| R.E.M. – At My Most Beautiful Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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One of the most lyrically achieved songs of all time. For me, and i expect many others, it makes me think of my girlfriend. so much infact that i put this song on a CD and gave it to her. Anyways, the content of this song is fairly obvious and other people have mentioned it before. The song describes the little things in love that aren't seemingly important, but make love what it is - beautiful. Cant wait to see them on Saterday at Hyde Park!! |
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| Radiohead – The Tourist Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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ok ok the song's meaning is probably true (look at a town like paris) but my interpretation is linked to a few others here. The man is ill, possibly having seizures, weird mind experiences etc. He loses reality and in that time 'it barks at no-one else but me' - the dog can sense that something is wrong with him. He has 'seen' the sparks flowing, like being linked up to electricity. The seizures end up killing the man due to him becoming overcharged, his mind is in turmoil and nothing can cure him, not even therapy 'they ask me...'. The speed of his mind is out of control and only then can he appreciate life for what it is, and it kills him because he cant put his thoughts into words. All his advice being 'hey man, slow down' as if to say 'take a step back, look at how beautiful life is'. The triangle shows the simplistic, natural end to his life, with all of his questions answered. The notion of the loop in the album can come into play. The man (in Airbag) is born again and lives to tell the tale (the content of OK computer) |
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| R.E.M. – Diminished Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Okaaay, no-one has bothered to comment on one of Stipe's finest lyrical achievements! Nevermind, I will give it a go. The song is very ominous and foreboding. The main storyline is how he has killed his lover/girl "i watched you fall, i think i pushed" and his following descent into a spiral of guilt and madness. "maybe I'm crazy" The song tremendously describes his downfall, along with his feelings. The most amazing impact is belted towards the listener as in the verse whereby he relives the killing, he claims "baby i loved you" several times. He then changes his line after realising his punishment "Baby I'm finished". Here he knows how the jury will not believe his crazed self. His insanity causes him to sing, which is his the main evidence of his descent into madness. He sits in a bubble of denial as he consults his conscience "I have never hurt anything". The sad ending to this song is how we don't hear how the trial ends -because it is so obvious. But seen from the viewpoint of the man, I can sympathise so much, as it has destroyed his own life enough - without the added punishment of a prison sentence. As a listener, I can't put my interpretation fully into words but this song brings my sympathy levels to their highest, because, after all that has happened - he has lost his love and therefore his life. The lyrics for this song go on into a sequel on my version, the mood is calmer and only a faint guitar can be heard strumming away. I beleive this part is where he has been sentenced to a mental institution, as the vicious contrasting lyrics juxtapose themselves against the padded walls of the cell. The main focus of his lyrics are "I'm not over you" - how moving. |
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| Rufus Wainwright – I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone) Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| In addition - 'drop the debt' is hinted to in the song by 'when the plate is clean'. - A pun reffering to when the slate is clean. Wow. | |
| Rufus Wainwright – I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone) Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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A compilation between Dido and Wainwright offers a nice piece of easy-listening music, perfect for wasting away evenings Not much depth into the song, however, it is easily compensated by underlying tones of poverty and desire for equality. (Maybe an insight into his beliefs). In the song, Rufus exclaims that when the hunger is gone (i.e. in 3rd world poverty) is the time that allows him to no longer feel guilty about the wealth of western supercountries. Before that time will come (i.e. the debt is repaid) we have to cover and submerse our guilt with 'romance' and 'candlelight' etc. when eating our food. But when equality prosperes is the time that requires 'no candlelight' and 'no smalltalk' anymore. His point is valid yet feeble until we hear the concurring female vocals of Dido, to come and reinforce the point that the desire for equality is a widespread consensus, dreamed of by everyone except the government. The song is ofcourse a metaphor and stands for wider isses that divides global society as we speak. The main point of the song? Drop the debt. |
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| Coldplay – The Scientist Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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I love this song, it is powerful. It is moving. It is everything. The man has clearly faultered in their realtionship (like every guy does at some point) - as a result, they have separated. The man however (being a scientist) cannot deduce logic and reasoning for her decision to leave. His desperations to maintain sanity forces him to ask her why "i had to find you, tell you i need you". He then applies science in order to solve the problems but cannot "i was just guessing / at number and figures". It is impossible to identify the source of love from this method because love comes from the soul, and not the body. This he does not understand, he ends up "pulling your puzzles apart". He eventually realises this when it is too late "questions of sceince...do not speak as loud as my heart" - how poignant. After realising that re-conciliation is not achievable, he resorts to going back by himself, ensuring he does not make the same mistake twice. I feel sympathy with the man because I (and every other being on the planet) have wanted to turn back time at some point. Realising this can't be done, solidifies a hard, bitter edge to the constraints of reality. His girlfriend is clearly an emotional person (opposite to the scientist) and the man has not given her enough emotional love in their realtionship. "You don't know how lovely you are" - the reason for this is becuase he never told her, and now it is too late. The video concurs as he reverses time to set things straight. This however is a fantasy and cannot be lived so he resorts to pleading "oh lets go back to the start". The sequel to this song is perhaps "rush of blood to the head" whereby he loses his rationality and is set to destroy his memories of the past. |
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| Rufus Wainwright – Movies of Myself Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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My favourite R Wainwright song, a real timeless classic - yet to be. The man needs the girl to help him feel wanted and loved. Without her he will resort to making "movies of myself" - reliving his memories of previous, short-lived relationships. He neccesity for her is desperate "don't you ever let go" and he desperately wants to escape himself "get me to the garden of sleep". His wants to get away from his self-obsessed past and to not go down the same road of maeningless one night stands that have forced him to assess himself and ask himself why the girls dont want a serious relationship with him. "Oh I've seen it all before in movies of myself" He confronts his unhappy memories and tells the girl that he dosn't want the same to happen. Because if it did, it would perhaps destroy him and expose his insecurities, as identified in line one "stop me falling down" - which is his main line of argument. An honest depiction of perhaps Rufus' love-life. He needs to be loved - and so do we all, whether or not we like to admit it. |
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| R.E.M. – The Great Beyond Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| Andy Kaufman is a direct influence for this song. The film is about his desire to reach the top and his total disregard for anything that stood in his way (although not much did). The song reflects the attitude he must have adopted in order to take over America. The lines "I'm pushing an elephant up the stairs" best reflects the challenge he took and also "bending spoons" reveals how he managed to achieve it. His rise to fame was meticulously planned and it goes to show that anything is possible when you put your mind to it. For me, the song coveys an air of optimism, however, it does have slight undertones of negativity somwehere (I cant put my finger on it) In the film Kaufman dies from cancer and it puts a sad outlook on how he managed to reach the top, but fell down instantly when he got there. This maybe reflected in the song with irony and how Stipe is keeping "flowers in full bloom" - a task quite impossible, such that even Kaufman himself could represent the flower. The moral - everything beautiful dies. | |
| Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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So very true. Just how does these means of expression do justice for the mastermind behind the lyrics?? Definitley the best lyrical, meaningful song by Radiohead. He is wanting to love the girl and wanting to see through her materialistic self, but "gravity always wins" and his attempts to do so "wears him out". He tries to convince himself that she is infact from the heart and real "she looks like the real thing, she tastes like the real thing" but he simply cant comprehend his deeper feelings of angst for her. In the end he tells her that they are simply too incompatible "if i could be who you wanted". He "turns and runs" in order to give himself relief. And in the end, there is no point in trying to love someone who you know is not right, whether they be "fake" or "plastic" in putting up a facade for the world, you know that love is not really there, and that by kidding yourself that there is love, is just futile and can only end in tears. How truely moving. |
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