| Frankie Smith – Double Dutch Bus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I heard this for the first time on the radio recently and got a kick out of it, though I had no clue what a "double-dutch bus" is. My first guess was that it might be a euphemism for a drug dealer (like the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man" & Grateful Dead's "Candyman" were, though few know it now)... Then his suggestive tone, use of the name "Lolita", calling names out, the way they "really turn it on" and some misunderstood lyrics made me think it must be a sexual metaphor of some kind (though the cute-sounding little girl that raps solo with him made that idea sound pretty warped). | |
| Frankie Smith – Double Dutch Bus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Here's the missing rap in pig latin that he sings with the girls, along with translation: FRANKIE: Hizey gizirls, yizall hizave t' mizove izzout the wizay sizo that izeye can plizay bizasketbizall. (Hey girls y'all have to move out the way so that i can play basketball) GIRLS: I say wizzat? Nizzo-izzo wizzay! (Say what? No way!) FRANKIE: Yizzall bizzetter mizzove! (Y'all better move!) GIRLS: I say wizzat? Willze illzain't millzovin'! (Say what? We ain't movin!) FRANKIE: Shillzu-gillzar! Willzeye-nilzot, bilzzaby? (Sugar! Why not, baby?) GIRLS: Willze illzare plizzayin dizzouble dizzutch, dizzouble dizzutch, dizzouble dizzutch! (We're playin' double dutch!) FRANKIE: Milzee gilzot silzomebilzody plilzays dilzouble gilzood. (Me got somebody that plays double good.) GIRL: Whilzzoo? (Who?) FRANKIE: My gizzirl! (My girl!) GIRL: Brillzing her izzin! (Bring her in!) FRANKIE: Izzo kizzay! (OK!) GIRL: Izzall rizzight. (All right.) FRANKIE: Izzo kizzay! (OK!) GIRL: Izzall rizzight! Nizzow wizzee wilzzo-izzo-zee! (All right! Now we will see!) |
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| Genesis – I Can't Dance Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I recall reading many years ago that the song was written in response to the big changes in the music industry caused by the rise of MTV. Rather than needing to just have appealing songs, suddenly bands/performers had to be able to look really good in music videos: young, attractive, good at acting/dancing, generally the sort that advertisers would pay a lot to air commercials near and sponsors would want to associate with their products. It didn't matter how brilliant they were at singing or songwriting anymore, and the only kinds of dancing that counted were the really 'cool' type kids would want to emulate. The music video illustrates the situation. It begins at a location very similar to one used by ZZ Top, whom handled the image issue by focusing on hot women. Collins is then shown being rejected in favor of an iguana (cold-blooded creature), then a dog (simple trained animal) which also steals & wrecks his jeans, and the whole band is cheated right out of their pants. This is interspersed with footage that documents how fake such videos are. After the song is over, Collins remains on-screen to spoof Michael Jackson and show that he's only considered unable to dance because the kind he can do isn't the cool kind MTV wanted. |
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| Soul Asylum – Runaway Train Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Sad factoid that I just read at Wikipedia: while the video found a lot of children in a number of countries, many of the outcomes often weren't good. Some runaways were returned to abusive or otherwise unhealthy home situations, several were eventually found after being killed. I wish the video made it clearer that MOST kidnappers, just like most child-molesters/killers, are closely related or a friend of the family. I think that most parents & then-teens in my area that saw the video back in the day were uncomfortably reminded of two horrible tragedies that happened not long before hand. First there was 3 little sisters that were found at the city dumps with their throats slashed by their own father, and months of everyone wondering how the critically injured survivor would do... Then, not long before the video, Polly Klaas was kidnapped from her own 13th birthday party sleepover -- it seemed to take forever before they finally discovered she'd been murdered. Even though I didn't know any of the girls and was in my mid-teens, I remember crying at the video, having learned what really happened to most "missing" kids. Anyway... The songwriter/singer has said bluntly that it's not about missing kids -- it IS about severe depression, evidently in his case after a loved one died suddenly. I don't think that it has to involve drugs, either. I've had major depressive disorder before, and when it's bad enough, illegal drugs aren't needed to have the feelings he describes. People with depression do all kinds of things on an obsessive scale to escape -- having s*x with anyone willing, playing video games all day, sleeping too much, etc. -- and at some point they do know that it's "insane" to the point of self-destructive, but the pain is so intense that it's the only way to avoid suicide. They can also become almost manic with energy or rage, and it causes an electric, vibrating sensation that really is kind of like "fire in my veins". But every time they come back out of the obsession or fake-manic state, they find the depression & all of the things it has made them hate about their life "always stays the same". They start to see that it's getting harder and harder to actually escape it -- and that their behavior has been "tearing up the tracks" to return to their old life, just as the depression itself has done to their personality. They'll try to rely on a loved one, but then be too easily hurt/angered by everything, so the person seems like a blowtorch rather than either the lock-opener or candle lighting the darkness. I could go on, but won't. ;) I'll just share, to end on an upbeat note, that this song helps me focus when working on a few urban fantasy novellas I've been writing for ages, as it captures the secret feelings the protagonists 'inherited' from my years as an avoidant, neglected/mistreated non-angsty teenager. Strange how a sad song or tale can bring joy to a person... |
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| Soul Asylum – Runaway Train Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Somebody must have defaced the Wikipedia page... Like you said, that explanation really makes no sense, and it's not there now. Also, The singer/songwriter has said over the years that it was about dealing with major depression. ;) | |
| Genesis – Dreaming While You Sleep Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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He seems to say pretty clearly in the lyrics that he *does* hope that she wakes up, even though he knows it might condemn him: "Till the day that you open your eyes, please open your eyes" Logically speaking, if he can think straight enough, he would notice that the "darkness" and "driving rain" would have also affected her. Considering she's described as stepping off a corner right in the path of an oncoming car, she might not have seen it at all, let alone enough to ID it. I think the "dreaming" that the narrator does is PTSD flashbacks, which can be just like dreaming (or having a nightmare) while awake. (A family friend went through it after a kid rode a bike into the side of his car from behind a tall barrier.) Since the woman in the song "sleeps" i.e. is in a coma, it would explain the "dreaming while you sleep" lines. |
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| Genesis – Mama Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Interesting theory, but read cmh2943's comment above. Part of the Phil Collins quote he posted specifies flat-out that: "[Mama] is just about a young teenager that's got a mother fixation with a prostitute..." I'd comment on the idea that the subject was experiencing transference, but obviously this isn't the place to debate psychology, whether historical or modern/science-based. |
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| Jethro Tull – Hymn 43 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Hymn 43 is one of my all-time favorite songs; I agree with WYWH's interpretation of the lyrics. The one thing that I'm not sure about is how to interpret "oh, Jesus, save me".... It could be the singer asking to be saved from the corrupt peers -- but it also works as one of the corrupt individuals asking (probably insincerely/by rote) to be 'saved' in between sins. I'm thinking of using the opening two lines (correcting the "whose" to "who's") with the "If Jesus saves" refrain as a forum signature, as news sites always seem to have at least a few aggressive/nasty members that fit the description. ;) |
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