The Smashing Pumpkins, they are my three favourite bands. You have great taste there, my friend.

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Tool – Hooker with a Penis Lyrics

15 years ago

Wow. Phenomenal song. Tool are a simply mind-blowing entity that the world is lucky to have. Anywho, so many people I know (not on here, but in reality) immediately dismiss this song for being "fucking stupid" or only laugh at the profanities. But the fact of the matter is, this song is the work of Maynard James Keenan's lyrical genius. It is obviously about an encounter he had with a boy who claimed to be a "true" Tool fan, dressed in a fittingly ironic inauthenticity, who accused Maynard of "selling out". There are awesome meanings in the profane lines, for instance, the chorus; "I'm the man, and you're the man, and he's the man as well, so you can point that fucking finger up your ass". It shows how each and every one of us is a cog in the capitalist system, and as a result of that, every single one of us is the famed "man" who is always out to get us. And the "point that fucking finger up your ass" is obviously a blatant fuck-off that basically screams "I win, you lose. Bitch." Also, a thought on the title; a possibility as to why the song is titled "Hooker With A Penis" could be that the piercings, tattoos and other nuances of the boy's appearance made him look so ridiculous, that he almost looked feminine, or like a hooker with a penis. Just my interpretation and some food for thought.

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A Perfect Circle – 3 Libras Lyrics

15 years ago

I agree with most of the other interpretations that I've read, but one possibility as to the meaning of the title; I know that when I write lyrics, I often begin with a title, then write what comes to mind, what the title makes me feel or think. Perhaps Maynard uses this method in his lyric writing, and he had the title "3 Libras" kicking around, and this beautiful work is what he came up with. Or perhaps the lyrics could purely be his interpretation of the music, the way "Schism" was in Tool. Whatever meaning you pull out of this song, you can't deny how remarkable it is. In my opinion, Maynard is tied with Billy Corgan for having the best overall body of work. Amazing.

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The Smashing Pumpkins – Porcelina of the Vast Oceans Lyrics

15 years ago

One of the single greatest songs ever written; if a gun were put to my head and I had to choose my favourite Pumpkin's song, it would probably come down to this and Mayonaise. As for what it's about, here's my interpretation, feel completely free to agree or disagree; to me, this song is about a character (the narrator) who lives in a world not unlike the one in 1984, where everything is organized to the smallest detail and negative thinking is strictly forbidden. This world is hard on them, because in keeping with other interpretations, he could very well be a disillusioned teenager, or just a person who is struggling with their feelings. He manages to find a girl ("Porcelina") who is experiencing the same painful emotions and struggles with the world they live in, and the two become great friends or even lovers. When the two are together, they feel happier than they thought they had in them to feel, and they completely forget the cold world they must return to. Basically, in a nutshell, this song is about two disenchanted people living in a negative environment who find happiness in each other. Beautiful, poetic, epic, and mind-boggling in every sense of the word.

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The Smashing Pumpkins – Today Lyrics

15 years ago

I always loved this song, but as a Pumpkins' fan, I felt this song overshadowed many of thier less appreciated works, and I always had a slight grudge against this song. Not anymore. To me, this song represented Billy hitting rock bottom and becoming depressed to the point where all he could do was laugh about it. The song is beautiful and blissfully hopeful musically, and the starkly contrasting, sarcastic lyrics make this song the literal definition of irony. Never before has irony been so moving, majestic and amazing. In terms of analyzing specific lines of the song, one thing most people seem to miss is the meaning of the "I wanna turn you on" line; to me, I think it represents how Billy was trying so hard to garner positive attention and to build a positive public persona, and it simply did not turn out. He wanted to turn us on, but in trying to do so, turned some people off. Otherwise, all the other lines are covered somewhere in the comment box. Smashing Pumpkins=Most Important Band of the 90's, end of discussion.

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The Smashing Pumpkins – Daphne Descends Lyrics

15 years ago

This song, while not necessarily one of my Pumpkins' favourites, has grown on me. The music and especially the lyrics are remarkably atmospheric. To me, it creates the image of a girl, presumably named Daphne, who falls hard and fast for a guy. He puts on a dazzling performance and makes her "miss him more than home". The lines "last lovers arc" and "come apart to intertwine" lead me to believe that they fought, or even that Daphne was abused, and they split, only to quickly fall back in love with each other, harder than before. "It was all so simple...As you watched him move across the darkness in your room" makes me believe that she was able to forget the past pain and struggle during sex with him ("as you watched him move across the darkness in your room"). "This boy is here and gone" solidifies the break-up/getting back together cycle. The haunting music gives you a hopeless vibe that the lyrics can only indicate so much, and as a result, it's a great marriage of words and sound. Adore, in my mind, was the album that cemented Billy Corgan as a genius lyricist. Critics found that Mellon Collie was too gripy and angsty, but they had few criticisms of Adore lyrically. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Corgan shut them up with Adore.

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Taking Back Sunday – New American Classic Lyrics

16 years ago

I recently discovered this song when a buddy of mine began playing it during a jam session, and suggested I learn it too. Then, my sister attempted to kill herself the next day, and this song became one of a handful of songs that have helped me to survive the past week since then. The lyrics parallel everything that has gone wrong with my family that led up to her unsuccessful (Thank God). "We've got to get better" I said, "It's all in your head" is basically how everyone in our family kept saying that things would erupt unless we began to treat each other better, and despite the warnings, we remained at each other's throats. "See the months they don't matter, it's the days I can't take, when the hours move to minutes and I'm seconds away" This sums up my feelings on everything to perfection. The problems don't seem to amount to much overtime, but they eat away at me every single day, only for me to seemingly forget them the next, until a crisis made me aware of how long things have been going wrong for. "You try to avoid it, but there's not a doubt, and there's one thing I can do nothing about" describes how I was in denial of our family's breakdown, but deep down, I was fully aware that we would explode, and the one thing I can do nothing about now is how close I came to losing my sister. In effect, the song is about the breakdown of any kind of relationship, whether it be between friends, family or lovers, and how they long for it to return to the way it was, even though they know that it just cannot be.

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