| Amanda Palmer – Have to Drive Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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These are all nice interpretations, but for me it's still about roadkill. I don't think there's anything "funny" or boring or unsatisfying about that; it's a very depressing song and still has elements of Amanda's usual themes of dissatisfaction among modern humanity. She's very good at double meanings, and I think she does it well in this song. We have to drive - we have things we need to get away from, even if it only feels like we're getting away from them. How many of us go driving when we're depressed, just to get away from our own thoughts and concentrate on something else for a while? Even my psychologist has suggested going for drives when I feel terrible. We drive all night - I think the "we" here is humanity in general. Even in small towns out in the country, there is always at least one car on the road at any time of the night. Someone is always awake and driving. Humanity hasn't slept in years. The last stanzas are about moving animals (in cars and trucks) to other places - wilderness preserves and zoos. If we pick up the deer, put them inside a vehicle, and move them somewhere where they'll be caged in away from the cars, we'll save them in a way. It's all very sad; it's an awful way to behave, because we're killing animals and the planet. But we can't help it. We have to drive, so let's meet at the car. |
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| Regina Spektor – Time Is All Around Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Before I start, I want to say I like philaphobic’s interpretation too. Now then. I’m one of the unfortunate few who don’t fall in love on the third date, or the fifth, or the fiftieth. It’s not until years after I’ve met someone that I suddenly at some moment realize I’ve drifted into love for them. This has only happened with friends; significant others, of course, are not willing to wait. My dating escapades always end in a “This isn’t working out” or “You don’t seem like you’re into this” or even the ever-ridiculous “Why are you afraid to love?” To me, this is what this song is about. I might be way off from what Regina was thinking when she penned it, but as she has so many not-love songs I have to wonder. “You step on all my parts / And then you walk right out the door / And I know that your love ain't never / Coming back no more.” The speaker has been dating someone, and — I’ll say he for the sake of simplicity — he has become impatient with her inability to fall in love with him right away. So he breaks up with her, giving her all the reasons it isn’t working (stepping on or breaking up her parts — her self). “Time is all around / Except inside my clock / Everybody's waiting for their lover to unlock.” But there’s plenty of time to fall in love! There’s time all over the place! Barring some tragic death, there’s so much time in a lifetime to allow love to grow. But nobody wants to wait for her love — she’s given no time (inside her clock/herself/the relationship). Everyone has to wait for their significant other to open up and show themselves completely in trust — these things take time. “Leaves become most beautiful when they're about to die / When they're about to fall from trees / When they're about to dry up.” These lines mean two things to me. The first is that she is in the process of falling in love with these men when they break up with her. The relationship has died with the breakup, but her love (the leaf) was just starting (becoming beautiful). The second meaning is that love is most beautiful in old age, when the love has been given time to blossom, when two people have been together an entire lifetime. “I hallucinate a cat between my feet / I'm stepping lightly so as not to hurt it.” She knows what will happen when she gets into a relationship. She knows it hurts the men that she dates too — the cat is the man. She treads carefully, trying to make it work and trying to make the man not fall in love with her so quickly, trying to be aloof. She has to pretend all this because that’s not how she would normally act if she thought the guy would understand. She might even be trying to pretend she’s in love already to make him happy. “Everybody wants / To say that you have changed / Of course you've changed, you've changed, you've changed / Your mind's been rearranged.” This part is hard to put into words, because it means a lot of different subtle things to me. In a relationship, you change, your mind changes, the way you think changes. People outside the relationship always act surprised at this, but it’s to be expected. Love does that to your brain — it’s science, you get a little stupid when you’re in love. But he’s changing too fast for her, falling in love too fast. “Why am I supposed to love if I don't want to love? / Why am I supposed to, I'm so tired.” There it is. Why is she SUPPOSED to love him? Why is she obligated to do this on command? She’s tired of the obligations and the having to pussyfoot around and pretend she’s something she’s not, and she’s tired of not being given time, time, time. If he would only give it time, the leaves would turn beautiful. |
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| Ugly Casanova – Spilled Milk Factory Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I agree that the song is about drugs (no surprise there), but wanted to point out the spilled milk reference since some people seem to not know the idiom. There’s a saying “No use crying over spilled milk.” It means what’s done is done and you can’t go back and fix it, or more simply “No regrets.” The spilled milk is something you did that you regret. “So much spilled milk we could've had a factory” means they had or have too many regrets to count. “So many dreams that there was no time to sleep” is along the same lines — he had too many dreams (hopes) and no way to make any of them happen, much like you can only have a literal dream when you fall asleep (or when you're hallucinating on drugs? I don't know anything about meth). The drugs gave insomnia (so he couldn’t literally dream) and also kept him from attaining his dreams/hopes. | |
| Delta Goodrem – In This Life Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I love this song but the lyrics are horrid. They’re very Twilight-ish with a message that a girl’s reason for living is to be with a guy: My persistence to make a difference Has led me safe into your hands I was put here for a reason I was born into this world And I'm living I'm believing I was meant to be your girl Ugh! If there was something about the guy needing a supporting hand or something it would be better, but the “led me safe into your hands” and “following” lines toss that right out the window. This whole song says the narrator had no purpose in life until she found a man. |
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| Oingo Boingo – Insanity Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Looks like there’ve been no posts here in years so probably no one will see this. But I think this song is from the point of view of someone who is mentally disturbed and has thoughts of rape or murder, and is joining Christianity because he thinks that God/Jesus will keep his cravings for these things under control. This is why the final stanzas are saying such awful things — not because “Danny Elfman is crazy,” but because he’s writing the song from this point of view (writers aren’t always writing about themselves :p ). We see this over and over in society: the woman who sexually abused and killed the child in her Sunday school, Catholic priests who rape boys in their churches, etc. Many people sadly turn to Christianity rather than seeking proper medical help, because they think that God will magically control the thoughts in their head. |
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| Rasputina – The Mayor Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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As for why Melora would say “mayor” rather than president, it’s called subtlety ;) I also agree that her saying it’s about someone she knows that is mentally ill is her way of calling Bush mentally ill. (She does NOT say anything about a “friend” BTW.) This song reminds me of paintings commissioned for royal families and other people in power that had added symbolism in them, imperceptible to the person being painted, that mocked the person, because actually saying anything against the ruler directly would be treason. In fact, many bands that wrote songs against Bush and the war got A LOT of grief for it. During Bush’s second term there were many Republicans that showed up on television yelling that anyone speaking against Bush and his policies should be investigated, like another Red Scare. We heard this same junk again from McCain’s campaign people. But I’m ranting… EVERY line of this does indeed match Bush. "If they take something precious from me, I’m gonna take something precious from them." I see this as 9/11 and the Iraq war — they knocked down our towers, so we have to retaliate. I hear the extra words very clearly as “You’re gonna let him go, let him cry” rather than hang your head and cry, but I could be wrong since let him go let him cry doesn’t make sense even to me. |
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| Vienna Teng – Drought Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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She wants snoooowwwwww!!! :D The chorus mentions winterlight and white sheets over houses, as well as ice. She also mentions salt and plows. She's dealing with love gone bad and lost and wants to leave it and the season behind, so she can move on. She's sitting in a summer dry because of drought (of lack of water and of lack of love) and she wants winter and a deep blanket of snow to bury her so she can be reborn in the spring with the ability to be able to love again without hurting. |
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| Vienna Teng – My Medea Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Why is every song about abortion to some people? Yeesh... The first impression I got from this song was an overprotective parent that won't let their daughter leave to start her own life. I don't know much about Medea, but maybe it relates in how Medea ran away with Jason and her father and brother ran after her. More likely her brother since he's killed and cut up into pieces on the way, which fits in with the last stanza. But even this doesn't make sense to me :p so it's more likely the speaker is just a regular person talking about herself. |
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| Emilie Autumn – Opheliac Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I had to read Hamlet again after first hearing this song (love Hamlet lovelovelove ^_^ ). And this song is very odd to me because the vast majority of it sounds like Hamlet rather than Ophelia, especially the chorus. Even the drowning imagery - Ophelia wasn't able to help him when he became overwhelmed by all he had to deal with. This line is especially interesting: "She speaks in the third person / So she can forget that she's me." Then there's the lines quoted DIRECTLY FROM Hamlet himself. Erm...I started listing more lines that make me think of Hamlet and I saw that my post was getting too long! I think this song is more Hamlet through reference of Ophelia than the other way around. Anyone else notice this switcharoo? |
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| Rasputina – Saline the Salt Lake Queen Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| What I've always gotten from this song is the picture of a spoiled girl. She's seventeen and "swollen up with pride." The salt lake is her tears that she cries to get what she wants. When she "takes a taste," it means she's gotten older and has to deal with reality, and just like a cake made of nothing but salt, it's bitter. She's been nothing but a spoiled brat her whole life, building up a lake of tears and baking worthless sustenance from it, and she doesn't know how to live. BUT it's not her fault, cause her parents shouldn't have raised her to be that way. A wacky interpretation I know :) | |
| Richard Marx – Hazard Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Wow, I can't believe so many people here think that he killed her! It's extremely obvious from the lyrics that he didn't. He left her safe and sound by the river (he went home) and she went walking all alone (she stayed because she wanted to walk alone for a little while before heading home herself) and later on she was found dead. This guy is blamed by the townspeople because he has a bad past and/or the people just plain never liked him. I like the idea someone said of him being a bastard child, which explains why the town didn't like him even at age 7. As someone else also stated, what would be the point of the song if he had killed her?!? "People never trusted me, and then I met a nice girl and killed her. The end." e_e | |
| Röyksopp – What Else Is There? Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I never would have figured it out myself, but I agree this is about an accident. "A morning run" - she was going for a run in the morning while it was still dark. I think the milk in the video is just symbolic of blood. I wonder if her wish was to meet the person that hit her, and that was the woman at the table. "You've got secrets too" - maybe it was a hit and run? It sounds to me like the whole song is her talking to her killer, and now that she's met that person she doesn't know what else to do or say. I'm wondering what does the "golden ear" mean? Is that line correct? |
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| Émilie Simon – Fleur De Saison Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| So translate it for those of us that don't? ;_; | |
| Rasputina – Hunter's Kiss Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I hadn't noticed the rape concept until someone told me. I see it especially in the lines "Where it will only hurt me, not a mortal wound. / Leave me lying dirty, someone would find me soon." But I think more that that, to me it's about a woman finding a man, and she thinks he's "the one" and he'd "save her" and all that romantic stuff. Then it all turns into f###ed-up mindgames. When it's all over, he's destroyed her mentally. I relate way too much to this song as well. I don't think it's about a one-night stand because he's "taken his time", but I could be wrong. |
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| Rasputina – Any Old Actress Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I agree, suicide. I think it says this in the first stanza. "They saw her break through barriers 40 feet high. It was the finest moment in a long life." She's breaking through barriers 40 feet high because she jumped. It seemed like a great choice to make at the time, finest moment in a long life. "Young boys will tack her pictures over their bed. They saw her mouth move but couldn't hear what she said." Maybe she was saying something as she fell or before she jumped, but noone was near her? They could only see her mouth the words. Or maybe it just means she was a silent-film actress. Also "The higher you are you want to see what's below." As VampedVixen said, "it's about wanting to see the bottom after you're at the top." But it also means that she literally jumped from a high place and fell. |
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| Rasputina – 1816, The Year Without A Summer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This might be a wacky idea, but all the talk about how Oh Perilous World came out of headlines got me wondering if this song is relating the occurrence in 1816 with the current global warming debate. "During the most severe years of this little ice age We looked for scapegoats to blame" "The eruption of the volcano Tambora That was the real cause discovered by some explorer Years later, looking back at the past" May be referring to how many people believe that global warming is all talk, and years from now we might find that the planet is heating due to natural conditions having nothing to do with humans. Please god don't let this comment start a global warming fight on here >_< Just putting my two cents in, that’s all. |
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| Rasputina – In Old Yellowcake Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The title is actually "In Old Yellowcake." But anyway, from Rasputina's site: "In Old Yellowcake utilizes imagery of the destruction of Fallujah." Yellowcake refers to the Yellowcake forgery, documents that falsely showed Saddam was buying materials for WMDs from Niger. These documents rallied the US into war. Such a terribly sad song. |
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| Rasputina – Child Soldier Rebellion Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| From Rasputina's website: "Child Soldier references the phenomenon of African children's armies." I'm afraid I don't know anything on that topic to comment... | |
| The Dresden Dolls – Half Jack Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Hermaphrodite??? I could have listened to this song for a million years and never come up with that one...weird, people. I like what VivicaSiren said about the abortion part - while I don't agree I like the extra dimension of that, like maybe her father abandoned her, and now that she's about to have a child and the father didn't stay she doesn't want to keep it...she doesn't want the child to go through what she went through. This song is very emotional for me because my father died when I was six, and I don't remember him. I've had these thoughts like "Am I like him? Is that why I'm so fucked up? Did I get this crap from him?" Sometimes I'd like to get that Jack part out. So this song was always to me very obviously about a daughter whose father abandoned her :\ |
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| Peter Gabriel – Digging In The Dirt Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Am I the only person that gets a deeply sinister feeling from this song? It seems like everyone is ignoring the tone of the song and focusing only on the lyrics. I used to not be able to listen to this when I was younger because it’s dark and scary and angry. There's some lines in here that don't have anything to do with getting support, talking to a therapist, or even talking to someone who hurt somebody emotionally. Yelling "Don't talk back...I know what you are...Don't turn around, this is for real"...this is NOT how you talk to someone when you’re venting about your past and your problems (and why would they be trying to turn around?). To me it sounds like this song is about how the singer was hurt by someone, and has forced them to drive them both out somewhere where he murdered them. The digging in the dirt is him digging the grave for this person, while at the same time symbolizing him digging into himself to find how he feels. The entire tone and distorted feel of the song is paranoid and dangerous (the fact that there’s something “dark and sticky” in him that’s getting stronger, sounds like he’s having trouble controlling himself, and it “blinds” him and he can’t think straight) and doesn’t sound at all like a regular fight a stable person would have with someone (for example, how he sings “this is for real”) - and I especially have a hard time believing that it’s merely about someone’s therapy sessions. | |
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