| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| The only part left out is that Nancy was impregnated by her father. This is the House of Honesty and why her Father was on Trial. The utter absence of mystery indicates that nothing is poetic or mythological about the rape. It's just evil and disgusting and repulsive. Similar to, "My Brother, My Killer, What Else Can I Say?" She sleeps with everyone because abused children often reenact their violations compulsively. She's happy that you've come illustrates Cohen's perversity because the point of no return for The Used is to be completely used, to feel happy that she has given you what you wanted, her body as a completed object. It's a very sad song. | |
| Leonard Cohen – Avalanche Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| Well, if there’s one thing we know about Leonard Cohen it’s that he is authentic. He is also on record as diagnosed with chronic, severe major depressive disorder. \n\nWhy else would Cobain write about him in “Pennyroyal Tea?”\n\n“Give me Leonard Cohen afterword, \nSo I, can sigh, eternally.”\n\nThis means we are left with a dilemma. Is his mood nature or nurture? We will never know. Maybe it doesn’t matter. The greatest art in the world comes from the so-called mental illnesses and drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Cohen writes in, “The Butcher”: \n\n“I put a needle,\nInto my arm,\nDid some good,\nDid some harm,”\n\nWith this in mind, let’s take a closer look at “Avalanche.”\n\nAvalanche has no symbolic meaning other than it annihilates. I don’t think it’s that much different than Neil Young’s, “Like a Hurricane,” except that it signifies a severe existential crisis.\n\nMy best guess is that his depression got really, really bad when he wrote, “Songs of Love and Hate,” and “Avalanche” is perhaps the darkest song on the album. And what happens when, “The Dark Night of the Soul” comes? It is the intersection of identity crisis, the existential issues, and then the inevitable conversation with God. Push on through to authenticity or go on back to conformity.\n\nL.C: \n\nWell, I stepped into an avalanche\nIt covered up my soul\nWhen I am not this hunchback that you see (pathetic, worthless human creature)\nI sleep beneath the golden hill (connection reestablished with God).\n\nGod: \n\nYou who wish to conquer pain\nYou must learn, learn to serve me well (go ahead, try to be a Nihilist. See how far that gets you).\n\n--There is a bipolar, either/or feeling here. It’s probably bipolar 2, as L.C. has reported the SSRIs did nothing. What would have happened if he tried one of the newest mood stabilizers? What if Poe had Lithium? What if Cobain was correctly diagnosed?\n\nGod:\n\nWhen I am on a pedestal\nYou did not raise me there\nYour laws do not compel me\nTo kneel grotesque and bare (you serve me not the other way around).\n\nL.C.\n\nI myself am the pedestal\nFor this ugly hump at which you stare (only a human would have the need to pedestal himself).\n\nGod/Jesus\n\nYou who wish to conquer pain\nYou must learn what makes me kind\nThe crumbs of love that you offer me\nThey\'re the crumbs I\'ve left behind\nYour pain is no credential here\nIt\'s just the shadow, shadow of my wound\n\nL.C.\n\nI have begun to long for you\nI who have no greed\nI have begun to ask for you\nI who have no need\nYou say you\'ve gone away from me\nBut I can feel you when you breathe\n\nGod:\n\nDo not dress in those rags for me\nI know you are not poor\nAnd don\'t love me quite so fiercely now\nWhen you know that you are not sure (why they call religion a “leap of faith.” L.C.’s not quite there, at least in a fundamental state).\n\nL.C.\n\nIt is your turn, beloved\nIt is your flesh that I wear\n\n--this breakup of the conversations seems right because the stanzas are patterned: 4-2, 6, 6, 4-2\n\nOf course, just any descent into the worm, or the abyss, like Kierkegaard, we must separate out the depressive neuroses to find the kernels of wisdom. After everything is said and done though, L.C. was a genius. | |
| Bob Dylan – Too Much of Nothing Lyrics | 2 years ago |
|
I always thought the song's name said it all. Too much of nothing = meaninglessness and despair. And, "idle hands make the devil's playground." Healthy relationships and meaningful work is always helpful. The first stanza is incredibly relevant today: Too much of nothing Can make a man ill at ease One man's temper rises Where another man's temper might freeze Now it's a day of confession And we cannot mock a soul Oh, when there's too much of nothing No one has control The pandemic has made everyone more isolated, and agency (a healthy sense of control), in many big ways, is out of reach. This is also a time of confession, because of tech. exposing the dark side of our institutions. The mocking the soul part reminds me a line from "All Along the Watchtower:" No reason to get excited The thief, he kindly spoke There are many here among us Who feel that life is but a joke But, uh, but you and I, we've been through that And this is not our fate So let us stop talkin' falsely now The hour's getting late... And the pain of Nihilism (from, "It's allright Ma...") : "Although the masters make the rules For the wise men and the fools I got nothing, Ma, to live up to..." Apparently the women named were the wives of T.S. Eliot, who drained him of his "salary." This doesn't seem like a reach because Dylan mentions him in "Desolation Row." : "Praise be to Nero's Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn Everybody's shouting, "Which side are you on?!" And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain's tower While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row..." "The waters of Oblivion" reminds me of Eliot's "The Wasteland" " I think we are in rats’ alley Where the dead men lost their bones. “What is that noise?” The wind under the door. “What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?” Nothing again nothing. “Do “You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember “Nothing?” I remember Those are pearls that were his eyes. “Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?” Like many songs, this one uses the boiler plates of Existentialism: Freedom (everybody's doin' something...but I have the choice to also do something. Meaninglessness, Isolation and Death. |
|
| The Beatles – Baby You're a Rich Man Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| The Buddhist reference is plain. We ALL are born intrinsically worthy. It is only cultural/family expectations that have created the ignorance of this basic truth, saying we must be in this category, label or that to feel good about ourselves. That's the deal. In the U.S.A. we make ourselves depressed because we believe the everyday messages that tell us that our experience SHOULD be something other than it is. In this song they are saying we are all "rich" in this spiritual way. It's a song of hope that is one of my favorites. | |
| The Beatles – Baby You're a Rich Man Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| @[svjunior:37191] Thanks, excellent reply. Sometimes it grieves me to know that people who make great art are horrible people in their personal lives. Lennon is a prime example. A narcissist, he abused his wife and abandoned his child. Lennon was not a good person. | |
| Pink Floyd – Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| Like most Floyd song's this is another existential one. He is saying life is meaningless without genuinely connected, attuned relationships, in this case his wife. He is contrasting this to the most horrific and terrifying experiences imaginable--pigs on the wing, a phrase used during WW2 to describe a German plane close enough to kill you immediately, that is, on the wing. Undoubtedly Animal Farm had a great influence on Waters and so we must consider whether his choice of the song title is related to Napoleon and his secret police comrades. | |
| Pink Floyd – Fearless Lyrics | 3 years ago |
|
Without knowing much about Waters personal life and how much people like Barrett and his lovers affected him, this is my interpretation. The first stanza is going for a dream despite the naysayers, haters and fear mongers, full of resentment and cynicism for your courage to self-actualize. Go ahead and climb, I’d love to see you fail. But the author does not let others get him down: In time I will find a way. And then in my success I’ll be high above looking at what you said today to make me not try. The next stanza is more obscure, not sure what to think about it really. Maybe this: Like All Along the Watchtower and other Dylan song’s there are the archetypal characters of the Fool, The Idiot and The Magistrate, and the subjective perspectives that define them. The idiot is the climber of the hill who lives life to the fullest despite the powerful magistrate who is a fool for living a life of fear. What’s better? To play it safe and be unalive or take risks, follow your dreams and passions and be alive? Everyday is the right day… Hemingway sums this up nicely: “Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.” And Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they, Do not go gentle into that good night.” And Robert Frost: “I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Just like the haters in the first stanza the magistrate is afraid of facing the truth of living an inauthentic life. Love the line, “hear the sound of the faces in the crowd.” Collectively, the faces of conformity create a horrific “sound,” reflecting alienation, disconnection and meaninglessness.” This is what Jung meant by the "lonely crowd." Note: the Frost and Dylan poems were truncated for brevity. In the end it's a great big FUCK YOU to anyone who tells you trying is failing. That it's dressed up as a psychedelic hippy song makes it all the more badass. You say the hill's too steep to climb Chiding You say you'd like to see me try Climbing You pick the place and I'll choose the time And I'll climb the hill in my own way Just wait a while for the right day And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds I look down hearing the sound of the things you said today Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd Smiling Merciless, the magistrate turns 'round Frowning And who's the fool who wears the crown? Go down in your own way And everyday is the right day And as you rise above the fear lines in his brow You look down Hear the sound of the faces in the crowd |
|
| Pink Floyd – Fearless Lyrics | 3 years ago |
|
The title of the song is Fearless which means the stanzas express the author’s thoughts about this title. The first stanza is going for a dream despite the naysayers. Go ahead and climb, I’d love to see you fail. In time I will find a way And then in my success I’ll be high above looking at what you said today to make me not try. The next stanza is more obscure, not sure what to think about it really. Maybe this: Like All Along the Watchtower and other Dylan song’s there are the archetypal characters of the Fool, The Idiot and The Magistrate, and the subjective perspectives that define them. The idiot is the climber of the hill who lives life to the fullest despite the powerful magistrate who is a fool for living a life of fear. What’s better? To play it safe and be unalive or take risks, follow your dreams and passions and be alive? Everyday is the right day… Hemingway sums this up nicely: “Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.” And Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they, Do not go gentle into that good night.” And Robert Frost: “I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Just like the haters in the first stanza the magistrate is afraid of facing the truth of living an inauthentic life. Love the line, “hear the sound of the faces in the crowd.” Collectively, the faces of conformity create a horrific “sound,” reflecting alienation, disconnection and meaninglessness.” Note: the Frost and Dylan poems were truncated for brevity. |
|
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Love The One You're With Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| I could be totally wrong, but my interpretation of this song is based on accepting the loss of idealized loved one, who is actually the one you're with, and loving her gnarly toe fungus and all. By letting go of that perfect woman, the act of real love, which means work and responsibility, begins. Love the one you're with. | |
| Pink Floyd – Brain Damage Lyrics | 4 years ago |
|
I'm unsure why there so many wildly differing interpretations of this one. The song is very simple, in my opinion. The lunatics are our leaders and politicians. They are lunatics because their decisions do not match the responsibility their status compels. That is, we want our leaders to not be emotional children, and yet they are. Further infecting our minds (from the grass to the hall to the head and finally to matrix conformity--the oppressive re-arrangement of self), the lunatics are unrelenting in their pursuit to instill "someone in my head but it's not me" (the cloud bursting, thunder in your ear). The dam breaking is a metaphor for too much awareness of existentialism too soon (or possibly Syd as an acid causality). No room on the hill, the best line of all, indicates the radical unfairness of classism destroying dreams, a sentiment the author understands, saying if realized, I'll meet you there with open arms (the dark side of the moon). Really, to better understand any Floyd song, simply see them through the existential lens of meaninglessness, death, isolation and freedom and you can't go wrong. |
|
| Audioslave – Show Me How to Live Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
Self awareness critical thinking = isolation and “there’s something wrong with me for seeing the truth.” In terms of major mental health disorders, some kids and adolescents are “lucky” if their disease is caught early and healthy, positive community interventions are offered and accepted. These include child and or child/family therapy, sometimes medications (if the problem is found to be more biologically based, especially in immediate family—both of his parents were alcoholic) social engagement and others. The problem is that the thinking and behavior of people suffering from anxiety, depression and other issues is interpreted by the suffering as “the way things really are” (imagine the delusional, distorted affect major depressive disorder has on self-esteem and self-concept; taken to be true and permanent, is it any wonder people kill themselves?). We know Cornell, like Cobain and many others, had a “sensitive temperament” or “an artistic sensibility.” Sometimes this is a fine line and sometimes it is not. Sometimes, with parent attunement, this doesn’t become a problem (e.g., teachers/coaches etc. saying, “he’s just a loner,” or parents saying, “it’s only a phase”), except trying to live as an adult in an increasing uncivil and insensitive world. Cornell’s inner experience did cross the line (into mental illness) and a as teen he used drugs and alcohol to cope. Similar to Cobain, Cornell was fascinated, if not obsessed with, the Beatles, as well as finding solace in music and the punk community. Another traumatic circumstance was Chris’s taking PCP at 14 and then developing a severe panic disorder, with agoraphobia. Because change, loss and deeply feeling and absorbing and internalizing everything is often difficult for those with depression and substance abuse, his roommate Andrew Wood’s overdose hit him hard: "I've always had a really difficult time with loss. I didn't deal well with Andy's death. After he died, numerous times I'd be driving and I would look out the window and I thought I saw him. It would take me five minutes to update to the moment and realize, 'no, he's actually dead.' "When Andy died, I couldn't listen to his songs for about two years after that, and it was for that reason — his lyrics often seem as though they can tell that story. But then again, my lyrics often could tell the same one. In terms of seeing everything as a matter of life and death — if that's what you're feeling at the time, then that's what you're going to write.” When a person’s life is marred by depression and anxiety, the introduction of opiates is often the final blow to a full life, alive or dead. At first, it’s the ultimate cure, and the pills (Chris favored Oxycontin) might even be worse than the needle, as the needle is inconsistent and has legal consequences attached to it. Chemically, it might even be more addictive. On his decision to start taking Oxycontin, Chris said: "I went through a serious crisis with depression where I didn't eat a whole meal every day. I was just kind of shutting down…I know what it feels like to be suicidal, and I know what it feels like to be hopeless.” I wholeheartedly agree with him on alcohol: “You often hear that pot leads to harder drugs. But I think alcohol is what leads you to everything, because it takes away the fear. The worst drug experimentation I ever did was because I was drunk and didn't care." So true, with alcohol, one thinks “why can’t I get any higher?” Just ask Steven Tyler. The night of his suicide, Cornell kept saying on the phone to his wife, "I am just tired," and hung up the phone. I am sure I know what Cornell meant by “I’m just tired.” He meant I’m finally too sick and tired and I can’t take it anymore.” From, “I’m so tired,” by the Beatles: I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink… You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane You know I'd give you everything I've got For a little peace of mind… And Cobain: “I’m so tired I can’t sleep, Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea!” The word “tired” becomes synonymous with “tortured.” Chester Bennington committed suicide in the same way months after Cornell. What have we learned? What must we accept? A much larger percentage than the general population, authentic artists, sometimes the world’s most beloved, were driven to create and became famous due to talent, drive, risk-taking, luck, right time/place and other factors. Often they were driven to create due to depression and anxiety (including anxiety and depression due to child abuse/neglect, bipolar and schizophrenia and personality disorders). Far more often than not, they turn to drugs and alcohol to medicate their mental health symptoms. We as a community should be very aware of this, not allow them to be exploited, and provide a structure for respite. Early intervention is the key though. Pretty hard to stop one completely dedicated burning out and dying on the crazy train, as Cobain unstoppably did. In this context, let’s look at the Audioslave song, “Show me how to Live”: And with the early dawn moving right along, I couldn't buy an eyeful of sleep (too tired to sleep, even with benzos). And in the aching night under satellites, I was not received (born welcome into the human race) Built with stolen parts (use of the Frankenstein story to symbolize sense of unbelonging unreality). A telephone in my heart (wants to connect but is trapped by?). Someone get me a priest, To put my mind to bed (the peace that death offers). This ringing in my head (depression), Is this a cure , Or is this a disease? (a good question. Is it not a sign of mental health to be both depressed and anxious in an emotionally/spiritually unhealthy culture, marred by the empowerment and rewardization of narcissists?) Nail in my hand, From my creator (this is a song by Chris about Chris, not god, jesus or frankenstein). You gave me life, Now show me how to live (the sufferer tries to organically experience the world through the false self, the narcissistically conditioned self, and cannot. It’s a wall, which leaves the person to misperceive themselves as unreal, veiled, numbed and empty. This is the psychological analysis of depressive symptomology). And in the afterbirth on the quiet earth, Let the stains remind you (my chemically medicated, depressed life), You thought you made a man. You better think again, Before my role defines you (family and culture made me, and that is you too). And in your waiting hands I will land And roll out of my skin. And in your final hours I will stand, Ready to begin. Ready to begin. Ready to begin. Ready to begin (feels he never has “lived” as in spontaneous aliveness or an extended period depression free, he is ready to be resurrected and begin again; sees himself as a failure…”everything’s my fault” etc. Show me how to live.... |
|
| Pink Floyd – Mother Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
I’ve read this song is more fully elucidated in the film. My take is Waters is combing three themes: the Oedipal Complex, freedom to have sex without shame and Wartime. The Oedipal Complex is defined by the failure of the boy to separate from mum and identify with dad. The movie represents a boy being raised by a mother whose husband was killed in WW2. Having experienced the loss, the mother becomes viciously overprotective, which is internalized by the child and later felt by the adult to be a “wall,” which stifles the man from living a full and vital life, characterized by not taking the risks necessary to make it so (due to the stuck-ness in the Oedipal stage or what Freud would call “neurosis”). The boy is scared due to dad’s death, and the first stanza illustrates an existential choice: should I or should I not build the wall you are telling me I must (e.g. character armor, defense mechanisms, survival strategies). The author wonders if he should conquer his fear and achieve his potential, but the anxiety process leading to the avoidance strategy is clear: why should I run for president when the government is corrupt? Existential despair results. Life must be meaningless in a world defined by uncertainty and the unknown. With Gilmore’s chorus we see the awful result of how mum’s projected abandonment fears have on the adult (Pink). Like a spider web with mother as the fly, the child is stuck, trapped, and because of the wall they’ve built together, your nightmares (terror of intimacy due to enmeshment with mom), her fears (vulnerability with another is inherently dangerous), and her selfish and pathological need to sabotage independence to avoid her dealing with her grief and loneliness (also internalized). Family therapists refer to this phenomenon as emotional incest. The song continues to ask whether the boy (teen) having sex is permissible. The next chorus indicates mama, still as stuck as the boy when the enmeshment began, will see this as a betrayal and unleash shame as a way to manipulate the adult to stay loyal to her, and her only. In the end, Pink realizes the pathology (the why being too high). There is a inchoate sadness in that last C chord; the despair of “too little too late.” A really brilliant and easily my favorite Floyd song. I think this song also illustrates how genius often works, seemingly simple line when unpacked reveal timeless truths. Another good example is Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and “I Shall be Released.” |
|
| Leonard Cohen – Avalanche Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| This song is a tough one to decipher. Moving back and forth between the typical Cohen themes of religion, depression, love and loss, war and every other existential variable imaginable, it’s impossible to really know what he was getting at. At base, though, I sense the song is fundamentally a conversation. So easy to project our own experience onto songs. An avalanche means something profound though, like severe grief and loss, identity crisis and working through the dark night of the soul. To me it means ignoring for too long developmental crisis, which inevitably becomes an avalanche, having been ignored, disavowed, repudiated and suppressed for so long. It covers up the soul, which is a construct based on loss of meaning due to time, choosing one road over another…or the “devil’s choice,” as they say. A person enduring the “dark night” will appear empty and disheveled and yet sleeps like a baby, now living in authenticity and truly coping with the change and growth process. But if you want to conquer the pain of the human condition, you must find a higher power, a self-transcendent belief system, to believe in unconditionally. Everyone except Nietzsche, after all their analysis, concluded this. But in the age of science and reason, what is it? What can we “serve?” (see Dylan’s,”Gotta serve Someone;” there are some parallels). Jesus’s fatal wound was being cut in the side; he knows it was an “accident;” it’s only human to be self-centered. Who is the cripple? He is not interested in your bad faith rescuing, nor does is he interested in your world (this seems like a stretch; maybe someone else better versed in the bible can help me here). The potent source of the narcissistic personality structure—to alternate between idealization and devaluation—might be relevant here, as all pathological depression is a direct result of narcissistic adaptations from childhood. He bounces from being a grotesque ugly hump and a golden voiced pedestal daily (Heroin is often the solution, as he wrote, in It seems so long ago, Nancy: “I put a needle, into my arm, did some good, did some harm.” I like the idea of conquering pain by accepting and validating inner experience, instead of going to war with one’s inner world. It’s a very Buddhist concept, and perhaps why L.C. became a fan of Vipassana. The narrator wants to heal from a timeworn wound, such as The American Dream, he realizes is outdated and empty. That is, the old pain, due to time, and how time makes something previously meaningful meaningless, is now moot. But then there is a regression, a wish for the old unrepaired self to be repaired, though this is now impossible. The greed and “I can feel you when I breathe” is beyond my comprehension. Is this the guilty may at arms against god? The last stanza seems to be critical of religion, how it rejects when a disciple becomes a critical thinker. The last two lines seem to be about two lovers: it’s your turn, my love, to be as vulnerable as I; it is your turn to wear my flesh. About half of this comment feels to me to be all just guesses, so with humility, anyone have any other ideas? | |
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[solaris2013:27991] No, meds are not the issue, as I take my with compulsive consistency. I believe I've cited some sources, and provided some of the "evidence" you require. However, to bring an academic or cognitive interpretation to a piece of lyrical art that is clearly stemming form an inchoate and undifferentiated stream of thought/feeling and inner experience, to me the same as believing a picture is just as good as an experience. In this way I have experience, not evidence, for my perceptions. | |
| Pink Floyd – Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| Like the song, “Mother,” Rogers is fond of combining elements of war with elements of love and bonding, be it maternal or romantic. Based on the second half of the song, the experience of looking out for Pigs on a Wing means living a very lonely life of being unknown. The solution is to commit to a long-term, intimate partner. But for many of us, this can be terrifying, as we cope with anxieties of engulfment/enmeshment (loss of self, freedom) and rejection/abandonment. Because parents are so often madly neurotic, we have all kinds of existential fears about intimacy. But Rogers is saying the risk of vulnerability is better than living a life of stubborn aloneness. A guess is that Pigs symbolize greedy politicians and businesspeople and enemy fighters in the blind spot of a war plane’s wing—that is, both the forces of class oppression and intentional isolation or repudiation of the human need for touch, nurturing, emotional safety and meaning, without committed love, can sneak up on you and destroy you. A kind of “us against the world,” notion, stemming from idealized romantic love, that kind of turns out to be true. If your mate is true, that is. | |
| Nirvana – On a Plain Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| Well, wiki states, "the lyrics were written in the studio shortly before the vocals were recorded, which led to the line, "What the hell am I trying to say?" This seems to be the case for the Bleach album as well. I can recall only Lithium and a few sparse others to be intentional and focused lyric writing, meaning he gave some thought to the lyrics before barfing them out. This is hard for many people to comprehend, as the lyrics are delivered with such passion and anguish. I can only say that if Kurt was a genius, that is, a person with the ability to immediately reveal relationships in a global way before unperceived, then these songs have some pretty intense meaning. And if not, he never really cared at all, he was just very talented and very addicted, and threw to us all lies. | |
| Pink Floyd – Fearless Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| We all love to read into everything, thinking all Pink Floyd songs are about Syd Barrett or some other priceless, existential wisdom. There is another song "Fearless" irrefutably apes and spoofs: "You'll Never Walk Alone," by Rodger's & Hammerstein. Look up the lyrics and you'll know what I'm getting at. It's a song about overcoming diversity, and undoubtedly the inspiration for Floyd's song. It doesn't change the awesomeness of the open G progressions. It does however challenge the notion of deep profundity inculcating every Pink Floyd song. Like Nirvana, they just enjoyed pasting bits and pieces of song collages. They were not the geniuses so many think they were. | |
| David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World Lyrics | 6 years ago |
|
There is a Poe-like opium quality here, bending and transcending both time and place, employing multidimensional emotional realms while showcasing Bowie’s fascination with the themes in is life at that time: super-races, immortality, identity, star-men and 18th century French poets, distilled by Cobain's hollow emptiness. Eerily introspective and surreal, Bowie himself said: “there was a part of myself that I was looking for,” indicating a developmental crisis, a burning off of karmic conditioning, a realization he was not who he thought he was, relative to the culture and time period he lived. From this perspective, the song appears to be about a conversation with present, past and future Bowie doppelgangers: “We passed upon the stair (aspects of old and new selves meeting; the stair symbolizing life lessons, when properly integrated and potentiated, result is a higher spiritual and emotional emergence--a fuller sense of "the experience of being alive," or the pureness of freedom. “We spoke of was and when” (the doppelgangers negotiating past and present). “Although I wasn't there” (ephemeral conversations with parts of self not congruent with the developmental crisis). “He said I was his friend” (old selves are comforting, and we long for them, yet many are now paralyzing, having outlived their usefulness). “Which came as some surprise” (as all epiphanies are). “I spoke into his eyes” (non-verbal empathy). “I thought you died alone” (those not grieved aspects of self tends to stick around). “A long long time ago” (endless reincarnation of identity parts unresolved). “Oh no, not me” (this is still part of me, I still have to deal with it, fuck). “I never lost control” (the "denial" stage of identity death). “You're face to face with the man who sold the world” (the conformed, inauthentic man). “I laughed and shook his hand” (It's rather amusing now; all these years I thought you were a monster that would kill me if exposed). “And made my way back home” (those “same old fears” as Roger Waters wrote). “I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed" (the thirst for self-permanence is with us all, but ultimately an illusion). “I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here, we must have died alone, a long long time ago” (it's the human experience, we're all in this together). The universal chord in this song is the feel of the song, despite the obscure and even unintentionally abstract lyrics—the longing for true-ness, the longing for integration of self, to be connected to others. Why was Cobain drawn to cover this Bowie song? I believe it was because he knew there was a self for him without shame, a longing without regret, a joy without suffering, to feel anger without resentment, to endure pleasure with pain. |
|
| Nirvana – On a Plain Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
It's really too bad so many songs by Kurt had to be about injecting heroin, and yet they were. Listen closely to the beginning sound effects--a user slapping his arm to get ready to inject. Starting the song off without any words is getting at the paradox and contradictions expressing emotions by thinking about them; the moment you think/interpret is the moment the immediate experience is lost through translation, for all language is metaphorical. As many heroin users know, heroin causes itching, and heroin, being a pain killer, cause users to scratch until they bleed. This line is obvious in this way. As a self-loathing person, heroin transforms the inner hatred into the ultimate escape of extremely low self-esteem (the practice of comparing self to others and knowing you have the "upper hand"). High, he loves himself better than you. It's wrong, so wrong. But as an abandoned child and bi-polar sufferer, what else should he do? Perhaps I'm wrong, but the finest day ever to be had is to cry on demand is to be totally open to all emotional experiences, not stuffing or supressing sadness, despair, pain, anguish, whatever the difficult to cope with feeling may be. To me, this means achieving a stage of ultimate emotional honesty and confidence in expressing vulnerability without crumbling in the face of shame, fear or self-criticism. His mother dying every night to me means the potential death of her child is equivalent to knowing before sleep she may wake to the news of his death, news that only be prepared for my "dying" in an psychological/identity sense, admitting to herself what she already knows instinctively: my child is going to die and I know it absolutely. And then the song digresses into the nonsensical, in similar fashion to the time distortion of heroin's effects: Somewhere I have heard this before (Loud Reed, Iggy Pop etc.) In a dream my memory has stored ("always knew I'd come to this") As defense I'm neutered and spayed (I protect myself by becoming what I was, a pathetic piece of plankton). What the hell am I trying to say? It is now time To make it unclear To write off lines That don't make a sense And of course "on a plain" is a place/experience of of complete complacency, absence of pain and unrelenting neutrality, the world of heroin. Krist once answered the question the question, "how could he have avoided suicide?" And Krist answered, "don't do heroin." But there is much more to the story than this, because for Curt heroin was a medication for both physical and psychological pain. To me, the tragic part is there were healthier "medications." He just didn't know what they were. |
|
| Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
Hello darkness (understandable derpession in response to the current cultural situation, as Thoreau pointed out: "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation), my old friend (the truth, no matter how painful, is always "a friend"). I've come to talk with you again (as as sensitive "artist" it's my destiny). Because a vision softly creeping (Here it comes, the madness and truth of my sensitivity) Left its seeds while I was sleeping (it's been there all along). And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains (that is, it's a true perception) Within the sound of silence (I see and feel and know it but everyone denies it. AM I FUCKING CRAZY?) In restless dreams I walked alone (Existential "aloneness" is quite different from general unhappiness, or loneliness). Narrow streets of cobblestone 'Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence (isolation, meaninglessness, insignificance, disconnection...all these rip apart "the silence"). And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share And no one dared Disturb the sound of silence (no one dares to speak their truth, keep it real, admit to their vulnerability and fragilty and fear). Fools, said I, you do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you But my words, like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence (like Jesus, he offers the truth of salvation, that is surrender, revealing his own gradiosity). And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence (more allusions to worship of the fake gods of money, materialism, pride, power, status etc.). |
|
| The Guess Who – These Eyes Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| There's alot, much alot (like cranking the amp from 10 to 11 alot) to this song than meets these eyes. It's well known the writers went back and forth between naming the song, "these arms" and "these eyes." Why the abrupt change? These arms indicate a teenage premature ejaculation groping, while these eyes delve into the notion of the eyes being the "window of the soul," a transcendent envelopment of space and identity more associated with timeless idealistic love than brutal animal orgasm. From another window, these arms, cry every night for you, and these eyes, long to hold you again, creates yet another dimension, the endless tension between the physical and the symbolic, the creature longing and timelessness of imagination's perpetual eternity. The writer cries that he hurts, that he shall never be free from the hurting, and the source of the hurting is the death the infinite wish, the wish to capture the non-anxious state of childhood omniscience and Egolessness. The world here, of course, is not literal. It is the world of Eden's loss of innocence, world collapse, the war between the objective mind and the timelessness of feelings. Further, that the writer mentions a "vow" can only be interpreted as the groom still waiting at the alter, as Dylan writes, and the sinking understanding the committed other was not honest or authentic, even though it was spoken. The writer implores us to believe he has experienced the loves of Shakespearean templates and archetypes, and therefore he knows the difference between the true love forsaken and the ideal love he must now say goodbye to. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Going to California Lyrics | 7 years ago |
|
Plant said in Spin Magazine that Going to California, “might be a bit embarrassing at times lyrically, but it did sum up a period of my life when I was 22,” and a bit later, he said the song was, “Me reflecting on the first years of the group, when I was only about... 20, and was struggling to find myself in the midst of all the craziness of California and the band and the groupies...” It was also no secret Plant wanted to give every inch of his love to Joni Mitchell, and that live he often said the name Joni after these lines: “To find a queen without a king, They say she plays guitar and cries and sings,” Also, the song was highly influenced by the Mitchell song, “I Had a King,” about Mitchell going into refuge to grieve a lost, possibly toxic, relationship, but with the knowledge she’ll still keep searching for her soul mate.” Here’s the chorus to that song: “I can't go back there anymore You know my keys won't fit the door You know my thoughts don't fit the man They never can they never can” Finally, Going to California started out about Californian earthquakes and when Jimmy Page, audio engineer Andy Johns and band manager Peter Grant travelled to Los Angeles to mix Led Zeppelin IV, they coincidentally experienced a minor earthquake. Earthquakes became perhaps a metaphor for breaking up. Spent my days with a woman unkind (the toxic relationship) Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine (with her, and more of that after the breakup!) Made up my mind to make a new start Going to California with an aching in my heart (running away to the mythical CA to find his soul mate) Someone told me there's a girl out there With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair. Took my chances on a big jet plane Never let them tell you that they're all the same (Every big change or shift in life is unique) The sea was red and the sky was grey (the parting of the Red Sea was the final act in God’s delivering His people from slavery in Egypt? Did Plant feel enslaved by the toxic relationship? Or was he just stoned? Grey: an emotionless and moody color depicting grief and loss) Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake (Earthquake imagery) As the children of the sun began to awake (dang those CA hippies) Seems that the wrath of the Gods Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow; (again, the earthquake as metaphor for breaking up) I think I might be sinking Throw me a line if I reach it in time I'll meet you up there where the path Runs straight and high. To find a queen without a king; They say she plays guitar and cries and sings. Side a white mare in the footsteps of dawn (White Horse: symbol for relationship/identity death and the guide between the worlds of the living and of the dead) Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born (realizing the ideal archetype is impossible) Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams, (I won’t give up though) Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems (trying to convince himself finding the ideal is not impossible, as the voice of reality seeps in). It's still amazing to me the amount of raw talent Page and Plant delivered to the world, at age 20. |
|
| David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
First off, this was a period in Bowie’s life when he was doing lots and lots and lots of drugs. As such, there is an opium induced Poe quality to the song that transcends time and place, employ’s multidimensional realms, and showcases Bowie’s focus or fascination with the themes in is life at that time: super-races, immortality, identity and many more. There is more than sufficient evidence the song was inspired, if not almost directly copied by in parts, to at least 3 different poets/writers, all of whom directly or indirectly shared these themes. Finally, we can assume the song is more introspective rather than extrapolative, as Bowie himself said he wrote it because, “there was a part of myself that I was looking for,” due to an uncomfortableness from whom he took himself to be at that time. From this perspective, the song appears to be about a conversation with present, past and future Bowie doppelgangers: The Man Who Sold The World We passed upon the stair (aspects of self, “meeting on the star,” symbolizing the lessons learned in life, which, if properly used, brings us higher and higher in knowledge; however, if lessons are forgotten the danger of falling is continuously present). We spoke of was and when (the doppelgangers discussing the past). Although I wasn't there (there is no tangible, physical sense of “thereness” in conversations with parts of self). He said I was his friend (the past self is a friend…though we believe this aspect of self to be an enemy). Which came as some surprise (enlightening to realize this) I spoke into his eyes (non-verbal recognition) I thought you died alone (believing past self was laid to rest) A long long time ago (endless reincarnated lives before) Oh no, not me (anxiety about personal responsibility) I never lost control (cannot accept past self is current self) You're face to face With the man who sold the world (past self that betrayed true self is the same at looking at current self in the mirror). I laughed and shook his hand (really, all this analysis is kind of funny) And made my way back home (as Pink Floyd states, “the same old fears,” and many others have stated, after many years of spiritual contemplation: “For the last time I must begin again,” or along those lines). I searched for form and land For years and years I roamed (the stormy search for the self is ever impermanent, ever evolving and never concrete, as much as we long for it to be). I gazed a gazley stare At all the millions here We must have died alone A long long time ago (realizes the search for a concrete self is ultimately doomed to failure, as self is a mental construct and therefore constantly changing). What hits the universal chord for many of us is the feel of the song, despite the obscure and perhaps unintentional lyrics, that being the longing for integration of self—an endeavor that is ultimately doomed to failure, owing to the impermanence of self, and that “selling this world,” that is, giving up immortal self-illusion, is the ultimate test of authenticity, which is inevitably marred by an impossible part of the human condition: to be something in the face of nothing. |
|
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
There is clear evidence this song was written before fame and before Courtney (written in 1990, see the Wikipedia article), so it cannot be about these factors. This also means it is unlikely a veiled suicide note. I wonder how much it is related to his experience with Toby Vail. Some of the unfortunate key theme’s in Kurt’s to guide my interpretation: Shame-based sense of self Emotional neglect/abandonment as a late child and early teen (see “Even in his Youth” for more compelling evidence of this. In this song a father seems ashamed of his son for the potential brilliance he sees in him, because it reminds him of his own (likely generational) poor self-image and low self-esteem, which as a defense he disowns and projects onto his son, who then internalizes or “takes it on” as a true part of himself---it’s sad and ironic to think a person can have a self-concept or core belief that they are nothing, because being nothing is still something—a graspable and tangible identity. “Being nothing” must be preferable, I suppose, to the direct and primal fear of actual non-existence) His parent’s divorce Bullying in high school A sensitive genetic temperament (e.g. was a sponge for emotional dynamics of family and culture, as many artists and geniuses are). Likely diagnosis for Bi-Polar illness Heroin use and abuse Stomach pain ALL APOLOGIES: What else should I be (I tried my hardest but I am still nothing). All apologies (Sorry I couldn’t be someone; I let everyone down) What else could I say, everyone was gay (we are all more the same than different). What else could I write, I don't have the right (loss of passion is a potent source of misery for many artists; they come apart at the seams, because, as the psychoanalyst Otto Rank observed, the essential act of creating is the “glue” holding them together). In the sun I feel as one (symbolizing peacefulness, the non-anxious state of early childhood, happiness, comfort). Married, buried (a fear of emotional engulfment, loss of precarious sense of self in another). I wish I was like you, easily amused (wishes he could just check out like the rest of us—enjoy Pepsi, McDonald’s and football) Find my nest of salt (salt is white, as is heroin—the nest a metaphor for early childhood). Everything's my fault (Oh, The Guilt. With depression, guilt is amplified a thousand percent). I take all the blame (sarcastic reference to martyrdom, exemplifying the bitterness and resentment he felt) Aqua seafoam shame (foam and shame are both products of something much greater and bigger). Sunburn, freezer burn (no way out) Choking on the ashes of her enemy (“she” is choking on the ashes of her enemy, drinking her own kool-aid, trying to repair the original wrong). All in all is all we are (if we are the architects of ourselves; then who we take ourselves to be is created by the decisions we’ve made; we must accept and find a way to live with this). Also, if “All alone is all we are” is a true lyric variation, then this is an acceptance of an ultimate truth of the human condition: no one person or thing can save us in the ultimate way we crave and long for them to do. This unleashes compassion because we stop hating those we love for letting us down. Don't get upset with me. This is just my interpretation. |
|
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[rosepcobain:9719] If meds are the issue, please start taking yours. But if you have evidence for your perceptions, please reveal them now. | |
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics | 8 years ago |
|
I've found that it is helpful when analyzing or interpreting songs to get a firm hold of what the core issues were at the time for the artist. There is clear evidence this song was written before fame and before Courtney (1990, see the Wikipedia article), so it cannot be about these factors. Having accepted this, and knowing the main themes of Kurt’s life were shame, his parent’s divorce, bullying in high school, misdiagnosed bi-polar illness (he was originally diagnosed ADHD—a common misdiagnosis), sensitive genetic temperament (e.g. was an emotional sponge for the pain-dynamics of family and culture), and a penchant for sarcasm, irony and humor as a way to cope), we can move forward with a better understanding of All Apologies: What else should I be (I tried my hardest and—shame-based—still failed). All apologies (I’m sorry for letting everyone down) What else could I say, everyone is gay (in the end, we are all more the same than different. We all suffer and scapegoating the Gays will not save us from this ultimate truth of the human condition). What else could I write, I don't have the right (when the passion has abandoned the art form, the result is hopeless self-criticism) In the sun I feel as one (symbolizing peacefulness, the non-anxious state of childhood before divorce, happiness, comfort). Married, buried (the pressure and fear he feels due to commitment and intimacy—a direct result of his parent’s divorce). I wish I was like you, easily amused (wishes he could just check out like the rest of us—enjoy Pepsi, McDonald’s and football instead of be a chronic existential, tortured artist hell) Find my nest of salt (salt is white, as is heroin. The nest refers to the above childhood non-anxious state longed for). Everything's my fault (Oh, the guilt! With depression, guilt is inappropriately amplified a thousand percent). I take all the blame (sarcastic reference to martyrdom, exemplifying the bitterness and resentment he felt) Aqua seafoam shame (cool verse meaning nothing, though shame is a very common theme in his writing) Sunburn, freezer burn (no way out) Choking on the ashes of her enemy (“she” is choking on the ashes of her enemy, meaning revenge or an “eye for an eye” will never repair the wrong, will only make things worse). Married, buried (tried to, but could not recapture, repair or replace the original deprivation in childhood—e.g. that he was just “something in the way.” See Mark Epstein’s work on “Thoughts Without A Thinker” for a better understanding of “lost wishes” reinventing themselves in current relationships). All in all is all we are (in the final analysis, we are the architects of our own reality; who we are is the decisions we’ve made and we must accept and live with this). If “All alone is all we are” is a true lyric variation—though I believe this to be an extrapolation—then this is an acceptance of an ultimate truth of the human condition: no person can save us in the ultimate way we crave and long for them to do—that is save us from the aging process and make us feel the safety and protection we felt as kids (if we’re lucky enough to not be abused, traumatized etc.). So there it is! A psychological examination of the artist. I could be way off on a number of nuances, and I am humble enough to admit it. One thing I do know though—our biggest challenges in life all trace back to the fundamental core issues of childhood, the sins of omission and the sins of commission, meaning what we got too much of and what we got too little of from our primary caregivers, encompassed by any genetic or temperamental factors (such as bi-polar). Best to you in your journey…there is a reason you want to know more about Kurt and his art, why he was so intense, why he committed suicide, what his lyrics mean. Best of luck to you my friend. |
|
| The Velvet Underground – Sweet Jane Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| It is hard, enticing even, to not think of ANY Velvet song as referring to Heroin somehow. And that’s not due to assumption. That first album in particular is riddled with multiple layers in which Lou was either overtly or covertly referencing Heroin. But here's the catch: that’s not a criticism. That was just Lou’s reality at the time, and H was a big part of it. Was he using during the Loaded years? Who knows. But it amazing how so many tortured artists weave their heroin obsessions into their lyrics (see “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Under the Bridge” etc. etc.). Hank Williams loved alcohol, look at all of his songs. So we are right in at least questioning whether this is yet another song about heroin. However the basic “import” or global feeling of the song suggests hope, living for the moment, an overall “fuck you” to conventional living and that once you are able to discard cultural boxes, the freedom you’ll feel is…delicious (e.g. a Wall Street Pig to a Poet). In this sense, it is a song about living authentically, honestly, as you are, despite societal oppression, telling you everyday you should be someone else than who you really are. And that is why it is so appealing. It makes you feel that feeling free is the ultimate goal, that the purpose of life is to be happy, instead of greedy, rat-race, materialism and “the man with the most toys wins,” mentality. Fuck those 1 % ‘ing assholes. This is your life. You wanna life the rest of it in shame, self-hatred and misery, constantly comparing yourself to some unrealized “American Dream” manipulation? You see, that’s the “gist” of the song, and the lyrics take a second priority to the feeling of it. As for “Sweet Jane,” it’s impossible not to at least imagine she’s a metaphor for heroin. Heroin is the ultimate human escape, the perfect condition, so this could be part of the song. But it is also a song about getting older. The older you get, the more settling down becomes a reality, and Lou is saying that’s okay too. Whatever turns your crank man! Just remember, the purpose of life is to be happy, and this is the gift this song offers. | |
| Nirvana – You Know You're Right Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| It is well known that Kurt suffered from Bi-Polar Disorder, or Manic-Depression (same a Hendrix, Poe, Woolf and many, many other highly creative artists). This illness gives a person a supercharge of creativity, well-being and irritability followed by a "crash" of severe and debilitating depression marked by pervasive hopelessness. At least two of Kurt' s uncles committed suicide for the very same reason. If a person does not realize they are ill, they then mistake their illness for reality, and medicate as needed (in Kurt's case, heroin). Add that to a childhood marked by abandonment and you have the awful recipe for suicide. What makes Kurt so remarkable was his true brilliance for song writing and expression. That, along with luck and courage, got him to where he went. This song is very, very sad, as it epitomizes the emptiness, the numbness and the deadness of his emotional landscape right before he killed himself. If you listen closely, there is an "overproduced" lifelessness to the song, devoid of passion, from someone who knew consciously the end was near by his own hand. They lyrics, generally convey "I won't be a burden to you anymore," "I'm going away for good," and "this was inevitable." The Bi-Polar is exemplified by "I've never felt so well (either mania or the peacefulness one experiences when finally making the decision to end their life, their pain), followed by "PAIN!" Then there is the usual haphazard collage, "nothing was put into this" that is so endemic of Kurt's lyrics. He claims he made lyrics up as he went, or just picked and chose lines from here and there. But what we know of genius is that they perceive globally, on many multiple layers, revealing undulations and relationships not before perceived. They make James's statement about "an unseen order of things" to their logical conclusion. There will never be another Kurt Cobain. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Black Dog Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| It's a well known that in British culture the Black Dog is a potent symbol for men's fear of women's sexuality (their powerlessness before it, the despair when it is withdrawn). An undercurrent is that it more generally represents an unknown destructive force. Churchill referred to his Depressive Disorder as a "Black Dog," and the band would have known this. So, unless I'm mistaken the song has a few layers to it, some of which includes the band's unrepentant thievery from the Southern Black Blues culture (they are now being sued once again by the estate for Willie Dixon). And that's not to mention the blatant plagiarism for Stairway. Then again, maybe I'm giving the band too much credit. They were genius musicians, all of them--and yet they lacked the integrity and conscientiousness to pay their due, a true pact with the devil at the crossroads. | |
| Nirvana – Something in the Way Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
It's better to think globally rather than analyze Kurt's lyrics, which were often nonsensical in a literal sense. His lyrics import a feeling, the words serving as the vehicle for the mythological language of unconscious archetypes. "Some in the Way" communicates a feeling of ultimate despair and impervious sadness due to abandonment and rejection from the worst possible source: his own family. Discarded, he was literally trash, or something in the way. This also refers to something in the way of expressing sadness or finding happiness. Animals help with loneliness. Underneath the bridge The tarp has sprung a leak And the animals I've trapped Have all become my pets And I'm living off of grass And the drippings from the ceiling But it's okay to eat fish 'Cause they don't have any feelings |
|
| The Beatles – Come Together Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
Being a bit pervy, I can't help but to think the double meaning of the title could be "cum together" and "come together." After all, it is well known that "Hide Your Love Away" was about John's nascent bisexuality and affair with a man. And, because "cuming together" is all about love, it could be John's feeling that the Beatles should just have group sex to resolve their differences, especially when it comes to the evil Yoko. And that's not even mentioning the obvious sex/drug double meaning of "Happiness is a Warm Gun." Aside from this, many people appear to believe each stanza alludes to each Beatle (the insect, the car, or referencing drum beats?), and there is more than enough evidence to see that this is one layer of the song. I always related to the line "Got to be good looking cause he's so hard to see," as I am shy, withdrawn, uncomfortable with emotions, introverted and in my younger years got much needed attention due to my looks. Funny how your mood and your person history intersect with the though-stream of the artist in unique and powerful ways. I still can't believe John was a wife beating, emotional child abusing narcissist. How can that be? Here come old flat top He come groovin' up slowly He got joo joo eyeballs He one holy rollers He got hair down to his knee Got to be a joker He just do what he please He wear no shoeshine He got toe jam football He got monkey finger He shoot Coca Cola He say I know you, you know me One thing I can tell you is You got to be free Come together, right now Over me He bad production He got walrus gumboot He got Ono sideboard He one spinal cracker He got feet down below his knees Hold you in his armchair You can feel his disease Come together, right now Over me He roller coaster He got early warning He got muddy water He one Mojo filter He say one and one and one is three Got to be good looking Cause he's so hard to see Come together right now Over me |
|
| Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Pathetic Comment. | |
| Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Pathetic Comment. | |
| Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| When I was growing up the Dead Kennedy's was pretty much the only thing that kept me sane, in the sense that they reflected what I felt about the world, and having no internet or other ways to validate my existence or being, stopped me from suicide (so thank you, Dead Kennedy's, from my parents). The first album I bought was "Fresh Fruit" and as you know the first song was "Kill The Poor." This song felt so real, so present, so authentic and so passionate, I ate it up. It was the truth I had been seeking underneath the crazy veneer of late seventies pomposity and early eighties grandiosity. Something true, something passionate, something divorced from preconception and "over-production" (e.g. see "Nazi Punks"). Turns out Jello and the boys were the radical extension to the beat revolution, without the black turtlenecks. I can still hear the adolescent rattle cry, "Efficiency and Progress is our Once More..." | |
| Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| When I was growing up the Dead Kennedy's was pretty much the only thing that kept me sane, in the sense that they reflected what I felt about the world, and having no internet or other ways to validate my existence or being, stopped me from suicide (so thank you, Dead Kennedy's, from my parents). The first album I bought was "Fresh Fruit" and as you know the first song was "Kill The Poor." This song felt so real, so present, so authentic and so passionate, I ate it up. It was the truth I had been seeking underneath the crazy veneer of late seventies pomposity and early eighties grandiosity. Something true, something passionate, something divorced from preconception and "over-production" (e.g. see "Nazi Punks"). Turns out Jello and the boys were the radical extension to the beat revolution, without the black turtlenecks. I can still hear the adolescent rattle cry, "Efficiency and Progress is our Once More..." | |
| Dead Kennedys – Kill The Poor Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| When I was growing up the Dead Kennedy's was pretty much the only thing that kept me sane, in the sense that they reflected what I felt about the world, and having no internet or other ways to validate my existence or being, stopped me from suicide (so thank you, Dead Kennedy's, from my parents). The first album I bought was "Fresh Fruit" and as you know the first song was "Kill The Poor." This song felt so real, so present, so authentic and so passionate, I ate it up. It was the truth I had been seeking underneath the crazy veneer of late seventies pomposity and early eighties grandiosity. Something true, something passionate, something divorced from preconception and "over-production" (e.g. see "Nazi Punks"). Turns out Jello and the boys were the radical extension to the beat revolution, without the black turtlenecks. I can still hear the adolescent rattle cry, "Efficiency and Progress is our Once More..." | |
| Black Flag – Revenge Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
It's not my imagination, I've got a gun on my back! (the cops, like any other gang, infested the landscape of L.A. in t he 80's). Promises you made Never become fact (Your words mean nothing if they don't add up to action). We're gonna get revenge You won't know what hit you We're tired of being screwed Don't tell me about tomorrow (Don't remind me of consequences when my life is at stake today). Don't tell me what I'll get I can't think of progress when Just around the corner There's a bed of cold pavement (Don't lie to me, that's my dead friend over there). Waiting for me Revenge! I'll watch you bleed Revenge! That's all I'll need I won't cry if you... die! die! We're gonna get revenge You won't know what hit you We're tired of being screwed Revenge! Revenge! |
|
| Black Flag – White Minority Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Knowing Black Flag, their obvious intent is to shock by using innuendo, irony and sarcasm, which is the modus operendi of the 80's punk rock California scene. With this as a blueprint, we can assume the song is not racist, especially because of the minorities present in the band at the time. And yet, this was the 80's, before the time of political correctness, and so it makes me wonder if at least part of the angst was about the writer's own insecurity as a "white trash" or working class white man. The philosophical question is, what would happen if Whites become the minority? And as we well know, this has already occurred, in 2015, the year of this comment. Perhaps the author is asking, if I do become a White Minority, will I be treated the same way as minorities were in the past? Will I be subjected to marginalization, poverty, self-hatred and despair? Maybe I don't want to be. Maybe I want to believe we won't repeat history. Maybe I see a war coming and I want to be on the side of peace, but I just can't be if I'm going to be oppressed and denigrated as all minorities have been in the past. This song has a brilliant question for the human race in general: can the oppressor become the oppressed? And if so, what then? | |
| Nirvana – All Apologies Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
Sometimes I think of the lyrics and music of songs to be less about the parts, but more about the “sum of the parts” or the basic feeling the song is trying to get across (Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata might be a good example of this). Fritz Perls called the sum of the parts (more than the parts in an of themselves) the “Gestalt” of an experience/object. Kurt stated in an interview that is the song's mood was "Peaceful, happy, comforting." But the song also clearly conveys intense suicidal ideation. Some of the confusion may be that often the direct experience of pure hopelessness can come with it a certain kind of peacefulness (for Certainty is an antidote to anxiety). And it is well known that many suicide victims suddenly become happier the moment they truly decide they are really going to do it. I think the hopelessness/certainty, peacefulness is an important part of the bigger picture to this song. I have included both the original lyrics (recorded in Seattle on January 1, 1990) and the in utero version, kind of out of order. Also it is notable that Kurt first locked eyes with Courtney on January 11 of the same year, so it can’t be about her at all. What else could I be, all apologies (Depression and suicidal ideation. There’s nothing more to say or do if you kill yourself. It’s the ultimate way of letting everyone down forever without hope of redemption) What else could I write, I don't wanna fight (Depression makes it impossible to feel passionate about his writing) What else could I say, all my words are gray (Depression makes him feel meaninglessness, empty) What else should I say (Depression makes him feel hopeless and helpless) Everyone is gay (We are all on the gender spectrum; he is aware and struggles with this) What else could I write I don't have the right (Again, the loss of passion, letting everyone down, and the horrible Guilt of it all) In the sun I feel as one, (The sun represents a pain free existence, the source of all life, Mother Nature, to which one returns to in death) I'm married buried" (Anhedonia—the complete loss of joy and pleasure—gives the sufferer the impression that dual concepts, such as life/death, married/buried are one and the same thing). I wish I was like you Easily amused (able to experience pleasure and happiness without using) Find my nest of salt (Don’t really know, but a nest of salt sounds like suffering) Everything is my fault (Depression makes him feel enormous guilt, shame, worthlessness, self-loathing) I'll take all the blame (Depression makes him feel like an overwhelming burden). Aqua seafoam shame (The feeling of Shame washing away into the ocean) Sunburn with freezerburn (Any way you look at it it’s hopeless). Choking on the ashes of her enemy (Her, Mother Nature, The Sun, Kurt is the one who is choking, and the Enemy of mother nature is what? US. Our destructive existence). A lot of the more abstract lines are just guesswork on my part really. When a person writes in highly metaphorical or stream-of-consciousness way, the words then become symbolic and "written" in the language of the unconscious (mythological, as the energies of instincts, impulses, complexes etc.). But like dreams, sometimes there is hidden meaning and sometimes there really isn’t. You will have to decide! For awhile now I’ve been trying to process and integrate Kurt’s death, even though I did not know him personally. When you are a teenager or young adult (as I was when he died) and love a certain band (especially if that band is culturally symbolic in some way, as Nirvana/Grunge was for the vast number of us who did not fit in to “easy” categories in high school and life), having the main songwriter of the band die in the worst possible way was pretty shocking, and it cut me deep. What I’ve come to terms with is that Kurt was a very, very sick man. A genius sick with the disease of addiction and sick with the disease of mental illness. Also, as a sensitive, vulnerable artist type he constantly experienced the world as “too much with him,” and when a person is like that, their art is the only way to live and be and move through or "process" the world. When that was taken away by his symptoms he felt he had--was--nothing. Knowing this causes me not to over-identify with him, the source of all my personal suffering on the matter. Please be aware that Major Depression (or the Depression inherent in Manic Depression, Kurt’s most likely diagnosis) is very real neurological disease like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. But Unlike Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, it isn’t inherently progressive. A high, high percentage of people who have Depression often recover completely with the help of therapy, meds, finding a meaningful life and friends/family support system. Please call this number now if you are thinking of committing suicide: 1-800-273-TALK |
|
| David Bowie – China Girl Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
I think the best songs are both literal and metaphoric at the same time, which gives them a timeless quality. For example Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door means much more than the last thoughts of an outlaw dying in the old west (e.g. the spiritual journey of identity death), and Floyd’s Wish You Were Here means a lot more than just missing a friend with mental illness. Bowie achieves the same "moreness" with this song, which is why he is so totally awesome. It seems to be a fact that Bowie and Iggy Pop were hanging around Berlin in the early seventies when they co-wrote this song (what I would have given to be a fly on the wall) and so the Nazi imagery and the new name for opium/heroin (China White) was likely very much part of their immediate visual and cultural landscape. Also, I also find it very hard to believe they were not doing heroin, but who knows, maybe they were just clubbing around at the dark underbelly of the various BDSM joints in the area. I could escape this feeling, with my China Girl I feel a wreck without my, little China Girl I hear her heart beating, loud as thunder Saw the stars crashing I'm a mess without my, little China Girl Wake up mornings where's my, little China Girl -------the literal of course is Bowie's obsession with a Chinese woman, with stars crashing perhaps indicating withdrawal/craving. He's not yet addicted he could "escape this feeling" still. I feel a-tragic like I'm Marlon Brando When I look at my China Girl I could pretend that nothing really meant too much When I look at my China Girl -------Brando wasn't exactly a happy camper. He almost always played tortured characters, channeling his own inner demons of despair and disillusionment into them, until one could not tell the difference between the man and his art, so he is a fitting character for the song. After awhile, the heroin user can easily “pretend” nothing else matters but the drug, until at last, when addiction has them, they do not have to pretend anymore (e.g. "I miss the comfort in being sad"). I stumble into town just like a sacred cow Visions of swastikas in my head Plans for everyone -----The cows of certain religions are sacred, but in this context it’s an allusion for the arrogance and colonialism of White Western culture, and the absolute worst version of it ever in history, Nazi Germany. Only a person like Hitler could actually convince himself he could embody a more perfect god-like presence than the actual culture he plans to destroy. As such, “plans” can be seen as genocidal intent. Unfortunately, history is rife with such individuals (Stalin, Pol-Pot etc). It's in the whites of my eyes My little China Girl You shouldn't mess with me I'll ruin everything you are I'll give you television I'll give you eyes of blue I'll give you men who want to rule the world ----------When the Whites introduced sugar to certain indigenous tribes throughout history, all their teeth rotted and fell out. Nothing more needs to be said. And when I get excited My little China Girl says Oh baby just you shut your mouth She says ... sh-sh-shhhI could escape this feeling, with my China Girl Exited is anxiety, the perfect escape for which is heroin. We all want to escape the pain of the human condition (what the Buddhists call "suffering"), and many of us turn to drugs and alcohol to do so. Bowie seems clearly aware that Heroin is a very dangerous drug, and that if he keeps it up, it won't be long until he can't. I'm not sure about Pop (though I think he can be brilliant), but I think Bowie is a genius. |
|
| David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World Lyrics | 9 years ago |
|
As always, we have to put an artist’s work in the context of his probable state of mind as well as the culture and time period in which he lived (think Mania and the "Tell Tale Heart"). Man Who Sold the World was written likely in the late 60’s but did not come out until 1970. How many drugs was Bowie doing at the time? Maybe none, maybe a lot, I guess we won't ever really know. But regardless we can glean some meaning from this great song. I think sometimes artists have a stream of consciousness approach that is both consciously structured, and with unconscious symbolic imagery, a “working through” of the existential issues affecting them at the time (Dylan's work on Blonde on Blonde for example). For Bowie this was a time of identity crisis, and the main import of the song is Bowie confronting himself (e.g. use of “I” and “We” interchangeably), perhaps the "outcast self" vs. the "revered superstar." And these two “split parts” were a conflict in need of creative resolution. The main question of the song seems to be, “who am I really?” All these powerful forces, messages and conditions trying to make me feel one way and then another (especially being young). Let us examine the lyrics in full for a more vigilant analysis. We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone, a long long time ago ----------the stormy search for self is never as non-linear and permanent as we long and hope for it to be (as with romantic partners), and when Bowie meets his still lingering old identity, they speak of the past. This being the realm of the old self, the narrator isn’t actually “there.” But the two of course know each other intimately. Bowie is then surprised to learn that the “same old fears” and older splintered part is still there and not long dead as he thought. Oh no, not me I never lost control You're face to face With The Man Who Sold The World ---------------------It’s like he’s looking into a mirror, trying to self-soothe a dreadful anxiety, and the mirror replies back, “yes, it’s me, the man who sold out” (or some other regretful decision). I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here We must have died along, a long long time ago ------------The two doppelgangers agree to get along, but now the newly reborn Bowie finds he still needs to find “home” which he travels vigorously for (and as we know the more we yearn the farther the longing escapes us). And everyone, everyone alive, Bowie realizes must have died their own ego-identity deaths, at least in some fashion, for that is inherent in the human condition (I know, I know some people never seem to grow up, but they do change in weird ways). But really, who knows? This interpretation is probably more about me than about Bowie. I've never even met the man. Kurt Cobain always said he just randomly plucked cool sounding lines from difference sources and mashed them all together, collage style, and that the music mattered way more than the lyrics. Maybe that's why he covered this great song, because he saw it as representing his own style. |
|
| The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| The song is ambiguous in it's literal meaning, and yet, if we have faith in Mick Jagger, we can see the subtlety and nuance of this song. It is true that he feels he cannot get satisfaction. But what does he mean by satisfaction? Sexual gratification, erotic bliss, the day to day consistency of a happy relationship? There are many things to not feel satisfied about. But let us err on the side of caution and assume Mick simply can't get enough of the kind of sex he wants. But then we are plagued by a conundrum, because he then states he can't get satisfaction BECAUSE he tries. This could hint at the Buddhist principle of attachment, which reveals the more we are obsessed with a person/object/behavior, the more it eludes us. "Love is a rose but you better not pick it," as the song goes. So let us presume he is saying the more you want something, chase after it, desire it, the more it eludes you. So the reason for Mick not getting satisfaction is simply that he is trying too hard to achieve it, pun intended. And yet, there is an elaboration of the base sexual element into more complicated areas of dissatisfaction. That man on the radio feels meaningless boring. Mick can't relate to him, or to pop cultural norms in general, because he can see the inherent phoniness and mediocrity of it all, none of which inspires passion in him. And then the same man is on TV instead of the radio (an allusion into how new technology cannot change the rottenness of consumerist culture; it just repackages it in a new guise), only this time the same man is telling Mick that brainwashing social conformity is the status quo, which of course rebellious and counter culture Mick and the boys abhor. And then we must contend the juxtaposition of "the man" not only as a one-dimension spokesperson for cultural norms, but also as a denigrated symbol of masculinity, for Mick clearly tells him that he isn't a man, he cannot be a man, because the cigarettes Mick smokes are clearly unconventional and nonconformist, therefore real and true his fight for self-actualization in an uncaring world. Finally, we come to the end of this complicated odyssey, with lamenting about the weariness of being a rock superstar; the endless traveling and touring, the exhausting relationship with the manic, rabid fans, and that all that really matters to him in the end after everything is simply getting laid. | |
| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Cohen is so awesome. When sudden tragic loss happens, awhile later, the grief can feel "buried" and the person obscure. It seems so long ago; it just feels that way, but in reality it wasn't. Clearly Nancy had some kind of major psychiatric disorder, bi-polar, schizophrenia or Borderline personality disorder or severe depression, something that caused her to be hospitalized in a time with little compassion and horrific care for persons experiencing mental illness. Numbly staring at the late show, through eyes deemed semi precious, contemplating suicide. Her father did not support her, or many even abused her (makes sense because he too killed himself). The mental space Nancy was in, was spiritual yet disconnected and she was utterly alone, with no one who could meet here there. Promiscuity and pleasure seeking are a sign of mania, so I'm going with bi-polar. Cohen and his group were all depressed, which made them feel "not strong" and unable to help her (maybe doing drugs like heroin too--see "The Butcher" from the same album). Nancy captured the mood and collective feeling of the time and circumstances they were in, lost, disconnected, abandoned maybe. They try their best to help her, tell her she is beautiful, but her illness is too much. Finally after her baby is taken from her, in a deeply depressive episode, no one to talk to or help her (meet her in the House of Mystery), she takes her own life. But there is still a gift she brought to Cohen, validation for the deep despair and numbness that depression brings. In his own depression he sees her everywhere, in everything. And she's happy that you've come. I And now you look around you, see her everywhere, many use her body, many comb her hair. In the hollow of the night when you are cold and numb you hear her talking freely then, she's happy that you've come, she's happy that you've come. |
|
| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Thanks, that totally clears it up. | |
| Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Roger Waters, ever the existentialist, said that this is the only Pink Floyd song where the lyrics came first. It is about alienation, isolation, loss, and of course, Syd Barrett. I was going through an identity crisis when I was first introduced to this song, so the meaning I took from it was wishing my old, familiar self, was still around and in command of things, rather than this scary older self. But the blending of senses, paradox and metaphor all point to moving beyond depression and embracing self-transcendence. So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, Blue sky's from pain. Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? ( And did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange A walk on part in the war For a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year, Running over the same old ground. And how we found The same old fears. Wish you were here. |
|
| Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, Blue sky's from pain. Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell? And did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange A walk on part in the war For a lead role in a cage? How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl, Year after year, Running over the same old ground. And how we found The same old fears. Wish you were here. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Knockin' on Heaven's Door Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
This song just begs to be taken non-literally, and I have a hard time believing Dylan meant it as anything but. However, he did write it for the movie "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kidd", so maybe, just maybe...nope!. Dylan was masterful as a lyricist who could parallel basic mythological experiences of being a person (e.g. trapped in a helpless situation, such as an innocent person in prison--see "I Shall be Released.") and enshroud these experiences in a basic literal struggle. Mama, take this badge off of me I can't use it anymore. It's gettin' dark, too dark for me to see I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door, (There is nothing more profoundly psychological/physiological than the life bond a mother has for her child and vice-versa. In times of war, it is common to hear men shout out the names of their mothers before they charge into battle, before they die. When things are their worst we tend to want to go back home. For the lawman, things are at their worst. His old ways (or identity structure) of moving through the world have long ceased to work for him. His persona and emotional shields, his "badge" is timeworn, archaic and useless. It is how one would feel after losing everything--the darkening accompanying complete world collapse--everything that once provided meaning, reference points and a will to live. And now "it's too dark to see"--the helplessness and despair is blinding his ability to see or feel hope. The lyrics are not "I am" but "I feel" I'm knockin on heaven's door. He feels he is dying. The two parallels of the song are on one hand literal, physical death, and on the other hand the psychological death of one's identity. Metaphorically, Heaven is a return to the pre-anxious ego-eden state, expansive, luminous, non-conceptual, peaceful). Mama, put my guns in the ground I can't shoot them anymore. That long black cloud is comin' down I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door. (Guns are symbols of power, and the loss of them, powerlessness. An identity is a structure that is conditioned, relative to time, culture, family, religion, friends and so on. Threats to identity power include aging, loss, illness etc. Burying one's guns in this sense means the murderous killing of parts of self that are no longer functional. Examples might include beliefs such as "the world is a dangerous place," "everyone is out to get me," or "I suck at everything." And yet, the "I" that speaks to the discarded aspects of self is separate from them, indicating a deeper knowledge, wisdom and peace is at work. A person is much more than their small ego allows them to believe. The sun is life, black clouds are the absence of life. Here comes "the dark night of the soul" in other words). Mama wipe the blood from my face I'm sick and tired of the war Got a lone black feelin', and it's hard to trace Feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door (this stanza included in live versions gives us more clues. Identity death is a murderous process, involving blood and guts, primal fear and panic. It is the closest one can feel to actual physical death. The war, the fight, or the will to live is challenged during this time in a person's life. Again, Dylan describes blackness (clouds, trains etc) as a feeling, this time as an untraceable feeling. It is untraceable because it is a mythological experience that can only be expressed symbolically, in the metaphorical language of dreams, the unconscious and the art form known as song. Of course, like those two crazy hippies that accosted John Lennon about the deep meaning of his songs, Dylan's reply might be the same: "They're just songs, man!" |
|
| Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Lead Belly cover) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
As others have noted, this is a song with a very long history, apparently originating from Appalachia. I can see how it seeped deeply in archetypal human experience from this vantage point, from the gut, from the soul, from infidelity and murder, as primal and pre-verbal as the monther/child bond. My girl, my girl, don't lie to me Tell me where did you sleep last night (Cuts right to the chase. You're mine, my chance for genetic immortality, and you're not sleeping with me, the ultimate life/death betrayal. Tell the truth now or it's only gonna get worse) In the pines, in the pines Where the sun don't ever shine I would shiver the whole night through (The pines, or deep in the woods, could be metaphorical for many things, such as the shame of giving into forbidden sexuality, death or loneliness. It is the shadow archetype, that place we reject about ourselves, but in the act of disavowal, only empower it. The sun, that ever constant symbol of rebirth, truth, hope and life has no place here. And it gets colder and colder as you shiver and writhe, symbolic of jealously driven madness, despair and hopelessness). My girl, my girl, where will you go I'm going where the cold wind blows (You can't escape me. I'm done. I've had it. I can't go on without you. I'm coming to murder you, where the cold wind blows). Her husband, was a hard working man Just about a mile from here His head was found in a driving wheel But his body never was found (apparently "husband" has changed many times over the years from just about every imaginable personhood, so it can be sung from many different perspectives, like House of the Rising Sun. He was a "hard working," responsible, law abiding, good man. About a mile from here, deep in the pines, they found his decapitated head [driving wheel in previous incarnations indicates being severed by a train on the tracks]. His head [the soul] is "him" and "his body" [his instinct] is not him. The fact that the head was left and the body disappeared is very symbolic. One cannot be properly buried this way, so their fate is purgatory). |
|
| Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
This is one of the few songs that was a collaboration between Waters and Gilmore for The Wall album. It is one my all time favorite Floyd songs, along with Brain Damage, Mother, and of course, Wish You Were Here. It's all about Pink, the celluloid cathexis (the process of investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea) version of Syd Barrett, whose descend into schizophrenia and complete inability to cope or function in life affected both musicians greatly. It is difficult to know how much of Pink is about Barrett, and how much is creative license, or a "working through" of emotional turmoil through one's art, and how much is actually about him actually. One thing is sure though, Barrett was a "sensitive artist," the world was too much with him, he was too vulnerable, his defenses collapsed, and what would be considered mild stress to a healthy person for him became incalculable world collapse. The hallucinogens did not help. For a person like Barrett, whose creativity and art was his vital identity project, became corrupted beyond repair (such as what happens when the stress of fame is too overwhelming) and stopped functioning as a buffer for a super fragile ego and the tenuous psychological boundaries that were keeping him sane at the time. It is this state ("that awful descend into the wound," "the dark night of the soul," "the descent into the abyss") that Rogers so perfectly expresses. It is like he is speaking from the tomb of the psyche. A psychiatrist treats Pink's catatonic depression/schizophrenia: Hello? Hello? Hello? Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home? Come on now I hear you're feeling down. Well I can ease your pain Get you on your feet again. Relax. I'll need some information first. Just the basic facts. Can you show me where it hurts? There is no pain you are receding A distant ship smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying. When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloons. Now I've got that feeling once again I can't explain you would not understand This is not how I am. I have become comfortably numb. O.K. Just a little pinprick. There'll be no more, ah! But you may feel a little sick. Can you stand up? I do believe it's working, good. That'll keep you going through the show Come on it's time to go. There is no pain you are receding A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying. When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown, The dream is gone. I have become comfortably numb. |
|
| Bob Dylan – Ballad of Hollis Brown Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Hollis Brown He lived on the outside of town Hollis Brown He lived on the outside of town With his wife and five children And his cabin fallin' down You looked for work and money And you walked a rugged mile You looked for work and money And you walked a rugged mile Your children are so hungry That they don't know how to smile Your baby's eyes look crazy They're a-tuggin' at your sleeve Your baby's eyes look crazy They're a-tuggin' at your sleeve You walk the floor and wonder why With every breath you breathe The rats have got your flour Bad blood it got your mare The rats have got your flour Bad blood it got your mare If there's anyone that knows Is there anyone that cares? You prayed to the Lord above Oh please send me a friend You prayed to the Lord above Oh please send me a friend Your empty pocket tell yuh That you ain't-a got no friend Your babies are crying louder It's pounding on your brain Your babies are crying louder It's pounding on your brain Your wife's screams are stabbin' you Like the dirty drivin' rain Your grass is turning black There's no water in your well Your grass is turning black There's no water in your well You spent your last lone dollar On seven shotgun shells Way out in the wilderness A cold coyote calls Way out in the wilderness A cold coyote calls Your eyes fix on the shotgun That's hangin' on the wall Your brain is a-bleedin' And your legs can't seem to stand Your brain is a-bleedin' And your legs can't seem to stand Your eyes fix on the shotgun That you're holdin' in your hand There's seven breezes a-blowin' All around the cabin door There's seven breezes a-blowin' All around the cabin door Seven shots ring out Like the ocean's pounding roar There's seven people dead On a South Dakota farm There's seven people dead On a South Dakota farm Somewhere in the distance There's seven new people born I am beginning to be convinced that the most perfect songs ever written were written by Dylan on "The Times." It doesn't get better than this, and also "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol," "Pawn in Their Game," etc. The way this song uses a narrator to create deepening layers of despair and empathy for the father is pure brilliance. The narrator doesn't judge or blame, just reports the circumstances and the facts of the case, leaving it up to the listener to make of it what he/she will. Violent Femmes also have a song about this theme, Country Death Song, and I can't help but to believe Gordan Gano listened to much Dylan in his youth. Does this still happen today in the U.S.? Yes. In fact, families are STILL going hungry in the U.S. as we speak. Unbelievable but true. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.