| The Clash – Death Is a Star Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| That makes a lot of sense considering the title! Damn it spoils the funa bit when the artists actually tell you what they mean! Cheers though! | |
| Kate Bush – Cloudbusting Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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W H Reich 'discovered' Orgone energy, and made a machine which he claimed he could collect this energy, an orgone accumulator. It was - I believe - to do with the sale and marketing lciams of this machine that he came to grief with the law. Orgonon was also the name given to a body of Aristotle's works by his followers. So dreams of Orgonon can be understood as an alluision to this new form of energy which Reich claimed to have discovered. It could also be viewed as a reference to Reich's banned opus. The yo-yo that is buried does seem to be a refence to one of the banned books: it is dangerous to read because it is banned, but this is part of the thrill of it. Why the yo-yo is used as a metaphor is a mystery to me. Anyone have any ideas? The 'son is coming up': seems to me to suggest that the daughter will continue her father's legacy, or perhaps it is meant to suggest the time when Reich's work will be rediscovered (he stipuiated in his will that his books should be put in a sealed container and left thus for 50 years). Is there anything in Reich's work? As a student of physics I have to say I am highly dubious of orgon energy. There are plenty of forms of electromagnetic energy, many of which are used in medicine (from X rays, to radiotherapy, even to those wrist bands people wear to stop car sickness) there are sure to be many ways in which known forms of energy can have as yet unknown effetcs on the body. There seems to me to be no independent evidence of organon energy. It seems to have little explanatory power except in some accounts of the positive effect of Reich's machine, which are perhaps better explained by the placebo effect. But it is a great song and does not need to be seen as an appraisal of Reich's work by Bush, but rather a study in daughter's love for a father. |
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| The Clash – Spanish Bombs Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Also German fascists and English ones were known as Blackshirts. The reference to flying in on a DC10 is probably not about the US gov't at all, but about foreigners rallying to the cause of the socialist alliance... basically a whole load of idealists came over to fight the fascists. George Orwell and Laurie Lee are a couple of poets from England who went along. Federico Lorca lived near Granada, I think he lived in the hills around there. The hilly Alpujarras region near Granada has a history of revoluts, from the Moorish uprising in the 16th century under Philip II to the 79 Greanda revolution. There probably are some references to Basque seperatism, but it's not true to my knowledge that ETA are active in the South of Spain... in the South of the Basque region they certainly are, but this is in the North of Spain. Barcelona and particularly San Sebastian are places where tehre've been ETA bombings. I'm wondering whether "they sang the red flag they wore the black one" is actually supposed to criticse the communists. Maybe not. But certainly the communists were generally a bunch of backstabbers in the Spanish civil war, they were shipped out from and totally attached to Russia's Stalinism. They decimated the otehr parties fighting fascism in a series of purges. If this is a lonve song it's not a bout a woman but about nationalism, or perhaps just love of peace. Reading the lyrics in the album they do seem to be asaebassist has them down, and this does kinda translate to wanting the bombs to end. I'd neevr noticed the references to the IRA but this is a good point, cheers. Anyway whatever this song is about... and there are lots of cryptic lines like the one about "my disco casino... it's bloody brilliant. |
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| The Clash – Death Is a Star Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is a deeply mysterious song. Is it about a serial kilelr, or is it a bout suicide or maybe death himself? Sometimes I think it's about the second, because it is the killer's blood that flows, yet the killer goes on to kill again. But then again the lyric 'by chance or escaping from misery' seems to clearly indicate that this is about death, that can pounce at any time. It's about fascination with death "I was gripped by that deadly phantom". Not fear of death. Death comes across as very cool, suave even. I'm inclined to think that the three deaths in the song (the one in thhe motel near Niagra, teh one in teh cinema and the one in Spain) are probably based on things the CLash had read about, the Spanish one is mos likely some incident from teh Spanish Civil war (compare Spanish Bombs). The last line is totally and brilliantly baffling. In a way i don't really want to know more about this song, it's kinda nice to be immersed in it, to love that feeling and marvel at the mystery of it. Does anyone else think of heart of darkness when they hear this? The bit about 'following him through hard jungles' really reminds me of it. |
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| The Clash – Straight to Hell Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Combat Rock is an angry, brilliant album. The very beginning of this song hints at British Imperialism, specifically how Britain was still regarded as some great power while it’s ‘steel mills’ were rusting under Thatcher. I agree that this song is mainly about kids fathered by GIs during the Vietnam war wanting to go ‘home’ to the states. The US is the hell that the song talks about, not a kingdom nor a republic, but a ‘junkiedom’. It’s also about the difficulty finding asylum in the US. Alphabet City is in New York, it was a pretty rough area in the 80s, there was a lot of drug dealing. The refernce to the volatile Molotov seems to suggest some of the racial tensions in NY back then. The song makes a lot more sense when you listen to the rest of the songs on the album, a lot of stuff about cultural imperialism, war and drugs. |
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