| The White Stripes – Ball and Biscuit Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Random thought that I have every time I hear this song.... while I totally agree that it's probably just about sex, I can't help but examine this one part: "Tell everybody in the place to just get out And we'll get clean together And I'll find me soapbox where I can shout it " I always wonder if the reference to 'getting clean' is actually about quitting drugs (or just stopping the party life). In order to do this, the speaker would have to get rid of people/places/things that they used/partied with ("tell everybody in the place to just get out"). Getting on the soapbox to shout about it would make sense, as the speaker would be proud of themselves -- and maybe acting a bit 'holier-than-thou' after getting their life cleaned up. Just a random thought! |
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| Vampire Weekend – California English Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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to P456 - I actually do think that the phrase "good earth" might be a reference to Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth. This might be total over-analyzation on my part, but one of the novel's underlying themes is the notion that fortune and wealth are culturally destructive. This fits really nicely with the theme of the song itself; "California English" is about the degradation of language, issues of money/fame, and the de-evolution of American culture. I don't think this is that great of a leap -- besides, the phrase "good earth" isn't really something people say often, as simple as the words might seem. Glad someone else thought of the novel -- once I gave it some deeper thought it actually kinda made sense! |
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| Vampire Weekend – California English Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"bounced across a Saudi Satellite Dish - through your brain to California English" My take on the satellite dish reference is actually that its a reference to cell phones. To me, I imagine this young and relatively intelligent, well-spoken college girl from the east coast whose vernacular is being corrupted by the 'california english' being spoken around her in her new LA locale. What better image than this corruption happening via cell phone - the language (like everything else in modern society) is sent via text and cell calls, bounced across a satellite dish (which I believe is noted as 'Saudi' for political and societal implications), and enters her brain to form "California English." God knows texting is ruining our language as it is -- adding a valley-girl bent to it only worsens the degradation! ((no offense to Cali folks!)) I agree with most of mobiusstrip's line-by-line breakdown, and I thought I could possibly fill in that blank. Just my opinion of course! |
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