| Neutral Milk Hotel – Song Against Sex Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| In Buddhism, there is a famous teaching called the Fire Sermon. "The message of this sermon is that if anyone's senses are ruled by greed, hatred and delusion, all his perceptions will kindle, because they arouse further desires and aversions in him: for him the world is on fire." I think the fire is more metaphorical in this song, except maybe in the third verse, when it seems like it might be literal. | |
| The Mountain Goats – You or Your Memory Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I always interpreted this song as after his stepfather's death. It's the day before the funeral and he checks into a cheap hotel back in California. He gets the St. Joseph's Baby aspirin (mentioned in "Collapsing Stars") and Bartles & Jaymes (maybe something his alcohoicl stepfather drank?) because they remind him of the past. He's kind of torturing himself that way. It's just him, these "supplies" and the memories of his stepfather in this crappy hotel room. The second part of this song is about looking at himself and vowing not to turn into his stepfather. If he can get through his tough time, if he can dredge up all of the bad memories one last time, he'll mend his ways. I always compared that "Song for Dennis Brown." It's almost a framing device for the rest of the songs. Notice how it's the first song on both "The Sunset Tree" and "Come, come to the Sunset Tree." He's taking us through the rest of his memories on the eve of his stepfather's funeral. |
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| The Mountain Goats – Home Again Garden Grove Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I agree with the "busting out of the hospital idea." I also think they're getting high again: "The warm love of God coursing through you." | |
| The Mountain Goats – Dance Music Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I always thought the "special secret sickness" was that his female friend was getting abused at home as well. She turns to booze and drugs and sex for the release and John follows her. And I think when the police come to get him, he's about to commit suicide. | |
| The Mountain Goats – Source Decay Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I couldn't tell you why, but I always thought the "train headed south outta bangkok down towards the water" had crashed and someone important to the narrator and his friend died. Even after all of these years, the friend still feels like the narrator is holding something back, but he's sending the postcards "where as indirectly as you can / you ask what i remember." This is a sore spot for the two of them, maybe even what drove them apart: "i like these tourture devices /from my old best friend." This also relates to the lines "I can tell you what I know / like I swore I always would / i don't think it's going to do you any good"; the narrator has gone over his a thousand times and nothing new is going to come up. It seems like both are haunted by whatever happened and can't let it go. One stays in a single place and the other roams the world, both they're both dealing with the pain of the past. |
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| Soul Coughing – Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Um....I don't think Lysergian has it. This song was way before 9/11. | |
| Soul Coughing – City Of Motors Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Manuela is a psychic detective, who is helping the cops find a car murderer.....who ends up being murder by one of the cars he stole. Simple. | |
| Mike Doughty – Sweet Lord in Heaven Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Another song about heroin. It's "Cobain's sarcoma" (tumor, in other words) that's got him hooked. I can't really tell if the religious stuff is serious or ironic. When he was with Soul Coughing, a lot of the lyrics mentioned the devil. Now he mentions God quite a bit. At any rate, these are some of the greatest lyrics ever: "who has built these shells that our spirits knock inside and weep for their release in the onrush of the tide of the lord's great seas that will boil when he returns to pluck us off the face of this sad and dirty world" |
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| Mike Doughty – Ossining Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Well, Mike had a heroin problem, which is known as "mud." To me, it seems like the song is about being addicted to heroin for a long time: "Ten thousand days and a night spelunking." He quits because he doesn't want to "Kill my years in the lightning round." If Ossining is the home of Sing-sing, maybe he doesn't want to go to jail because of heroin? Maybe he'd rather go to jail then die of an overdose. And the very last line could refer to drugs in a plain film canister. |
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