submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Democracy Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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I dislike the song, but I am mightily impressed by the spoken word version. The only reason I can see that he made a commercial video and studio production of the spoken word version is that it clarifies the meaning better when it is spoken - and what it speaks of is MENACE. I think democracy, real democracy, is potentially very dangerous. It could destroy the world economy, leaving millions to die; it could mean draconian laws, religious and cultural persecution. To assume the majority is kind spirited and generous to others unlike themselves is a folly. |
submissions
| Fleetwood Mac – Never Going Back Again Lyrics
| 7 years ago
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I have an interpretation of the opening verse as a whole.
she broke down and let me in/made me see where I've been/been down one time, two time/I'm never going back again.
They broke up, or had a moment when it seemed they were breaking up, and "she broke down and let him in" - became truly honest about who she is - her faults, fears, dreams, etc. This made him able to see "where he's been" - his part, and what he wanted. BUT he's done this with her "two times" now, and he's "never going back again." Her temporary glimpses of her transparent honesty isn't enough. |
submissions
| Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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It's the last line that I'm interested in. After all the lyrics about always moving on, being a rolling stone, one morning he wakes up and he's going home. I think he's talking about dying, the only way "the rolling stone" can go home. |
submissions
| Iggy Pop – The Passenger Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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I thought this song was about being a junky bum, a freeloader on some level. I don't mean a disparaging sense - the song seems to suggest this is a fine thing to be. It probably addresses all the squatting punks and hippies of the time. I think the Camus, existential idea also seems very valid. It seems an optimistic song, but the way Iggy performs it, both vocally and bodily, suggest a world of sarcasm. |
submissions
| Neil Young – Ambulance Blues Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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RE "You're all just pissin in the wind.' That particular chorus and the harmonica that follows it seems to exist out of time - it is a timeless moment in music, I believe, and there's not many of those in history. I think this is because there are several things going on at the same time. The words, while very negative and perhaps bitter, are also very funny, but when the harmonica kicks in, the meaning turns terribly sad, a kind of resignation. Everyone has their own take, but to me it's a kind of lament, a soothing kind of grief. I picture someone by turns laughing and crying at their own time passing, and the time of their generation. |
submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Avalanche Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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For me, the final words throw any idea of understanding this song out the window: "It is your turn beloved/it is your flesh that I wear." Up until this point, we seem to be encouraged to look at this song as metaphorical, but this seems to have only one possible understanding, and that is the literal one. I noticed that most people avoided commenting on this last line, and the ones that did seemed to offer weak comments in general. I think this is deliberately done to frustrate any sense of understanding. It seems to me that Cohen likes to do this for some reason, as he seems to do so do varying degrees in many of his songs. But few more than this number. |
submissions
| Australian Crawl – Reckless Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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As a poet and writer myself, I never cease to be amazed at how much power can be invested in simple cliche images and ideas when used in a different context. Nick cave takes biblical stories we all know and compares them to being in love. Aussie Crawl do the same here with Australian stories. I think the way the Manly Ferry "CUTS" it's way to Circular Key is very moving, but the line "Burke and Wills and Camels/Initials in the tree" is a knockout. It's not poetic, it's not original, but by applying that story to how lost he feels, we are at that lonely, haunted tree with him. |
submissions
| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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"You are my center as I spin away" is one of Thom Yorke's greatest lines. In poetry, it is well known that each phrase should do double-duty. What I mean by this is that each phrase should have several layers of meaning, all relating to each other. This gives a deeper meaning with fewer words. "You are my center as I spin away" tells us, in so very few words, the relationship between two people. It says, "You are my centering force, you exist at the still center of who I am - but I am a spinner (slang term for a crazy person), flying away from my own center." But this phrase is also tied to the laws of physics (centrifugal force), and this give the words a sense of fate. No-one can win against the laws of physics. I think it is one of the most romantic and doomed lines that I have ever heard. |
submissions
| Roxy Music – More Than This Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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These lyrics borrow stylistically from the great 19th century poets of Great Britain. This also fits with Bryan Ferry and Roxy's aesthetics of empire at this time. In particular, I always think of the landmark modernist poem, "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold (1867) when I hear this, and wonder if it was inspired in part by it. In the poem the newlyweds stay at Dover, and it sounds beautiful and serene at first, but in the night the poet hears the "dull grating roar" of pebbles picked up by the sea and hurled against the stony shore. He uses the ocean metaphorically for (as he saw it) the slow receeding of faith and goodwill in the modern world. The poem ends with startling, deeply felt despair:
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Or as Roxy put it
Like a dream in the night
who can say where we're going
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
why the sea on the tide
has no way of turning
More than this, there is nothing
Tell me me one thing more than this |
submissions
| Bob Seger – Still The Same Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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This song has such a soulful, wistful potency that it is hard to believe that it can be about anything less than an ex-lover, whom the singer is addressing. Maybe she was someone that he loved from the safe distance of "friendship," as he watched her play the field. That's always sure to get you singing the blues. LOL!
Great songs can rarely be understood by looking at the lyrics in isolation from the music. This piece is a great example - the music creates the tone for the lyrics. The lyrics on their own might be said by someone who is resentful, or just laughing at someone who is a fool. But the music is so very sad that the lyrics take on a sense of wistfulness, and unresolved feelings of what must be love. |
submissions
| Cold Chisel – Forever Now Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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I was about 12 when this song came out, and even then the title of this song, "Forever Now" seemed to me to be the idea of a moment lasting forever. It made the song confusing to me, but I think it does make sense. Turning points in our life - walking away from a lover, from a life we have always lived, or when love was first pledged - a part of us is left there, we live it over and over. In a way, that moment exists for us "forever." As a result, I think it's not just a sad song, it's also heart-warming. We may forever be leavbing that lover, but we always will exist in that moment of falling in love too. Forever Now. Somewhere in eternity we are lovers forever. |
submissions
| Cold Chisel – Forever Now Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[louichan:4334] I agree completely. This is a transcendent song, and the whole band is playing to each others' strengths. Their rock and roll stuff really doesn't hold a candle to this one. |
submissions
| Australian Crawl – Errol Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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There is a sort of half-verse missing here, where James Reyne simply chants,
"Don't tell me it's true - I don't want to hear about it."
I always assumed this to be a reference to rape allegations that were made against him, especially as the song mention him going to Sirocco, where the allegations of rape were made. In other words, the singer wants to believe in Errol as a casanova-type hero, not a rapist. |
submissions
| The Cranberries – Linger Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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There is a real synergy in this piece, from the voice to the music, to the lyrics and the video. Take away one, and something is lost. The song is certainly personal, yet it goes beyond itself and becomes archetypal - womankind to mankind. The video shows what I presume to be the rest of the band (all males, in any case) watching some classic old lecherous film (it looks like Bettie Paige to me). But of course it is universal ultimately: I may be male, but I've been cheated on and been unable to leave. I was such a fool for her. I know I'm not alone; this song makes people feel less alone. Like good art should. |
submissions
| Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade of Pale Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I think it is a tripper who can't write lyrics very well trying to get over "the vibe of the thing" with limited success. Lol! In the psychedelic era, the trend was to try to go beyond the logical. He might have wanted to get across a drunken one night stand, but in the end I think his lyrics probably only make sense to him, something that happens with unskilled poets |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – I'm Set Free Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Without a doubt this is a spiritual song, from the title to the music itself, and lines such as "let me tell you people/what I found" - the archetypal Mohammed descending from the mountain with the word.
"I've been set free and/I've been bound" is probably about the feeling of being released from a relationship, and yet still being bound to the person. This, as a spiritual principle, is called "non-duality," where two opposites coesisit at the same time. In this case, bondage and freedom exist simultaneously. |
submissions
| The Velvet Underground – Black Angel's Death Song Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Lou Reed used various "random" methods of creativity at this stage of his career. I know that on occasions they would roll a dice to decide certain aspects of the music - I can't categorically say which songs or parts, but the solo of "I heard her call my name" would have to be random. He was also a big fan of Burroughs, who invented the "cut-up method" of writing - just writing pages of words and then rearranging them randomly. Themes still emerge, and to some extent the artist usually exercises some control over the arrangement. Even with a cut up method, this piece still seems to exude a mood, much as a good painting will speak to you. |
submissions
| Seekers – What Have They Done to the Rain Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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This is one of the saddest songs i ever did hear, written by Malvina Reynolds, but covered widely and a hit in the 60's. It's about the radioactive rain caused by nuclear testing at the time. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Diamond Joe Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I think this might be very old. In any case, I know about it from another Woody Guthrie disciple, Ramblin Jack Elliott, circa 1962. So its certainly not a new Dylan song. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Diamond Joe Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I think this might be very old. In any case, I know about it from another Woody Guthrie disciple, Ramblin Jack Elliott, circa 1962. So its certainly not a new Dylan song. |
submissions
| Talk Talk – It's My Life Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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"One half won't do" speaks to the incomplete people we are when disconnected from the natural world. Because in nature we find a reflection of our own true nature. Many religions (the Taoists, for example) consider nature God's calling card, the place to seek our purpose in life, to find ourselves, and to find inner peace. |
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| Talk Talk – It's My Life Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I think it is a spiritual song. The chorus "I convince myself it's my life' implies that it is not really our life. It suggests that it is a kind of denial to say it is our life. We are connected to all life, all living things are our kin, and we responsible to each other, to all living things. It is OUR life. It's also a call to action: "I'd tell myself, what good do you do? Commit yourself!" |
submissions
| Woody Guthrie – The 1913 Massacre Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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It's a very sad song. Generally woody's voice kind of annoys me a little, but this song is so strong it shines through. Nothing is as gutting as a bleak folk song. I just read up on the "Italian Hall Massacre" of 1913. Woody tweaked the facts - perhaps for the sake of rhyme, or for effect. As it turns out, 59 children died and 14 adults, for the total of 73. |
submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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The final line is a double entendre, or a phrase that has two meanings, one of a sexual nature. These final words are spoken by Nancy herself.
"You hear her talking freely then: She's happy that you've come, she's happy that you've come..."
I think this simple little line makes this a great song. He (or whoever "you" refers to) lies there, thinking of the sex they had, and her saying: "I'm happy that you've come," when presumably she didn't. But as they are lying there, they are also inevitably thinking of her, and what happened - they are visiting her in their mind, and as the lonely spirit that she was, she says from the past "I'm happy you are thinking of me."
This is a tragicomic twist, a sad, muted, sexual pun. Her repeated last words echo through you like a chant. I still hear Nancy saying those words, it haunts me as it does the men in the song. |
submissions
| Radiohead – How to Disappear Completely Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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When I listen to this song I always think of the disassociatiation caused by some kind of major trauma. It feels like Thom climbing out of the air-crash, the car crash, and standing there looking back at himself, saying, "That's not me." I mention the air-crash because it feels very much in the mould of OK Computer, and he may well be talking about the persona he created with OK Computer, when he looks back and says "That's not me." |
submissions
| Cold Chisel – Forever Now Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Apparently the drummer, who couldn't play an instrument at all and had never written any songs for the band, hummed it to the rest of the guys. One night around that time, he was in a drunken state, and he told (the main songwriter) Don Walker that the song was meant to have multiple levels of meanings, but Don said it was never very clear to him what these levels were meant to be. Lol!
But I always thought that this song had at least two levels of meaning: a spiritual interpretation of love, and the simple love of two people for each other in the mundane world that we know. The spiritual interpretation is the one that breaks my heart: the moment of our greatest feelings of love lasting eternally in that moment, "forever now."
And who are these two people? They are the archetypal He and She, they are all of us. The song addresses all humanity and eternity, and this is what makes it, in my mind, a classic love song. |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Northern Sky Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I think there is another, hidden meaning beneath this song. The northern lights are indeed a beautiful way to express the feeling of love (lighting the horizon in a rainbow of colours). But when does one see the northern lights? When it is dark, very dark. Perhaps when the sun barely rises at all. Also, the landscape is frozen and lifeless. It is cold. This is Nick Drake's landscape. I think there is a world of personal misery beneath this song. The line, "never seen a magic crazy as this," has an hallucinatory, slightly sinister quality to me. Yes, it is beautiful, but somehow dangerously mesmerising as well. |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Northern Sky Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Its his lispy, vulnerable voice. Yes, it seems that Nick drake was the first (known) male artist to do embrace his feminine side in a vocal sense. The guess it makes sense that the new romantics and goths re-discovered him |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Know Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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This also speaks the spiritual conundrum of "duality". You know that I love you/You know I don't care. How can these opposites co-exist in the one truth? But if you believe in one great universal truth, divinity or "God," these opposites must become unified. Life and death become one, love and indifference become one. I believe Drake was exploring the eastern spiritual principle of "Non-duality," or oneness - a principle I have painfully struggled painfully with myself for many years. |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Know Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I think this song is about God. "You know that I love you/You know I don't care." God loves us, but for all practical intents and purposes, God doesn't care. "You know that I see you/You know I'm not there." God sees right into our souls, sees us completely, yet to all human concerns, you may as well say that god doesn't exist. He is invisible and silent and uncaring. I think even the spareness of the music reflects this sense of aloneness in a deafeningly silent universe. |
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