| Joseph Arthur – Black Lexus Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I believe this song is about a young woman who is directionless and full of naive, shallow dreams of making it in show business, without realizing how those dreams have become a proxy for a real life. The "things lost" that "lighten up [her] load" are the very things that could have made her a person of substance; instead, she cuts loose anything that might tie her to friends, family, or humanity itself. When Joe sings "you can't find her, in the mirror everything's reversed", the implication is that the mere reflection of her own face has become the more 'real' substance that looks back and finds only a shallow, empty shell of a human being. As time (and her money) runs out and goes by, this person's dream of making it in a "show" slowly fade, and she find's excuses not to leave (i.e., "the stars said not to go right now"). The beginning of the song represents this woman with a classy car that is already past its prime (a Lexus with 200,000 miles); by the end of the song, it's implied that she's aging without maturing, trapped in a superficial mentality that she will never break free of. | |
| The Cure – All I Have to Do Is Kill Her Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This is a difficult song to analyze, not least because it's only available on a bootleg with mediocre sound quality and deciphering the lyrics is problematic. For instance, I personally think the first two lines of the third stanza are not as they're quoted above, but are rather: "I turned you out with just one push of my arm". Likewise, there are several other lines I would dispute the accuracy of. Nevertheless, I believe the general vibe of the song is intact, and it simply represents a dark fairy tale of sorts that Robert Smith wrote while under the influence of many controlled substances. This was the same period as the "Pornography" album, where he toured the remains of an insane asylum and was inspired to think about what the residents might have thought or felt while they were confined there. I could imagine this being the tale of two tragic lovers, where the man was somehow driven to kill the woman he loved, or possibly a scenario in which an abusive father kills his daughter. I don't think the "meaning" of the song is so much in the narrative telling, but in the atmosphere it evokes, which is one of love, murder, and loss. |
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| Joseph Arthur – Devil's Broom Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| The narrator resorts to drugs and alcohol to dull the pain of someone who has left him, and has sunk so low that he doesn't even feel "the guilt and the shame" of it anymore. With no real solution in sight, he sullenly prays for death as a way out, while still calling out to his former lover in a pathetically oblivious way, asking "what did I do?" and not realizing that his substance abuse is the key component to his romantic (and legal) troubles. | |
| Joseph Arthur – Bill Wilson Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Bill Wilson was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, and this song documents the narrator's own struggles with abstinence from alcohol (and drugs). While the narrator wants to make it in the straight world and acknowledges the value of being able to do that, he is also critical of a life devoid of passion and emotion that seems to be the end result of the people around him who have managed to stay sober, to the point of referring to AA members as being "made of ice and salt" (which conjures up the image of an alcoholic drink, minus the alcohol). Many references are made to the 12-step AA program. A "sponsor" is a fellow alcoholic who is further along in the program than a new member; the meetings where they "say the same thing twice" refer to when a new person stands up and says "my name is [name]", and the other members reply back, "hi, [name]". The "count" of time refers to how each member tells the group how long they've gone without a drink, and the "circles made of prayer" refers to the "Serenity Prayer" that is usually recited by the group at each meeting. |
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| Joseph Arthur – Birthday Card Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think this song is abut two co-dependent people in an ill-fated relationship. "She" seems to feel shame and guilt, perhaps because she is cheating on someone else with the "He" of this song (which would explain why her love was "only ever on a loan"), and so even though she loves him, she can't or won't be with him; nevertheless, she obviously still hasn't broken contact since she's sending him a birthday card, which only causes more pain for them both. On the other end of the spectrum, "He" acknowledges that the relationship was shallow ("see-through treasure) and based on a physical/sexual relationship that was forbidden ("bribing me with your guilty pleasure"), yet he also cannot seem to break contact with her since he is sending her a postcard. This is one of the best songs on the record, but it's even better live, where Joe sings it with real conviction. |
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| The Cure – 2 Late Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This is a beautiful and catchy song about a love that never blossoms because the timing is all wrong. Generally, I believe that iamthenightstars has the right idea. The only thing I would add is that while the stranger is very shy, the girl is also oblivious to his presence, with her "hat pushed straight away from [him]" to where it's too late for him to make a play for her; when her hat is finally off (i.e., she's ready and able to see him), he's "gone away", perhaps in another relationship. |
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| R.E.M. – Driver 8 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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To my mind, this song is a multi-tiered metaphor for a way of life in the southeastern U.S. ("the South"), as viewed by a passenger on a train as he stares out of the window. A lot of previous posts have touched on that, but what they have failed to note is that the South is also known as the "Bible Belt," (consider how this may be synonymous with "Southern Crescent"), and this song is full of religious-oriented imagery (or what could at least be interpreted in that regard). So, to address that (and some of the lines that DerUnbequeme found puzzling): 1) The album is called Fables of the Reconstruction. It is also called Reconstruction of the Fables. Reading it the former way makes it an obvious reference to the historical era in the U.S. known as the Reconstruction (though that may or may not be relevant to every song on the record), but when read the latter way I would suggest that "the Fables" is also a sly reference of Stipe's to the text of the Judeo-Christian Bible. If you read the album title as Reconstruction of the Fables, then Stipe could be referring to how much of the culture of the South is/was built on the Christian way of life, and how he questions whether or not that has been a good foundation. 2) The "Go Tell" crusade is not a reference to political propaganda about any railway strike. Rather, it is a reference to Christian revival, ala the Campus Crusade for Christ and similar organizations. I think Stipe is specifically referencing a line from a well-known hymn (itself referencing a Biblical scripture), that reads, "Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born." 3) I believe "Fields of wheat are stricken thin," refers primarily to the literal decline of the South as jobs and industry have gone elsewhere, and the rest of the nation moves forward in technology, education, and prosperity (the South is still the poorest region of the U.S.); however, it might also be Stipe questioning how genuine the faith of the average Southern Christian might be if the God they believe them is chastising them by casting a blight on the land. 4) The lyrics in the bridge, "Way to shield the hated heat" and etc., likewise have a double meaning. They are literal in the sense that coal-burning locomotives are very hot (particularly where the conductor is); it might also refer to how accepting Christ is often referred to as "fire insurance", i.e. as a way to escape the fires of Hell. Perhaps the line about escaping the heat and putting himself and his children to sleep also has a dual meaning -- the literal meaning being that a church-house in the summer can be warm enough to induce sleep (believe me, I've seen a lot of people fall asleep in church because of this!), and the figurative meaning being that faith in Christ is a good thing to have when you go to "sleep," i.e., when you die (the word "sleep" is used several times in the Bible to refer to death). He acknowledges that they're not at the point of dying yet though, as they're "still a ways away" from that final destination. 5) Much has been made of "sky-blue, bells ringing". I think this is an easy one. The bells are church bells. The children look up and all they "hear" is sky-blue; i.e., they're being called to worship God, but when they look up they neither see God nor hear the voice of God -- all they see is the empty sky. This fits in with the overall theme of desolation when the train passenger later considers the stricken (or empty) fields. In short, the song can be summed up simply as having two meanings -- one literal interpretation about the decline of the South, and one figurative interpretation about the questionable value of the Christian faith for those who live in the Bible Belt. |
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| The Cure – The Figurehead Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Legend has it that, while wandering the remains of the former insane asylum in which the Charlotte Sometimes video was being filmed, Robert came across some old drawings in a file cabinet that were done years before by a patient. His interpretation of what the person who did those drawings, combined with his consideration of a human skull (in much the same way that Hamlet considered that of 'poor Yorick's'), inspired many of the lyrics in this song. However much those experiences may have contributed to the song, though, I think it likely that much of this song is autobiographical in an emotional, if not literal sense. To grasp its meaning, you'll need to give up on trying to find a simple narrative thread, and realize that it's very much impressionistic in style. Robert went through a dark period here and was virtually paralyzed with drug use. Spiders crawling inside is one image commonly used to describe the effects of certain substances, and I think the next line about "dust on the lips of a vision of hell" is self-referential in this regard as well; seeing as how the next line speaks of him laughing in a mirror (which is strongly suggestive of cocaine, seeing as how it's often cut and inhaled on a mirror), I think there's an obvious bitterness at how little self-control he had left, and how numb he was becoming to the fact that he was such a mess. He's continually begging for things throughout the song (notice how many lines begin with "please"), as if he has no control of the situation and needs someone to help him. The pivotal line of this song, regardless of your interpretation, has to be "I can never say no, to anyone but you". I believe this line is also a reference to his own inability to stop indulging his voices (the you being either the drugs, or possibly even himself, i.e. he can't resist his own impulses), which is further reinforced by the closing lines of "I will never be clean again". At the time, he couldn't see a way out of it, and in truth, Robert's reliance on drugs and alcohol actually increased over the next couple of years before he was able to rein it in. |
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| The Cure – Adonais Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Robert Smith may have been inspired by Shelley's poem 'Adonais,' but the song lyrics themselves are Smith's, and not taken from that poem. This song is a romanticism of death. Adonais' death in particular is considered here to be an awakening from the dream of life, where the dead soul is freed from the constraints of earthly living. The spirit of the departed appears to be calling to the loved one left behind (starting with the wind's words in the chorus), seducing that person with the promise of being together forever. Incidentally, the Cure altered lyrics to one of their own songs in concert once immediately following Ian Curtis' (singer for Joy Division who hung himself) death, and they also did a cover of J.D.'s "Love Will Tear Us Apart" several years later. It isn't unlikely that Smith had Curtis in mind when writing this. |
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