| Klaxons – Magick Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's also worth noting that "Nous" (pronounced as noose) is the word for "Mind" in Greek. So whatever Magick is in this case is a way towards the mind, maybe, or maybe the source of all thought. |
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| Klaxons – Magick Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| "Do What Thou Wilt" was the motto for the religion that Aleister Crowley invented, and is also the philosophy behind satanism. It sort of fits into the idea of "magic without tears", which seems to be the idea that you should do as you wish without any regard for how it affects others. | |
| The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think that the meaning has more or less been covered. I saw this live this weekend, and it was a really great experience. Phenomenal crowd energy, lots of singing along, and an absolutely amazing stage show to compliment the wall of sound from the Lips. | |
| Shellac – Copper Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think that this song is about a girl who's rather average and bland. | |
| Motion City Soundtrack – Make Out Kids Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Twin Peaks was a TV show with a limited run in the 90's. It was a surreal soap opera that centered around the investigation into the murder of a girl named Laura Palmer. I think it's one of the many references that show how the two characters of the song are perfectly matched in their quirky interests, yet can't ever really be friends because of the sexual nature of their relationship. |
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| Liars – If You're a Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses? Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I think that at least the title refers to Harry Potter. I mean, why does he wear glasses if magic can fix almost anything? | |
| My Morning Jacket – Dondante Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I have a feeling that it's about the same person as "What a Wonderful Man". | |
| The Strokes – Ize of the World Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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To me "First Impressions of Earth" is about a person who has recently had the veil stripped from their eyes. They've entered into a sort of basic philosophical awareness. The songs are them trying to tackle different parts of life. Your first impressions of Earth aren't when you're first born, but instead when you first start to question yourself and your surroundings. The musings that the album offers aren't really deep -- they're actually pretty common to every person. But that's not an insult. Julian writes songs that are general to most modern people, but that still have heart and feeling behind them. This isn't some obscure and opaque philosopher writing an academic essay, this is just one guy who's seen a lot of stuff, and he's trying to work through it all. With all that in mind, Ize of the World is the climax of the album. There are two central ideas in the song -- eyes that are tired, and the "ize" verbs that can define a person. In the first set of verse before the chorus is either a person talking to themself, or to another person. The basic jist of the conversation is that the world seems like it's ending (sometimes it feels like the world is falling asleep), the image of a mind leading a body trying to find some sort of peace, artistic expression giving meaning to life (it gave your activities meaning and it let you be loud), and finally the image of tired eyes (which it's clarified that it's actually the muscles around your eyes which are tired). All of this gives the image of someone who tried to find meaning, and even succeeded to a certain extent with their art, but that nothing has diminished the confusion of the world. They're looking at the world with tired eyes. After this there's the positively amazing chorus. The music before it was sort of slow paced and methodical, but the chorus breaks off into this screaming guitar riff, and frenzied vocals. Really excellent song structure. The first chorus goes over "ize" that deal with the personal sphere of life, and how a person deals with others. It starts off with one's birth, and health, and hygiene. Moves to self introspection (kinda like the whole album, no?), child rearing, and then to the broader scope of politics. The next verse is again about sleep. The person who's being spoken to (the other, or the self) is said to have sweet dreams which are tainted by being "overworked". This person is ambitious and strives to not be overlooked. In the process the idealism of their dreams is lost. Julian asks, "How disappointed would Dead Idealistic Desperate Inventor Pioneer Philosophers be to see such power in our hands all wasted on greed?" Julian sees our society as being at a sort of apex, but the power and knowledge that we possess being wasted (which echoes the desperate tone of the chorus). Julian ponders whether or not instinct binds humans. This could be asking whether all the ize mentioned before are rational choices, or just outgrowths of base instinct. is "a body to deodorize" a choice to be civilized, or just a more complicated mating call? There are more questions. Is our free time well spent, or do we destroy ourselves during it? Relevant to the whole party atmosphere of the album. I can see this whole song coming to mind when one's not drunk enough to pass out, but trying to sleep, with their mind running away on them. The final three lines of verse are pretty beautiful, in my opinion: Night after night you turn out the light You don't fall asleep right away. "Are we ... are we done?" This leads me to believe that this song is Julian speaking to himself as he tries to fall asleep. He's lying in bed, and his mind is thinking without control. I think everyone has experienced this; where you're incredibly tired, but too preoccupied to sleep. The question that comes back to Julian to keep him awake is "Are we done?". We're at this apex of society, but we're "falling asleep". I'm amazed at how well all of these different themes and images come together. Whoever said that Casablancas writes trite lyrics is a dipshit. He's not incredibly subtle, but he's talented, and sincere. Anyway The final chorus comes in, ripping through the listener's ears. These ize seem to deal more with the corporate sphere of life. There's a career to form, an item to sell, dominance to gain, all the while trying towards the impossible goal of stardom and fame. Even while we idolize our stars, we deride them, and drive them down for their scandals (mistakes that the private citizen would want forgiveness and compassion for). The ize move towards how we deal with those alien to us. Enemies to kill, with no apologies, stifling the rage that we've built towards ourselves. The song ends with the suggestion of nuclear missiles being aimed, and everything being vaporized. This echoes back to the image of a tired world that suddenly dies (falls asleep, to use the language of the song) That's what I think the song is about. It's my favorite on FIOE, and possibly my favorite Strokes song. I hate how critics lauded this band for their weakest album, and gave this one mediocre reviews. It seems like the Strokes were set up to be "one hit wonders", with ironic appreciation by the upper crust music elite, but surprised everyone. Instead of judging the album fairly, they're just assumed to be hacks. I didn't appreciate the album at first -- it takes time to get into. Oh well. |
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| The Black Keys – Set You Free Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| This song is positively awesome live. All of their songs are positively awesome live! | |
| Big Black – Kerosene Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I love Albini's talent as a lyricist. This pegs what it's like to live in a shit-hole town. | |
| Mclusky – Hidden Track Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Man, I love this song. I can only guess that it's about posers; music critics in particular. | |
| Mclusky – To Hell With Good Intentions Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| It seems to me that McLusky writes songs about the people in their group of friends, and that no one in the general public will ever understand them. I have no basis for this statement, but it's what I think of when I listen to them. | |
| Pinback – Concrete Seconds Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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Certain parts are a reference to the play "Waiting for Godot". In the play two characters do meaningless things while they wait for a man named Godot, who never shows. Among the things they do to kill time is fooling with their shoe laces. The play is an existentialist work about waiting for answers instead of seeking them, which seems to be what the song is also trying to relate. There's also the line "everything I say to you is going to come out wrong anyway," which is one of the foundations of existentialism -- the inability to successfully communicate. |
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| Pinback – Non Photo-Blue Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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A lot of Pinback’s songs seem to be about wasting time. There’s Offline PK, which indicates the futility of MMORPGS; there’s Concrete Sounds, which references the play “Waiting for Godot”, in which the characters spend the entirety of their time doing meaningless tasks; and AFK, which seems to also be about online gaming. The song opens with two characters, both doing meaningless tasks. Someone posting to message boards which are offline, and a person aimlessly staring at the ceiling. Their actions are identified as sparing them – perhaps suggesting that they’re both acts of avoidance. The speaker says that he’s like these people, as opposed to the person the song is directed to who is “alive dammit”. This person is shown as “gnawing on prey”, and the speaker seems confused about how exactly to classify them. The image of the backed up data is a little unclear, but it brings back in the digital element that Pinback is so fond of – and also seems to relate to the references to the internet at the start of the song. This “backed up data” is shown as being insulatory, and confining, which relates to the avoidance and negativity associated with the actions at the start of the play. The next three lines are sort of unclear – I’m not entirely sure what to make of them. But the next four lines come back to our original two characters. It shows what their avoidance does to them – it numbs them, it makes them hateful. But these negative effects are given paradoxical value – they’re how these people relax, oddly enough. The song sort of switches tone here, changing melodies a little bit. It gives three more images, the “crayon past line,” “stay after school” and “crosswords filled in non-photo blue”. I can see these as being more time wasting activities. Staying after school, listlessly filling out a crossword, or drawing aimlessly in crayon. And these are followed by the line “So they’ll never find you,” harkening again to avoidance. The last two lines give a vague hint to the intent of the song. This is a warning, or a piece of advice. Is it to the singer himself? To someone he knows? Just in general? It’s unclear. But the final chorus gives what could be interpreted as either a nihilistic or a sarcastic conclusion; regardless of whether you choose to avoid your life, or whether you choose to attack it (“gnawing on the prey”, as the song seems to put it) there’s the same conclusion. I really relate to this song, as someone who’s addicted to meaningless shit on the internet, and a constant procrastinator. I like how Pinback can take on modern issues without coming off as trite. I really like Summer in Abaddon, and hope that Pinback stays together for at least a few more albums. I accidentaly added this comment for B too :I |
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| Pinback – B Lyrics | 21 years ago |
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A lot of Pinback’s songs seem to be about wasting time. There’s Offline PK, which indicates the futility of MMORPGS; there’s Concrete Sounds, which references the play “Waiting for Godot”, in which the characters spend the entirety of their time doing meaningless tasks; and AFK, which seems to also be about online gaming. The song opens with two characters, both doing meaningless tasks. Someone posting to message boards which are offline, and a person aimlessly staring at the ceiling. Their actions are identified as sparing them – perhaps suggesting that they’re both acts of avoidance. The speaker says that he’s like these people, as opposed to the person the song is directed to who is “alive dammit”. This person is shown as “gnawing on prey”, and the speaker seems confused about how exactly to classify them. The image of the backed up data is a little unclear, but it brings back in the digital element that Pinback is so fond of – and also seems to relate to the references to the internet at the start of the song. This “backed up data” is shown as being insulatory, and confining, which relates to the avoidance and negativity associated with the actions at the start of the play. The next three lines are sort of unclear – I’m not entirely sure what to make of them. But the next four lines come back to our original two characters. It shows what their avoidance does to them – it numbs them, it makes them hateful. But these negative effects are given paradoxical value – they’re how these people relax, oddly enough. The song sort of switches tone here, changing melodies a little bit. It gives three more images, the “crayon past line,” “stay after school” and “crosswords filled in non-photo blue”. I can see these as being more time wasting activities. Staying after school, listlessly filling out a crossword, or drawing aimlessly in crayon. And these are followed by the line “So they’ll never find you,” harkening again to avoidance. The last two lines give a vague hint to the intent of the song. This is a warning, or a piece of advice. Is it to the singer himself? To someone he knows? Just in general? It’s unclear. But the final chorus gives what could be interpreted as either a nihilistic or a sarcastic conclusion; regardless of whether you choose to avoid your life, or whether you choose to attack it (“gnawing on the prey”, as the song seems to put it) there’s the same conclusion. I really relate to this song, as someone who’s addicted to meaningless shit on the internet, and a constant procrastinator. I like how Pinback can take on modern issues without coming off as trite. I really like Summer in Abaddon, and hope that Pinback stays together for at least a few more albums. |
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