| The Police – Tea In The Sahara Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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What a wickedly brilliant song. Their best, in my opinion. I'm going to get my band to do this one, along with Murder By Numbers. As to what the lyrics mean.... I have always assumed it is about man and nature, in a Stephen Crane/naturalistic sort of way. What I mean is, I think Sting is saying that nature has no obligation to conform to the fickle, meaningless (in the whole scheme of things) needs and wants of man. The things we humans desire in life, if you think about it, are really quite strange when you analyze the world and the universe on the appropriate scale; the things we ask of nature or whatever higher power we believe in are as bizarre as expecting to be granted tea in the Sahara.... And if we do ask, we should not be surprised that we're not always granted tea, that our cups will often fill only with sand.... There are religious implications here as well, as hinted above. The sisters are praying, dancing, looking to the sky... it's a lot like a religious ritual. In this interpretation, the "he" the sisters are waiting for is God. They've prayed and done their part, follwed the rules and the ritual, and they have faith... but too much faith, Sting implies, because they're left stranded in the Desert with (again) cups full of sand, not tea. "He" didn't come through for them. Those are my thoughts anyway. As to the live version Tepes mentions... yes, it has a completely different feel to it. Stewart lays the emphasis on an off beat eighth note, not on four as in the studio version, and it completely changes the character of the music. The studio version feels more spacious and settled, while the live version has more of a quirky kind of forward momentum to it. |
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| Five for Fighting – 100 Years Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I'm 34, so probably a little older than many on here. I HATED this song at first, probably just because it was on the radio so much, and also, I just couldn't understand many of the lyrics, I guess because of his unique voice. ("Contrived" someone mentioned? I don't know how a singing voice could be contrived. Very difficult.) Anyway, my girlfriend loves this song, and after downloading and looking at the lyrics, I now see what I've been missing. These are some very mature, meaningful lyrics. It's about the phases of life, and how love plays a part in most of them - almost your whole life, really. It's also about how short life is, how quickly the time goes, something I can relate to. The older you get, the faster the years seem to go, almost as if time is non-linear or something.... Some people think the lyrics are incorrect above. I don't think so, personally. "I'm a they" makes perfect sense. It's about responsibility, and the "oneness" he has with his wife and coming child, and the loss of innocence and individuality that come with that phase of life.... The end is brilliant... or at least very touching. He's 99, she has passed away, he misses her, and is "counting the ways" to where she is, much as he did when he was 15. This illuminates, again, what I think the central meaning of the song is: the symmetry and interconnectedness of life and love. Great lyrics! |
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| The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby Lyrics | 21 years ago |
| I can't believe no one has mentioned what I thought was always the obvious interpretation of this song - that Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie were strangers, yes, but their lives were still connected, even if only at the end, and they COULD HAVE helped each other. (And I don't even mean romantically.) I think in a way the Beatles are saying here that we must ALL work harder to love and connect with one another, and help prevent loneliness, and that it should not be that hard... maybe with someone right next door or right down the street even. (Like Rigby and McKenzie....) Or perhaps I'm reading too much into the song. ;-) heheh. I just think the song's not only about loneliness, but the irony that everyone suffers from it AND, most importantly, that it often could be so easy to cure. | |
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