submissions
| Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The first time I really listened closely to this song I was on acid, and kept asking my RA about existance, and whether or not people actually exist. He showed me the video for this song (he owned the DVD) to help explain some things. I will say right now, that I have a completly different view than the rest of you, due to that experience.
The way I interpret this song, is when you are not questioning, you are "letting the days go by." If you don't continiously question existance, you are not doing your job as a human being. Life is about discovering who you are, and discoveries are made by inquiry. The water part of the song is the key to everything in it. Water is pure, it is the most essential part of life for all creatures. However, water is what is keeping us from discovery, it is the barrier between us and god, us and nirvana, us and serenity.
However, if you go though life without questioning what you have, and who you are, you'll still have all these great things (beautiful house, beautiful wife), as you are being held together by the water. It will always be there to support you, but at the same time it is holding you down. |
submissions
| David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I have no idea where you got that from Pabstdrinkin. 1) Vince Taylor wrote "Brand new Cadillac" 2) Ziggy Stardust is a fictional character.
Anyway: Ziggy Stardust, like Major Tom, is a autobiographical character. Ziggy = Bowie. Though Bowie wasn't a guitar player, the point of the Rise and Fall album is Bowie's ascension into the media spotlight following the success of Man who Sold the World. With Hunky Dory Bowie reinvented himself, going into a singer/songwriter mode rather than the harder songs of Man who Sold the World. The differences between "Changes" and "Life on Mars" are completly different than "Width of a Circle" or "Shook me Cold." Bowie came to the realization that he didn't really need the band for Hunky Dory, as Mick Ronson played such a small roll. Bowie thought he was god. He moved into his androdgenous male period, especially with "Oh! You Pretty Things." But he realized he was wrong, he needed the other guys, they were a part of him as older fans complained about the lack of the guitars on Hunky Dory.
Lady Stardust is about people questioning his choices with "Oh! You Pretty Things", Ziggy Stardust is about Bowie realizing that he may have really killed his older fan base, which was important to him. So he went back to what got him there in the first place. The "death" of Ziggy is Bowie's change BACK the Bowie of "Man Who Sold the World."
However, Bowie quickly turned Ziggy into another part of himself, as you can see from Aladdin Sane's cover art alone. That's the rise of Glam rock. |
submissions
| David Bowie – Young Americans Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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it's kind of fitting that "typo" posted these lyrics considering the fridge/bridge mistake. Anyway, I think of the song about being two kids who get married two early and never grow up. Rather, they refuse to grow up (the 20/50 line). They end up becoming junkies (do you remember... or even yesterday) and the man ends up running off (heart's been broken). It's a story that reflects lower-class life in America, specifically the south, where I'm from, where it happens constantly. |
submissions
| David Bowie – Fame Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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John Lennon did a lot of production for Bowie. Most importantly, in my opinion, is Young Americans where you actually hear a Lennon line, "I heard the News today oh boy." |
submissions
| David Bowie – Starman Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I disagree, Grug, I've always imagined this song being about Xenophobia. It's coming from both angles though. The starman, a foreigner, wants to meet the people of earth and learn their culture. The children all want to meet him and learn his culture; however, the parents are afraid of the foreigner, and won't let the children go if they find out (i.e. "Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright"). Considering the song was written in the early seventies, during the height of the cold war, it makes one beleive that he's talking about bringing communist citizens and capitalist citizens together.
Either that, or he was on another one of his acid/heroin trips. |
submissions
| Modest Mouse – The View Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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One of the two songs that jumped out at me on my first full listen of the album (the other was Bukowski). I'm curious about the "drug line" you mention. The "If it takes shit to make bliss, well I fell pretty blisfully" is more of a entertainment thing again. He's saying all these products are supposed to enhance your life. So, he figures that since he has everything, he's happy right? The problem is, he doesn't feel any different. The other interpretation is: his life is such a wreck, it must be wonderful; because, out of pain and hard times comes great things according to most of your western religions. |
submissions
| A Perfect Circle – Judith Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Okay, I know that the officially released lyrics of Judith always say, "He did it all for you!" But for some reason, I always hear "Judith you whore." And though "He did it all for you" fits better, the line I hear always sounded right. I never here the "for you" part of it. |
submissions
| Modest Mouse – Float On Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Enough of the sell out topic. The song itself is the point of these forums. I am quite shocked at how many of you said it's such a happy song. Though Kilo said that he felt it was about ghosts, I don't agree either. The song, considering classic Modest Mouse, and the rest of the album as a whole, has this tone of pathological optimism. He keeps telling himself that "We'll all float on okay" but he's only saying that. It's a way to make himself believe that things are fine.
Though I realize videos rarely relate to the songs they represent, the video for this goes along with the theory. In the video, the sheep go along walking around, not caring. They are optimistic and think that they are invincible and can do anything. If they mess up, who cares, "We'll all float on okay." In the end, the sheep get to a slaughtering house with smiles on their face.
We are all just sheep, believing that everything will come out for the best and following fanciful ideas. |
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