| Jason Isbell – Live Oak Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I agree with most of that, but I don't think he kills her. You don't kill someone and then make a coffin and mark their grave with a cross. We don't know how much time passes between him telling her the truth and her death; for all we know, they live together for 50 years. I think she just dies, of sickness or old age, and he buries her, as people used to do back in the day. I think it's about finding someone who truly understands even the darker sides of you, and then outliving them and finding yourself alone again. | |
| Bob Dylan – Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I swear to god, talking to you people is liking hitting my head against a brick wall. Bunch of friggin' high school kids, looking for some kind of deep meaning in every damn song. This is Bob Dylan, people, not freshman English. |
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| Michael Jackson – P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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What the hell is up with the chipmunks at the end?? And what are they saying?? I know it was the 80s and all, but... Michael, if you get a little bit of Internet time during a typical day in prison, please let me know what the hell that's all about. |
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| Pink Floyd – High Hopes Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| OF COURSE it uses bits of earlier Pink Floyd - because it's ABOUT Pink Floyd. What the hell is with all you Roger Waters freaks? God forbid the band carry on without him, right? Have you HEARD the shit he's shoveling out on his solo records? No one man is Pink Floyd. The songs don't cease to have meaning just because poor, tortured soul Waters decided he'd rather sing kumbayah to land mine victims in Serbia. | |
| Van Morrison – It Stoned Me Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| He uses "jelly roll" for both, interchangeably. On "He Ain't Give You None", it's obviously talking about sex. But in "On Hyndford Street" he talks about the blues singer. So it depends on the context. Of course, it could certainly be that Morton got the nickname for the obvious reason, so I guess it comes back to sex, no matter which way you look at it. | |
| Jackson Browne – Before The Deluge Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I think this song shows amazing insight on JB's part; it's a great dramatization of the disco era putting an end to the 60s revolution, but it was written in 1973, before disco had really begun to take hold. If it is in fact about the fall of hippie culture, it's impressive that he could see it coming so soon. | |
| Bob Dylan – Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I don't see why it has to be something deep. Bob Dylan isn't some knid of prophet or great philosopher; he sings great ballads. It's an intersting story about a clever robbery, set to music. (Another great example is "Tweeter and the Monkeyman" by the Travelling Wilburys.) Dylan loves talking about crime and counterculture, especially when he can weave it into a complete story. First and foremost he's a blues man, and blues men don't use complicated symbolism very often. They sing about heartbreak and crime, both of which this song covers nicely. | |
| Jackson Browne – Looking Into You Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| This is, as the lyrics suggest, about the house Jackson Browne grew up in. According to him (at the 2002 Appel Farms music festival in southern NJ) it was a house that had been built by his grandfather, and his family moved there when he was a teenager. It was a huge and bizarre stone house - including a dungeon in the basement - and it held a lot of nostalgia for him. Like a lot of Jackson Browne songs, there's not a ton of hidden meanings in here. Most of the sentiments are obvious. But that's a little background on the house itself. | |
| Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I find it pretty amusing that all you "songwriters" can't spell "metaphor" (liverdude), or even the contraction "you're" (spando). Whatever the song might be about, it's certainly not about berating other people and talking a lot of shit. |
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| Meat Loaf – I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I think a few people are on the right track here... I think he's in a doomed relationship, and he knows that eventually he's going to end up going somewhere else, but he's always going to treasure the time he had with her. Any married guy who still has a photo or two of his exes knows what I mean - obviously it wasn't true love, because now she's gone, but you still respect the memories. Sometimes we have to walk away from what feels good at the moment, in search of something bigger, because we would do anything for love. So I think he's just being realistic about things - it makes a lot more sense if the girl he's talking to isn't the "love" he's talking about (even though he's begging her to be that person, and wishing she was), but she IS the one he's always remember even when he moves on. |
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| The Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Women Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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The title is "Honky Tonk WomEn." Plural. Thank you, Spliphstar, for making it a little harder to find. But, yes, it does rock. |
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| Elton John – Don't Go Breaking My Heart Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Songs like this piece of shit were the last nail in the coffin of succesful 70s rock; Elton himself has apologized for it. | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Wow, Zin, how did THAT happen?? | |
| Pink Floyd – High Hopes Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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It's about trying hard to keep moving without being dragged down by the rest of the world. It applies to the band (note that the "Division Bell" sound effect can first be heard on "Fat Old Sun" from Atom Heart Mother) and the falling out between Roger Waters and David Gilmour is the burned bridge. One of the greatest guitar pieces Gilmour ever wrote, and the Pulse version has the brilliant addition of backup singers that somehow makes it even better. |
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| Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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By the way, case in point - the only Floyd songs on this site with more comments than this one are Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here. So, from looking at that, one might think that THIS was the third most popular Pink Floyd song ever. Wow. "Part 2" beats out "Echoes", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", "Pigs", "High Hopes", "Mother", "Two Suns in the Sunset", etc... that's really sad. (And yes, I know I'm contributing to the problem by posting here twice...) |
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| Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This song sucks, because I'm sick of it. A sure way to tell someone isn't really a Pink Floyd fan is to ask what their favorite Floyd song is - if they say this one or "Money", it's because they heard it playing on a jukebox in some bar. It's impossible for me to imagine someone familiar with the rest of Pink Floyd choosing this as their favorite. It's just that drunk people love to spout on about how they don't need no education. It's like walking intoa karaoke bar and singing "friends in low places" - you're GUARANTEED to have everyone else singing along, because it's so simple and stupid. Compared to the other two parts - his father leaving and dying in the war, and his wife abandoning him - crying about a mean teacher in grammar school seems pretty damned stupid. I'm not saying it shouldn't be there; it fits perfectly within the scope of the movie, and it's necessary to some of the other plot lines. But can't everyone just move on? It's not deep, it's not some kind of commentary on utopian society... it's about kids deciding they'd be better off losing their education but keeping their self-esteem. And if anyone actually believed that was a good idea, they wouldn't be able to figure out how to get to this site to read this in the first place. Can't we just put this to bed and move on to a GOOD song? |
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| David Bowie – Space Oddity Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I really hope MajorTom6669 is kidding. Wow. Anyway, I've always heard it was about a drug overdose, and it makes perfect sense to me. He takes his pills, he's ready for liftoff, he goes into orbit, but something goes wrong and he can't find his way back to Earth. I don't know about any actual evidence to that effect, but I've always thought it was a great way to look at it. It's also a really unique song (despite the fact that it's about drugs) because most drug-related songs of the time were about good trips and opening your mind, while "Oddity" highlights the darker, deadlier side of drugs while still managing to make it seem romantic and even heroic to lift off and never come back. I'm not going to try to say I know Bowie personally and he told me, or anything stupid like that. It just always seemed to fit. I guess I'll cast my vote with the heroin people above. Either way, it's a great, classic song. |
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| The Traveling Wilburys – Tweeter And The Monkey Man Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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The best of all the Wilburys' songs. Just a good old fashioned ballad about crime and punishment. One thing has always confused me, though - is Tweeter a transsexual or something? They say he was a boy scout, and went to Vietnam, but they also say "she"; and I don't understand the line "I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl (?) I knew HIM long before HE ever became a Jersey GIRL." Did he have a sex change, like in Dog Day Afternoon? I don't know. Anyway, great song. |
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| James Taylor – Fire And Rain Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Very interesting. I can't stand James Taylor, but I do love this song. I had always assumed that "the plans they made" were funeral arrangements; that, up until that point, he could still kid himself about seeing her again. The final arrangements put an end to her time in his life. I definitely DON'T believe that a bunch of his friends flew her somewhere and she crashed. The link at the top of the page seems to explain it pretty well. |
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| Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Wow, man, that site is just a BIT of a stretch. I'm glad the guy who wrote it doesn't seem to be standing by it, because he's WAY off base. "Colitas" is Mexican slang for "little buds" of marijuana. Whether or not the entire song is about drugs can certainly be debated, and I agree that people are much too quick to attribute that meaning to every song they don't understand (like most Pink Floyd, for instance), but it's certainly one hell of a reach to make "Hotel California" be about marriage. It's a lot easier to believe it's just some kind of 70s ghost story with a catchy tune. I'm more willing to believe it's an acid trip than a secret diatribe about marriage. In either case, "colitas" is definitely, without question, marijuana. (Which doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the song is about drugs; smoking marijuana in the 70s was like smoking cigarettes today.) |
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| The Who – Pinball Wizard Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Great instrumentals, idiotic premise. I know, I know, it's very deep and all that rot. But deaf, dumb, and bilind people CAN'T PLAY PINBALL. "Sense of smell." Right. The Who is a great band. But this whole story is so ridiculous, I can't even suspend my disbelief long enough to sit through it. As PJ10 said above, they sold out for better reviews. They don't get mine. |
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| Jackson Browne – The Pretender Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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This is a song about giving up and joining the crowd. Renting a crappy house, slaving away at a dead-end job, and spending life in pursuit of money. Even love is to blame, because we compromise our dreams to stay with our mate and try to lead a "normal" life. That part is ironic, because at first, as he points out, it seems like the love we find is that missing piece in the puzzle of our lives, and we think it will solve everything. But it ends up dragging us down with all the rest. A rare song for Jackson Browne, because instead of pining for love, he's lumping it in with the rest of the things that cause our dreams to fizzle out. |
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| Jackson Browne – Late for the Sky Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I can't believe no one has written anything about this song. For that matter, I can't believe Jackson Browne's entire song list doesn't have more than 9 or 10 comments. I also can't believe it doesn't include some of his best songs ("Looking Into You", for instance). *sigh* - it can be pretty lonely as a Jackson Browne fan... Anyway, this is a great song about desperation in love (like so many of his other songs), and trying to stay in a relationship even after it's really too late to save it. Sometimes the rest of our lives can drive a wedge between us and the ones we love, and before we know it, it's like living with a stranger. If it's never happened to you, consider yourself very lucky. Jackson's voice really gets a chance to shine here, combined with David Lindley's slide guitar. The lyrics are fairly self-explanatory. This song was also in the movie "Taxi Driver", when Deniro is sitting alone in his apartment, going slowly insane. In that movie, the song applies more to his relationship with the world in general, but in a similar way. A great song in a great scene in a great movie. |
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| Pink Floyd – Young Lust Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I'll never understand why they put this song immediately following "Empty Spaces" on the album, when the song that follows in the movie is so much better. This song is one of my least favorite on The Wall, and it doesn't make sense to have it follow "Empty Spaces" - the dirty women (the groupies, in the movie) ARE empty spaces. Meaningless lust is what finally drives Pink to destroy his hotel room; when it comes right down to it, he wants nothing to do with the girl he brought home. It should have been left where it was - at the concert, where energy is high and no one is thinking about much at all - instead of being moved to the hotel room, where he's thinking about his wasted life. Think about it: Imagine you're depressed, sitting at home and thinking, "My life is so empty. Where is the love? I miss my father, and my wife, and my childhood." Would your next thought be, "I need a dirty woman"? I think not. If you've never seen the movie, I can see how the song would seem to fit. But the song that it replaced was far better. |
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| Pink Floyd – Fat Old Sun Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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At the beginning of the song, you can hear bells ringing - the same bells used for "High Hopes" on "The Division Bell". This is a great, mellow song with a very catchy (if somewhat derivative) guitar solo. My favorite song from Atom Heart Mother. |
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| Pink Floyd – When the Tigers Broke Free Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| I'll never understand why this didn't make it onto the CD (same with the song that actually follows "The Empty Spaces"). The only album I've found it on, as BassGirl 69 said above, "Orchestral Maneuvers", the London Philharmonic's performance of classic Pink Floyd songs. A lot of that album is just so-so, but "Tigers" is almost exactly the same as it is in the movie. | |
| Blink-182 – Adam's Song Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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An interesting note - I'll bet most of you have never even heard of Jackson Browne, but back in the 70s he wrote a song called "Song for Adam" and that was about suicide, too. (Although THAT Adam actually did go through with it.) What is it with the name Adam? It's not punk, but it's worth a listen. : ) BTW, they should have two separate Blink categories: "Blink" for their older (and better) stuff, and "Blink 182" for after they went mainstream and changed their name. |
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| Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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That the meaning is so malleable is what makes this song so great. It's a universal truth, of loneliness, sacrifice, and longing for peace. It kept me going through my time in the Marine Corps. PS - okay, I know I'm anal, but the line in the lyrics should say "I've witnessed your suffering". |
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| Weird Al Yankovic – Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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"Beverly Hillbillies Parody??" Okay... but it's actually a parody of Dire Strait's Money For Nothing, and Weird Al's video was an amazingly good spoof of the original. CGI was pretty tough stuff at the time, and they did a great job of remaking the all-computerized characters. |
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| The Allman Brothers Band – Melissa Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| speterso has it right - Melissa is that first love that never really goes away. No matter how many women he sleeps with, no matter how far he travels, he can never really escape her - maybe not even after he's dead. | |
| Counting Crows – Mr. Jones Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Girl in Green, I don't know what interview you read, but Adam gave an interview to Rolling Stone in the mid-nineties and specifically said that it's NOT about his penis. He thought it was pretty funny, but I guess not THAT funny - if you listen to the later version, from Across a Wire, some of the connections aren't even there anymore. If you're looking for songs that ARE about that, check out Jackson Browne's "Red Neck Friend" and "Rosie" (a song he wrote for his "rosy palm"). |
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| Elton John – Rocket Man Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I never realized there even COULD be a debate about what this song means. It's NOT about astronauts - and no, the Apollo program had nothing to do with it other than giving us more vivid images. It IS about drugs, and the fact that Bernie wrote it doesn't make that any less so. He and Elton did everything together (including each other). "High as a kite" means exactly that. Being an addict is lonely, it's often a hidden shame, and it's no way to raise your kids. ("And there's noone there to raise them if you're dead", for that matter.) It's about the cold distance between an addict and the other parts of his life - his job, his wife, his kids, and Earth itself. The Apollo astronauts were NOT gone "a long, long time", they were not alone, and they had nothing to do with Mars. "Rocket Man" isn't about astronauts any more than David Bowie's 1969 "Space Oddity". |
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