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submissions
Jimmy Eat World – The Middle Lyrics 16 years ago
i don't like this song much, but i do like the lyrics. if i had never heard this song and a certain boy i know played it for me and told me he wrote it for me, i would believe him -- this is the advice he gives me, all the time. he's been known to call me "little girl," too. :P

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Andrew Bird – Tables and Chairs Lyrics 17 years ago
adderall isn't just an add medication, it's an amphetamine. it's really popular among some college students. people use it to stay awake, and to focus better. sometimes just to stay awake.

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Okkervil River – You Can't Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man Lyrics 17 years ago
Jirolico: or they could be getting paid for last week's pot. What I thought upon hearing it was that they'd sold it and were getting paid.

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Okkervil River – The War Criminal Rises and Speaks Lyrics 18 years ago
"of some truth that might be
inside reported crimes."

I'm not totally sure, but I think that's actually 'some truth it might find'?

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Blue Öyster Cult – Astronomy Lyrics 18 years ago
Led-by-Zeppelin...

Isn't it actually that Les Invisibles are the aliens, and the Blue Oyster Cult are their human servants?

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Blue Öyster Cult – Blue Oyster Cult Lyrics 18 years ago
Since we've already got the meaning, it's time for mindless babble!

I like this a lot better than "Subhuman" from Secret Treaties, in large part because it's easier to understand the words, and the lyrics to both of them (but this one especially) are just so ... cool.

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Blue Öyster Cult – Seven Screaming Diz-Busters Lyrics 18 years ago
It's a multi-dimensional sentient vacuum.

I will continue to believe this until someone tells me a better idea.

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Blue Öyster Cult – Ballroom Blitz Lyrics 18 years ago
How many freakin' bands is this song gonna' get credited to? What the hell, man!

This just IS. NOT. a BOC song. It just isn't, man.

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Blue Öyster Cult – Divine Wind Lyrics 18 years ago
Ask yourself, how much sense does it actually make to say events that took place after the song was written make the song mean something different?

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Led Zeppelin – The Rain Song Lyrics 18 years ago
I hate listening to this song on headphones, or when I can't turn my stereo at least three-quarters of the way to full volume without my neighbors crucifying me.

Not that it's not amazing at any volume, but nothing can compare to this song blasting out the speakers when it gets five minutes in, and you can scream along with it, talk, talk, talk, talk... It's the best sound in the history of sound.

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The Divine Comedy – Don't Look Down Lyrics 18 years ago
A great Divine Comedy song . . . or THE GREATEST Divine Comedy song?

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The Divine Comedy – Count Grassi's Passage Over Piedmont Lyrics 18 years ago
This song reminds me a bit of "Prairie Fire That Wanders About"/ bits of "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!" by Sufjan Stevens. I mean, different, obviously, but I think there are parallels, or somethng.

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The Divine Comedy – If... Lyrics 19 years ago
That's exactly what I thought, Associate. The whole song says to me that he doesn't care about having real interaction with the woman -- he doesn't need or even seem to want any input from her.

"If you were a tree
I could put my arms around you
And you could not complain
If you were a tree
I could carve my name into your side
And you would not cry,
'Cos trees don't cry."

That bit is particularly creepy, too. It seems to imply that she's not actually interested in him ('you couldn't complain'), and the 'trees don't cry' bit seems to imply that it WOULD hurt, his carving his name, but she just wouldn't cry. It's as you said -- he just wants to possess her.

Not that I don't love the song, or anything. *g*

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The Long Blondes – Once and Never Again Lyrics 19 years ago
I don't see how it's relevant that it was written by a man -- it's obviously not from a man's perspective. That doesn't make any sense. A man wouldn't tell a girl he knows how it feels to be her age in that situation, for one thing (because he doesn't know how it feels to be a 19 year old girl). And a man who was trying to sleep with her wouldn't be telling her she doesn't need a boyfriend.

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The Clash – Rock the Casbah Lyrics 19 years ago
"I would rather be homeless and be in a respected nonsellout band then i would have three million dollars and be in a sellout band."

Oh, poor naïve little Shindigg. You do make me laugh so.

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The Decemberists – The Engine Driver Lyrics 19 years ago
"I'm a county lineman
On a high line, on a high line
So will be my grandson
There are powerlines in our bloodlines"

This bit makes me tingle. An English teacher I had once always talked about how a great sentence would make you tingle, and that's the experience I have with this. Oh, it's just wonderful.

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The Holloways – So This Is Great Britain Lyrics 19 years ago
The title of this song is actually So This Is Great Britain.

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Dirty Pretty Things – B.U.R.M.A Lyrics 19 years ago
"They can stick their war, Im leaving now
Makes all the difference to me"

Aside from what I HOPE is a typo and not an honest *mistake* on the part of the submitter . . . he clearly says 'it makes no difference to me' here. Which is what would make sense, really, because the other isn't logically OR gramatically correct.

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IAMX – Song Of Imaginary Beings Lyrics 19 years ago
No, I don't think it's about being transgender. I can see why you might, but it says that her mother said she couldn't love the physical way a woman SHOULD. If it had been could, I would say that makes a pretty good case for it being about someone transgendered, but the use of the word 'should' implies that she can't love the physical way that SHE should. You wouldn't tell a boy that he can't behave the way a woman should -- it just doesn't make sense.

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IAMX – Skin Vision Lyrics 19 years ago
No, it's DEFINITELY 'bloodlust, type-o.' Tight rope makes absolutely no sense whatever, whereas type-o actually has something to do with blood.

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IAMX – Sailor Lyrics 19 years ago
Sailor.

I wonder if dear Chris is trying to tell us something.

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IAMX – Missile Lyrics 19 years ago
"this song has some of the worst metaphores i have ever heard."

Well, that's probably because it's a simile, rather than a metaphor. Similes generally make dreadful metaphors.

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Robots in Disguise – Turn It Up. Lyrics 19 years ago
"'Laura' - Frank Sinatra"

I rather thought they meant Laura by the Scissor Sisters, but I suppose it could be either.

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Robots in Disguise – You Really Got Me Lyrics 19 years ago
It's so weird to hear this on their CD. It seems out of place and I don't really see how it was a 'necessary' cover, if that makes sense. Some covers put the song in a whole different light (such as the Scissor Sisters' cover of Comfortably Numb, which I loved), but this is a really boring cover.

But then, I never liked this song, anyway.

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The Decemberists – O Valencia! Lyrics 19 years ago
"It's never established whether or not it is a "brother" or "sister" of the rival gang member who is killed. Just something to think about."

While I like your thinking, and it makes sense with most of the song, I don't think it could be about a boy. I mean . . . if anyone's going to be named Valencia, it's a girl. That's no way a boys' name, unless I'm mistaken. Which I doubt. Though it's possible that I am.

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The Decemberists – The Crane Wife 1 and 2 Lyrics 19 years ago
"Doesn't he give the twist away too early. . ."

I don't think you can really say there is a twist, since it's called The Crane Wife, and based on a fairly well-known story. I think the song expects to be listened to with prior knowledge of the story it's about.

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The Decemberists – Sons and Daughters Lyrics 19 years ago
I think it is a colonist expedition, because it FEELS like one. There's this very . . . colonist expedition -y feeling to the song, somehow. It has a very distinctly atumnal feel to it, which reminds me of colonist expeditions. And it makes sense, as well, with the bit about 'sons and daughters,' because one gets the feeling of a sort of group of people who aren't actually related but have a familial feeling for each other, which is something one might predict from, say, a religious minority. And religious minorities love to go elsewhere so that they can be majorities.

(I think, Lindsay, you are overestimating how long ago the Americas were colonised. It can seem like it was much longer ago than it was, really.)

Also, I really think it is 'hear' all the bombs fade away. While it does make sense that perhaps the place they've gone is a place without any bombs, so the bomb-ness is fading away, saying 'here all the bombs fade away' is awkward. It's akward in the sort of 'sounds odd' sense, and in the sense that it doesn't make sense that the bombs FADE AWAY there. They don't fade away there, they just don't HAPPEN there. Whereas, if it is 'hear,' that makes PERFECT sense under these conditions; as they move further away from the place they're coming from which as bombs, the noise of bombs fades away and away until they're far away and there's no sound of bombs.

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The Decemberists – Shankill Butchers Lyrics 19 years ago
This is one of my top favorite songs on The Crane Wife. It's delectably eerie, and just. . . well, wow.

Though, at any given time, I'll say almost any song on The Crane Wife is my favorite. *g*

Still, this one is really . . . something, excellent.

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Talking Heads – Air Lyrics 19 years ago
I don't really see it being about STDs. I mean . . . why say 'air' if you mean 'sex'? The song isn't constructed like a metaphor for sex, and there's nothing in it to suggest that it's talking about STDs from sex rather than something actually to do with air, such as what speakingintongues said.

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Talking Heads – Air Lyrics 19 years ago
I don't really see it being about STDs. I mean . . . why say 'air' if you mean 'sex'? The song isn't constructed like a metaphor for sex, and there's nothing in it to suggest that it's talking about STDs from sex rather than something actually to do with air, such as what speakingintongues said.

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The Decemberists – My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist Lyrics 19 years ago
Uh. Whether it's a Tariko song or not, which I wouldn't know, it's on The Decemberists' 5 Songs EP.

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Robots in Disguise – The DJs Got A Gun Lyrics 19 years ago
Where did I hear this song? I was listening to it and I had the distinct feeling of 'I heard this before I even HEARD of the band.' There's no way I'd have ever heard it on the radio, because, a.) I live in America, and b.) I don't ever listen to any radio except for the classical station.

It was this bit -- "Have you got anything a bit more uptempo?
Handbag? Techno? Disco? Electro?""

Where, where, where? Was . . . I almost think it was somehow in that episode of The Mighty Boosh they were in, but I'm probably wrong.

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The Libertines – Up The Bracket Lyrics 19 years ago
"The Kray Twins were around about forty years before the Libertines, so I don't think it could be about them. "

Er, what? Maybe if the Kray Twins were forty years AFTER, that would make sense. Things that happened in the past are exactly the things a song MIGHT be about. Just because something happened forty years before doesn't mean you can't know of it.

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The Decemberists – The Bagman's Gambit Lyrics 19 years ago
"I know this view will be very unpopular but I can't imagine any US news agency showing a photo of someone who the police arrested so bloody and beaten that they are almost unrecognizable. So who is the "they" who flashed the photograph?"

The phot doesn't have to have been showing anyone bloody and beaten -- it can just be a NORMAL photo, and they SAY that this person was beaten badly. As for 'it couldn't be you' -- it's surpise at seeing the person at all on the news. "It couldn't be so-and-so!" It doesn't sound like he got a very good look at the photograph, but even if he had, imagine seeing someone you knew on the news in that context. You'd say the same thing. It couldn't be.

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The Decemberists – The Bagman's Gambit Lyrics 19 years ago
"It seems to me that someone who worked for the gov't last fall and lives in a tenement apartment probably didn't have access to any Top Secret documents that a real spy would want."

Keep in mind that this is a story, and that happens all of the time in stories.

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The Decemberists – The Soldiering Life Lyrics 19 years ago
One of the most interesting parts of the song, to me, is the very first verse.

"Ambling madly all over the town
The call to arms, you likened to a whisper
I liken to a radio
You were a brickbat, a bowery tough, so rough
They called you from a cartoon
Pulled out of your pantaloons."

The very first time I heard the song, that verse screamed to me of one of the things I find most depressing about WWI. As it later became apparent that it takes place during WWI, I assume I was right. Does anyone know what nationality the soldiers in the song are intended to be? 'Bowery' definitely seems to suggest they were American, but I somehow find that a bit odd, and it's possible that the word has uses of which I am not aware. Anyway, the person the narrator is talking to, I think, was excited to join the fight. The call to arms felt, to him, like something special and wonderful. He had that naive view on the whole thing that was so common at the time. The narrator, it seems, was less enthusiastic. It wasn't anything special -- they were looking for everyone and anyone to come join the fight.

But, you know. Maybe not, I don't know. What's important is that this song is incredibly beautiful. Definitely one of my favorites.

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The Decemberists – A Cautionary Song Lyrics 19 years ago
I'm surprised more hasn't been said in response to the person who said that it sounded like a cautionary tale. It's really a very attractive thought. So logical. After all, the title of the song is 'A Cautionary Song.' Cautionary tales usually aren't true, they're just exaggerations (or sometimes complete lies) used to make a point to the young and impressionable, usually about something they should be doing anyway. The way that it ends -- stating the moral very clearly -- is EXACTLY the way you would end a cautionary tale. Not so much the way you would end a story depicting a tragic situation.

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IAMX – You Stick It In Me Lyrics 19 years ago
It's on Kiss + Swallow, jay-string.

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Ben Folds – The Luckiest Lyrics 19 years ago
This song would be intolerably saccharine, were it not for the strange and unique ways he has of describing his love. More than strange -- one of them (the middle one) is actually vaguely creepy. But because of that, it is an extremely charming and delightful love song.

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Flotation Toy Warning – Even Fantastica Lyrics 19 years ago
This song is scary.

I can't explain it. It's not the concept of death. I don't know for sure what it is. It's. . . truly. . . terrifying. Every time I hear (in particular) the second half of the song, it's chilling. I don't trust it.

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Jump, Little Children – Come Around Lyrics 19 years ago
What exactly does he mean by 'come around,' is what I really want to know.

I honestly don't care who it's about, I'm interested in why, and what's going on in the song.

It sounds like he cares about someone who is becoming quite ruined.

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Shawn Colvin – The Facts About Jimmy Lyrics 19 years ago
JAMES WILSON, ANYONE?

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Sufjan Stevens – To Be Alone with You Lyrics 19 years ago
I can definitely see why everyone thinks it's about Jesus, and I'm completely sure that it is (seriously totally unquestioningly convinced), though it never crossed my mind when I listened to the song before. (Likely because I didn't hear it in the context of ever having heard of Sufjan Stevens.)

That's not how I like to think about it, though. It's nicer, to me, for it just to be about two people. Jesus has a lot of other stuff attached to him, and we all know he was a self-sacrificing guy and such. I'm more interested in and moved by it being a more . . . specific, sort of, one-on-one, just-some-people-who-want-to-be-happy kind of thing. It's abstract in a way I don't enjoy as much, if it's about Jesus. My way is more concrete. So that is how I will listen to it.

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The Futureheads – Decent Days And Nights Lyrics 19 years ago
Fun song. Reminds me of House.

Though I watch altogether too much House.

Good lord, is it Tuesday yet?

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Howie Day – End Of Our Days Lyrics 20 years ago
"Here, where they can't find us
I dare them to call me out
I tell you we met here on purpose
I bet they can't wait to wake us up"
The singer and whoever he is in love with are, obviously, in love. For whatever reason, people do not approve of them being together, verging on or to the point that they aren't even 'allowed' to be together, so they are hiding. It sounds like it's trouble for the singer more than the other person if they're caught. It also sounds like they're in some sort of interesting, or at least. . . 'other' place, not somewhere they always were or somewhere they just visited, though.

"I know it's a little bit strange
It's all a little bit strange"
Something about the nature of the relationship and/or the situation they are in, and probably the place they are in, is new to both to them, but that's okay.

"Make a point and ignore them
Come on let's wait this out
They'll find we never stop turning
Sometimes it's tough to change direction"
They're going to ignore all of the disapproving people and just wait for them to come to their senses, but they know it's probably going to take them a while.

"At the end of the day, I...
Gonna say what I mean, I...
Slipping all away
At the end of our days
We'll escape "
In spite of everything, when it comes down to it, the singer isn't going to pretend that he isn't in love with the other person. And when whatever is going on is over (because it does sound like there's some stuff happening that doesn't matter to the song -- just an impression I get), or something like that, they'll either leave the place they're in or leave behind any reasons they had for even pretending to listen to everyone who told them they couldn't be together, and be happy.

(After thinking of the song this way, I realized it reminds me of Stargate Atlantis. How McSheppy. :D)

Anyway, I really, really, really adore this song. It's my favorite Howie Day song, and, as everyone else has said, it's just *so beautiful.*

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Travis – As You Are Lyrics 21 years ago
Oh, my! McSheppy!

Says the rabid slasher.

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Franz Ferdinand – Darts Of Pleasure Lyrics 21 years ago
"but then again i used to be obsessed with marty mcfly aka michael J fox, i just wanted that time machine to go cruzing around in"

So did I. ^^;

And, yes. Alex, so hot.

'Poison darts of pleasure' may sound like drugs to one person, but sex to another. Sounds like sex to me. It's not supposed to be particularly good for you to go around having a lot of sex, you know.

Chunie, I think you're right. Would be hot if we weren't seeing it from the inside.

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Franz Ferdinand – The Dark of the Matinee Lyrics 21 years ago
Someone mentioned this song on the Michael page, interpreting it as having homosexual undertones as it seems to involve schoolboys skipping school to have a date in a movie theater.

I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who thought that. (Slacken ties, after all.)

This was one of my favorites even before I started contemplating it. ('Course, I loved it more after.)

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Franz Ferdinand – Michael Lyrics 21 years ago
"and i think gay guys are hot. or straight guys who kiss."

Amen to that. This song is hella' sexy. I couldn't stop listening to it for a week after I bought the album.

Even if it weren't for the lyrics, *kickass* song. I love the intro.

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The Libertines – Up The Bracket Lyrics 21 years ago
Crf, if Pete doesn't still have serious drug problems, what's with the Babyshambles performance in Blackpool, back in December? You don't act that badly if you aren't seriously fucked up.

The story I got from this song has already been pretty well summarized, except that I always thought the address they were after was Carl's.

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