@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Just a spoon full of sugar
Makes the medicine go down
Sweet Mary-Jane won't you lay me down
Lost my heart in California, lost my mind
Shot me down with a revolver, got me high
Then a heart of gold came on the stereo
Mr Young made me cry
Then all the colors of the rainbow
Fell in my eyes
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
Took a train to the river
Where I drove right in
That skinny dippin' girl
Made the blue bird sing
Fell in love in California, she blew my mind
She shot me down with her revolver
She got me high
Then the weather man came on the radio
Said there be sunshine
Then all the colors of the rainbow
Fell in my mind
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
Makes the medicine go down
Sweet Mary-Jane won't you lay me down
Lost my heart in California, lost my mind
Shot me down with a revolver, got me high
Then a heart of gold came on the stereo
Mr Young made me cry
Then all the colors of the rainbow
Fell in my eyes
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
Took a train to the river
Where I drove right in
That skinny dippin' girl
Made the blue bird sing
Fell in love in California, she blew my mind
She shot me down with her revolver
She got me high
Then the weather man came on the radio
Said there be sunshine
Then all the colors of the rainbow
Fell in my mind
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
I lost my mind long ago
Down that yellow brick road
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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Silent Planet
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Angus does a homage to 70's west coast country rock, right down to the epic guitar solo outro that wouldn't feel out of place on Hotel California. I have a feeling that Angus was born 35 years too late, but makes up for it on this track alone.
Gather the family around, put on your best corduroy flared jeans, and play spot the lyrical allusion. Angus has kindly filled in a few blanks to get you started.
Better yet, climb into a dusty gold '75 Camaro, crank up the stereo, and drive towards the setting sun.
Mr Stone, you've made me cry.
gay
gay
this is a massively underrated song on the new album. the guitar is amazing. at the end it is so crisp, reminds me of a dire straits solo in some respects.
as to meanings, most likely about love and getting hurt... or as a metaphor, life is like a road and experiences change the path that road takes. even if he didn't sing at all i could listen to the guitar on this track by itself.
there isn't such thing as underrated song.
I think this songs has a lot of meaning to it. For one it's about a person's journey about career and love. "I lost my mind long ago, Down that yellow brick road" could means he left the common road that most people travels. Then he meets a girl fell in love "That skinny dippin' girl, Made the blue bird sing" and was heart broken "She shot me down with her revolver"
Thoughout the song he tells the story of her and his journey...the first verse is where is he is now, recovering from the lost love "A spoon full of sugar"...Love sick, he finally got through it and sees a rainbow.
I love how this song talks about an obsessive love or one-way love. Anyone who have love someone but never been love back would totally relate. The guitar and melody reflect his heart beating but fill with sorrow...
Okay so it's definately set in the 70s. "Then a heart of gold came on the stereo Mr Young made me cry" - That lyric is more than likely referring to "Heart of Gold", a song recorded by Neil Young in 1971.
I've considered that maybe this song is a story of nostalgia and remorse, and perhaps the mention of drugs is explaining the kind of things he turned to once his heart was broken. Another point to this theory is the straight out descriptive grace in the second verse, which soon turns to disaster - "She shot me down with her revolver, she got me high". But I don't think he means she LITERALLY shot him with a revolver, just broke his heart or pretended to love him back- I don't know, something like that. But this ofcourse would send the average person into a depression, and people can and do turn to drugs when depressed.
Nevertheless, this is an amazing and beautiful song. Definately my favourite on the entire album.
i agree completely, with the fact that the song is themed alot by nostalgia. he repeatedly says comments like "i lost my mind LONG AGO"
Angus and Julia Stone grew up in Avalon in Sydney Australia, and the path that you take to walk to the local high school is known as the "Yellow Brick Road"...I figure that the drug allusions are meant to tie in with the fact this song is known to have been written about that Yellow Brick Road...referencing his early drug taking years in high school.
personally, i can't believe no ones picked this up, i literally made an account just so i could say this ahha.
i think its about drugs. the first verse ALONE has soo many referances. Just a spoon full of sugar Makes the medicine<-- what medicine? Sweet Mary-Jane <-- weed Lost my heart in California, lost my mind Shot me down with a revolver, got me high <-- obvious ha
such an amazing song. but i think theres a few obvious hints haha :)
you didn't elaborate in the slightest. The only thing you analyzed was that of the sweet mary-jane line. don't act like things are obvious when you obviously don't know what your talking about
Although there is a bit of reference to drugs... its about more.<br /> maybe an experiance he had with a girl..<br /> or life..
I totally agree with you caitbron, i was thinking the same thing. It seems the 'long ago' might've referred to being quite young in california when they maybe had it for the first time. Where they sat and listened to music and kinda fell in love with it all. 'All the colours of the rainbow fell into my mind' seals the deal.
I have to agree, if not only for the first verse. The references, in my mind are far too obvious to pass off as anything other than drugs. A spoonful of sugar is of course referring to the process of preparing heroin in a spoon over a flame and being the browny orange colour of unrefined sugar. Mary Jane is a no brainer, and all being topped off with all of the colours of the rainbow filling his eyes - tripping balls. <br /> <br /> To me this is by far the best A&J song ever, the way it evolves from a few simple acoustic chords to a solid beat and that gorgeous electric solo, it's just perfect. Watching these two play it live is gorgeous, so much heart behind it.
Oh and I completely forgot to mention the most important part - the name of the song. Simply him saying "I lost my mind down the yellow brick road" is again to me telling of the effects of the yellow coloured hell that is heroin.
the spoon full of sugar has no reference to heroin im sorry and the yellow brick road is a special type of marijuana that is grown solely in california.
The song is obviously a song about Nostalgia...
I won't take the analysis of the other posts (Neil Young, Hotel California, drugs, ...), but you may seem to forget the main 'thing' : the title. Yellow brick road is an obvious reference to The Wizard Of Oz, and by the way, all its symbols...
I think the second verse is also some kind of tribute to Neil Young even though there's no obvious references like in the first verse. 'I took a train to the river' and 'She shot me down with her revolver' could refer to the song 'Down by the River' while 'Made the bluebird sing' is probably inspired by 'Beautiful Bluebird'.
Wow, what a beautiful song. I read it in a similar way to most other comments but I think there's a massive significance to the line 'I lost my mind long ago, down that yellow brick road' (as another commenter said previously) and 'just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down', which is pure poetry to me.
The way I interpret these metaphors is how dominant cultural narratives are fed into our psyches 'long ago' - when we are small children, the stories that keep us addicted to the endless pursuit for pleasure, which, as beautiful and romantic as they are, keep us separated from who we are (the way we feel) and actually bind us to the suffering of obsession (a bit like what Marx said about religion), having 'lost our minds' because addictions are destructive (it's in the definition) and the beauty of being high is an illusion.
I think in the second verse the line is: 'Took a train to the river/ where I dove right in' Which refers to how we easily dive right in to the stories we are sold (because it's easy, as well as being a massive natural instinct to seek pleasure and avoid pain). He personifies 'Hollywood romance' as the 'skinny dippin' girl', an end that will never be obtained (living happily ever after/permenance...), and true enough she breaks his heart, because the perfect life of pleasure that is being sold is a ruthless delusion. Amazing!
I think this an homage to artists and songs that influenced him. Though some lines can be seen as drug references, there are too many other specific hints. Yellow Brick Road by Elton John. Spoonful of Sugar from Mary Poppins. Heart of Gold by Neil Young. Weatherman by Delbert McClinton (check out the lyrics about making the sun come out). Janis Joplin famously skinny dipped at Woodstock and covered Somewhere Over the Rainbow wth Big Brother and the Holding Company ( that skinny dipping girl made the bluebirds sing). The revolver reference could be about The Beatles' Revolver album. All the colors of the rainbow line reminds me of the cover to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The high could just be his being high on music. The California sound and the LA scene were huge in rock music. That's my take! Brilliant song any way you slice it.