| The Civil Wars – Tracks in the Snow Lyrics | 4 years ago |
|
The reason you are seeking is causing you to seek -a Buddhist maxim that was used by Cheri Huber as the title of her book. We each bring a gift to the world, maybe its something positive like gratitude and appreciation, or maybe its a pestilence like Pandora's box. Maybe our gift will be received with gratitude and appreciation or maybe it will be maligned and beaten into hiding or maybe it will be destroyed. What matters is that we know we learn what our gift is, and we learn how to be a gift to others. What matters even more is that we learn the only gift we can give is gratitude and appreciation. Everything else is violence. We walk on the Earth but we must appreciate her and thank her for everything she gives to us, every breath, every drop of water, every morsel of food, every cool breeze on a hot day or warm pool of sunshine on a cold day. Read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. That's what this song is about. |
|
| Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
The video spells out why anyone would compare themselves with a serial killer, or Tanya Harding. When people have been abused, I don't know why, but they often take on and feel the guilt and the shame of the person who victimizes them. I don't know why. But they do. As if the gazelle should feel guilty when the lion chases attacks and rips it apart. As if the baby lion should feel guilty when the elephant fears and stamps and crushes the baby lion. As if the baby cow should feel guilty for being taken away from her mother and fed soy milk so that we humans can drink her milk instead. |
|
| Elvis Costello – Little Palaces Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
In the 1987 on the Irish television programme THE SESSION Live, Elvis explained before singing this song: "This is in a town where my family finally ended up, and the things that have happened to it ever since. There is a company there that makes chocolate. You probably know it, Cadbury's. They've got a fixation about painting everything the same colour as their wrappers, even the train. You'd see these chocolate trains that went by, sort of brown and silver. (?) As if anybody'd stolen it, maybe they will. (?) Last year we made an albumn sleeve that looked exactly like one of their chocolate wrappers and they sued us. Cause it's obvious our cassette looked, you know, tasted a lot better than their chocolate. Anyway, enough of this comedy." |
|
| The National – Cherry Tree Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
The thoughts of everyone about the meaning of this song are very good. More disjointed thoughts . . . Part of the identity of Matt Berninger, judging only by the songs he's written, seems to be that he's an American who has lived or spent time in Britain. That makes a person very aware of their own heritage in contrast with the heritage of another country. That might be irrelevent but to me it is seems important to understanding his lyrics. The lyric "Loose lips [might] sinks ships" is a reference to an American WW2 poster; akin to the British WW2 poster "Keep Mum, she's not so dumb. Careless talk costs lives". Cherry tree title might be a reference to America's founding father and first president George Washington cutting down the cherry tree myth, as well as the Japanese significance of springtime cherry trees. Another WW2 reference to America dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So this song seems to be using the metaphor of wartime interrogation of political prisoners as the visual for the story. "Take US down . . . cherry tree . . . lay US out on a table" -Is the lyric referring to US the couple, or has the person being laid out on the table for dissection by the person who is sharp, had a schizophrenic personality split? -Who or what is the cherry tree? Is cherry tree a person leading the interrogation? Cherry sounds a lot like "cherie" the French word for love. Allies in WW2 (Britain, France, US) versus enemy allies (Germany and Japan). The writer has written a song about a dissection-like interrogation that has been recorded and anyone who wishes to can listen to the song and make their own judgements. The writer of the song has not kept this interrogation secret, he is indiscrete. By repeating "Loose lips sink ships" he's warning the interrogator that he is going to write about this encounter, and he has. |
|
| St. Vincent – Dilettante Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
I wonder if the name Elijah is a reference to the Biblical prophet who hid in the desert for three years, or is the actual name of a man she is hoping to see; perhaps both? Maybe I'm pushing it but perhaps the reference to sharks is a vague reference to King Ahab, which sounds like Captain Ahab who sought Moby Dick, or maybe they are just the money pushers behind her recording career. The line "you're like a party I heard through a wall" -that I suspect may be a direct reference to the Del Amitri song "Heard through a wall". The song of an eager lover who promises to burst into the life of his love and make her heart swoon. As a live performer I'm sure she spends lots of time touring and likely may overhear other lovers through the doors and walls of hotel rooms. During the seder holiday a special goblet of wine is filled for the prophet Elijah, then the door is opened to allow him to enter and drink; and at every bris a chair is set aside for him. This song is a song of invitation and waiting, of her longing to be with her own personal Elijah. |
|
| Guided by Voices – Hardcore UFOs Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
The song is about young love, and how some of us don't grab on and hold tight to that love, but instead let go and explore the world, only to discover that young love was the deepest and purest we would ever know. And all that time apart exploring the world it meant very little without that person by our side. And with that realization we are now wondering, are they thinking of me, the way I'm thinking of them? And we are wondering, are they hoping I'll reach out to them, from as far away as outer space, it might seem. Because after all this wasted time without them, we realize they are the only one who gives our life meaning. Yes, like Dorothy's ruby red slippers, happiness is found within. But there are a few happy couples in the world who prove that when you are with the right person, your happiness doubles, and your troubles are halved. When you are with someone who loves you as much as they love themselves. when you are with someone who needs you as much as you need them. The fear that still needs to be faced is why you ran away in the first place: loving someone that deeply means you might lose them. And then what would you do? |
|
| The National – American Mary Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
@[fortune8:12765] the more I listen to this song, the more I hear it differently. She isn't American, and he doesn't want her to be either. He isn't saying he doesn't want her, he's saying he doesn't want her to be American because he loves her to bits the way she is, who she is, her culture, all of her exotic self. He isn't saying that he will leave her, he's saying no matter how she expresses all of her fears and doubts about their relatsionship, he's there to stay. |
|
| The National – Fireproof Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
@[thisnametaken:12664] Matt Berninger has obviously spent some time in Britain, he knows the vernacular. Go and boil your head, is a Scottish phrase that means "Fuck off!" Also the juxtaposition of his head at boiling point of water, and his hands at the freezeing point of water is a metaphor of how it feels when you are mentally discombobulated, frustrated, perhaps angry, and your hands are so cold you can't do anything with them. So kind of having too many emotions all at once, and not knowing what to do, or knowing there is nothing you can do. In addition the lyric "you tell me you're waiting for someone who isn't so hopeless" That's also a British phrase meant to disparage someone He is so hopeless means he is incapable, he's clueless. |
|
| The National – American Mary Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
Obviously this is pure speculation based on the way I love the way Matt Beringer draws paradoxical pictures with his lyrics. It occurs to me that the girl Mary, perhaps the girl was not American at all, but Matt is. The lyrics of the song speak of a girl who Matt flirted with but he didn't interpret their flirtation as very deep. But perhaps, say for example she had that famous British reserve, and her feelings for him were actually much stronger than he imagined. Perhaps they a little endearment between them, as her way of playing with Matt, she suggested she was really American too, as he was. So they referred to her as "American Mary" even though. She was not American at all. The endearment of calling her American Mary might reveal their cultural and deeper differences while also, pleading for a bridge across the chasm of those differences. At this point, the song is about the futility of her desire for him, when he says for him, the flame is extinguished. It's a harsh little song. |
|
| Grapes of Wrath – What Was Going Through My Head Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
I think the song might be about a loved one telling the singer some distressing news. "See through the lights" is sort of a cartoon-image in my head of seeing stars, like he was knocked out by the news. I imagine it to be that a friend informed him or even his lover told him she's had an affair or was about to have an affair, or was leaving him or something equally disconcerting. What was going through his head is anyone's reactions to such heart-rending news, he might hurt himself or someone else. He's saying the information should have been given to him in a less shocking manner. Too much emotionally shocking information, led him thankfully to sleep, but when he awoke there it was again, his first thoughts. |
|
| Grapes of Wrath – What Was Going Through My Head Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
I think the song might be about a loved one telling the singer some distressing news. "See through the lights" is sort of a cartoon-image in my head of seeing stars, like he was knocked out by the news. I imagine it to be that a friend informed him or even his lover told him she's had an affair or was about to have an affair, or was leaving him or something equally disconcerting. What was going through his head is anyone's reactions to such heart-rending news, he might hurt himself or someone else. He's saying the information should have been given to him in a less shocking manner. Too much emotionally shocking information, led him thankfully to sleep, but when he awoke there it was again, his first thoughts. |
|
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Supernaturally Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Sorry I meant to spell that as "Master-baiting". | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Supernaturally Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Nick Cave understands the Bible quite well as he's studied it since he was very young, and references it in almost everything he writes. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Supernaturally Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
The chorus: "Hey! Ho!" might be a reference to the Ramones (who sparked the UK punk movement when they toured in 1976 and 77) song "Blitzkrieg Bop" 1975, which is a song about rebellious teenagers have sex or auto-erotica in the backseat of cars. Having "a teddy bear clamped between her knees" might mean she is a little Daddy's girl, and might be another reference to Master-bating. Her loverman is "down here" "with a party of penguins", south of the equator, in Antarctica. Nick Cave's band the Birthday Party and his lover, Anita Lane, moved from south of the equator, Australia to London in 1980. "Once I was your hearts desire, now I am the ape hunkered by the fire" I'm taking a leap but I think that he is saying when they were lovers he was lifted up into an almost sacred state of mind, but now separated, he feels like a less evolved ape. "You float by so majestically" might mean she is a ghost, either literally or metaphorically -the memories of her that haunt him. "turned the mirrors to the wall" is an old practice when someone died, to protect the soul of the departed, because it was thought the soul could become trapped inside a mirror, rather than going to heaven where it would be at peace. "I touch your hair and it cuts me like a knife, for there is always something other, little thing, you gotta do" I'm not sure what this means except he is feels she is running away from him and that rejection hurts him, his deep desire for her, hurts him. She is a ghost, in the sense that her memory haunts him. When he chases her, she eludes him, but if he gets close enough to stroke her spectral hair, it only causes him injury. |
|
| Elliott Smith – Miss Misery Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| And maybe how as an artist he might even become a little frightened when he doesn't have misery driving him to write. when an artist who has developed a pattern of writing when he is in pain, is not in pain, when he's enjoying life it might seem frightening to no longer have pain to write about. When he's enjoying life it might seem to him that he has nothing to write about, which is ridiculous, but and at those moments he might actually "miss misery", miss feeling miserable. Which is an accurate description of the insidious little game of the way that addictions play/prey on a person. As if Miss Misery is telling him "you have nothing to say unless you are writing about pain, so come back to me." It's obviously untrue, but if he has developed a pattern of writing most often when he is depressed then he might be afraid to try something new, to try writing about joy instead. | |
| Broken Social Scene – Sweetest Kill Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Andrew Whiteman says "'Sweetest Kill' is when you're f---ing 14, 15 years old and you're at summer camp. It's the last night, you're at the tennis court, it's outside and it's a chaperoned dance. Nobody's drunk except the bad kids and you're dancing to f---ing 'Stairway to Heaven'. That's 'Sweetest Kill' man, not that f---ing literalist bulls---. It's a beautiful song." | |
| Grizzly Bear – While You Wait for the Others Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| On second thought, the author of these lyrics is not emotionally detached at all, the author is extemely disappointed, resentful and probably angry too. So the pleading protesting of the person who the author feels betrayed by, just leaves the author feeling cold, misunderstood, and the division between them becomes even wider. The author initiated the break up due to a difference between them, and when the protestor doesn't see the difference, doesn't acknowledge the difference, doesn't understand what they did wrong, that just serves as evidence to the author of how unsuited they are for each other. | |
| Grizzly Bear – While You Wait for the Others Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
The correct lyrics are extremely important for understanding these rather poetic lyrics. The lyrics are describing a highly emotional situation; well I should say a situation where one person is highly emotional and the other person has taken a removed, dry, upper hand position where they can sit more comfortably in a position that allows them to feign a lack of emotions. I could well be wrong but I believe the author of these lyrics is describing a romantic break-up. The vital lyrical clue would be the difference between the lyrics written above "the perfect glare" versus the actual lyrics on the liner notes of the CD "the perfect cleft". The word cleft it means: Adjective: Split, divided, or partially divided into two. Noun: A fissure or split, esp. one in rock or the ground. Therefore I believe this song is about one person being upset and asking what are the reasons for wanting the break up, with the answer from the author being a rather cold "this is a waste of time, my mind is made up, just move on." |
|
| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – Wolf Among Wolves Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| if she was timid and loved you, and if you really loved her, maybe you owed it to yourself and trusted her enough to have tried communicating what you wanted. you might have been surprised how she responded, she might have been craving the same thing but didn't know how to express herself either. | |
| Bob Dylan – As I Went Out One Morning Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I don't know whether to be glad or sad that so many people do not understand what this song is about. ok here it, simple and true. the song on the most basic material world level is about the slave trade. about the slavery of humans, turning them into commodities to earn money for the slave owners. Tom Paine is the pimp. The lovely young woman is human who has been unfortunate enough to find herself enslaved in the sex trade. She has not been in it long enough to have lost hope, she is still desperately looking for a decent person to help her. But helping her would also put her hero in danger. Afterall, who wants to tangle with the evilness of black marketers? ok? get it now? fairly simple? The name, Tom Paine was chosen for its irony obviously. Tom Paine was one of the founders of our "free" country. A country that regularly fights for "freedom" in other countries, like for example, Vietnam. That war was waging at the time this song was written. That was a time when good citizens began to wonder if the freedoms we were fighting for were worthy of the fight. Were we fighting for the freedoms of human liberty? Or were we fighting for free trade, free commerce? Freedom and slavery is what this song is about. |
|
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – To Be by Your Side Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Why do so many Nick Cave songs remind me of what it feels like to be in the presence of that which is sacred? | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I think its interesting so many comments think its about someone he knew and lost. That's not clear, I mean it could be, even likely (my bet would be his first love, whoever that is), but its not implicit in the lyrics. What is clear is that he's expressing hope that he will find this love in the future, soon. But how will he know for certain when he has found his true love? Will there be clear signs? Will stars explode overhead? I think he's also expressing how there are very few certainties in life. There is an implication of fear or doubt, by saying it would be nice if we knew for certain, if when we knew we met our true love we could be certain because of undeniable indications, if stars exploded overhead when we met, but in reality we know that doesn't happen. In reality the only certainty in life is that life blooms and then it fades, the inevitable transcience of time. Sometimes we don't know that we've met out true love until time has passed. Maybe why some have interpretted this song as longing for a lost love. All Nick is expressing is clear longing for true love, and hope he will find true love soon. The implication being that "true love" would endure, maybe that is the only indication that it is "true love" versus another kind of love that could not be lost, just as other loves have. |
|
| Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
or I meant to say. . . now he's crashed and spent too, but no longer wants to be that person who he was with her. but anyway the attitude of the song is that it is punk, and therefore it has a mocking tone to it. He is mocking her fascination with morbid self-destruction, and himself too. because "the biggest lie" is repeated 3 times the meaning switches back and forth, so it means that sometimes he feels the way he's making fun or her for acting self-destructively too, but at the time of writing the song he was repelled by it. |
|
| Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
My interpretation subway = like the ferryboat ride on the river styx to the underworld. stupid thing = death, that makes everyone "the late" So-and-so. she spent all her resources wanting to die, (ie. she maybe spent all of her and his time and money on something destructive like drugs) now he's used up and crashed too, and is no longer the person she knew. she = turned into a cemetary statue with gold flake paint like a precious venerated memory. and the biggest lie = that he wants to die; becuase he wants the opposite. he wants to live, and he's mocking her or at least saying he's doesn't share her focus on death or self-destruction. |
|
| Elliott Smith – The Biggest Lie Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
My interpretation subway = like the ferryboat ride on the river styx to the underworld. stupid thing = death, that makes everyone "the late" So-and-so. she spent all her resources wanting to die, (ie. she maybe spent all of her and his time and money on something destructive like drugs) now he's used up and crashed too, and is no longer the person she knew. she = turned into a cemetary statue with gold flake paint like a precious venerated memory. and the biggest lie = that he wants to die; becuase he wants the opposite. he wants to live, and he's mocking her or at least saying he's doesn't share her focus on death or self-destruction. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.