| Big Thief – Paul Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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I can't believe there are no comments on this song yet. One of my favorites of all time--dreamy and beautiful. I think this song is about a girl who used to be with Paul. He was a nice guy, she really cared about him and he legitimately cared about her, which she almost couldn't believe--she's used to abusive guys, guys who don't show affection ("In the blossom of the months I was sure that I'd get driven off with thought"). She had problems, and he knew that...accepted them and maybe even liked them. Liked that she was troubled ("real tough cookie with the whiskey breath"), liked that he could "save her" ("I was your starry-eyed lover and the one that you saw/I was your hurricane rider and the one that you'd call")...and she let him for a while. Then she realized he couldn't fix her ("there was no one who could kiss away my shit") and he would stay with her, committed and all in, no matter how bad things were ("a killer and a thriller and the cause of our death"), so she ended things. Now he's shown back up at her door. And she wants to just start back with him, but she knows better, so they go for a drive to talk. He turns things romantic, and she starts to give in, but has to end things for good. She was destructive to herself and him, and she'll always love him, but she knows they shouldn't be together ("We were just two moonshiners on the cusp of a breath/And I've been burning for you baby since the moment I left.") |
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| Neko Case – Margaret vs. Pauline Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I appreciate hearing that Neko Case based this song on a book. Makes me want to read "In Watermelon Sugar". Just came here to point out one thing about the lyrics: "One left a sweater sitting on the train And the other lost three fingers at the cannery" I love that she doesn't specify which girl was which. It would be easy to assume Margaret lost the fingers and Pauline lost the sweater. But what if it's actually the other way around? Margaret is so jealous of Pauline, and so dramatic, that she might actually envy Pauline's injury. People will pay attention to Pauline now that she's been hurt. She might even not have to work for a while, or get a lighter duty at work because she lost the fingers. Everything's so easy for Pauline. And dramatic Margaret might actually feel that losing the sweater is one more slight life has handed her, not realizing the gravity of her tiny loss compared to Pauline's big one. Just a thought. |
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| Adele – Hometown Glory Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Beautiful song, but I completely agree with you, skttrbrain, the instrumental beginning in particular sounds exactly like Sia's "Breathe Me". | |
| Nicole Atkins – Neptune City Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song is so gorgeous, it sounds like it belongs in a David Lynch movie! Her voice reminds me of the girls from Cocorosie, with less oddity. Anyway, Nicole Atkins is from Neptune City, NJ. I think this song is pretty simple. It's about going back to the place you are from and realizing it's not quite how you remember. It's like that with places from childhood--they are so different in your mind, so big and exciting, and then you see them with a more jaded, adult mind and realize that they are dingy, common places. She wants to see it with a new eye and love it again but she can't. She feels like it's a death in a way and doesn't want to go back again. |
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| R.E.M. – Let Me In Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song has been my favorite REM song for such a long time, and I really LOVE REM and I LOVE this album, but after I heard that it was about Kurt Cobain's suicide it had so much more meaning. It really has some of the most haunting lyrics ever...the best of which are (and I am going to change the punctuation to how I think it really should be): I've got tar on my feet, and I can't see all the birds look down and laugh at me, clumsy crawling out of my skin. With the punctuation that way, as opposed to how it's listed here, it's like he's stuck and he can't look up to see that everyone is making fun of him but he knows he is a fool, and even the birds are better than him and he wishes he could just get away from himself. Such a sad thought...Michael Stipe is a sensitive person, he was a friend of Kurt's, he must have really known his pain as much as a third party can, and he really felt a loss when he was gone. Beyond that, the distortion is beautiful...seriously, just beautiful.... |
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| Tori Amos – Tear In Your Hand Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Yes, this is the greatest Tori song in my opinion because of what the words mean to me. I absolutely agree with the other interpretations here. I have used this song to get through many difficult breakups and although I have been happily married for many years I cannot escape the feeling those words have for me because I don't think anyone has ever said it better, how it feels to be left by someone who you love, who you feel hasn't bothered to get to know you well enough, for someone who may have the same qualities you have--that person just hasn't taken the time to see it: "Maybe she's just pieces of me you've never seen" And she even admits in the song that she doesn't know him as well as she could: "I know you WELL, well, better than I used to" and she wants him to give them a chance, but he won't. He has all the power, and he's leaving. Yes, some Tori fans will say this song isn't as deep as her other songs and so it's not her best, but I disagree, anyone can get this song, everyone who has had someone they love leave them has felt these things, and I can think of very few other songs that express it so well. |
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| Metric – Wet Blanket Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| To me this song is about the people I went to college with that I couldn't stand--those "cause people". These are the people who are so opinionated and self-righteous that people can't stand them. I think her friend keeps falling for this creep, and he is one of those faux-sensitive hippies (shaker knit clothes) who is actually verbally abusive to her. He acts like a earthy soul, playing his guitar and preaching his radical beliefs, but he is so caught up in his causes, he can't see that there is a time to drop it and just have fun. He can't stand to see her happy and enjoying life--he probably has one of those "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention" bumper stickers. He thinks music should all have a political meaning and that his girlfriend's friend's band (Metric) is too fluffy because they play pop. I don't know...that's just how I see it. I know a lot of people like this, and they are definitely wet blankets. | |
| Metric – Combat Baby Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think this song is about these faux punk groups/singers out there who claim to be punk (Sum41, Avril Lavigne, etc.) who are really just pop fakers. She is singing to the real punk, underground community, asking them not to fade away and let these idiots take over and ruin the name of punk. I think this theme is pretty clear from the lyrics, and just have to say "AMEN!" | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel – Oh Comely Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I agree that there appear to be some of his famous Anne Frank reference in this song, but I remember hearing that this song is about a girl he once knew, and he wasn't there for her in a time of need, and he has a lot of regret about it. He won't talk about it any more than that because it is so personal, so here is how I interpret what happened with that girl as he describes it in this amazing song: it seems to be about a girl who lives a really crappy life ("trailer park", her dad left her family and is "making fetuses" with trashy ladies). She thinks she has friends, but they aren't even there for her ("letting you blow", "there isn't such one friend that you can find here"). She tries to stay "bright and bubbly" because she has hope that things can get better ("chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left"), maybe because of him (the narrator of the song). Her memory may be of him as her first love--he took her out to football games, had sex with her, but then he dumped her. She was still trying to believe in him, but he let her down ("all you were needing when you still believed in me") and she is now totally alone. He's looking back on all of this now, thinking about how he let her down, and regretting it, wanting to make things better, but she is dead. And he wishes he could go back and make things better ("wished I could save her in some sort of time machine"), but it's too late. He now realizes he was actually her enemy, not her friend--There's something about how he sings "we know who our enemies are" that seems to say, "No, we don't, and sometimes the people we think are our friends are just the opposite". This is such a sad, beautiful song. I have thought for a long time that it is similar in tone and plot to an amazing novel called "The Book of Ruth". If you love this song, you might be amazed when you read the book by how strikingly similar it feels. And no, seeing the crappy TV movie they made based on the book doesn't count. |
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