| Donovan – Hurdy Gurdy Man Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| @[dylanite:33300] I always heard "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" as partially a response to Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." Likewise "roly poly man" as the Maharishi. | |
| Bob Dylan – Queen Jane Approximately Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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@[FreeWheelin:33149] It was in a Nora Eprhon interview that Dylan said Queen Jane was a man. That was the finishing touch on my analysis that Queen Jane was Andy Warhol. See my write-up: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858503093/?specific_com=73016196602#comments |
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| The Cars – Dangerous Type Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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MondoSinistro nailed it. The narrator is looking at a picture of the Mona Lisa, is mesmerized by the famous enigmatic smile, and compares his current lover to the Mona Lisa. "She's a lot like you The dangerous type" There is a variety of geranium called "Mona Lisa White." |
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| Robert Plant – Big Log Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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It's a trite, risky interpretation but I consider this song one of the great evocations of the marijuana reverie -- hypnotic, moody, leading on to some vague, yet certain destination. The "Big Log" is the big joint. "Red eyed and fevered with the hum of the miles" -- hah! |
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| Lou Reed – Perfect Day Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I tend to the heroin interpretations of this song. But however one takes it, it's not a happy song. I believe by the title Lou Reed is winking at J.D. Salinger's most famous short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," which ends with the main character shooting himself in the head. It's bizarre that the BBC would use the song on behalf of a children's charity or Susan Boyle would record a cover as the lead song on her Christmas album, "The Gift." |
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| Procol Harum – She Wandered Through The Garden Fence Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| I wouldn't want to limit this song entirely to drugs, but good grief, it was written during the Summer of Love, 1967. | |
| Alison Krauss – New Favorite Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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The song was written by David Rawlings & Gillian Welch. It's simplest to see it from a guy's point of view of losing his old lover to someone new, but it's probably best to consider it as universal -- applying to any lost love relationship. |
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| The Beatles – Taxman Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| I read recently that the hard, bright "Taxman!" refrain intentionally played off the "Batman!" TV theme at the time. | |
| The Mamas & the Papas – Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I think the heart of the song is found in this verse: At first so strange to feel so friendly To say good morning and really mean it To feel these changes happening in me But not to notice till I feel it Like many people in the 60s/70s the narrator experienced a lovely period in which he learned to accept himself and others with genuine warmth. Unfortunately there is a creepy side to it in that the narrator seems to restrict his newfound openness and warmth to befriending the young, presumably beautiful girls coming to Laurel Canyon. |
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| The Rolling Stones – Something Happened To Me Yesterday Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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What a great, understated, slyly humorous song! I'm with Pippin above that the something in question was a psychedelic drug, presumably the dread LSD, that happened to Mick and Keith sometime in 1966. People regularly dismiss the Stones' acid-tinged rock, but "Something Happened" and most of "Their Satanic Majesties Request" remain quirky favorites for me in the Stones catalog. |
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| Gillian Welch – Miss Ohio Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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This song jumped out at me yesterday while driving in my car. I love how Gillian makes "rag top down" sound so salacious! I also suspect Gillian is brainy enough to know St. Augustine's prayer, "Lord, make me pure—but not yet." The song leaves me with the impression "Miss Ohio" is being pressured into marriage -- maybe pregnant? -- and is out for one last fling before settling down. |
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| Carrie Underwood – Before He Cheats Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Love the energy in the song and the great descriptive lyrics such as. "'Cause she can't shoot whiskey", "he's probably dabbing on 3 dollars worth of that bathroom Polo" and so on. I was wondering if the final scene in the video of her walking down the street with store windows exploding as she passes was a reference to Stephen's King "Carrie." |
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| Elvis Costello – I'm Not Angry Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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No, he's not angry. He's moved on. He's filled with cold rage! One of the great emotional cauldron songs in rock. BTW, "the vanity factory" was the cosmetics company, Elizabeth Arden, where Costello did data entry. |
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| The Lovin' Spoonful – Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind? Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I think this song is hilarious too! The Spoonful guys could sure pitch a perfect pop song in their heyday. Funny, I can't think of any other song which described this dilemma. |
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| Gillian Welch – Barroom Girls Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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"Oh the night came undone like a party dress" Song lyrics don't get much better than this. Welch manages with seeming ease what few writers can -- toss off lines that stick with the listener forever. |
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| Rebecca Pidgeon – Spanish Harlem Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Rebecca Pidgeon is a fine talent. It's a bit of a mystery to me why her work has largely been ignored. She has chops, looks and connections (her husband is David Mamet) but no success. Perhaps a musician must capture an audience in youth. Rebecca saw an opening then to develop as an actress and focused on that instead of music. Since then she has sought several times to make up for lost time and put albums out since to no avail. A shame. A fine artist. To anyone reading -- give her a try. Maybe start with her cover of "Wouldn't It Be Nice." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3lvcWbeN-I |
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| Blue Öyster Cult – Last Days Of May Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Few songs in rock create such an atmosphere of understated menace. My favorite BOC song. Yes, it's about a drug deal gone bad, very bad. I wonder whether the narrator was the driver and killer, as well as who he is addressing and who the others are in the final verse. |
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| Jethro Tull – For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, And Me Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I got the connection to Michael Collins, the astronaut, as a kid and I got kick out of it. Who else but Anderson would think to write a song, or even a short story, about the plight of the guy who didn't walk on the moon? But why is the song also for "Jeffery and Me"? I'll hazard a guess. Jeffrey was Jeffrey Hammond, a close friend of Anderson's from art school. They had a band together, but Hammond left the band to study painting. Apparently Jeffrey was never far from Anderson's thoughts, judging by the number of Tull songs dedicated to "Jeffrey." I believe "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" was in part Anderson's wondering how Jeffrey might be feeling about the success of Anderson's band -- walking on the moon if you will -- while Jeffrey was left behind. Perhaps the song was even part of Anderson's campaign to woo Jeffrey into Jethro Tull. However it happened, Anderson succeeded. Jeffrey Hammond played bass on the next Jethro Tull album, "Aqualung." |
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| Traffic – Pearly Queen Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I was wondering if this song was a thinly disguised tribute to Janis Joplin. But no, more likely it is a reference to female member of the Pearly Kings and Queens who wear eye-catching outfits decorated with pearl as they raise funds for charity in the UK. How great. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearly_Kings_and_Queens I love the delicate organ and guitar work at the beginning before bringing the hammer down with the main riff, then the wild guitar between verses which bounces back-and-forth between the speakers, and closing with a percussive jam. Not a major song, but a bit of the tasty magic Traffic could manage left-handed back in the day. |
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| Tom Waits – I Never Talk to Strangers Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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And ain't that some of the best dueting ever? Thumbs up for Tom and Bette. |
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| Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes – I Don't Want to Go Home Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This is still my favorite Southside Johnny song (written by Steven Van Zandt of The Sopranos and Springsteen's band). Even though it sounds like a good-time, bar-band song -- and it's that too -- the lyrics tell a deeper story of a man who can't leave the warmth of live music because his lover recently left him and he doesn't know why. I know we had to try To reach up and touch the sky Baby, whatever happened to you and I That I don't want to go home Blue-eyed soul doesn't get better than this. A forgotten classic. |
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| Southside Johnny – Walk Away Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This is indeed from a Southside Johnny album -- "Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits." Mr. Tom Waits himself duets with Johnny on this particular song. Great song filled with sassy fun. Tom and Johnny go together like rum and coke. |
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| Donovan – Young Girl Blues Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Great song. According to Donovan's autobiography, "'Young Girl Blues' is [Linda Lawrence's] disillusionment as a model in Los Angeles." So I guess that's settled. But boy howdy, as Anaivy noted, Marianne Faithfull covered YGB with such a delicate yet bleak knowingness, she made it her own. Donovan might as well have written it for her. Not without reason, people tend to dismiss Donovan as a hippie minstrel, but he could write with keen insight as well. This is one of his best. By all means, look up the Marianne Faithfull version. |
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| Donovan – The Fat Angel Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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As I understand it, Donovan wrote this song for Cass Elliot of The Mamas and The Papas -- hence the "Fat Angel" title. Elliot was a much beloved figure among musicians in the psychedelic sixties. Top rock stars, American and British, would congregate at her home in Laurel Canyon, to hang out and get high. I believe the lyrics refer to the scene at her house. The rider on the silver bike is, I imagine, a stylish drug dealer who travels by motorcycle to bring his wares for all plus flowers for Mama Cass. "Captain High at your service," indeed. Perhaps that was even the dealer's tag line which he announced upon arrival and Donovan tucked away all these details in his mind for when he later wrote this song. |
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| Gillian Welch – My First Lover Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure this is a straightforward account of Gillian's first lover, apparently a manipulative surfer jerk she met as a student at UC Santa Cruz. Love the "Quicksilver Girl" reference. |
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| Indigo Girls – Prince Of Darkness Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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"There is so much Christian allegory in this album it is shocking, and how not a single person has mentioned it is bewildering." --3minuterul Yes. You don't have to like Christianity to acknowledge this. And the Indigo Girls aren't trying to convert anyone. They are, honestly and artistically, making personal statements, which in some songs, such as this, includes their faith. "Prince of Darkness" is a straight-up Christian statement in which the writer professes her commitment not to Earth, the realm of the Prince of Darkness, but to Heaven, the realm of God. As "romantic" as the temptations of Earth can be, the writer "does not catch the spark." She recognizes that her ultimate "place is of the sun," i.e. with God in heaven. Earth is a place of suffering, of pain, drugs, and even nuclear devastation. She will not be deceived by the Prince of Darkness any longer. It's a passionate, well-wrought song. You don't have to agree with its Christian framework to appreciate it. |
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| Indigo Girls – Secure Yourself Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I'd agree this song is about the period after death. I'd go farther, knowing there is a Christian basis to some of the Indigo Girls' music, and say it is specifically about the period after the death of Christ on the cross as he is resurrected. The song attempts to imagine the mysterious process by which Christ makes his way through the night and is "allowed to glide through the sun" to heaven, thereby redeeming humanity. I don't think there is another way to interpret the climax line: "Now we are all chosen ones." A remarkably ambitious song. Kudos to the Girls |
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| Patti Smith – Summer Cannibals Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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As I recall, this was more a song by her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, which Patti finished after he died. I have the impression it is a song of ambivalence, to say the least, towards the rock music industry which tempts its artists and consumes them. Of course, I doubt Patti minds the sexual overtones. Her first big hit, "Gloria," was drew on lesbian imagery. Not sure what Georgia has to do with it, unless it happened to be the backdrop of Fred's demonic vision. |
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| Grateful Dead – Black Peter Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I had heard "Black Peter" hundreds of times but I didn't bother with the lyrics until after Jerry Garcia's death I read that Patti Smith and her band instinctively played "Black Peter" when they got the news during practice that Garcia had died. Clearly Smith and her bandmates cared about Garcia and knew the Dead's work well. Otherwise they would have played a more obvious choice like "Ripple." "Black Peter" is brilliant in its simple sad poignance. Few songs in rock compare. |
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| Patti Smith – Dead To the World Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I said at the time this song was Patti's posthumous tribute to Jerry Garcia, which in online conversation offended her punkish fans and others who revile the Grateful Dead. Nonetheless, the interpretation fits the song: "DEAD to the World," the magical musician with "life in his fingers," and the delicate, spiraling, Garcia guitar licks which embroider the edges of the lyrics in this Smith song and no other. In a subsequent tour Patti would place an empty chair on the stage for Jerry to sit, showing her special affection for the man and his music. |
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| Gillian Welch – I Dream A Highway Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Warren: Thanks for the reply! After I posted my comment above I remembered Bob Dylan's song was "Jack of Hearts" not "Jack of Diamonds." There are several different "Jack of Diamonds" songs, including one by Waylon Jennings. However, my bet is Welch is referring to Michael Martin Murphey's. His lyrics are dry and stark, as many of hers. And more to the point, Welch reuses some of his "Jack of Diamonds" lyrics in her song, "Tennessee" from "The Harrow and the Harvest." Beefsteak when I'm hungry Rye whiskey when I'm dry Greenbacks when I'm hard up And heaven when I die --Michael Martin Murphey It's beef steak when I'm workin' Whiskey when I'm dry And sweet Heaven when I die --Gillian Welch Listen to Murphey's "Jack of Diamonds" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTz9MWfOAd8 |
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| Gillian Welch – Orphan Girl Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Of course one must consider that Gillian Welch is technically an orphan herself -- raised by foster parents after her biological mother gave her up. Welch does not know her blood parents. | |
| Bob Dylan – Queen Jane Approximately Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Here's an analysis I sent to a friend: Lots of people have wondered who Queen Jane was in Dylan's song. Joan Baez (and others) wanted to believe it was Baez. No hope there. Dylan was fond of Baez but didn't consider her a peer, much less someone he would immortalize as a queen. I was wondering if it was Nico from the Velvet Underground. (I suspect that Nico may be the muse of "Visions of Johanna.") But that didn't really fit. Nico was the mysterious solitary feminine, but Queen Jane has a troublesome entourage she administers with some amount of boredom, and no equal with whom to commiserate. Then I picked up on "creations," "plastic," and "repetition," and I just knew it was Warhol. In the song's atmosphere of bored sophistication, Warhol was the perfect. Then I scanned the rest of the verses and everything else fell into place. It also made sense that Dylan, who was quite a socially competitive guy in those days, would appeal to Warhol as an equal. Later I looked up the song on wiki and found this quote: "However, in 1965 Dylan himself told journalist Nora Ephron that "Queen Jane is a man." I rest my case. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Queen Jane Approximately [Warhol: Close relationship to mother / boredom with self, art] When your mother sends back all your invitations And your father to your sister he explains That you’re tired of yourself and all of your creations Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? [Flower Ladies: Transvestites / hangers-on] Now when all of the flower ladies want back what they have lent you And the smell of their roses does not remain And all of your children start to resent you Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? [Clowns: Hangers-on / drug casualties / theme of repetition in W.'s art] Now when all the clowns that you have commissioned Have died in battle or in vain And you’re sick of all this repetition Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? [Advisers/plastice: Exploding Plastic Fantastic Inevitable - Warhol's "happening"] When all of your advisers heave their plastic At your feet to convince you of your pain Trying to prove that your conclusions should be more drastic Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? [Bandits: Gay hustlers in Warhol films / boredom] Now when all the bandits that you turned your other cheek to All lay down their bandanas and complain And you want somebody you don’t have to speak to Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane? |
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| Gillian Welch – I Dream A Highway Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I'd say the song is a visionary journey through music and entertainment legends. A few commenters have filled in pieces: John/footlights: Johnny Cash at the Grand Ole Opry. Memphis/forked tongue: Robert Johson's meeting with the Devil at the crossroads. Die with a hammer in my hand: John Henry I would add: Jack of Diamonds: Bob Dylan Emmylou and Gram: Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons's ill-fated collaboration and relationship Hollywood/waitress: Lana Turner discovered at Schwab's Pharmacy Walk me out into the rain and snow : "Ran me out in the cold rain and snow" -- traditional folk song I'm sure further consideration would turn up more references. So Welch is not addressing a human lover, as one might expect from the refrain. My guess is that she is meditating on the source of creativity she tries to tap into with her songwriting -- the particular artists, lyrics and stories that have inspired her. |
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| Bob Dylan – Ballad of a Thin Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I think Dylan is working on three levels -- (1) making fun of an unhip reporter and other straights, (2) describing the gay New York art scene and the nervous challenge of encountering homosexuality, and (3) tricking the people who think they are hip and know what is happening but completely miss the homosexual layer of the song. | |
| Bob Dylan – Queen Jane Approximately Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It's about Andy Warhol. Dylan was more influenced by the Warhol crowd and Chelsea Hotel scene in those days than most people realize. Warhol was Dylan's greatest rival in New York; hence someone Dylan took seriously enough to address as an equal. Warhol was gay and always surrounded by an entourage; hence Queen Jane. Note the references to creations (art, movies, happenings), repetition (Warhol's technique), and plastic (Exploding Plastic Inevitable events). The song is Dylan's coded challenge to meet one-on-one with Warhol as an equal. |
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| Jackson Browne – That Girl Could Sing Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| According to Wiki, Jackson Browne had a relationship with Laura Nyro and this song is about her. I can believe it. She really could sing too. One of the great singer-songwriters of that era. | |
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