| Minor Threat – Salad Days Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I have loved this song since it came out and was fortunate enough to see Minor Threat in Charlotte, NC in 1982 or early 1983. I think this song is Ian's lament about the decline of his interest in hardcore music, the hardcore scene in general and his band Minor Threat. He relates the beginning of Minor Threat and the hardcore movement to early childhood with the lyrics "Wishing for the day when I first wore this suit" (meaning a birthday suit as a baby or the beginnings of the band, when everything was fresh and new and fun). He points out that as things have progressed it is not as much fun anymore "Baby has grown older, it's no longer cute." "But I stay on, I stay on/Where do I get off?/On to greener pastures/The core has gotten soft" Ian relates the hardcore scene to a Merry Go Round or some sort of ride going around and around, saying that although it has gotten old for him, he is still on the ride. He wonders where and when he should exit the genre and go on to something else. "The core has gotten soft" is a play on words, suggesting that what was tight is no longer tight, or what was fun is no longer fun, or what was pure is no longer pure. That's his analysis of what hardcore has become. "Look at us today/We've gotten soft and fat/Waiting for the moment/ It's just no coming back" He is telling the hardore audience, his band and others to just look at ourselves, what have we become? It used to be great fun, but now it is not. The soft and fat is another reference to hardcore become less "hardcore". He says everyone is waiting for things to be like they used to be, but just as CBGB's in 1977 can never be repeated, the origins of hardcore and Minor Threat cannot be repeated. The great "salad days" of 1980 are just not coming back. "So serious/About the stuff we lack/Dwell upon our memories/But there are no facts" Don't really know what this verse might mean. Anyway, I think this song is Ian's homage to what happens in almost every instance where something new comes along. You see it in almost every Behind The Music on VH1. Things are great in the beginning, then people get successful and the original band/scene/person changes, and finally they look back on what used to be, what might have been, and what will never be the same. This takes on even more meaning as Ian was writing this as he was preparing to exit Minor Threat. This was recorded in December 1983 and the band had played their last show that September. Just my opinion, no inside facts to back it up. Thanks for reading. RLJ |
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| Frank Black – I Heard Ramona Sing Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| This is indeed a Ramones tribute, and I heard it straight from Frank Black's mouth. I was having dinner with him in 1993 as part of a promotional tour he was doing for his first solo album. He told me that "I Heard Ramona Sing" was about his fondness for the Ramones growing up. He also said his sugestion that they "pull another Menudo" is not a reference to the Ramones changing band members so often, as was suggested in another post, but was him hoping that the Ramones as a bnad would never end and that, like Menudo, when someone got too old to be in the band, they be replaced a new member. Theoretically Joey would be replaced with a new Joey, Johnny with a new Johnny, and so on. Sadly, that was not the case and was not practical either. I saw Frank again in 1994 in Texas when he was touring in support of the Ramones. In 1993 I had given him his own personally autographed Ramones photo, and I knew he was a big fan so he was obviously happy to be around the Ramones. He invited me on his tour bus and gave me an advanced copy of Teenager of the Year. I saw him a few times after that, and was always impressed with him and his love of the Ramones. | |
| Pearl Jam – Just Breathe Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Ok, here is what I think "Just Breathe" is about. I was very good friends with guitarist Johnny Ramone who died of prostate cancer in 2004. I was at some of the concerts when the Ramones opened for Pearl Jam in 1995 in New Orleans and San Diego and saw the friendship between Eddie and John start and blossom. I have hung out with Eddie (one of the nicest people you will EVER meet) several times in the late 90's, the last was at Johnny Ramone's 50th Birthday Party in Los Angeles in 1998. Johnny used to tell me that Eddie Vedder was his best friend and that they spoke on the phone every day. Eddie used to fly to LA often to stay with Johnny at his house there. They were the best of friends. When Johnny died it was horrible for me and I'm sure it was horrible for all his friends. Prostate cancer is such a sad way for someone to die. I was watching Saturday Night Live a few years ago when Pearl Jam was on, and they performed this song. I turned to my wife and said "This song is about Johnny." I think it is about Eddie and Johnny sitting there in Johnny's living room, knowing Johnny is going to die, and Eddie saying we don't have to talk, let's just breathe together while you can. To go into more detail about the lyrics, here's how I think they fit. "Yes I understand that every life must end" Eddie knows John is going to pass away. "As we sit alone I know someday we must go" They are sitting in Johnny's living room contemplating his passing. "Oh I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love" Johnny and Eddie were best friends, but this friendship did not start until 1995. He is telling John he is lucky to have him as a friend, AND telling himself that although he is being robbed of decades of friendship with Johnny, he needs to be thankful for the time he has had. "Never gonna let me win" Johnny was very competitive and he and Eddie used to play games together, like a baseball board game. Spending a lot of time with Johnny I know he loved to play games AND win at them. "Under everything just another human being" Johnny could have a tough exterior and got some bad coverage in the press for being a dictator in the band. The truth is that Johnny Ramone was one of the nicest human beings I have ever known, and he was never anything but completely kind to me. Eddie is saying, under the celebrity or the rough exterior, John is just another human being suffering as humans do. It is hard for me to think of John as anything but an Immortal, but he was not. "Did I say that I need you?" Johnny did not always express his feelings, but Eddie did, with hugs and kind gestures among other things. Sometimes it was hard for me to tell Johnny that I cared about him, that's something that guys don't usually do. They show it in actions. Eddie is saying that he wants to say it, and if he doesn't then he is missing the opportunity. "Everything you gave and nothing you would take" Johnny was a very giving person to his friends. He gave me many gifts over the years. Eddie is very generous too. But I think this refers to the friendship and the advice that Johnny gave to Eddie. Johnny was a VERY wise person who always knew what to do. He gave me great advice over the years, and I know that Eddie asked his advice on several subjects, like whether to release that "Last Kiss" song. The rest of Pearl Jam didn't want to release it, but Eddie did. Johnny told him to force the issue and release it. John was giving of his time and wisdom to Eddie, but maybe didn't want Eddie to give him expensive gifts in return. I think John was like a father figure to Eddie, which was double imporant because of Eddie's childhood. "Meet you on the other side" Eddie is saying goodbye to his best friend. Now I have no second source to back up my interpretation. It is just my interpretation knowing Eddie's friendship with Johnny Ramone, the way Eddie is and Johnny was, and the timing of Johnny's death. |
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