| The National – Pink Rabbits Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Could "needle in the dark" instead maybe be "needle in the dog" - referring to a lethal injection (i.e. putting an animal down), which could represent the end of a relationship? She promised the end would be painless, a quick end from which they could both move on, but she's then come back and reopened old feelings ("so surprised you want to dance with me now/I was just getting used to living life without you around") because she couldn't move on, and therefore preventing him from doing so, causing pain. |
|
| The National – Pink Rabbits Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| That sounds about right. Simple but really powerful. Amazing song. I love the "so surprised you want to dance with me" set of lyrics. | |
| The National – I Should Live in Salt Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
A good relationship broken down by small, petty arguments, which build up the feeling of "you should know me better than that." "Can't you right it on the wall" and "don't make me read your mind" show a resentment of the passive aggression which go with small arguments. The disputes could easily be resolved by letting the other know what's wrong, but the passive aggression comes from only hinting at it - making them 'read your mind'. ("There's no room to write it all" I think suggests the number of small arguments rather than one big one) It is acknowledged that the arguments are small - meaningless, even - but with petty arguments there is a need to be right, a need to get one over on the other person: "I should leave it alone but you're not right". The chorus is a show of regret for letting it get so bad, and it is suggested the relationship ended - "leaving you behind". The living in salt sounds like he's calling for some punishment for himself - maybe the biblical reference as underdog describes above: it could be he feels guilt for not trying to save the relationship. Or it could be referring to being preserved - he left her behind, and so deserves to be preserved as alone and full of regret as punishment. |
|
| The National – This Is the Last Time Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
I get the feeling this is about a semi-casual relationship which is good but can never last. It needs to be left behind but it's difficult cos it seems good whenever it's on. Each time they get together it's great - "you feel a hundred times yourself," "wish everybody knew what's so great about you" - but a long term relationship is impossible - "your love is like a swamp." Every time is amazing but is concluded with "this is the last time," but they keep getting drawn back. It maybe starts to become something more serious - "Oh, don't tell anyone I'm here I've got Tylenol and beer I was thinking that you'd call somebody Closer to you" This suggests to me the other person (Jenny?) has needed some help - the kind of situation which would ask for close friend or partner, and she has called him. He brings Tylenol and beer, hoping to bring a quick-fix to the problem, unlike a close friend who may offer more supportive measures. He doesn't want anyone to know so it won't seem like they're in a proper relationship. He thinks the situation would be someone else (someone closer)'s job. He promises he wouldn't get sucked in (fall into a more meaningful relationship) and won't cry - he knows it's technically only a casual relationship but he does have feelings for her. Together they are a mix of good and bad - "under prime," "vacant and kind" - and later in the song he is promising to no longer be vacant, be faking or waiting. Once he's out of the semi-casual relationship he can stop pretending not to care, or waiting for it to become something more. He can move on. That's just what i took from it, but it's coloured by personal experience, and the fact that Jenny/Jennifer comes up in other songs (I think?) maybe suggests a more complex story. |
|
| Sparklehorse – Ghost of His Smile Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Can you link to the write ups? That'd be great to see. This one still makes me think of suicide and it makes it so poignant after what happened to Mark Linkous. Such a sad loss. |
|
| Kings of Convenience – Stay Out Of Trouble Lyrics | 11 years ago |
|
Agree with everything said, brilliant goodbye/breakup song. "I wish you could be with me In these last days when I am still Hopelessly poor" I believe is a Smiths reference: in Half a Person, Morrissey sings "She was left behind and sour, and she wrote to me equally dour She said: 'In the days when you were hopelessly poor, I just liked you more'" In the Kings of Convenience song I think he's recognising that the way they feel about each other has changed: he laments the fact that although nothing has really changed (he is still 'hopelessly poor', so there is no reason for them not to like each other like they did once), what they have has suddenly "not been enough." It's a relationship that has died a slow, quiet death. Nothing big or obvious has ruined it, there was no big fight, it just gradually became not enough. |
|
| Frightened Rabbit – Poke Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
'Should look through some old photos I adored you in every one of those. If someone took a picture of us now they'd need to be told that we had ever clung and tied a navy knot with arms at night I'd say she was his sister but she doesn't have his nose. And now we're unrelated and rid of all the shit we hated, But I hate when I feel like this and I never hated you. ' This last bit breaks my heart. They've come apart and he feels the strong emotion against her, but he doesn't like it, and even though they have fought/are fighting, he never hated her. |
|
| Belle & Sebastian – I Fought in a War Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I think the war in this is largely metaphorical. The war, to me, is the past relationship with the girl in the song. For example, most people have found at some point that they drift from their friends a little, or in some cases completely while in a relationship ('and I left my friends behind me'), and the 'sickness ahead of me' and other verses refer to the troubled and ultimately failing relationship. The chorus jumps to the present, where the relationship has fallen apart. He imagines that his former lover still has feelings for him, although he knows really that she has found someone new. However, he is happy for now with his delusion - until he finds someone new himself, he can dream that she still wants him, which keeps him a little bit happy. The place that he will 'be here quite a while' could refer to the hung up feelings that are stopping him moving on. So while he is still hung up and not moving on, he can imagine she still feels for him. This is harmless to her, but creates a vicious cycle for him - as long as he thinks of her as waiting for him, he won't get over her. Therefore he will be 'here quite a while'. |
|
| The Twilight Sad – And She Would Darken The Memory Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I'm pretty sure the "and you say hi" line is "and you say how?", but the thick Scottish accent makes it sound like 'hi'. I think the song is just about getting sick of someone who is petty and shallow, etc. The singer is tired of putting up with her, and is putting his foot down. |
|
| Mew – Silas the Magic Car Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I agree with JonOwen. From the first time I heard this I thought it was a cry out to their lost bandmember. This was originally because I mistakenly thought that Silas was the one who left, though now I realise he is the drummer. Anyway, I think my mistake was coincidently correct, it is about Johan. I think JonOwen is absolutely correct about the cry out and it's place on the album as a whole - that maybe they are tired of their status, and maybe envious of Johan's new, settled life. Whether or not they are truly saying that they would rather settle down like Johan and "get out somehow", or just saying that they miss their old friend, I think the song essentially boils down to the latter - it's about missing someone who you used to share a life with. The song is specifically about Johan, but the feeling is the one of missing someone who has left you. |
|
| Belle & Sebastian – I Don't Love Anyone Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I've always thought of the narrator as a young-ish person, maybe early 20s, who had a rough childhood ("one that that I learnt when I was still a child it's to take a hiding"), and probably had few friends ("... when I was still at school it's to be alone"). This has led him to put up this loving no-one front as a sort of defence against the world, to protect himself from people, because abused children can develop problems with being loved and accepting people, and to justify his loneliness. I think it's actually a very sad song, despite the upbeat music. I like iamanartbitch's idea though, and the story about the 80s band loner is probably true, so its probably about that. |
|
| Toots And The Maytals – 54-46 That's My Number Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| It's fixed now | |
| Sparklehorse – Ghost of His Smile Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I get the feeling this song is about someone who has commited suicide, and the 'I' in the song regrets not seeing the signs, and can't help feeling like they should have been able to help. "I can't forget the ghost of his smile" to me says that maybe the person seemed happy, but wasn't really, and there's a sort of guilt for not seeing through the ghost of a smile, like the 'I' is blaming himself. "We thought he was doing alright" again says how he didn't realise the smile wasn't genuine. The last verse, "hell it's a hard world for little things", makes me think of a suicide victim aswell. |
|
| Toots And The Maytals – 54-46 That's My Number Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
These are the lyrics for 54-46 Was My Number, not That's My Number. For the meaning, MastaKilla is right, though he maintains that it was a set up. |
|
| Toots And The Maytals – Sweet And Dandy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
scrappy123, I think you're wrong about the family's skepticism. It's about the nerves of Johnson and Ettie before their wedding: She is crying and he is fretting in their rooms. Their families are reassuring them. Ettie is being calmed by her mother, and being told by her father that she mustn't act foolish, as if she's never been to school. The first verse is about Ettie, not Johnson, and she has been to school, but her father is saying she is acting as if she hasn't. Johnson is told by his uncle to hold up his head, and his aunty is saying he can't act foolish as if it's not his wedding day. The guests are dressed up and waiting to celebrate, and in the end everything is sweet and dandy. |
|
| Beirut – The Penalty Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
This song always gives me the feeling that it's about finding religion, maybe converting to something against the parent's wishes - "I could not stay for I believed them, left for the lights always in season", "our parents rue the day the find us kneeling". I don't know, the line "light always in season" always felt sort of religious to me (strange as I'm a staunch atheist) and I kind of built that meaning from there, but reading the leaving home thing sounds more likely and probably fits better. Anyway, beautiful song. I bought a cheap uke just to learn Beirut songs, like this and Postcards from Italy. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.