| Janelle Monáe – Faster Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I love the odd melange of the upbeat tune and desperate lyrics. I mean, "You hide your chainsaw deep in kisses"? Terribly violent imagery! Yet I always nod along and dance to it. There's something about loving something that you know is wrong and bad for you. Maybe that's why the song is so danceable? It just gives an example of feeling something you know you logically shouldn't? | |
| Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This kind of makes me think of mistaken first impressions (Ã la Pride and Prejudice), with the beginning of "you seem markedly more/and I'm oozing surprise" that makes her "suddenly shy". As for the fruit, peaches and plums are both stone fruit, which Newsom references to in "Only Skin" (with the "smell of a stone fruit being cut and being opened"), so there could be some personal metaphor there. As for the pear, nothing jumps out at me, except perhaps that they are in a store whilst speaking. so maybe they're at the grocer's? | |
| Joanna Newsom – Go Long Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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When I first heard this song, I was struck by the references to Bluebeard -and consequently, his wife, who found the bodies of his previous wives in a locked room he forbade her from entering. There is a Scheherezade and Esther-like feel to it as well, with the presentation of the speaker as an offering to the palace; contrary to these women, however, there is a sense of doom to her purpose. S and E were the saving graces of their respective spouses, with their bravery ultimately changing their kings for the better. Our heroine seems to know it will be fruitless, saying "do you think you can just stop, when you're ready for a change?" and pointing out that, even though they "both want the very same thing" (i.e. her to change/save him), it's not going to happen as he won't even acknowledge his faults (or "own [his] own violence") or be able to change. The violence in the lyrics is only really ever hinted at, which makes it all the more powerful. His jaws, fists and guitars, the fact that she is carried on the bodies of the women before her, the gilded teeth of the women who loved him (and I actually thought it said "gilded by the bodies of the women that loved you"), that her ankles are wrapped in gauze, that they are both sinking to "rest" in the sand, all of this just suggests violence or its threat. He seems to be ignorant of the pain he causes, indicated by "Do you know why my ankles are bound by gauze?" The very last verse, with its change in tense from "you" to "he" takes the listener back from an introspective dream/confession into the realm of narrative. It kind of makes me feel like a voyeur, or like she was getting so into her story that she looked up, saw me listening to her, remembered where she was, and had to change from showing too much and so turned it into a fable. This step back from the intimate "you and me" style makes it seem like an accidental slip, like she didn't mean to share so much. Also, when she says she hopes he will learn about loving "and letting go" makes the song seem to go from how she's been hurt into how he hurts. It explains in a way why he metaphorically murders the women who love him by the fact that he cannot let go, and so forces them to leave through violence and death. |
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| Richard & Linda Thompson – When I Get To The Border Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The first several times I heard this song, I thought it said "When I get to the bar" and I loved the idea of a non-rowdy bar song, but it changed when I learned the title! It really makes sense with the switch here: If you see a box of pine With a name that looks like mine Just say I drowned in a barrel of wine When I got to the bar[sic.] |
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| Richard & Linda Thompson – The Little Begger Girl Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I love this song! With its music and rhythm, it's definitely reminiscent of a traditional folk song (Irish, I'm presuming), and the words "gent" and "thee" support this. I love the line "I'll dance with my peg leg a-wiggling at the knee" because it's just so whimsical. In a modern context, it's rather like the next song on the album (I want to see the bright lights...): "At the end of the Rainbow" with its general pessimism and disdain for the wealthy. I love the teasing nature as she goes from calling him "a gent such as thee" to "a snob like you" without breaking her stride! | |
| Richard & Linda Thompson – The End Of The Rainbow Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Wow. What a pessimist! Although, I think this might have been written just to make the listener try to disagree. I don't think it's trying to actually convince anyone that life sucks (much less an infant), but it cuts to the quick in a way that makes one rather defensive. | |
| Olivia Ruiz – Les Crepés Aux Champignons Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This is such a catchy tune, which belies the lyrics remarkably. I think this is from the perspective of a mother who refuses to believe that her young son is dead. She doesn't remember him leaving, she just knew he was no longer there one day, and starts starving herself: "Je me laisse mourir de faim" as she cries out the window to him to come back to the house, promising she will make him a crêpe aux champignons (his favourite food, perhaps?) and no longer touch a poignard. This is an old-fashioned rapier-like blade, and this could be the method by which he died? The bridge shows that she has spent 606 days crying out of her window for him to come back, giving the same two promises again and again, and that the neighbors have spent that same time-span telling her to be quiet, that she is crazy, and that it was she who killed him. She doesn't believe them, and continues to believe he will come back. This could be some other person, I guessed that the person in question is young, because in the midst of promising to make him some crêpes, and not touching a sword, she promises to do his homework for him "Promis, je ferai tous tes devoirs" |
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| Sufjan Stevens – No Man's Land Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I agree that this is a great song, better than many that actually made it onto Illinoise, but as far as the album as a whole, it doesn't quite flow as well with the other songs. I was just trying to wonder where you'd put it, and it doesn't really fit in between any of the songs. | |
| Simon and Garfunkel – Mrs. Robinson Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I agree with the rehab/institution theory. I think that verse "Hide it in a hiding place... from the kids" is in reference to her psychiatric medication and the stigma attached to mental disorders. | |
| The Kooks – Naive Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I don't think it's about a cheating girlfriend. I think it's about a friend who is a girl that he has feelings for who is in a relationship with a bad (violent or threatening) guy. He's calling her naive because she refused to accept that her boy is bad news, until he finally beat (or otherwise hurt) her. When he keeps talking about her face: How could this be done Your such a smiling sweetheart Oh and your sweet and pretty face In such an ugly way he's talking about it being bruised and hurt. In the beginning, when he says, "I'm not saying it was your fault although you could've done more" he's letting her know that it's not her fault her boyfriend beat her. He changes his mind a little bit during the song though, as he decries her naivete and remembers that he warned her about this guy, so he says, "I may say t was your fault, because I know you could've done more" like break up with him earlier. In the end, when he says "Just don't let me down" and "hold on to your kite", I think he's telling her not to let him (the kite) down by going back to this abusive guy when he's been working to make her better. Just a thought. |
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| The Cranberries – The Icicle Melts Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I don't think the 9 months is so random. I'm inclined to agree with tunes that it's about the James Bulger case, or another similar case. I think the fact that it says a child was "taken away" implies something other than abortion. And "9 months is too long" to carry a child to not bond with him. And the fact that a mother's child will always be her child, no matter how old he is. | |
| Rilo Kiley – Ripchord Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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That was one of the first things that made me question the Elliott Smith idea. I really love that the first three verses are written in the voice of the suicide victim/friend. It's like Lewis and the band really didn't sugar-coat the situation. The third verse, They should have seen you Should have known you Should have known What it was like to be you is so full of bitterness and sarcasm that it really seems harsh. Especially with the whinging sort of tone Lewis affects while she sings it. It's very resentful towards either the victim (Smith or otherwise) or towards suicide as a theme. It's a very heartbreaking song. |
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| of Montreal – Let's Go for a Walk (Coquelicot Leaves the Frozen Island to Resume Her Work as an Efeblum with Claude and Lecithin in Tow) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I love the last line, because he just can't actually say goodbye. He's been trying to say goodbye the whole sing, but then decides not to, with, "That is, unless you'd like to come too." It's so hopeful, but also kind of sad. | |
| of Montreal – Requiem for O.M.M.2 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Cool! Thanks! | |
| Camille – Pâle Septembre Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Another meaning of "Je t'aime toujours" is "I still love you". Toujours can be used a few different ways. I think "I love you forever" is a bit more romantic, but "I still love you" would be more grammatically correct. If she said, "Je t'aimerais toujours" (which is, admittedly, a mouthful) or "I will love you forever" it wold be a bit clearer. Beautiful song! |
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| Ben Folds – Cologne Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think the countdown applies to both stories. I thought of the astronaut as well. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Emily Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I agree that the switching of the definitions is not an accident, and this is supported in the line, "Though there is nothing would help me come to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning". She of explains there that nothing will help her understand the stars or space like her sister does. |
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