| Bob Dylan – High Water (For Charley Patton) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| No, in both cases it's a reference to the 1936 Robert Johnson blues song of the same name. | |
| Bob Dylan – High Water (For Charley Patton) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song is incredible, tied with "Mississippi" for the best song on "Love and Theft," and one of the best Bob's ever written. Anyway, the reason the song is titled "High Water (For Charley Patton)" is because the chorus, "high water everywhere," refers to the song of the same name by early Delta Blues musician Charley Patton. There are several other references to old Blues musicians and songs scattered throughout the album, including the line "I believe I'll dust my broom," a reference to the legendary Robert Johnson. It's quite genius how Bob uses these to create vivid images in the listener's head, and turn the song into something entirely new. As pointed out before, the "high water" is not a literal flood, but rather represents increasing trouble. It reminds me quite a bit of "Desolation Row," which featured a lot of metaphorical imagery and references to classic literature and culture. The verse featuring Charles Darwin in particular is similar to many of the lines in that song. In this case, the "Englishman, Italian, and the Jew" are warned not to "open their minds to any conceivable point of view." In other words, they should blindly accept what they are told without questioning it and opening the door to other possibilities. Charles Darwin was infamous in his day for questioning things and changing the idea of what we previously believed to be fact. This is why the "Judge" wants him dead or alive - he doesn't like change and will do anything it takes to stop it, even at the expense of the truth. Every verse in this song is filled with similar metaphors and strokes of genius, and I could spend hours writing an essay analyzing it, but you'd be better off just listening to it and enjoying it for yourself. I remember first hearing it, along with the rest of the album, with high expectations following the brilliant "Time Out of Mind," released four years later. This is the moment where I realized that album was no fluke. Bob was back, and I'm happy to say that, at the age of 70, he's as brilliant as he ever was. | |
| Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Greatest song ever written. Period. | |
| The Velvet Underground – Sister Ray Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| "Aw, you shouldn't do that. Don't you know you'll stain the carpet?" is one of the greatest lines ever. As for the song, let's just say that the VU invented about a hundred new genres and inspired about a thousand new bands in one 17-minute session. Adjectives do not describe this "song." The only fitting description for it is pure, unadulterated rock 'n' roll. It represents everything the Velvets were all about and how groundbreaking they were. Remember, kids, just don't play it around your mother, or when you want to keep people hanging around at a party. Other than that, have fun. | |
| The Velvet Underground – I'm Set Free Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The line "I saw my head laughing, rolling on the ground" always reminds me of the infamous "pencil factory" scene from David Lynch's film "Eraserhead." As a result, this song kind of creeps me out, despite the beauty of the music. In fact, I get an Eraserhead-ish vibe from the entire album, at least in the original "closet mix." It's a great album for listening to late at night. | |
| The Rolling Stones – Under My Thumb Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Oh, sweet Jesus. I thought this would be the ONE song where no one on this site would be utterly retarded enough to actually think it was about drugs. But nope, you just had to go and completely destroy your credibility. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again - NOT EVERY SONG IS ABOUT DRUGS. What does that say about you if you think every single damn song ever written is about drugs? Is that all you have the capability to think about? For the love of God, grow a brain and pluck an original thought from it. | |
| Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| That was one of the best analyses I've ever seen on this site! Incredible work, and an enjoyable read. Thanks a lot. | |
| Bob Dylan – I'm Not There Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| NINE COMMENTS?????!!!! Really?! This is the single best song Dylan ever wrote. I know that's a pretty massive claim, but none of the others move me this much. The only songs that come close are "Simple Twist of Fate" and "Blind Willie McTell." I cannot believe it took until 2007 before this song was finally officially released on the soundtrack to the film of the same time. The fans had been enjoying on the bootleg "A Tree With Roots" for some time, but this song really needed a wider audience, as evidenced by the pitiful number of comments. | |
| Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Page's best guitar solo here. Earth shattering. | |
| Pixies – Velouria Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Drugs? What a load of bull. Black Francis didn't even do any drugs, except for the occasional joint. Why can't people seem to accept that not every song ever written is about drugs? Jesus, I just don't get it. | |
| The Smiths – Suffer Little Children Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| A haunting, depressing song. Perhaps the bleakest The Smiths ever recorded. That doesn't mean it's not great, it just means it's not exactly a delight to listen to the same way some of their more upbeat singles are. None of them are exactly upbeat actually, so what does that say about this song? It's a downer even for The Smiths. Nonetheless, it's a very moving, if creepy, song about true events, which makes it all the creepier. Not to mention the crying at the end. I'm shuttering just thinking about it. Certainly one of the more powerful songs this band ever recorded, for better or for worse. | |
| The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Thank you! I'm sick of everybody insisting that every song written by a gay singer is about sexuality. That's total nonsense. Morrissey isn't even openly gay. OK, he probably is, but still, that doesn't mean that's the only subject he could write about. And even if this song does appear to be about homosexuality, that doesn't mean there can't be other meanings. I wish people would open their minds a little. | |
| The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I just thought of this song as being about forbidden love, not necessarily about homosexuality. Yeah, that's one interpretation and it certainly makes sense, but that doesn't have to be it. Regardless, the song is great. The first single from The Smiths and it remains one of their best. | |
| The Smiths – Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| You people are reading into this way too much. It's clearly just a little joke song about fat chicks and/or breast size. I thought the lyrics were pretty funny when I first heard it. I think the fact that this closes "The Queen Is Dead" rather than its "proper" ending, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," is an example of Morrissey's sense of humor. The music is pretty good however. Kind of catchy, nice "jangly" guitar from Johnny Marr. | |
| The Smiths – This Charming Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I generally prefer the versions of early Smiths songs on "Hatful of Hollow" to their single/album counterpart, but this is one instance where it's not so set in stone. "This Charming Man" is one of the greatest singles of the 80's, and while I love the "Hollow" version, it just has a completely different vibe than the single version. I especially prefer the guitar on the single version. The intro guitar solo is completely absent on "Hollow," though I like the acoustic guitars and Morrissey's vocal. It's a tough call. I think I'll give the edge to the single version, simply because I heard it first and it feels more "right" to me. Both are essential, however. As for the lyrics, they're pretty self-explanatory. Sure, there are some homosexual undertones, as with many of Morrissey's lyrics, but that doesn't harm my enjoyment of this song in any way as a heterosexual male. It's all about interpretation and how you can apply a song to your own experience. I just think it's a great song. | |
| The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make? Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I don't care what this is about, it has one of the greatest riffs ever and is a generally awesome song. Interestingly enough, I think Morrissey once said he doesn't like this one very much. Whatever, it's one of my favorites anyway. Oh, and the "Hatful of Hollow" version DESTROYS the regular album/single version. There's so much more energy in that version. "Hollow" may be a compilation, but I think it's The Smiths' second-best album, after "The Queen Is Dead." It's way better than the self-titled debut, anyway. | |
| Nirvana – Dumb Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This is a very depressing song, obviously especially so in light of what happened to Kurt. In fact, the whole "In Utero" album can be a bit much for me at times, almost unlistenable. I feel like a sadist for taking joy in someone else's deep pain, even if it is an 18-year old recording. It kind of reminds me of something Bob Dylan said about his own "Blood On the Tracks" album - “A lot of people tell me they enjoy that album. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I mean, you know, people enjoying that type of pain, you know?” I think if Kurt were still around today, he'd say pretty much the same thing about "In Utero," except that pain obviously ran much deeper. | |
| Pixies – Bailey's Walk Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Nice observation, muchthanmore. The vocal style definitely sounds like what Kurt would be singing a couple years later. It's certainly one of Black Francis's more powerful performances, and I think it might be my favorite "Doolittle" B-side, at least up there with "Into the White" and the "UK Surf Mix" of "Wave of Mutilation." Man, those singles had some great B-sides on them. Only Bob Dylan could throw away songs this good without hurting his albums. I've always wondered what "Doolittle" would've been like if if included these outtakes. It was a pretty short album, so there was certainly enough room for them. I wonder what compelled the band to toss them aside. In any case, it's the greatest album ever recorded (IMO, of course) with or without them. | |
| Pixies – Oh My Golly! Lyrics | 13 years ago |
|
Here's the lyrics according to Google Translate. Probably not entirely as intended, but I don't speak Spanish so this is the best that I've got: "Dentro las piones y las olas riquenas" - "In the pion and the rich waves" "Caminamos bajo la luna caribe" - "Caribbean moonlight walk" "Besando, chichando con Surfer Rosa" - "Kissing, fucking with Surfer Rosa" "Huesped de su manera" - "Host your way" "Yo soy playero pero no hay playa" - "But I'm no beach beach" "Bien perdido por la Surfer Rosa" - "Well no lost by Surfer Rosa" "La vida total es un porqueria, porqueria" - "Total life is a shit, shit" "Hecho de menos mas que vida" - "I miss more than life" Some of these don't make much sense, but since they seem to be direct translations, they probably don't sound that way when spoken in Spanish. Re-arranging some of the words in the more confusing lines results in a more coherent, fluent lyric, by Pixies standards at least. |
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| Pixies – River Euphrates Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The re-recorded version used as a B-side for the "Gigantic" single is even better than the album version. There's a lot more guitar, which is totally insane, and Black Francis' (I refuse to call him Frank Black) screams are even more harrowing. You can get it nowadays on the "Complete B-sides" CD, which is a must-have. | |
| Pixies – Cactus Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The guy in this song is a paranoid creeper, not unlike many of Black Francis' characters. He isn't convinced the person he's corresponding with is actually who he thinks it is ("a letter in your writing doesn't mean you're not dead"), so for proof she's still alive, he asks her to "bloody your hands on a cactus tree, wipe it on your dress and send it to me." Pretty straightforward, and a great example of the Pixies' lyrical style. | |
| Pixies – Dead Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| He's saying "Uriah hit the crapper?" Are you serious?????!!!!! And all these years, I thought he was saying "You are a hypocrite, oh!" I guess it make's more sense with the song's meaning, though. Still... | |
| Pixies – Ana Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Bossanova is underrated, very underrated. It's still not as good as "Surfer Rosa" or "Doolittle," but it's one hell of an album. I'm not sure why it always gets overlooked. It's certainly the band's most musically diverse album. | |
| Pixies – Debaser Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Just watched "Un chien andalou" on YouTube. It makes Eraserhead look like a Disney movie. No joke. That was some seriously weird stuff right there. | |
| Pixies – Brick Is Red Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I always thought it was "the gray color of life," not "the frayed color of ice." I like my interpretation better. A lot better. | |
| Pixies – Down To The Well Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I think he was saying Radiohead ripped off the Pixies, not the other way around. If he was saying it the other way around, than he was seriously mistaken. Not only did the Bossanova version come out two years before "Creep" and Pablo Honey, but this is one of the Pixies' earliest songs, recorded during their initial "Come On Pilgrim" sessions and performed live since the beginning. | |
| Bob Dylan – Love Sick Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| "Blood On the Tracks" is definitely my favorite Dylan album, probably in my top five of all-time, and a desert island pick, but "Time Out of Mind" comes in at a close second. The atmosphere the album creates is just incredible. This song hits me every time. The music is just so cool, and I can relate to the lyrics. Even as an old guy, Bob still rocks. | |
| Pixies – There Goes My Gun Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I could SWEAR he says "You whoe!" Plus, it would work with the rest of the lyrics. I always figured it was a relatively simple song about a guy who goes into a jealous rage after finding his woman in bed with another guy, and then shoots both of them - there goes my gun. "Look at me," "Friend or foe," all of the lyrics work with this interpretation. | |
| Pixies – No. 13 Baby Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Whatever it's about, I think that this is the Pixies' greatest song, and that's saying a lot when talking about a band whose other works include "Debaser," "Hey," "Gouge Away," "Where Is My Mind?," etc. The outro alone is insane and totally hypnotic. Every time I hear it, I just want it to go on forever. The "I'm in a state" part is fantastic as well. | |
| Pixies – La La Love You Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yes! I agree completely with evilsocks. Morrissey was the first thing I thought of when I first listened to this song. I think David Lovering (Pixies' drummer who sings lead on this song) sounds exactly like him. I thought I was the only one. | |
| Pixies – Mr. Grieves Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This song is incredibly good. It represents everything that made the Pixies great in two minutes. On my first of what would become thousands of listens to Doolittle, this song was the one that stood out to me the most. | |
| R.E.M. – Good Advices Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I think the opening line - "When you greet a stranger, look at his shoes. Put your money in your shoes, put your trouble behind." - is one of the best lyrics not only on this album, not only by R.E.M., but ever written. The whole song is haunting yet strangely beautiful, along with many of the other tracks on this album. I think of it as the real conclusion to the Fables album, with "Wendell Gee" being the epilogue. What a great, great song. I wish R.E.M. still wrote songs this good. They'll never be able to top their peak again, and as far as songwriting goes, Fables was their peak. That being said, I still think Murmur was their best overall, but my favorite changes constantly. I love early R.E.M. The R.E.M. that existed between the years of 1980 and 1987 was the best band ever, in my opinion. Suck it, Beatles. | |
| R.E.M. – (Don't Go Back To) Rockville Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| If I see another comment on an R.E.M. song about Stipe's supposed homosexuality (the man's not even gay, but bisexual), I am going to get seriously pissed off. First of all, why is it that people assume that every song written by an LGBT songwriter is about being LGBT? Is every song written by a straight songwriter about being straight? The correct answer is "no." You are being totally ignorant. Why don't you actually listen to the songs and pretend that Stipe is straight or, closer to R.E.M.'s actual songmeanings, asexual? Would you reach the same conclusions? Of course not. Listen to R.E.M. without thinking of sexuality as a factor. Very few of their songs deal with "conventional" lyrical topics such as love and sexuality. If they did, they wouldn't be R.E.M., would they? They weren't exactly a conventional band. Second of all, this song was not even written by Stipe. Anyone with even a remote interest in R.E.M. knows that. It was written by bassist Mike Mills in an effort to get his then-girlfriend (yes, GIRLfriend) to stay with him in Athens and not go back to her old town where her parents lived and wanted her to return to, Rockville, Maryland. The girl's name was Ingrid Schorr, and you can read her story here: http://www.webcitation.org/5k5EkfKI6. Also, this was one of R.E.M.'s earliest songs, written in and performed as far back as 1980. | |
| R.E.M. – Life And How To Live It Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Trivia: Stipe's introduction was common for live performances of this song during the 80s. Of course, he always changed it up a little, but he still told the same basic story. Some variation of it is on most of the bootlegs from this period I have. One interesting exception is a bootleg I have of the 1985-10-28 London show, where a clearly exasperated Stipe begins the introduction by saying "I'll tell you a story. How many of you have heard the story before?" The audience responds in various ways, mostly "no." Stipe replies, "How do you know?" He then pauses and says "Alright, forget it" and the band immediately kicks into the song, no further introduction. | |
| R.E.M. – So. Central Rain Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The meaning of this song is pretty clear to me, at least in comparison with other early R.E.M. songs. Stipe is awaiting a call from his lover (the "girl without a dream"), who he is separated from at the moment. The long distance or some other factor seems to have put a strain on the relationship, and when he doesn't get the call he was expecting, he assumes he has been snubbed and is left to contemplate what went wrong, believing himself to be responsible, hence the whole "I'm sorry" chorus. In a nice twist of dramatic irony, however, the real reason Stipe didn't get the call is simply because the phone lines in the (South Central?) area where his girlfriend was were down due to a rainstorm, unknown to Stipe. It's a rather simplistic storyline in comparison to many more incoherent R.E.M. songs, but it is still very effective. Out of the countless songs I've heard which use "I'm sorry" as a chorus or recurring lyric, this one is my favorite. | |
| R.E.M. – Seven Chinese Brothers Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Yeah, I heard that before (Stipe breaking up the couple), and since then the song's meaning has become somewhat more clear, but not by much. I think Stipe was simply using this as the basis for the song, and the song's imagery itself stems from the original idea in a stream-of-conscious sort of way. The "swallowing the ocean" part and the title were dead giveaways that this song is Stipe connecting the story of the Five Chinese Brothers to his situation, for whatever reason. I agree with the idea of him representing the selfish boy in this analogy. It would make the most sense. As for "South Central Rain" being about the same thing, I don't recall reading that in the interview, and I have a very different interpretation of that song's lyrics. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty positive that one has a completely different meaning. I can't see how the lyrics would make much sense with that interpretation at all. | |
| R.E.M. – Little America Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I was never lucky enough to see R.E.M. live back in the day, but I've heard/seen a number of bootleg shows from this period, and I can honestly say that their 1984 "Little America" tour in support of Reckoning generated some of the greatest live bootlegs in my collection. I could never imagine having to play over 200 shows a year, much less being able to do so while all the while retaining my enthusiasm for the songs and my ability to play them as well as R.E.M. did. That fact alone shows that R.E.M. truly was one of the greatest live bands to ever play during their prime. The shows included with the deluxe editions of Murmur and Reckoning are only the tip of the iceberg. This band was something truly special. | |
| R.E.M. – Driver 8 Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I have no idea where all the rambling conspiracy theories above come from, but you're clearly overthinking things. It is true, however, that this is one of R.E.M.'s darker songs, along with much of the Fables album, which is a criminally underrated masterpiece, by the way. I feel that R.E.M.'s strongest, most haunting, detailed and atmospheric songs are present on this album. It is a true Southern Gothic masterpiece, that paints some of the most vivid portraits in my head of any music. The songs are all connected with similar themes and musical styles as well, to the point of being just short of a concept album. The most brilliant part is that the music fits perfectly with the lyrics. I'm not sure whether it's my favorite of theirs, however, as you have to be in a certain mood to truly appreciate it, whereas you can enjoy stuff like "Murmur" and "Lifes Rich Pageant" at any time, anywhere. Anyway, I always envisioned this song as being about a train conductor whose life is basically going from one destination to another, with a break in between every now and then, but he never truly reaches his destination. His life is like an endless train ride to nowhere. Naturally, a life like that can get lonely and depressing at times, and the music and Stipe's imagery in the lyrics portray this perfectly. The music only gets darker as it goes along. I absolutely love that moment during the "Way to shield the hated heat" bridge where the harmonica comes in. It's so hauntingly beautiful. Then there's that riff - wow. There's no question that Fables was Peter Buck's finest hour as a guitarist. At least, it has his greatest and most memorable riffs of any album. This song and "Life and How to Live It" have particularly outstanding riffs. Songs like these remind me just why Buck is one of the most underrated guitarists of all-time. He may not be technically brilliant, but he sure knows how to get a mood across. This goes without even mentioning the solo he plays in live renditions of "Country Feedback." If anything could convince me that guitars feel emotion, it's that. Back on topic, Stipe's voice kills throughout the whole song as well. Fables was the first album where you could actually understand over 50% of the lyrics, though Stipe was still employing his trademark "murmur" style vocals. He wouldn't drop that until the next album, Lifes Rich Pageant. On this song in particular, you can hear Stipe's voice come alive, as he switches from slurring off "destination" at the end of the chorus to muttering "But we're still aways away" to unleashing his full potential during the incredible bridge. Mike Mills' haunting background vocals are amazing as always, providing a perfect counterpoint to Stipe's lead. The unfairly overlooked rhythm section of Mills and Bill Berry is rocking on this song as well, backing up Buck's riffs and Stipe's vocals flawlessly. In short, this is the quintessential R.E.M. song, and an alternative rock standard. It is the one that provides the most perfect examples of what made this band so great during their 80's IRS years. It is also the one I play to any of the uninitiated who are unaware of how brilliant a band R.E.M. were back in the day. It converts most of those poor souls only aware of "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts" (or worse, "Stand" and "Shiny Happy People") immediately, and leaves them hungry for more. I point them first to the classic compilation album "Eponymous," and if they like that, I next point them to the IRS albums (including Chronic Town) in order of release. I envy the musical joys they have left for them waiting to be discovered. It makes me remember the days when I heard these songs for the first time, and how absolutely blown away I was. Nothing was ever the same for me, musically. This band was my gateway to a world of musical magic just waiting for me to find it. It started with The Velvet Underground, whom R.E.M. covered several songs by, and I haven't looked back since. If you have only a casual or passing interest and R.E.M. and have found yourself stumbling upon this page for some reason, I strongly encourage you to not stop here. Don't just download this song on iTunes or whatever and be done with it. You will regret if you do, as you have no idea just what you're missing out on. | |
| R.E.M. – Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| People always talk about how Stipe's lyrics are indecipherable on Chronic Town due to the mumbling vocals, but I can actually understand the lyrics on this album more than I can on Murmur, with the exception of "Gardening at Night," where I can pretty much only understand the title. It was always really fun to play these songs over and over again to try and figure out the lyrics for yourself before these lyric sites came along and you could see other's interpretations. I was surprised about how different some of them are from my own. This one, however, is exactly the same as how I always heard it. Anyway, I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the band said this song is inspired by the famous train scene from the movie "The Elephant Man," which makes sense considering it was a recent film at the time, but I have trouble relating it to the lyrics. I guess that's the beauty of early R.E.M. Everyone can have their own interpretation that might be completely different from the original intended meaning, but it doesn't really matter. The important part is the music. What makes the lyrics so effective are Stipe's voice and enunciation. It doesn't matter if he's just making random vowel noises or if he's singing liner notes from a gospel album to the tune of "Seven Chinese Brothers" (see "Voice of Harold"), it's the emotion he puts into it that counts. Combine that with Peter Buck's jangly guitar, Bill Berry's kick drum and Mike Mills' thumping bass lines, and you get the classic R.E.M. 80's sound that was so awesome and loved by so many. It's too bad they sound so different now. It's like a totally different band. | |
| R.E.M. – Shaking Through Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| If you have the Murmur deluxe edition and/or a bootleg (I have a great one called "Rising") of the Larry's Hideaway, Toronto show from July 9, 1983, you can hear the audience chanting for the band to play this song towards the end of the concert, when they are trying to get the band back onstage for an encore after they concluded "Radio Free Europe." Stipe remarks, "Wow, that's pretty effective," before shouting back "No!" in response to the audience's continued shouts of "Shaking Through." The band then continues by breaking into "We Walk" before finishing with a killer double encore of "1,000,000" and "Carnival of Sorts." They leave without playing "Shaking Through," despite the audience's continued pleas/demands for them to play it. This little bit of trivia really has nothing to do with the meaning of the song, but it does show the contrast between the band's opinion of the song and the fans' opinions. The song was a fan favorite, but it's obvious the band didn't like it very much, or they at least didn't like playing it, as I have tons of bootleg shows from this period and I don't think "Shaking Through" is on a single one of them. It's a shame, too, as it really is a great song. Then again, everything on Murmur is. It's pretty much the only album I can think of, and certainly the only debut album I can think of, which is absolutely perfect as is. By that I mean that it is completely, totally flawless. There isn't a single thing I would change about it. It will go down in history as a timeless musical masterpiece, and will be remembered as one of the greatest albums of all-time, a pinnacle of twentieth century music. | |
| R.E.M. – Sitting Still Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| All I can make out for near-certain is "I can hear you," but I'm not even sure about that, and I've been listening to this song/album for years. The rest of it is "unintelligible at any speed." I'll give you credit for trying, however. | |
| R.E.M. – 9-9 Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Well, you tried. | |
| Bob Dylan – Simple Twist of Fate Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| God, I'm sick of everybody turning every song on this site into a song about either being gay or drugs. THIS SONG HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOMOSEXUALITY. GET OVER IT. | |
| Neil Young – Powderfinger Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| This song is definitely about war, and it seems like an anti-war song to me. Considering the Vietnam war had been over for several years before this was recorded, I don't think it's about Vietnam. It could be, but I don't think it's really supposed to matter who the people on the boat really are or what the war in question is. To the young narrator, the point is that the people on the white boat are the enemy, coming to take over the town he has been left with the task of defending while his elders are away, probably fighting the same enemy as the people on the boat. I think the line "red means run son, numbers add up to nothin'" means that in battle, it's best not to think and instead just let your instincts take over, which is what he does when he hears the enemy on the boat fire the first shot. The next line, "Raised my rifle to my eye, never stopped to wonder why" is evidence of this. The "never stopped to wonder why" part means that, looking back, the narrator wonders why he raised the rifle in the first place, what the whole point of the war was, and who he was fighting and why, but in the heat of the moment, he didn't stop to think about these things, and instead only thought about his task - to defeat the enemy. The next line is rather cryptic - "Then I saw black and my face splashed in the sky." It's not made clear whether his own gun backfired, killing him, or whether he was shot by the enemy. I think it was the former given the title - the powder being the gun powder and the finger being his own finger on the trigger of the gun that killed him. Either way, the narrator is killed, and the last verse seems to be sung from beyond the grave or are the narrator's dying last words. This is the verse where the anti-war stuff comes in, previously hinted at by the "never stopped to wonder why" line. The line "cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger" seems to be saying how pointless his death was and how he wanted it to be remembered as such, the "thought that pulled the trigger" being his own mistake of raising his rifle that led to his death. The next line, "Think of me as one you never figured to fade away so young" only backs this up, with the narrator further describing his death as one of many pointless casualties of war that robbed himself and others like him of the chance to live their lives. Neil uses this and the last line, "Remember me to my love, I know I'll miss her" as the song's general anti-war metaphor. Of course, I may be completely wrong about this, but I think it's more straightforward than many Neil songs and I'm pretty sure I'm at least on the right track. In any case, the song is brilliant, the guitar is brilliant, and "Rust Never Sleeps" and "Live Rust" are brilliant. If you don't have those two albums already, I strongly encourage you to get them! They both have the same live take of this song on them, and are both surrounded by equally brilliant material. | |
| Neil Young – Down By The River Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I used to think this song was just about a deranged killer who lured a girl down to the river and shot her, but I only really paid attention to the lyrics of the chorus, too absorbed in the incredible music to focus on the lyrical meaning. After reading some of these comments, however, the horse interpretation makes more sense with the lines "You could be taking me for a ride" and "She could drag me over the rainbow." It could still be about a woman, of course. Maybe it's about both. That's the brilliance of Neil's lyrics. He sucks you into a song and everyone can develop their own interpretation, to the point where the original intended meaning of the songs almost becomes irrelevant, because it now means something different to everybody, including Neil himself. In any case, this is the only song I can think of, other than perhaps Neil's own "Cowgirl In the Sand" from the same album, that's over 9 minutes in length and doesn't drag for even the slightest second. Those awesome instrumental interlude freakouts are what made Crazy Horse so great. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is one of the greatest albums of all-time, by the way. | |
| Neil Young – The Needle And The Damage Done Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I'm not sure whether you're a miserably failing troll who's trying to be funny, or if you're actually serious. Either way, you just won the prize for the single most retarded comment I've ever seen on this site, and I have seen more retarded comments on this site than it's humanly possible to count. That's all I'm going to say. | |
| Neil Young – Southern Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I don't think the meaning of this song could be any more clear to anyone with even a small understanding of American history and society. It's about racism and the unjust way African-Americans were treated in the Southern U.S. for many years going back to slavery, and are still today. Yes, it's true that not everyone in the South is racist and there are plenty of racist people elsewhere, but it's undeniable that the majority of prejudice, oppression and segregation towards African-Americans took place in the Southern U.S. from Reconstruction through the 20th Century. The song bears many references to this fact. The references to cotton, mansions, shacks and bullwhips all, of course, refer to slavery. "Now your crosses are burning fast" is a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, a group of radical southern white supremacists who dressed up in white cloaks and went on "night rides" to hunt, lynch and oppress African-Americans and other minorities. One of the hallmarks and symbols of the KKK was to set crosses on fire during these "night rides." The line "Don't forget what your good book says" calls the mostly-Christian South out on their hypocrisy based on the supposedly loving, peaceful nature of their religion. The final verse, "Lily Belle, your hair is golden brown. I've seen your black man comin' 'round. Swear by God I'm gonna cut him down!" is sung from the perspective of one of these ignorant southerners who, on discovering a white woman's affair with a black man, vows to kill him. Sadly enough, this is what actually happened in such a situation for a very long time, and probably still happens in some areas of the South. | |
| Pavement – Unseen Power of the Picket Fence Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I think it's interesting that my favorite Pavement song is about another band, R.E.M. By the way, "Time after Time" is NOT my least favorite song. | |
| Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| DYLAN IS NOT A CHRISTIAN. He has no "relationship" with Jesus/God either, if you want to put it that way. He was born Jewish, and wrote a few gospel albums for a brief period in the late 70's when he was convinced he was "born again," but then went back to recording mainstream albums in the 80's and hasn't looked back. Recently, he has said something to the effect of "music is my only god." I can't believe all these religious people are trying to turn all of his songs, even those written well after his born again period, into religious songs. This is a love song, plain and simple, and one of his finest. It's not written about Jesus or from Jesus's point of view. Bob Dylan is not Bono, he's Bob Dylan. Get over it. | |
| Pixies – Wave of Mutilation Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I thought this song was about trying to separate yourself from the rest of the world around you, to the point where you're practically dead to everybody else but yourself. I also prefer the "UK Surf" version, it fits the feel of the song better. | |
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