| Antony and the Johnsons – Spiralling Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think the end is "hell, brave rogue", which I take as a rather concise way of affirming and comforting someone who is going through hell for being a brave rogue, or in Antony's case a transgender person coping with living with a body that does not feel like their own and in a society that rejects them. | |
| Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Someone asked about the line "They heard me singing and the told me to stop - quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock", which is the most deeply impacting line of the song for me. I take it to mean our culture's lack of value for creativity and how we are told to repress our imaginations. You get this sense in our public education system when the curriculum forced onto teachers and students looks for objective, one word answers rather than open-ended questions, critical thinking, or creativity. This carries over to our jobs where we are valued for our objective output not for our SELF as a person. So to me, this line is about this sort of spirit - the creative spirit - being squelched by a jaded coworker or boss. Its one of those situations where someone who has numbed their creative spirit will criticize someone else who is freespirited (and perhaps singing to themselves) by leveling the accusation that their singing is somehow pretentious or ego-driven, which just twists the knife deeper since its a heartfelt expression of their soul (and perhaps the only HOPE in disassembling the Suburban Beast). Though, sadly, I suppose the insincere only hear insincerity. I also think this line a reaction to people/fans who hear the arcade fire's music and accuse them of being pretentious because they sing about heartfelt issues or lofty social issues. |
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| The Replacements – Androgynous Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I disagree that its a light-hearted song - I'm not really sure where people are getting this - like that its 'hilarious' - but I guess everyone hears things differently. I think that Paul brings a sense of humor to a heavy situation talking about how certain norms will be laughed at in the future, but the song essentially deals with oppression because of gender identity - even from one's own family members. I do NOT hear a sense of lightness and humor in Paul's voice when he sings the chorus ("love eachother so, closer than you know") and in fact at the very end his voice clearly cracks as if he is about to cry. I also don't think he's saying that androgyny is just a youthful phase, but I think he's saying that its someone's identity and preference and that it shouldn't be ridiculed. I also think the line "closer than you know" is a clever meaning. It alludes to the two lovers being closer than you realize in their relationship, and also being closer in their gender identities even though one is male and one is female, because gender is fluid and not a binary. |
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| Nick Drake – Way to Blue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I like all of your assessments and they were helpful in understanding the song on a deeper level. After some thought and reflection, I think there is a bit more to this song than has been mentioned. First, I agree that Nick is suggesting there is some elusive transcendence to be found in the nature. But the catch in this song, is that - as someone else pointed out - the song is a conversation, or more accurately, a REQUEST for a conversation about heaven and nature. In this Nick is implying that heaven is to be found in human connections sharing their deepest thoughts on spirituality and nature. Its not enough to reflect on nature, but to share these reflections with others. Ironically, the content of the conversations are doomed to fall short of explaining heaven or nature, but the connections themselves - along with the connections to the natural world - actually show the way, or perhaps a glimpse, of 'blue'. I also think that blue simeltaneously represents depression - or more precisely longing - and heaven. I don't think its a matter of it being one or the other - he's overlapping the two meanings. He's uniting the binary of sadness and joy and trying to express something more integrated and complex. Also, I just realized another ingenious element to the lyric 'way to blue'. If 'blue' represents both joy and longing, then 'way to blue' signifies that they are longing(way) for longing/joy (to blue). But the paradox is once you reach it (blue or longing/joy) you are no longer longing for it and the feeling vanishes. |
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| Nick Drake – Way to Blue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I just realized another ingenious element to the lyric 'way to blue'. If 'blue' represents both joy and longing, then 'way to blue' signifies that they are longing(way) for longing/joy (to blue). But the paradox is once you reach it (blue or longing/joy) you are no longer longing for it and the feeling vanishes. |
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| Nick Drake – Way to Blue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I like all of your assessments and they were helpful in understanding the song on a deeper level. After some thought and reflection, I think there is a bit more to this song than has been mentioned. First, I agree that Nick is suggesting there is some elusive transcendence to be found in the nature. But the catch in this song, is that - as someone else pointed out - the song is a conversation, or more accurately, a REQUEST for a conversation about heaven and nature. In this Nick is implying that heaven is to be found in human connections sharing their deepest thoughts on spirituality. Its not enough to reflect on nature, but to share these reflections with others. Ironically, the content of the conversations are doomed to fall short of explaining heaven or nature, but the connections themselves - along with the connections to the natural world - actually show the way, or perhaps a glimpse, of 'blue'. I also think that blue simeltaneously represents depression - or more precisely longing - and heaven. He's uniting the binary of sadness and joy and trying to express something more integrated and complex. |
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| Nick Drake – Way to Blue Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I like all of your assessments and they were helpful in understanding the song on a deeper level. After some thought and reflection, I think there is a bit more to this song than has been mentioned. First, I agree that Nick is suggesting there is some elusive transcendence to be found in the nature. But the catch in this song, is that - as someone else pointed out - the song is a conversation, or more accurately, a REQUEST for a conversation about heaven and nature. In this Nick is implying that heaven is to be found in human connections sharing their deepest thoughts on spirituality. Its not enough to reflect on nature, but to share these reflections with others. Ironically, the content of the conversations are doomed to fall short of explaining heaven or nature, but the connections themselves - along with the connections to the natural world - actually show the way, or perhaps a glimpse, of 'blue'. I also think that blue simeltaneously represents depression - or more precisely longing - and heaven. He's uniting the binary of sadness and joy and trying to express something more integrated and complex. |
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| Arcade Fire – Black Wave/Bad Vibrations Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I like the interpretation of the black wave being about the rising waters due to global warming. I think the song is a juxtaposition. You have a political refugee fleeing Haiti - a country long oppressed by Western nations such as the United States - and then in the second part of the song you have a U.S. or Canadian middle class tourist maybe on some Carnival Cruise where part of the town is owned and sanctioned off by Carnival to keep the tourists safe, so they are "eating in the ghetto on a hundred dollar plate". Its partly about the sad irony of it all, that these two events are happening side by side - and how tourism and first world consumerism (propping up/supporting 3rd world regimes that allow 1st world corporations to rape the land and people) fuels political instability and poverty in the third world. Thats why Win says "Stop now before its too late". |
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