| Okkervil River – So Come Back, I Am Waiting Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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To me, this song is about a drug addiction and the seduction that leads someone to keep coming back. I always thought it was about heroin, and the Hardin story just backs that up. The really great thing about Sheff's lyrics is that they are usually ambiguous enough that you could take it as a romantic song, in some places. Writing like that is difficult enough, but Sheff does it with style and talent. Let me start off by saying that I think that 'black sheep boy' is what Sheff is using to represent heroin, and probably a person as well, giving me the feeling that he's saying "after a while, the addiction becomes us." To me, the drug itself is sentient in this song, given feelings and a thought process. "A black sheep boy revolves over canyons and waterfalls. A black sheep boy dissolves in syringe or in shower stall." Saying that for the addicted, his/her substance is everywhere to them, that they can't escape it. Here is where it's most obviously about heroin, "dissolves in a syringe." The shower stall line made me imagine someone having a break down, alone in a shower. "He says “There’s plenty of time to make you mine tonight, there’s plenty of time to make you mine.”" There's plenty of time to have you come back to your addiction. You may think you're cured, but I know you'll come back. I just have to keep luring you slowly. "He says “There’s plenty of ways to know you’re not dying, all right. Hell, there’s plenty of light still left in your eyes.”" It's almost like a reassurance: "Don't worry, it won't kill you. One little taste isn't going to hurt you." "A black sheep boy grows horns," This makes me think that his addiction is getting older, that the subject of the song has been using for some time. "breathing smoke through his microphone. The airwaves stretch and they groan, bleeding, birthing his black diapason." This also gives clue to the song possibly being about Tim Hardin, who was a folk singer. A diapason is the full range of musical tones. For anyone who's not musically inclined...that's a WHOLE lot. So maybe the airwaves stretch and groan because the music he's making feels too big to him. "Says “There’s plenty of things to wear when you come to me, every color of sleeve to be rolled." An image of someone rolling up their sleeve to shoot up and back to the seduction thing. "Millions of rolling eyes that still cling to me. Every language of king is concerned." Again, this makes me think of how Hardin was prone to stage fright. The idea of everyone in the audience staring at you, expecting you to entertain them is so daunting. "So why did you bawl from the spell of some old holy song some liar laughed as he composed, some liar I loved to control?” I really don't know what the first half is about. Maybe Hardin covered a hymn? I'm not sure, but the second part strikes me as the user composing themselves to face everyone, laughing like nothing is wrong even though the heroin is controlling them. "A black sheep boy dissolves in hot cream, in sweet moans, in each dead bed and empty home, in each seething bacterium." Again with the 'black sheep boy' being the heroin rather than the user, bringing a release (sweet moans.) The user uses it everywhere, at home and in bed, and it's in his body now. "Killing softly and serial, he lifts his head, handsome, horned, magisterial. He's the smell of the moonlight wisteria." The drug is alluring, an authority figure, ruling his life. "He’s the thrill of the abecedarian." Abecedarian means a novice, or someone just learning something. So to the user, the drug is helping him learn, leading him through life, like a teacher. "See the muddy hoofprints where he carried you?" Hoofprints maybe means track marks? That's what I think, anyway, and the 'where he carried you' part means how the addiction is carrying him through life. "And there’s plenty of ways to claim his crimes tonight, and there’s plenty of things to do on his dime." There are plenty of things you can blame on the addiction. "And there’s plenty of ways to wear his hide tonight, you’ve got yours, I’ve got mine. You’ve got yours, I’ve got mine." The user is using the drug now not just to get high, but as a way to shield himself against the world and he's saying that everyone has vices, masks they wear to protect themselves. "So why did you flee? Don’t you know you can’t leave his control only call all his wild works your own?" It's the drug saying "Why'd you even bother trying to quit? You know you can't. You know that you're at your best when you're high." "So come back and we’ll take them all on." Come back and use again, and we'll take on the world. "So come back to your life on the lam." Come back to the life where you're running from your problems. "So come back to your old black sheep man." Come back to the addiction you know so well. That part of the song led me to the seduction theme. "Says “I'm waiting on hoof and on hand. I'm waiting, all hated and damned." I'm waiting for you to relapse, to come back to this hated drug. "I'm waiting, I snort and I stamp." The drug and the control it wields is impatient, but still knows that the user will come back no matter what. "I'm waiting, you know that I am, calmly waiting to make you my lamb”" The user knows that it's only a matter of time before he succumbs to the drug again. And that's what I think. Hahaha. I really wish I hadn't picked this song apart because it's so wonderful, but I really couldn't help myself. |
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| Blitzen Trapper – Sci-Fi Kid Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure the lyrics are: "Sugar's got a space ship running on empty rifts Moving lovers, undercover, just like I said In a phantom world spinning out of time We're just the sci-fi kids making dirty rhymes I never really saw myself as a the running kind I'm just a digital brat with an insect mind I'm just a sci-fi kid like you, yeah I'm just a sci-fi kid like you, yeah yeah I'm just a sci-fi kid like you, baby yeah I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, yeah yeah Sugar's got a space ship tripping over dusty stars Keen cars, living large, playing big guitars Hackin' in, making holes, and it's not so hard It’s just a extra pot in a kid like me Me Sci-fi kid like me I'm just a sci-fi kid like you, yeah yeah I'm just a sci-fi kid like you, yeah yeah I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, yeah yeah I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, yeah yeah I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, baby yeah, uh uh I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, baby yeah, uh uh I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, baby yeah, uh uh I'm just a science-fiction kid like you, baby yeah, uh uh uh uh, oh oh I'm just a science-fiction kid like you" Note that I said PRETTY sure, because I can't quite understand what he's saying past "Hackin' in, making holes, ..." So it could be hot, it could be hard, I have no idea. Anyway, the song makes me think of "Ender's Game" as I think seemssogreen mentioned, but also sounds like a song about living in the digital age. Either way, it's fantastic. |
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| Band of Horses – No One's Gonna Love You Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| It's always struck me as someone saying that despite the fact that things are falling apart, they're going to love you anyway. | |
| Deadsy – Itty Bitty Titty Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I agree demonlillith. It's always come off as a reference to Lolita for me. | |
| Something Corporate – Konstantine Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| ? Right that was pointless...It's not what the song is about, it's what YOU think it's about. If I said it was about Andrew getting drunk, putting underwear on his dog, and watching it stand outside in a patch of four leaf clover, you couldn't contradict me because...it's what I think. Yeah, this site is about what you think of the song, but please don't bitch about people blabbering about the song, when you do the same thing. yeah...anyway...What it MEANS to me is a confusing relationship between a guy and a girl...and usually I'm really detailed about what I think of songs, but I can't think anymore...but it's a beautiful song. | |
| Boys Night Out – Hold On Tightly, Let Go Lightly Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Whoops...in the last part of that I screwed up....."show how they weren't meant for each..." is meant to be "to show how they WERE meant for each other" sorry! | |
| Boys Night Out – Hold On Tightly, Let Go Lightly Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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It's about someone who loves another person, let's say a guy to a girl to make it easier...break down: When you're left with only a bullet, I'll bring the trigger and a promise to pull it. I'll be the end of everyone who's ever entered your life and taken pieces out of it. ~~Everything is breaking in her life and he'll be the thing to make it come back together, like the trigger to her gun and in another sense he'll do what a gun is supposed to do and destroy her pain and all of the people who cause it or make her forget it~~ I'll give you enough time to regain your composure... to reconstruct a heart that's torn apart from over-exposure. I know forever isn't long enough to forget the faces and places that played out your tragedy. ~~He knows it's a lot of pain for her to just drop so he's going to step back and let her ease back into having love in her life and while he knows that forever may not be long enough to forget everything everyone has ever done to her he hopes she'll not hold on to those pains and not allow him to show her real love because he knows he can~~ Our memory defeats us all. I've touched the stagnant water and muddy walls of the trench where you've been sleeping, and there's nothing there worth keeping or believing. ~~Her memory is what is keeping her from letting him in...she's holding on to her past and in that, not allowing him in. Stagnant water will make you sick and mud's just nasty and a trench is usually associated with loneyness and just being unwanted and that's where she's been and he doesn't want her to hold on to that. He wants her to let go of it and see him as a new prospect because "there's nothing there worth keeping..."~~ So, on the eve of the attack, we'll finger-trace the targets on their backs and open fire. Just hold on until they're gone. ~~He's going to be with her no matter what even if he has to make her past go away. In a metaphoric sense of course...anyway, he's using a "battle" type scene to emphasize his point because a battle is the most outright way to destroy something bad. They're going to hold on to each other until it's better for her (that's the only part i'm unclear about)~~ So, with this kiss, I promise to never forget what you did for me. I felt the sun on my face for the first time, and tasted blood on my tongue for the last. ~~In helping her, he helped himself forget the pain of his past. it's used to show how they weren't meant for each other. The sun represents hope and new life and it's a first for him while the blood represents the pain and despair of his past. They've created a new beginning for each other. This song can be used for friendship or a lover or anything. That's why I love it so much. I'm going to see them the day after thanksgiving with Emery (another great band) yay! Hope this helped..feel free to disagree...i like it better when that happens |
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