submissions
| Havergal – How I Do Lyrics
| 6 years ago
|
I think it’s “Waits until I’m tired out.”
And I think it’s “You CAN have that for your life.” |
submissions
| Sonic Youth – Providence Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
|
I always thought Watt said "punk phone booth," which I find pretty hilarious. I think I'll go on pretending that's what he says. |
submissions
| Hüsker Dü – First Of The Last Calls Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
|
Does anyone know what Bob says right before the guitar solo? To me, it sounds like "It's fuckin' liquor." Which would make sense in context of the song, but I'm still not sure. |
submissions
| Bedhead – the unpredictable landlord Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
|
Yep, that's exactly what the song is saying. I've been in love with this album for 20 years, and this has always been one of my favorite tracks. I've thought a lot about its meaning, and it is pretty bleak. |
submissions
| Bedhead – crushing Lyrics
| 9 years ago
|
Always been one my favorite Bedhead songs. I've recited the lyrics in my head when it seems like life is really tough.
I don't think the reference to "crushing" is meant to be a crush on someone. In the spirit of the rest of the lyrics, it seems to mean a painful death. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Oh! Sweet Nuthin Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
Great song, love it.
Just thought I'd post to say that the guitar solo is actually played by Doug Yule.
On this track, Lou and Doug play guitars, while Sterling Morrison plays bass. |
submissions
| Built to Spill – Shameful Dread Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
Thanks for the clearer lyrics.
I mostly agree with your interpretation, but there's also a sense that it's about having totally screwed up a relationship, or past relationships, and experiencing that awful feeling (but awesome song title), shameful dread. |
submissions
| Big Star – O, Dana Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
For years, I could not figure out just what Alex is getting at with this song. When I read Rob Jovanovic's book on Big Star, I finally found out. The lyrics are simply a collection of things said by a friend of Alex named Dana. Apparently she was quite the character who would blurt out things like "I'd rather shoot a woman than a man", and "I'm forevermore fighting with Steven".
I think it's actually pretty clever. We all know that one person who is always saying off-the-wall things. To write some of them down and make a song out of it is pretty cool. |
submissions
| Modest Mouse – Karma's Payment Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
|
Maybe they have caffeine these days, but back in my day they had pseudoephedrine as the active ingredient -- aka a major component of crystal meth. They used to call it trucker's speed because it was sold at gas stations and truck stops. |
submissions
| Modest Mouse – Might Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
|
I think it's a great song myself, reminiscent of early Pixies in its force and brevity. More importantly, it's a nice little interlude before we settle in for the epic "Lounge" that follows it on the album. Sometimes on a great album, not all the songs are masterpieces but they work well in sequence, playing off of each other. |
submissions
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
All this talk about "Maps" standing for "My Angus, Please Stay" is really lame. Do you really think someone like Karen O would come up with something so trite?
No, it really stands for "My Anus, Please Shit." Hear me out...the song is about heroin and the withdrawal process.
See, when you are using heroin or other opiate/opioid drugs regularly, constipation is a nasty side effect. Of course, when you kick the habit, the reverse happens and you can count on spending half the day in the john until you finally get over the junk sickness.
So, in this song, even though Karen O has gotten straight (hence the lyric "I'm straight"), she's still plugged up. She's got all the other terrible withdrawal systems, but she still can't drop a deuce (hence the lyric "They don't love poo like I love poo"). And, finally, that's why the song is really "My Anus, Please Shit."
Mystery solved! |
submissions
| The Breeders – Opened Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
This is definitely not about Kelley's drug addiction. At the time Pod was made, Kelley was a programmer and analyst for the Department of Defense, and had yet to pick up a guitar. It would be a couple years later, when Tanya Donnelly exited the Breeders and Kim needed a second guitar player. That's also when Kelley started experimenting with drugs, and went downhill fast.
That said, the song is definitely about a woman escaping her surroundings by getting high. I would not be surprised if it's about Kim herself. Heavy drug use was prevalent in the Breeders during the Pod era, with Kim, Tanya and Britt over-indulging. And many of the songs on Pod are about drugs, and specifically heroin ("Glorious", "Oh!", "Lime House"). |
submissions
| The Smashing Pumpkins – Here Is No Why Lyrics
| 10 years ago
|
|
In the three years since this post, I've changed my opinion about MCIS. In fact, it was getting the 3xLP version that turned me around. The songs are grouped so much better on that version of the album, with each of the six sides having a consistent theme. It helped me to appreciate the songs better, and therefore like the album more than I ever have. So, I agree, it's not bullshit! |
submissions
| Big Star – St 100/6 Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
All of you who thought it had something to do with a record catalog number were close. It is an imaginary catalog number.
Big Star (and especially Chris Bell) wanted to include this brief song as the last track on #1 Record as a kind of Beatles-y move -- like "Her Majesty" at the end of Abbey Road. The title came from a half-serious in-joke they had with Stax and Ardent.
The album was taking a long time to come out despite being ready to go. They had been joking with the Stax and Ardent folks that they would put it out themselves on their own label...and they're like, "hey, we even have a catalog number: ST 100/6." "Put out our record now, or we going ST 100/6 with this thing." Once the album was finally getting ready to come out, they used their in-joke, imaginary catalog number as the title for this last track of the album.
Pretty cool, huh? Big Star were pretty meta about music and the whole record business long before anyone else was. |
submissions
| New Order – Liar Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
|
It may be about Tony Wilson, but this album was not made for Factory. Factory had folded about a year before New Order made Republic. This was their first for London Records (except in the USA, where they continued with Qwest/Warner Bros.). |
submissions
| The Breeders – Iris Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
Oh, come on people, any Breeders fan should know what this song is about. Kim has explained its meaning many times -- it's about the menstrual cycle. Some people call it "the monthly visitor" or "Aunt Flo". Kim calls her period "Iris".
And the first line is "Four hours in the pod", which provides the album Pod its title. Kim's music publishing company is also named Period Music in reference to this song and Pod, the first Breeders album. |
submissions
| Kajagoogoo – Too Shy Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
|
This song is about getting a girl to let you go down on her. Unless that has happened with the coffee shop girl, then this song has nothing to do with your situation. |
submissions
| Sonic Youth – Becuz Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
No, I do not mind that the coda is at track 9. "Becuz" is such a great song, and a great opener, and in my book it adds a little cohesiveness to the album by placing the coda later on in the album.
I always took the whole "move the coda" for an "accessible" opener with a grain of salt, anyway. SY had full artistic control during their stay at Geffen. And that two minute coda being moved hardly makes Washing Machine a more commercially accessible album. It's still an uncompromising work of art, and one of SY's best. |
submissions
| Sonic Youth – Screaming Skull Lyrics
| 11 years ago
|
owennnnnnn got a few things wrong.
Lemonheads never put anything out on SST.
The SST Superstore was hardly a major store like Virgin or anything like that. It was actually a very small record store, its gimmick being that they only sold SST LPs and CDs.
I went there many times in the '93 to '96 time frame and bought a lot of SST goodies. Never saw Pat Smear though. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Sweet Jane Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
|
Not true. In live versions from the summer of '70, when the band was recording Loaded, Lou sang "Jane is in her corset, Jack is in his vest". I think he just slipped up and mixed up those lyrics and kept it that way because cross-dressing is something he had sang about before in previous VU songs. |
submissions
| Joy Division – Atmosphere Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
They were not "douchebags for not understanding him." They understood him fine. There was no indication he was going to kill himself.
Don't take the movie 'Control' as the gospel of Ian Curtis' life. Or many of the legends surrounding him, either.
In the days leading up to May 18, 1980, Ian's friends and family knew he was unhappy about a few things, and his marriage was on the skids, but NO ONE had any idea that he was going to kill himself. If anyone had seriously thought so, they would have got him help, or got him committed. It was a shock to everyone, no one saw it coming. |
submissions
| Joy Division – Atmosphere Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
They were not "douchebags for not understanding him." They understood him fine. There was no indication he was going to kill himself.
Don't take the movie 'Control' as the gospel of Ian Curtis' life. Or many of the legends surrounding him, either.
In the days leading up to May 18, 1980, Ian's friends and family knew he was unhappy about a few things, and his marriage was on the skids, but NO ONE had any idea that he was going to kill himself. If anyone had seriously thought so, they would have got him help, or got him committed. It was a shock to everyone, no one saw it coming. |
submissions
| Joy Division – Atmosphere Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
To me, this is about depression and how hard it is to carry on normally when depressed. Especially when those around you don't understand that depression is more than just "a case of the blues" or an extended bad mood. It is a medical problem, one that no one wants to have--which is another misconception, that depressed people like to wallow in their misery.
Many seem confused over "Walk in silence/Don't walk away, in silence" like it's some sort of contradiction. Take it a line at a time...walk in silence, BUT don't walk away in silence. In other words, be easy with me, give me space, etc., but don't leave me all alone either. |
submissions
| Bauhaus – She's In Parties Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
I always thought it was "Lunatic Hendrix". Guess not. :-)
Everyone here is obsessing way too much over the meaning. I mean, this is the place to do so, but...really, folks, this song is just about a femme fatale movie actress who bit the dust. Yes, probably inspired by Marilyn, but NOT about her. |
submissions
| Red House Painters – Strawberry Hill Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
What pilot said is right, but I thought I would add that it is based around the time that Kozelek moved from Georgia to California to stay with relatives. I believe he had just completed rehab as a teenager and was still somewhat of a "misfit" so he went there for a change of scenery, a new life. We can infer from the song that his relatives worried about his insular nature and felt it was their duty as Californians to make him happy about life.
A fascinating song. I have a hard time saying anything by Kozelek is my "favorite," as the man has written too many amazing songs to pick. But yet I've gotta say this is at least ONE of my favorites of his. |
submissions
| Pavement – Elevate Me Later Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Yep, gotta agree. Crooked Rain is about the music industry (specifically, indie culture being appropriated by the major labels), Los Angeles, and California culture in general. CR,CR is like the '90s indie equivalent of Fleetwood Mac's self-titled LP or Rumours in the way it evokes California.
Now of course Malkmus and Spiral Stairs know California very well, having grown up in Stockton, but I always find it amusing that CR,CR was recorded in New York in the fall and early winter, because it's very much a California summer record! |
submissions
| Pavement – Elevate Me Later Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
I agree too, to a certain extent. While there are definite LA and California references in this song (like many on Crooked Rain), it also alludes to another one of Crooked Rain's major themes--being thrust into the spotlight of fame and having a real distaste for it. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Sister Ray Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Couldn't hit it sideways...he's trying to find a vein to shoot up into (searching for his mainline), but can't hit it, even "sideways." It's just an expression of frustration at trying to find a vein.
And no, he's not trying to shoot up into his penis. Not sure how you got that out of the lyrics! But take into account the fact that the point of view of the person speaking switches several times throughout the song. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Sister Ray Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
Couldn't hit it sideways...he's trying to find a vein to shoot up into (searching for his mainline), but can't hit it, even "sideways." It's just an expression of frustration at trying to find a vein. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Cool It Down Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
kristieann87 has it right. The narrator has hooked up with a prostitute named Linda Lee (Lou always came up the greatest character names), and he's about to come pretty quickly into their session, even though he has rented her services for an hour. But, of course, it makes no difference to her, but he better cool it down if he wants it to last. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Andy's Chest Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
I believe Valerie shot Andy because he was supposed to buy a script of hers to shoot, then never paid her (or shot the movie). He then lost the script, angering her to no end. It was that, and the fact that she's a total nutcase.
The song does describe some of the weirdos that hung around the Factory. The title literally refers to the scar on Andy's chest following the incident, but I also took it to mean like another kind of chest, a treasure trove of sorts, a trove of weird characters. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Heroin Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
As Lou has said, the song is about heroin. Not for it, not against it, just about it. That's only one part of its brilliance (very few, if any, songwriters have had the courage to deal so head-on with drugs since); it's also brilliant musically, with everything so primal, from the simple guitars raving up and down, the screeching viola and perhaps most importantly, Moe's pounding drums. Just beautiful! |
submissions
| The Lemonheads – Rudderless Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
Yep, this song is about having done too many drugs for too long, and just being strung out to the point where you can't function. If you're ever unsure about what a Lemonheads song is about, just assume it's about drugs in some way or another. |
submissions
| This Mortal Coil – Fond Affections Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
|
So beautiful, so melancholy, so touching. The TMC version is better than the already-great Rema Rema version. Unfortunately Rema Rema don't seem to merit a page here at Song Meanings...I'd like some lyrics to their "theme song," "Rema Rema." The Big Black version is not terribly faithful lyrically. |
submissions
| New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Really, people, this is a song about drugs, and the damage they are causing the narrator's relationship. Everyone wants to try and twist their interpretation into a straight-up love song because the music is so bouncy and jubilant. But really, it is a common thing for a person in a relationship with an alcoholic or other drug addict to say it feels like "there is three people in this relationship, me, my lover, and the bottle (needle, pills, whatever)." Hence, the love "triangle."
"It's a problem of mine." "Living a life I can't leave behind." "There's no point in telling you." "I feel fine and I feel good, I feel like I never should. Whenever I get this way, I just don't know what to say. Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday."
Think about it, with this interpretation in mind. Listen close, and I think you will agree that there really is no other interpretation. Despite this being a happy-sounding track musically, it's really a very sad and melancholy song. This dichotomy is just one example of many in a band that is full of dichotomies, in their music, their lyrics, their image, their approach to the music business, and on and on. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Candy's Room Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
I've always loved Bruce's point-of-view in this song. He basically is playing a schmuck who doesn't know that Candy is a prostitute, or is so stupidly, head-over-heels in love with her, he doesn't care. Either way, it's kind of funny when you stop and think about it.
Oh yeah, the guitar is freaking wicked on this song. How about that solo? Just about burns holes through the speakers... |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Something in the Night Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Incredibly powerful song, off an incredibly powerful album. Two parts, in particular, resonate with me.
The standard line about the Darkness LP is that it was informed by the long, drawn-out lawsuit that Bruce went through after Born To Run, to gain his artistic and financial freedom. However, I have often thought that there is far more to it than that...it's more about a crucial turning point in your life when you've got to make something of yourself or continue down the path to being nobody. BUT...there is this part that would seem to allude to the court fight:
"You're born with nothing,
and better off that way,
Soon as you've got something they send
someone to try and take it away."
And the other part that really sticks with me is a line that shows Bruce leaving his own past behind. Earlier songs like "Spirit in the Night" celebrated cruising and getting drunk and being young, but here Bruce just dismisses all that youthful play with the very curt lines:
"Just kids wasted on
something in the night."
The whole song is great, but those few lines in the second verse have always hit home with me.
|
submissions
| Ride – Sunshine/Nowhere to Run Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
Tarantula is such a bad album, and this has got to be the worst song off of it.
Seriously, these lyrics sound like some 14-year-old imagining life on the road, from the perspective of a burned-out rock star. Just bad, bad, bad.
It's so sad how Ride fizzled out. I even thought Carnival of Light was good...not perfect, but a good approximation of the glory days of psych rock. But they couldn't even muster that for Tarantula. Just commenting on this songs because it's the absolute worst of the bunch. |
submissions
| New Order – Mr. Disco Lyrics
| 13 years ago
|
A lot of the songs on Technique are, lyrically, about Bernard's divorce that he was going through at the time. He has been accused of writing plain and obvious lyrics, but when he delivers lines like "I can't find my piece of mind/Without you," it really hits home.
Excellent track, one of the best from a great LP. |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
