| Brian Head Welch – Die Religion Die Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[mauicrf450rider:26778] > Do not be afraid > Religion is man-made > Everything is OK > The rules have just been changed He's reassuring someone who is buried in "religion", encouraging them not to fret about what he's saying, that the rules they've grown-up under -- refer song "Re-Bel" -- have been changed, thrown away, cast asunder ... by Christ ... by direct communion to God through Christ and the Spirit within. Pretty big change to "The Rules" |
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| Brian Head Welch – Home Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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http://www.enochmagazine.com/articles/band-interviews/brian-welch-interview Enoch Magazine: Did you ever get a response from 50 Cent in regards to the song Home? Brian Welch: Nope, he’s too rich and famous to care about crazy Christians. |
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| Fink – Looking Too Closely Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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Journo: The first single of the album, ‘Looking Too Closely’, advises someone not to look too closely for the truth in order to prevent pain. Should we close our eyes to reality? Fink: Yeah, you absolutely nailed it. It is about the relationship you have with yourself. About NOT looking too closely. Sometimes it is best to do it this way to remain positive. You can be obsessed with details. I don't think anything needs to be added, since the man himself has settled all arguments, but I'm going to anyway. To me there are six lines in pairs that tell the whole story: 1. This is a song about somebody else, So don’t worry yourself, worry yourself Look away, folks, nothing to see here, I'm not talking about myself, but a "friend". 2. The devil’s right there right there in the details, And you don’t wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself ... [by] Looking too closely I think the implied "by" is very important, but easy to miss. Look too closely, see the details, and you'll hurt yourself. But, it's worth noting that he's talking to someone else at this point. So he's told them to look away because if they look at him closely, they'll only end-up hurting themselves. I see depression in that. You hide your despair from others to save them from being dragged down into the pit of despair you inhabit. 3. Put your arms around somebody else, Don’t punish yourself, punish yourself Don't hug me to console me, you're only going to make your life worse. Really, just run from me, I'm toxic. 4. Truth is like blood underneath your fingernails, And you don’t wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself ... [by] Looking too closely Again, don't hurt yourself by looking into my life. Truth is unpleasant, just like a murderer with bloody fingernails, if you look closely and see these truths, you're going to be shocked, disappointed, even hurt by the toxicity that oozes from me, in my despair, that I am. AND THEN, third verse, he goes with the meaning he describes above: 5. It’s you right there, right there in the mirror, And you don’t wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself ... [by] Looking too closely He's now talking about those prone to an excess of self-examination and self-criticism, because there lies the path to depression, which is true. People totally satisfied with their lives don't succumb to non-biochemical depression, it's those of us who do look too closely, who do fret and worry about every little "shameful" thing we did this morning, the way we missed hair #28,465 or the way we greeted that person while distracted. We burn ourselves with out laser-focus ... and you don't wanna hurt yourself ... by looking too closely. So, he implies, stop it. |
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| Faith No More – Ashes to Ashes Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[EllyListens:5269] WHO THE FLAMING HELL THOUGHT THE BOWIE "ASHES" WAS WHAT FNM WERE SINGING. IDIOTS!! GAAAH!!!!!!! | |
| Zaz – Éblouie par la nuit Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I take it mean that she's been aimless her whole life that is a whirl of distractions and bright lights, waiting for that one somebody, that one perfect someone who would complete her, and she finally does find him, only he's gone by morning and she's deeply mourning the loss. I also suspect the translation for, "De nos nuits de fumettes" is meant to be "our nights smouldering", a literary mixing of imagery, but... poet... translator... non... etc... |
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| Zaz – Éblouie par la nuit Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Blinded by the night's fatal strikes of light, whizzing cars go by like pinheads pupils 'came tight, I've been waiting a hundred years on black and white streets, you came whistling past. Blinded by the night's fatal bolts of light, kicking around tin cans, as clueless as a ship, If I lost my head, I have loved you and even worse you came whistling past. Blinded by the night's fatal flashes of light, Will you love life or just watch it go by? Of our nights smoking, almost nothing remains but your ashes in the morning. In this subway filled with the dizziness of life, at the next station, European darling lay your hand, let it part the depths of my heart Blinded by the night's fatal blows of light, One last hurrah with hand stretched out I've been waiting a hundred years on black and white streets, you came whistling past. [end] Yes, I have hedged with the lyric, "coups de lumières mortelles", as I'm not enough of a poet to really translate it properly, but it's fatal blows of light, only in English I'm not sure that really translates. I've read someone elsewhere use "fatal flashes" but that doesn't seem to align with the punchiness of the French. But, hey, I'm not really enough of a poet OR a French translator to really say. So have at it. But, I cannot believe this did not HAVE a translation. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Zero-Sum Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. Smart cookie. | |
| Fiona Apple – Never Is a Promise Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I think people are getting the wrong end of the stick with some of the lyrics. I don't think she is saying the other person HAS failed her, or that they will fail her. It's about not being understood. About not being able to adequately convey the "heat of this soul", the things she feels, and the way she feels. And it is that the other person is also unable to understand these things ("you don't know who I am"), cannot empathise because they cannot live in her skin ("You'll never live the life that I live"), despite their best efforts so far, and despite, at times, thinking that they do ("You'll say you understand, but you don't understand"). And then, the song is about her doubts about the other person. They're making promises ("You'll say you'd never give up seeing eye to eye") she does not believe they can keep ("But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie"). It's not about their betrayal or their failure, insomuch as it is about their simple inability to understand her, to truly empathise, to live in her skin, to know her and what she goes through every ... single ... damn ... night. But finally, she's admitting that she's been holding back. There are things about herself she is "too proud to mention ... to you", that her "fever burns me deeper than I've ever shown ... to you". She also doesn't trust them, doesn't trust them enough to show all of herself, because they'll not understand, not handle with the appropriate care the depths of her craziness, therefore things that she's "too smart to mention ... to you". And the teeth-gritting she sings that line with convey how disappointed she is with the whole relationship. It's not about rape (well, not directly), it's not about betrayal, it is about emotions, it's about not being understood, and therefore NOT TRUSTING the other person, either to follow through on their promises or trusting them with her fragile soul, the real depths of how she thinks and feels. And the refrain over and over, "never is a promise", implies she believes they cannot keep it, and she'll "never need a lie". ----- Finally, I'll just add three thoughts: (i) Such captured emotions, such expressive words, such poetry ... and from a teenager!!!!!! She lived a richer experience than my dull, study-filled teen years! (ii) The emotion, particularly angst, she conveys on-camera in the videoclip ... if you've never seen it, it is worth your time. She acts well enough that I'm surprised no one has ever tried to tap that skill in film. (iii) This song, alongside "Sullen Girl" remain my all-time favourite Apple tunes. They were the #1 double-A single of my 2002 and 2003 and I still hold such fond memories of it. To me, it stands alongside Tori Amos's "Winter" as one of the best, most beautifully-sad songs of all time. Thanks, Fiona. |
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| Fiona Apple – Sleep to Dream Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Exactly what I thought too | |
| VNV Nation – Illusion Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Ugh. Give me a break. | |
| Night Ranger – Sister Christian Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I find it hilarious that "Crissy" got mistranslated to "Christian". Because look at how many pseudo-religious interpretations have now been misapplied. Oh we're funny! And what a bozo the lead-singer was to mishear that!! How do you go from TWO syllables to THREE?!?! I mean, it does SOUND better with three syllables, but still. I've always taken "motoring" as meaning revvin' to get on with life, or getting on with life. |
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| Brian Head Welch – Die Religion Die Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think Head is tilting at the windmill of lost children in the Church, that there is an entire generation of youf who are either christians who feel they're living under the oppression of church rules (to whom he says "Everything is OK"), or kids who've been subjugated by church discipline and have no understanding that there is a God who does love them. It's sad and he's right to make his clarion call like this. For my money, the "Children come away - Your Price" bridge is one of the best pieces of music ever written. In fact, it's been quite a while since I've listened to any metal and I am *really* impressed with this song. I hope he keeps making music. He's good at it, and ytf shouldn't metal be claimed for Christ, too? I do have a question, though, around the chorus luric "Who cares? Who's right?" I only have the iTunes edition, so I have no CD booklet to check, so is that the lyric, or is it "Who cares who's right?" Makes a HUGE difference to the meaning, obviously. I heard it as the latter and worried whether Head was throwing the theology baby out with the religion bathwater. If the split shown above is correct, that makes more sense. As for those telling their stories, it is true that too many church-members get sucked into thinking that good organisation is the path to righteousness. A mate's church is like this, so fixated on annual plans and mission statements and all the trappings of business-style organisation that it makes me wonder what Christ they know. I know, each to their own, but the christian life is bl00dy HARD ENOUGH without piling on top a bunch of irrelevant B.S. @Ultimatebas: > "I hate religion but I love Christ" > I loled What's to laugh at? There are too many people who can't tell the difference between them. Religion is the rules and regulations invented by humanity to try and please God. When Jesus criticised the Pharisees, he said they had so many rules and regulations governing their lives, but lacked God, Paul clarifying that they lacked an understanding that the Law was given to demonstrate peoples' inability to adhere to God's standard and that only faith in Christ could save us. |
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| Brian Head Welch – Die Religion Die Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Then don't GO to THAT church. Find another. Not all churches are all prosperity doctrine or money-seeking or crowd-pleasing. BUT, know this: churches DO need money. They're not self-funding. There is a staff to pay for. As for abusing the scriptures, make sure you are in the right and not just bucking God's rider. Just because you don't like the message, doesn't mean it is wrong. Study and know the scripture yourself. Read extensively what theologians have written on every verse, get a few different commentaries, and pray on it. No preacher will ever get it 100%, but you should make sure you're under one that doesn't preach complete heresy. |
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| Brian Head Welch – Die Religion Die Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Go to the ant, you sluggard! How you gonna be come Judgement and THAT is the best excuse you can give to the LORD? I mean, by all means don't attend your local if they're not actually adding to your life, but FIND a church that does! |
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| Brian Head Welch – Die Religion Die Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Nice. | |
| Sage Francis – Waterline Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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> Due to copyright restrictions, we are not authorized to display these lyrics. Oh, so who got their ass sued by Sony? I'll blame Sony, 'cuz they and Apple have more lawyers than half the nations on this earth and, like a nasty bunch of sissies, are only too happy to deploy them like the crack troops of the modern age. These two make me want to vomit everything I've ever eaten. This site is now dead to me. But, yes, this song is referencing New Orleans as an allegory of other troubles in life. Couldn't say what those troubles were; don't have any lyrics anymore to refer to. |
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| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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People, people, people. You're all obviously TOO YOUNG to have the faintest idea what's going on. And maybe ignorance is not your fault, but if I read one more person saying "It's about Larry King" or "It's about a gay swinger party", I'll start swinging an axe. The song was written in the mid-60s, so it's all about the counter-culture movement Bob Dylan was part of, centered around NYC's village. "You walk into the room with your pencil in your hand" Reporters in the ye olde days before recorders and iPhones with a voice recording option used to wander around with a notepad and pencil and make notes. "You see somebody naked" In the 1960s counter-culture movement, the leading wave before the hippies, it was nothing to see people naked in a commune or house shared by young people. If you weren't bothered, you were cool. Mr Jones, however, a reporter, is not cool, is trying to find out why someone is naked, is confronted by it all. "Because something is happening here but you don't know what it is, do you, Mister Jones" Mr Jones, the reporter, is mystified completely by the midget shouting "NOW!", the sword-swallower returning his throat, the geek who thinks HE's the freak, and so on. Sounds a lot like a circus, huh? That's because to an outsider that's what it is, a weird circus Mr Jones simply does not understand. But, he knows he needs to, because it's becoming relevant. It's all about the media's inability to comment accurately on or to even understand the counter-culture movement of the time, but knowing they had to comment because it was the new big deal. |
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| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It kinda is. | |
| Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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>Due to copyright restrictions, we are not authorized to display these lyrics. WTF is this sh!t?? |
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| Fiona Apple – Sullen Girl Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Just like the debut by Tori Amos, who was also raped a few years before her debut album, Apple's Tidal was such stunning brilliance, and you can't help feeling partly-fuelled by the preceding few years of working through the emotions and torment the violence perpetrated on each. While Amos's "Me and a gun" dealt directly with the violence, perhaps because she was older and more able to deal directly to it, "Sullen Girl" is so tenderly tragic, a symphony of sweeping, drowning emotions that so powerfully echo the adolescent mindset. Screaming her overwhelmed emotions with the line: "it's calm under the waves, in the blue of my oblivion", Apple emotionally retreated, retracted: "They don't know I used to sail the deep and tranquil sea, but he washed my shore and he took my pearl and left an empty shell of me." It's such a powerfully beautiful song for all its tragedy, BECAUSE it so poetically captures the theme of her emotions following that event. There are such horrible acts of violence some men perpetrate against women, but sometimes, just sometimes, the world is blessed from the depths of these womens' recovery with beautiful artistry of such tender and insightful expression. And, on Tidal, without doubt, "Sullen Girl" is Fiona Apple's pinnacle. |
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| Senses Fail – The Priest And The Matador Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I don't know why everyone's so convinced the song's protagonist suicides. I take it that he died, that's all. That the woman thinks he fell didn't strike me as "fell from atop that building". (Although, if I read it, as somedude01 does, that he leapt from a building, that might work, but you usually don't linger after that.) Everyone's idea the half-past-six lyric infers two downward-pointing arrows, hellbound, intrigues me. For a protagonist, if not a band based on other works, to reject a priest's last rites and a praying layman yet be so convinced hell awaits is ... a strange dichotomy, a conundrum I cannot figure out. Usually people simply reject religion as unbelievable, not believable-but-rejected. And please, enough of this rejecting-christianity == Satanism. An atheist or anti-Christian band doth not infer Satanist. (Unless you mean it in the Bob Dylan "Gotta serve somebody"-kinda way.) But it's an offensive pejorative that Christians should not so easily use. There is a Satan and he laughs at your assertions. I'm intrigued by the reference to William Tell. (And isn't the lyric "I'M the arrow"? Is it really just "And.."? And seeing as they seem to get the "I hear them start to state" lyric wrong...) I'd not heard the story in a long while, and I don't think I was ever told (as a kid, mind) the intent and inferences of the second arrow. I'm not sure I "get" the same inferences of that lyrics everyone else does. To me it just meant (and mind I am still working on the lyric being "I'm..") he was shot straight to hell by an expert marksman, with no chance he was EVER going to go anywhere else. Which, read my second paragraph, is so dichotomous, so perplexing. How can you be simultaneously so convinced there is a hell and you're going there yet so scornful of anything that might deviate you from that path. Still, all in all, really like this song. **Great** underlying "Negative Space" tune. |
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| Senses Fail – The Priest And The Matador Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| You don't have to be "Satanic" to be anti-Christian, and I think SF are definitely that. But, why is everyone so convinced the guy in this song killed himself? | |
| Senses Fail – The Priest And The Matador Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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>I'm not down with the new age christian lingo. lol Xian would be two-thousand years old. Remember how people write "Christmas" Xmas? You do the algebra. (Although, I am with you that it should be "Xian", not "Xan".) |
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| Joe Jackson – Steppin Out Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Context, people, context! This is Joe Jackson, one of the post-punk rebels alongside Elvis Costello. So, there's no ethereal life/death themes, instead firmly rooted in working class themes. Yet, while Costello preferred to moreso dwell on the injustices back home, Jackson set sail for New York City and tell more populist tales. A (too?) young couple strained by argument and tears are tired and prematurely aging, so, says hubby, let's just go out, somewhere, whereever, anywhere that isn't the uninspired nightly ritual of the tellie or the radio. Into the city lights, where anything can happen. This is one of the most hopeful, optimistic songs on record, imho, and helped mark the beginning of the early eighties New Wave ("dress in pink and blue"), Reagan-dominated ("anything's possible") era which was such a marked difference to a near-decade of the grey, despondant, economically-challenged late 70s, which gave birth to disco, the antithesis of the times. |
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| Radiohead – Pyramid Song Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| The ash hung low, the skeletal remains of a cigarette, his long, blackened fingers holding the filter, while headlight shadows danced unconsidered on the wall. A half-drunk glass beside an empty bottle of cheap rum on the table beside him. Another lay on its side beneath his legs, a sticky pool evaporated beneath its lip. In the calignosity, the dirty razor sat motionless atop the filth encrusted demin. As it had been for aeons, the travail required to employ it was still too great. | |
| Skrillex – First of the Year (Equinox) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (Someone's being a clown) | |
| Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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> He was scared that death was coming for him and he was going to hell. Now you're just trolling |
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| Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Btw, Wikipedia says: The line "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is from Acts 9:5 (King James Version). The apostle Paul also refers to the time when he was knocked to the ground by a voice from heaven in Acts 26:14. It reads, "And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." The Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech here reads, "You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad." Saul had been hunting and killing Christians and was now being called to reform by Jesus, an appropriate story reference within the Judgment Day context of "The Man Comes Around." A large percentage of people in the first century were tillers of the soil. Oxen were used to work the soil. The prick or goad was a necessary devise. The prick was usually a wooden shaft with a pointed spike (prick) at one end. The man working the ox would position the goad in such a way as to exert influence and control over the ox. You see, if the ox refused the command indicated by the farmer, the goad would be used to jab or prick the ox. Sometimes the ox would refuse this incentive by kicking out at the prick. As result, the prick would be driven deeper into the flesh of the rebellious animal. The more the animal rebelled, the more the animal suffered. Hence, the statement to Saul: "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Saul was rebelling against God.) Source: http://www.biblequestions.org/Archives/BQAR075.htm |
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| Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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>Cash became a Christian later in life You mean at age 36? I guess that's "later" Still, the best exposition I've yet read here. Wikipedia also has a really good one. |
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| The Cure – The Lovecats Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Sorry, out of the PERIOD of the last of their depressing albums. Lovecats isn't actually ON the Pornography album. PLUS, I missed this quote: "In the aftermath of the bleak Pornography, Robert Smith returned from a month-long detox in the Lake District to write the antithesis to what the Cure currently represented." Says all I was saying: "ironic" "antithesis" to what The Cure were at the time. /thread |
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| The Cure – The Lovecats Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Gotta say I reckon fiddlefaddle is on the money: that 'lets go and throw all the songs we know into the sea' is an indication Smith was in the mood to write something completely opposite to what they'd been doing with albums 2-4. I also buy into darkfairy0911's explanation it was off the tale of "love cats" being thrown into the river. I don't, however, buy the whole suicide pact bit. For all their dark culture leanings, I don't buy it that EVERY one of The Cure's songs was about suicide pacts, and to draw the lyrics into being about that is too much of a stretch, imho. I think it is an ironic recoil to all the depressing music they were doing at the time, something insatiably cute and fluffy, something so anti-The Cure of the time, as an antidote to criticism, or to themselves. Afterall, it's off their last dark album. PS; NME's reviewer at the time wrote that it wasn't to be lyrically analysed, but viewed as "a dense wash of emotional colour" |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979 Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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According to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9-vpkxPlqo Billy wrote the song off the memory of being eighteen, sitting in his car in the Illinois rain, waiting at some lights. That fragment of a memory is the evocative inspiration for this song: the feeling of youthful anticipation. What I'm surprised no one has commented on is whether mewithoutyou's 1979 is a REPLY to this song or not. Good song, regardless its origins. It is THE alternative-rock anthem of the 90s. |
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| The Cure – Close to Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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OCH, what a n00b! Of course. "My head on the door". HA! Why did I not see this before. His head leaning, on an angle, against the door in despair, y'know, like you do when you've just closed the door on her after she told you she doesn't want to see you no more. HA! So obvious. Alright, so now we have: he's highly anxious after a dream he had, perhaps one about her leaving him, he wants the day to just end, never thought the night would finally come, is trying to just breathe, calm down, and wishing he had his friend's ("you") faith that everything would be alright, that his dream really was just a dream. |
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| The Cure – Close to Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Well, everyone else is so convinced it's about longing, anticipation prior to sex for the first time between two people, and I can understand that. I do NOT get why masturbation, but I guess if it's on your mind all the time, you'll think it's on everyone else's mind, too. BOO-YAH!! But, for me, it's about the hyper-anxiety before the night. What happens that night -- the day ends or the arrival of his amore -- we don't really ever know, just that he's hating this waiting. It's clearly about the anticipation 'cuz he's "waited hours for this", but it's not been a good wait: 'cuz he wished "I'd stayed asleep today", "never thought this day would end" and that he "never thought tonight could ever be this close to me", that is, all ways of saying he thought the day would never f**kin end! So, he's "waited hours for this" being the night. Such anxiety "made myself so sick". Alright, so it's a really anxious, unpleasant wait, but did he want to stay asleep even through the night? The second verse But, that's only the first verse. The second verse turns subtle meanings on a coin and I'm back thinking this is anxious sexual anticipation: "To feel the fear before you're here", to get the fear and anxiety over with before "you" arrives for their nighttime activities? Second verse: "Just try to see in the dark, Just try to make it work". I cannot help but view the dark he's talking about as being within himself, the anxiety. He's anxious, and trying to get over himself, trying "to feel the fear before you're here", that is, get rid of it before "you" arrives. He knows it's his own doing: "I make the shapes come much too close". "I pull my eyes out". "Hold my breath, and wait until I shake" is pretty clear: hold his breath until he turns blue to try to shake this funk he's in that he knows he stupid and self-made, but he can't get rid of it. But, oh, if only "I had your faith, then I could make it safe and clean". If only he had faith that everything would be okay, he'd be okay. And then the most enigmatic lyric of them all: "If only I was sure that my head on the door was a dream" Y'know, the ONLY two things that keeps echoing to me with "head on the door" is like trophy heads on a wall, which is a literal interpretation, or he dreamt of his suicide, that his head was on the door, hanging by a rope. (I'd rather not explain in case there's suicidal emos reading here, but it's technically possible to do.) Yes, I know, "typical emo thinks everything's about..." Well, I aint one. I'm too old for black nailpolish. And, knowing the rest of Smith's songs, perhaps it's justifiable to say I'm influenced by this in writing my interpretation. But, frankly, that is what this song screams to me: he's highly anxious, wants the day to just end, never thought the night would finally come, is trying to just breathe, calm down, and wishing he had his friend's ("you") faith that everything would be alright, that his dream was just a dream not a prediction of his inevitable suicide, maybe. I'm not convinced about that last bit, but the rest is all true. It does not read to me as a song about happy anticipation of the first time they have sex. The best thing I note about this is that the most enigmatic line in the song: "head on the door" (WTF does THAT mean?) is the name of the album from which this song comes. That's brilliance! In a sad way. |
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| The Cure – Close to Me Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| It had never really occurred to me to be about sex. Aint that odd. | |
| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Or too vague. From Rob042's suggested video, it seems clear to me that she has spirituality, but not really quite sure what kind, adding "I don't know what I believe in" (3'35"). (Though she does believe in personal freedom.) And that's fine, but it does mean her lyrics' intent is likely to be equally non-strict. This song reminds me a lot of Joan Osbourne's song: just a breezy set of observations about people and faith and religion. So, because she's somewhat agnostic, my first inclination is to deny she's pointing to atheists, but it seems a conclusion too hard to avoid. Her words are too plain a reasserting of that old chestnut that "there's no atheists in a foxhole" and critical of those who "get so red in the head you think that they're about to choke"; shall we say the anti-religionists rather than the straight-forward atheist. "But God can be funny" is clearly the concept rather than the person of God, though I'm certain the double-entendre is intended. And with the line: "We're all laughing with God", I did think Spektor is plainly saying that God-themed jokes, laughable "crazies", or crazy ideas we have about God being a wishing-well ... are just as funny to God as they are to us. Now I'm kinda wondering whether she's saying "No one's laughing at God, we're all laughing with God", visa vie all the wars, hospitals, etc... she lists, which implies we ought to be laughing at such things 'cuz God is??? I say this 'cuz it kinda fits better? What I do like about this song is it's simple prettiness, and the superbly surrealist video. But, I am interested (in Rob042's video) that she made the connection that having faith or not is an inherent characteristic like blue eyes or being a woman. I wonder if that's something collected from her Orthodox Jewish background, for it's also very Calvinist. :) |
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| Regina Spektor – Laughing With Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Or too vague. It seems clear to me that she has spirituality, but not really quite sure what kind. Note her discomfort (3'05") at being pressed to provide her own personal view. Oh, and that whole "I don't know what I believe in" (3'35"), too. :) But she does believe in personal freedom. And that's fine, but it does mean her lyrics' intent is likely to be equally non-strict. |
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| Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Still cannot believe that's a woman singing. It is TOO evocative of early-80s New Wave, albeit more maudlin, where guys sounded EXACTLY like that "her". And, while I don't recall it from "Lambs", I heard it too often in GTA IV to not want to know what it is. Nextly, it's definitely "FLying", not "lying" nor "dying". There's definitely a labio-dental fricative before than "L", and certainly no "plosive". I reckon it's pretty clearly an argument about optimism and pessimism, or more precisely between hope and cynicism, which was an emergingly popular approach to life at the time of the song's authoring, quite possibly an argument over love. The two verses are, well, all-but lyrically the same and for such a catchy song its lyrics really are simple, but apparently not straight-forward. Up to three people could be speaking: "I", "you" and "he", though it seems more-than-possible that "he" and "you" are the same person. "You" said that they'd seen it rise but it always falls, whatever "it" is. Perhaps "it" is that which caused hopes and dreams to rise and fall. 'Cuz "you" had seen it all before, been there, seen their hopes and dreams lying on the ground. Since "you" is talking to "me", apparently "I" has had their hopes and dreams shattered. We cannot be sure whether the fourth lines in each verse, "I've seen him come.." and "I've seen the sky..." are further quotes of "you" speaking, or "I" talking about "He". If it IS a continuation of "you"'s statements, which probably makes more sense, "He" says only one thing: that all things pass into the night, that is, that all things end. And if "he" is "you", then "you/he" is saying that "it" that rises and falls, that causes dream shattering, must eventually die. "You" and "He" don't have to be the person that has broken "I"'s hopes and dreams, which is possibly their heart. But, despite their pain, "I" refutes "you", that although they've had their hopes and dreams shattered, they disagree. If the chorus is a continuation of that theme, then flying over the horses is also a refute of dreams dying. So, horses represent... what shattered "I"'s dreams? Perhaps the horses are the same kind that Prince refers to in "Little Red Corvette", the stallions of love? And if the whole thing is about love -- which seems a reasonable possibility, since what else shatters hopes and dreams to be the subject of so many songs? -- and the horses are like Prince's, then "I" is refuting "you/He"'s cynical wisdom about how love inevitably fails, and is instead saying "Nope, nothing is inevitable. I've just gotta be more careful, and avoid these stallions." But, to be honest, that's a LOT of "if"s and "possibly"s. For all I know, toughguybambino is right and it's about "cynical" atheism versus "hopeful" spirituality, with "him" coming and going being faith, God, dreams-shattering proof of there being no God, and the horses representing the temporal, earthly, and "I" flying over them. With so few lyrics, anything is truly possible. :) I might add a word of disagreement :-D with XSoulAsylumX, I do not think "you" is at all one "who seems to have had some bad things happen to turn him into a pessimist" at all. EVERYONE goes through sh!t that makes their "hopes and dreams a-lying on the ground". "You" has just responded with cynicism. And remember, despite its bubble-gum pop look, it was, however, increasingly VERY popular in the 80s to respond with cynicism, culminating with the early-90s. Remember that Gothism, which is just sometimes-hopeful cynicism dressed in black, and Grunge evolved out of that era, and we've not lost either of them since then. No, "you" is just presenting a cynical approach to life, a "love always dies" approach. I don't think there's any reason to think they've been any worse-treated than "I" of the song. |
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| The Hoosiers – Goodbye Mr A Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| No, 'cuz then it'd be "Mr E." (which is another comic book character) | |
| The Hoosiers – Goodbye Mr A Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The Hoosiers are taking a swipe at the famous comics author Steve Ditko's Mr A who was a 1960s, short-lived, uncompassionate, moral absolutist, superhero -- "You promised you would love us, but you knew too much" and "You had all the answers but no human touch" -- who would punish everyone, killing some, allowing others to die, regardless of the degree of their guilt. It's also worth noting that Ditko's Mr A was, in-part, the basis for the psychopathic (yet o-so-awesome) "Watchman" Rorschach of the recent film: moral absolutism dictating street justice, who is said to have dropped a nutty-but-harmless, wannabe arch-villian down an elevator shaft. Rorschach was, of course, an Alan Moore parody of Ditko's moral absolutist "superheroes" like Mr A and The Question. To Mr A, there were only criminals and the innocent, and no shades of gray -- his "calling card" was a card with one-half black, one-half white -- and the innocent who got involved in crime "just a little" were equally as guilty. Mr A stories would describe how those engaged "just a little" in crime would inevitably be buried deeper and deeper until they couldn't just walk away. And they were afforded no mercy by Mr A. The guilty would often attempt self-justification, only to have Mr A definitively explain the error of their logic or ways, before meating-out punishment. To Mr A, no begging for forgiveness, no promises to repent of their ways would cause him to yield. They were guilty; they deserved punishment. ("You who know all the answers") Killers would inevitably fall into situations in which they needed saving by Mr A, but he'd ignore their pleas. In some stories, Ditko would depict the crime stories allegorically: criminals on a black platform trying to explain why they compromised their values, while Mr A on a white platform would denounce their self-justifications. Such stories would end with the guilty falling off their black platform into the deep, dark abyss. ("So busy showing me where I'm wrong, you forgot to switch your feelings on.") The Hoosiers are clearly not fans of such cold, logical, moral absolutism, as the song criticises Mr A for showing no mercy ("You love is a fraction"), lacking a human touch, a lack of human understanding ("You forgot to switch your feelings on"), and for setting himself up as judge and jury. ("So, so superior, are you not?") "The world was full of fun until you opened my eyes", I think, is linked to the line "You claim science aint magic, and expect me to buy it", that the Hoosiers claim his rigid reliance on logic is draining the colour out of life and insufficient to explain the world. And where did it all come from? Mr A is Ditko's attempt to put into comics the Objectivism he ardently ascribed to, the hard-nosed philosophy of Ayn Rand, which is perversely regaining currency. (I say "perversely" since portions of its implementation arguably caused this recession.) Mr A comics are famed for the ideological explanations by characters, particularly Mr A himself, for their actions: Ditko's attempt to convince people of Objectivism. Objectivism was a philosophical reaction to Soviet communism that took power as Rand emerged into her teens, to communism's crushing of any form of individualism, be it of thought, of actions or decisions. However, it was arguably at the other extreme in which an individual's responsibility is ONLY to his/her own happiness, the rest of the world be damned. Rand's books also alude strongly to Mr A's objection to moral "greyness". In Atlas Shrugged, the protagonist rails against compromise with evil, saying: "Any compromise between good and evil only hurts the good and helps the evil." Very Mr A-ish. SO, noting this, noting the Hoosier's British origins, noting that Thatcherism ("Reaganism" is alleged to be the same thing, but it was faaaaar more tamed) is descended from Objectivism (via Monetarism), AND that Blair failed to completely overturn Thatcherism, one is sorely tempted to suggest the band are as much taking a swipe at the hard-nosed economic philosophy in British politics as a comic book character. You may be the judge. |
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| Fall Out Boy – America's Suitehearts Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Seems to me NO ONE knows all the lyrics to this song, clearly they didn't publish them. Yes, it's clearly sarcastic. And it's clearly _about_ America's obsession with "fifteen-minutes-of-fame"/"tabloid fame" B.S., and the video bears this out. Beyond that, seems we're having trouble! "Classic cold"? "trees grow all over the streets"??? I think not! "Hell's dreamers"?? I preferred the slightly less ridiculous "Hell's neighbours" or, what *I* heard: "Hell's minions" ;-D I *was* gonna ask why no one's included the lyrics of what is said in the background between the lyrics "Time, time, time hasn't told anyone else yet" and "Let my love loose again." but I think we've got bigger fish to fry! |
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| The Smashing Pumpkins – The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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+1 to jambalaya-ham. It sounds very Batman: "For now we stand alone" = Batman, the last hope against the turmoil "Does it make you happy you're so strange?" = obvious; he IS "Is it bright where you are?" = Is it nice up there in the tower from which you judge the rest of us? "The last of a line of lasts" = a last in a line of heroes "The pale princess of a palace cracked" = I think, yes, referring to Freeze's wife Regardless what this song is about, Corgan can write some bl00dy blisteringly-good lyrics. Silent Thriller noted that "This could possibly be an apocalyptic view of the planet." and I agree, it does fit that, too, which is why I reckon it fits the more apocalyptic "Watchmen" than the rather dismal "B&R" movie. +1 to myenemyisnear: "I wanted to stand up and cheer when Nite Owl descended from his craft and hit the street." TOO RIGHT!! So much did I, as well as when Doctor Manhatten appears god-like amidst the crowd. If this movie sux, I will repeatedly slap them that made it. |
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| System of a Down – Spiders Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Alright, let me summarise that a little better: The V-chip is the beginning, the pandora's box, for greater and greater intrusions into our lives, Serj is warning, that will ultimately lead to our very dreams, our minds being fair-game for "them". | |
| System of a Down – Spiders Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Aside from being an awesome song... "Dreams are winding through my head..." Take it at face-value: dreams do originate as weaving, winding thoughts in our heads. "The piercing radiant moon, the storming of poor June, all the life running through her hair" Scene setting lines, imho. Clearly we're in a darkened, moonlit place for this song. A dreamworld, perhaps? "Storming" something means you're attacking them, invading them, so June (let's assume the person) is being stormed. As for the "all the life" you could read as being a head injury, because as you bleed out, all your life runs through your head. However, since he's already set this up as a figurative world ("Moonlit"), I think this is meant to be figurative. "Approaching guiding light" This doesn't tell us whether we or he is approaching the "guiding light" or if it is "approaching", but either way the light that is in June's figurative world is guiding her dreams. "Our shallow years in fright" I love this line. Clearly "we're" living shallow lives -- not going deeper into what's going on around us -- and we're living them in fright, in fear. Because we don't understand, if you like, because we don't even seek to, we live in fear. Now, this implies that the fear is unjustified, that were we to live "deeper" lives we'd see there's less to fear. Therefore, we're being KEPT in fear, and if we would only open our eyes, we'd no longer live in fear. "Your lives are open wide; the V-chip gives them sight of all the life running through her hair" These lines go together, saying that the V-chip is giving "them" sight about everything in our lives, or all the life running through "her" hair. Our lives are increasingly being intruded into by "them" and we're willingly permitting it. It's a clear reference to the power we're increasingly giving "them" in return for safety (the V-chip hands the power to protect our children to "them"), and interestingly was written long before the Patriot Act. I had been wracking my brain about the spiders reference until I saw the CD-single cover which features a computer chip that looks like a spider. Add to all this the fact that the liner notes for the song also say "Your dreams are no longer sacred, as they are subject to a process known as remote viewing" and it all becomes straight-forward, as Wikipedia suggests "Spiders is best interpreted as a song denouncing government regulation at the personal level (through subliminal advertising, the v-chip, and other government controls). It could be expressing fears that the government is using modern technology to watch the activities of its citizens." I think there's something in that for all of us. |
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