| Smog – Bloodflow Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| If anyone makes a double dutch routine to this song, please post the video here. | |
| Pavement – Zurich Is Stained Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Malkmus is a troll. Long live The Jicks! | |
| Bon Iver – Minnesota, WI Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Never one for literal interpretations, and these songs certainly don't lend themselves to them, but I feel like the genesis of this song comes from his days on the high school football field. | |
| Bill Callahan – Baby's Breath Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Not to mention: Gypsophila paniculata has become an invasive species in parts of North America. |
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| Bill Callahan – Baby's Breath Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"How could I run without losing anything? How could I run without becoming lean?" Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle and Have One On Me paint a sort of picture of Callahan/Newsom split to me. And this here seems like an aftermath, particularly "It was agreed, it was me tearing out the baby's breath." Seems to be accepting full responsibility for the literal or metaphorical abortion chronicled in Joanna's "Baby Birch." But also they all point to this notion that Bill had to leave and move on, like a shark that must keep moving to stay alive. But he's a human, how could he stay in motion without losing something precious or becoming "malnourished" of the basic human needs satisfied by familial or romantic love. |
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| Dinosaur Jr. – Tarpit Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I believe it's "stay and pave my fate." And I think it's generally about J's inability to open up/relate to/get close to other people, but there seems to be someone he trusts enough to help him work things out, cos he probably won't do it on his own. |
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| Broken Social Scene – Highway Slipper Jam Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| So mellow. So zen. | |
| Vampire Weekend – Horchata Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| The taste of horchata conjures up places and things from his past, but ultimately memories of these things are only longings for a time that just can't be brought back. | |
| Vampire Weekend – I Think Ur a Contra Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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"I think you're a contra." It's an association with an idea that he doesn't really understand. As if to say 'You feel like this thing, even though this thing is a bigger, more vague idea than I really can fully comprehend.' And whatever images this conjures up in his head, whether he can see or understand them clearly. The same way the taste of a horchata recalls something to him that he can't quite put his finger on, and that's ok. |
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| Guided by Voices – Back To The Lake Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Now, just because Bob's lyrics are overly cryptic or esoteric, doesn't mean their just nonsense. The guys written thousands of songs, he's got a muse. The twisted, perverted narratives give the band their quirk. The clues are here for a kind of sequel to A Salty Salute. Perhaps this is the same "lake." "The bus will get you there yet To carry us to the lake The club is open." Here it seems like a more personal call, to one individual who has fallen out with Bob and his drinking buddies. It could be a girl or just a friend that Bob pissed off in his drunkenness. |
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| Guided by Voices – Club Molluska Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Molluscs are described as a highly diverse group, in size, in anatomical structure, in behaviour and in habitat. I think this is another reference to the "freak generation" that Bob sings about in Pendulum. This wild-eyed girl, this concrete boy, they're signs of, and characters in, the runaway world we're living in. Love it or hate it; Bob certainly romanticizes it. | |
| The Flaming Lips – Christmas at the Zoo Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The animals aren't content to be let free. They've got to do it themselves. They want a victory for animals everywhere, at the risk of their own freedom. | |
| The National – Abel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song likens its narrator to Cain; a strong metphor, so that he "is" Cain. But Matt Berninger is only as pure evil as he thinks himself. Which we come to find out over the course of a few albums is a lot. The brother, "Abel," is the voice of reason. And Matt/Cain pleads him to give him the keys, so he can cut loose and destroy shit: people, windows, hearts. He's missing something. This has a double meaning: the part of his brain that makes him sane; and something's absent in his life that he feels (self) destruction will heal. |
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| The National – Blank Slate Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I also think the line in the first verse is "Bees flew out and they flew up their skirts" Once he's fallen from his chair, he looks up someone's skirt. Matt Berninger can have a stunningly gorgeous, dirty mind sometimes. dplafcan is right on. He has all this astounding impulses that he stifles. Most of them are appalling, nevertheless when he meditates on tackling young girls off their beautiful bikes, we stand up and cheer. |
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| The National – Cold Girl Fever Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Yeah, it's definitely hardcore. (porn) | |
| The National – All the Wine Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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He starts off being a happy drunk, of sorts. By the third verse though "I carry the dollhouse..." We start to see the story unfold. The dollhouse represents the people he loves, perhaps a family. It's a lot of pressure to have to carry a family on your back as the narrator is doing. It is here we realize the pomposity of the first two verses was a result of the narrator drinking away the pressure, the alcohol is his only escape from reality. |
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| Arcade Fire – Une Annee Sans Lumiere Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Just a side note. I think it's interesing that the narrator's eye are vivid and alive, yet he's in a way being led by an animal with blinders on. | |
| Broken Social Scene – Stars and Sons Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| ah, what is life? | |
| Broken Social Scene – Looks Just Like The Sun Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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It sounds like it's about a soldier. He wakes up suddenly and reaches for his gun, as if he's so bugged out by all that he's been experiencing. "Ship is sailing in the west" life is happening back home, while he is trapped over seas. The tree of families on his head are all the families he's fighting for. He's thinking about HIS bed. Gold and red the colours change... I think gold and red are the Soviet colours, could this be the ever changing enemy and a comment on how pointless it is to be fighting, because it's inevitably going to lead to another war. I just came up with this, so it's probably a flawed argument. Help me out. I love this song. |
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| Broken Social Scene – Looks Just Like The Sun Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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It sounds like it's about a soldier. He wakes up suddenly and reaches for his gun, as if he's so bugged out by all that he's been experiencing. "Ship is sailing in the west" life is happening back home, while he is trapped over seas. He's thinking about HIS bed. Gold and red the colours change... I think gold and red are the Soviet colours, could this be the ever changing enemy and a comment on how pointless it is to be fighting, because it's inevitably going to lead to another war. I just came up with this, so it's probably a flawed argument. Help me out. I love this song. |
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| Broken Social Scene – Lover's Spit Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| The Beehives version is absolutely gorgeous. It breathes a whole new life into the song and makes it something completely different. They are both beautiful songs, simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant. | |
| Ryan Adams – This House Is Not for Sale Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Right, so the couple dies in a car accident. Then, they're haunting their old house and someone comes to buy it and they want to stop them because it's THEIR house... but they can't do anything because their helpless in the afterlife... absolutely heartbreaking... | |
| Jeff Buckley – Lover, You Should've Come Over Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| I didn't know that happyphantom, but I'm not at all surprised. Oh yeah that high note you referred to floors me as well. Oft I wondered why I couldn't find any mention of some choir in the liner notes, don't know why I didn't think of there not being one. hah. | |
| Broken Social Scene – Lover's Spit Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| yeah, that makes good sense I like that. like "grow up and just well... get used to it." | |
| Jeff Buckley – Lover, You Should've Come Over Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I think the beginning, about the funeral mourners, is more metaphoric. He's looking out his window in New York City at people and he sees them as people attending the funeral of this dying relationship. The rest is pretty much straight forward, but in the most beautiful possible way. Probably my favourite Jeff song, winning the award for best use of gospel choir in a rock song. |
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| Jeff Buckley – Morning Theft Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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It's hard to pin down an exact meaning to any of Jeff's songs. The meaning is conveyed much more in the overall product than in the lyrics by themselves. And his lyrics weave this kinda of web of poetic imagery and raw, abstract, emotion. I get out of this that the singer obviously really cares about this woman, but he's fucked things up a few times. He's asking for a second chance or maybe a third or fourth chance. "Sending it away" I believe refers to giving himself over completely to her. He's giving her the upper hand because he admits that he does not deserve it. |
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| Broken Social Scene – Lover's Spit Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| I don't know about that. I mean, sure the song is talking about giving head. But I get something a little deeper out of it. I think it's a cry out against meaningless love; there seems to be a desire for this Socratic ascension to find real love and real happiness. "It's time we grow old and do some shit." He's saying... let's quit fucking around and do soemthing that means something. | |
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