submissions
| The Doors – The End Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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This song has long been associated with the Vietnam War, because of its appearance in the film APOCALYPSE NOW. But does anyone know if Jim had the war (among other things) in mind when he wrote it? Because there are a few lines that could point that way. I've heard that it was inspired by his breakup with a girlfriend, but the lyrics are far more expansive than that, and while I realize that they extend far beyond the Vietnam War, I just wondered if the war was a tiny part of the whole. |
submissions
| The Doors – Tell All The People Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@seargent pepper Yeah, it's just you. That album is wretched. But I kinda like this song, which makes no sense because it's really stupid. Maybe I like it because Jim sings it in a jokey way, especially the "it's just meeeeee" line. He got liquored up real good beforehand, you can bet. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Temptation Inside Your Heart Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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The references to Motown reflect their attempt at doing something in that style. I like to imagine that they tried doing it seriously, then just fell about with laughter about how silly it sounded. Seems to me that VU was an incredibly unique band that couldn't figure out why they weren't played on the radio, so they finally made an album called LOADED, (as in "loaded with hits,") but still couldn't pull it off, because... (drum roll) they just couldn't escape their own wonderful weirdness. Late 60's radio wasn't ready for them. |
submissions
| The Clientele – Since K Got Over Me Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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I don't have anything to add re: interpretations of the lyrics, but I think this may be one the greatest pop songs of all time, and should have been a massive hit. I can't stop listening to it. |
submissions
| The Clientele – Since K Got Over Me Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[fishmasta:22999] This from popmatters.com: "And while on the topic of mind-altering drugs: When I spoke to singer Alasdair Maclean as the Clientele traveled in a van from Cleveland to New York in a heavy snowstorm, one of the things that I asked him was if the songs “Since K Got Over Me” and “K” from the band’s new album, Strange Gemoetry, were influenced by the very-mind-altering drug ketamine, whose street name is “K.”
Maclean laughed in response. Then, our cell phones disconnected."
http://www.popmatters.com/feature/clientele-060127/ |
submissions
| Richard Thompson – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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I always thought that this was Thompson's attempt to write his version of Dylan's "Lily, Rosemary, & the Jack of Hearts." He even snarls like Bob in a few places. But the song doesn't suffer for that... in fact, it's a better song than "Lily" and half as long. I'm surprised that Bob only covered it once it concert, as it's so obviously a tribute to him. Thompson adds a few British touches that lends a twist to the traditional outlaw tale. Great stuff. |
submissions
| Richard & Linda Thompson – The Little Begger Girl Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[ElenSila:6180] I love the song as well, but would point out the "peg leg a-wiggling at the knee" is just as ghastly as it is whimsical... that's Richard Thompson for you! He revels in the underbelly of life--similar to "Down Where the Drunkards Roll" in that way. And Linda sings this song with such indelicate relish... you can really smell the gutter and grime off this "Girl." |
submissions
| Sandy Denny – The Sea Captain Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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Sandy Denny is so underrated as a songwriter. Even those few music lovers who know her name tend to remark only on her voice, while totally ignoring her way with a melody and lyric. "The Sea Captain" is not one of her more well-known compositions, but I think it exemplifies her vision as an artist... escaping reality to the point where even the vessel becomes an encumbrance, embracing the limitless expanse of imagination without terror. It involves a risk that she admits herself too fearful to take... as the ending of the song reveals, she is not the captain himself but a motionless bystander, observing his flight across the sea with astonishment and envy. I prefer the demo version of this song to full-band version... the simpler the better, as her voice and the lyrics do all the requisite work. Brilliant. |
submissions
| Eels – 3 Speed Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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This is my favorite Eels song from my favorite Eels album. Like the best lyrics, it reveals as much by what is left out as what's included. You don't need to know the true story of E.'s sister to grasp the theme, or the fragile beauty lurking within. The song is suburbia, plastic surfaces, childhood awkwardness and the seeds of madness. The real turning point for me is when he arrives at the lines, "you think I got it all going my way/ then why am I such a fucking mess?" That shatters the illusion of charmed youth, if only for a moment. Paranoia peeks out with the perceived bomb in the sky, while the scary clown connotes a hint of danger in the dreamlike parade of girlhood fantasy. For me, this song serves as kind of a thematic bookend with "Climbing Up to the Moon," the two songs representing the beginning and end of his sister's life, and neither one as forcefully blunt as "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor" or "Driving to the Funeral." The true power of "3 Speed" is not just in its brilliant simplicity, but the tender empathy with which E relates the tale. It's too late to help her... but wasn't it always too late? Was her story already written during those seemingly idyllic suburban days? Somehow you can hear both regret and acceptance simultaneously, a very hard thing to pull off... but E achieves it in this song. |
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