| Alice in Chains – Get Born Again Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I don't understand why there's this huge argument over whether it's about religion or his girlfriend or his dad or his drug addiction. Is it totally inconceivable that it could be about all of these things and many others all at the same time? I think it's doing the man something of a disservice to assume that he was incapabe of being multilayered in his song writing. | |
| Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| The song is sort of an indirect narrative of a French horror film called "Les Yeux Sans Visage," which of course means "Eyes Without A Face." In this film, a young girl's face is left horribly scarred by a car accident and her father, a surgeon, abducts other young girls and attempts to graft their skin onto his daughter's face. She wears a mask that reveals only her eyes (hence the title) and her father gradually goes insane. For a better summary of the parallels between the film and the song, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/board/nest/16815533 | |
| Gary Numan – Down In The Park Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This song is also at least somewhat inspired by a William S. Burroughs short story called "Astronaut's Return." It's basically impossible to describe what the story is actually "about" since it has nothing resembling structure, but the relevant text reads: "Ugly snarl behind the white lies and excuses. [...] DEATH DEATH DEATH So many you can't remember The boy who used to whistle? Car accident or was it the war? Which war? The boy's room is quite empty now. Do you begin to see there is no face there in the tarnished mirror?" The change spenny69 referred to ("face" becomes "race") might be significant since the Burroughs story is at times an intense whine about the perceived evils of the white race. |
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| Death in June – Daedalus Rising Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| This song is about how everything is transitory and the structuring of lines like "has gone, goes, and will go" or "of snow, of dew, and of smoke" reflects that. The truly underlying point seems to be that there's no point in mourning the dead since it's a "natural part of life" and it happens to everyone eventually. In that respect, I think it's actually a pretty happy song in that it doesn't encourage people to mope around and feel sorry for themselves. | |
| Death in June – Behind The Rose (Fields Of Rape) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| This is actually a reworking of a Current 93 song that is called "Falling Back Into Fields of Rape." The only thing the two have in common, however, would seem to be the lyrics. The Current 93 version is, if I remember correctly, entirely percussion and vocals and it's actually quite grating on the ears. The point of that song is to draw parallels between war and rape. I suppose the allegory extends to this version as well, though much less obviously. | |
| Joy Division – Warsaw Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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"Can anyone tell me what the significance of the numbers is?" 350125 was Rudolf Hess's Prisoner of War serial number after he made his bizarre parachuting adventure into Scotland in the early 1940s. I'm not exactly sure what Rudolf Hess has to do with Warsaw (since as far as I know, he never even set foot in the place), but based on the presence of the numbers, I would say that the song itself refers to Rudolf Hess's admiration/emulation of Adolf Hitler -- his boss and onetime cellmate in the prison they were sent to after the aborted Beer Hall Putsch in the 20s -- and how his increasing dissatisfaction with Hitler's statesmanship and his prosecution of World War II eventually led him to flee the country and attempt to end the war on his own terms without even consulting his superior officer(s). Needless to say, that didn't work out so well for him. |
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| Burzum – Det Som En Gang Var Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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In English: WHAT ONCE WAS We stared through the bushes At the ones who reminded us of another time And it was said that hope was gone Forever... We heard the elvensong and the trickling water What once was is now gone All the blood... All that longing and grief that reigned And the feelings we could touch Are gone... Forever... We are not dead. We were never alive. If you are familiar with Varg Vikernes's worldview, it should be apparent what this song is about. If not, it refers to his belief that the best days of the Germanic peoples are behind them, and that all the things which made them great have been forgotten and can never be recaptured. This is more or less the whole "concept" of the 'Hvis Lyset Tar Oss' album, of which this track is the first. |
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| Burzum – En Ring Til Aa Herske Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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An approximate English translation: ONE RING TO RULE In a dark forest with cold lakes Where the master of the world's Fire does not go In the darkest and greatest Of nights and times. And they came together As the house of the dead. The sons of time's power The sons of the invincible suns. We stand in the black circle. The title is obviously a reference to "Lord Of The Rings," of which Varg Vikernes is a self-proclaimed fan. He draws parallels between Sauron and Wotan, and the song is more or less about the latter's ring known as Draupnir and its relation to the Germanic race (the third-to-last and second-to-last lines specifically). This is per Vikernes, mind you. |
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