| The Tragically Hip – It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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musically, it's beautiful, just like many of their slower songs. this song almost makes me want to cry, for no good reason... as someone said in the Hip's Canadian Music Hall of Fame montage at the Junos: "if i wasn't married to her (pointing to wife), i'd be married to Gord". |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dosed Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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in the post-drug era, i think that LOVE is their new drug. "dosed by you" - all it takes is just a couple minutes of your time "closer than most to you" - at least i have those few moments we shared. i was "one of", but at least i was something to you "take it away and everything will be ok" - out of sight, out of mind. when you're gone, i learn to live my life without needing you every second like i think i do "this is the way i wanted it to be with you, this is the way i knew that it would be with you" - i want you in my life because from the start i knew that you are special and i need you and my favourite: "show love with no remorse" i don't know who he's singing to, but i know who i would sing to! |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Aeroplane Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i took "looking in my rear view mirror, i can make it disappear" to be like "damn straight i can get over it... when i want to". he wants us to think that he's in control, but really he isn't. that happens when you're pinning for someone, or when you're desperate for another hit. i like "someone better slap me before i start to rust" because it shows that he's falling apart. wicked-pisser poetry! the funk in the bass line makes me think he's talking about sex. it could be the junkie fans he's met who are falling all over themselves to sleep with him and share their heroin. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Aeroplane Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i was just going to ask what Jane had to do with Kiedis, but candie1112's insight makes sense, as does the one about Hillel. that's a great use of poetry, to connect the two! now Polak, i too am hopelessly obsessed, lol, and i've noticed a lot of back-handed lines in their stuff. part of the RHCP magik... from the start i was going on yet another love rant, since it's not uncommon to fall in love with someone's music (eh Polak? - sorry!). music connects people to other people. if you want to understand someone, listen to their music. not only will you learn about them and what they like, but you'll also have something to talk about! then there's the indescribably *sexy* thing about people who make music. so, something about being blown away by people who make beautiful music. i did always find some disconnect between that idea and the "pleasure spiked with pain" parts. the drug interpretations help fill that in. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – This Velvet Glove Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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there are so many lines in this song that i adore for their poetry, just too many to chose! i related it to my love affair with a friend (incidentally named Jonathan and who needs to remember to lighten up and "live above hell"), so the drug references went way over my head. i wouldn't be surprised if there's a drug connection, and that's a fair point about the John reference. i don't much like what drugs do to you, your friends/family/life, so i wanted to avoid tagging drugs on to this beautiful work of art. speaking of John, there's another reference to him on the Californication album in 'Purple Stain': "Python power straight from Monty Celluloid loves got a John Frusciante" maybe we're so glad he's back that we give him 2 cameos! |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – My Friends Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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thanx emochick182 - you made me smile! ANTWANmyMAN (and annie_4jeffycat), i was thinking that the "7 years" was a sentence, but i didn't know if a typical sentence would be 7 years (in the style of 2 years less a day). maybe if she's been caught before... and of course, it just goes to show that an underlying cause of drug use is depression. that opens a whole other discussion! |
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| The Tragically Hip – New Orleans Is Sinking Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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there are so many quotable lines that you can use in almost any context - brilliant!! 'I had my hands in the river my feet back up on the banks looked up to the Lord above and said "hey man thanks"' -- best prayer ever |
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| The Tragically Hip – Bobcaygeon Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| maybe the cop actually sides with the rioters and doesn't want to have to crush the rebellion? that would make it pretty tough to go to work that day, but he can't desert the police force... | |
| The Tragically Hip – Ahead By A Century Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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on the Live Between Us album (the concert one), Gord introduces this song saying, "we'd like to do a song now, if we could. um, it sort of explores the realm of uh, catharsis, and uh, my arse is capable of more flush. adolesence, in essence, is all about - trust". because of that introduction, i think of two 15-year-olds, a guy and a girl, who like each other quite a bit hanging out together. girls tend to mature faster than guys, though, so the guy who's singing here is just trying to keep up with the girl. she may only be ahead by two years (many girls hang out with guys 2 years older than them), but that's enough to make a difference. they're both trying to show each other that they care. i associate Gord's adolesence-trust with "and disappointing you's getting me down". that could also be said to the girl or to a parent, either in the context of "i-want-to-impress-you-mom-and-dad-but-i-still-have-to-be-my-own-person", or in the case of not taking the relationship with his girlfriend too far too fast. in that sense, "i tilted your cloud, you tilted my hand" could mean, i said something nice to you that you wanted to hear, so you repaid me physically(sexually). is he stunned by that? confused? pleased with himself? nostalgia for sure, i think this is a great song for confused teenagers. just make the most of today -in time, this won't matter as much as you think it does, but you'll never get this time back. |
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| The Tragically Hip – Bobcaygeon Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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the little details and the hidden meanings are what makes the Hip more than poets, but true storytellers. it's one thing to tell a great story, but to put it to music and make it work so smoothly is a true success. i'm so impressed at the references to the checkerboard floors (mountie hats or Sneaky D's) and the history that they crammed in here. it's just so clever. there's a specific feeling that you get when you're camping in Ontario that's so different from anywhere else, and this song capures it. the music feels so light and summery, like camping out under the stars. it's a little like watching the Weather channel, but that only makes me think even more of the vast "out there" of this truly Canadian land. |
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| The Tragically Hip – Poets Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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this is a great song for skating - i listened to it when i was stating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, the world's longest outdoor skating rink. how perfectly Canadian, how perfectly Hip? they also used this song in "Men With Brooms", a curling movie and again, the epitome of Canadian! musically, this song is stellar. lyrically, it's totally Hip. my friend's dad is an accomplished poet and hearing this song i always think about how incredibly some people can manipulate words. at the same time, it also makes me think about how my friend goes crazy with her dad's corny jokes and word games. "the epitome of vague" ... like poetry is just a load of mumbo-jumbo. to my friend, yes! so could it be that the Hip are commenting on people who want to appear cultured so much that they try to sound smart by analyzing every word? in writing this song, Downie gives us some pretty confuzing lyrics. he uses artsy run-on sentences about reckoning carts and women, precise descriptions ('archetypal father'; 'whithered cornstalks'), and a twist of irony (heat in the frozen-food section), but these are just "broad and tentative swipes" that don't get to the point. Gord is daring us to analyze it, because he knows that we'll probably read too much into it. i've always thought that poetry is easy to write and deadly to read. yes, there are some people who can mold their words into glorious sculptures, but those people are rare and when they come around, they don't really expect much. "don't tell me that they're anti-social" - don't want to hear that artsy people are, well, however you'd stereotype a "snobby artist", because really dude, they're just full of something or other. "somehow not anti-social enough" - now that's burning someone ... like saying why can't they all just go away? the song is about people with minimal artistic ability who try to fake their way through, and the people who believe them! |
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| The Tragically Hip – Poets Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| "getting reprieve from the heat in the frozen-food section" ... the irony is delicious, best line in the song! | |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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hey, i have a question. in the spirit of "giving it away", technically i should share the magik of this (RHCP) music. but how can i do that when they don't get it? i've tried, and they brush it off, which makes me feel like an idiot. so, do you have to give to people who will just waste it? in an ideal world, everyone would be willing to give freely - but we all know the world doesn't work that way. are you really giving everything (especially love) freely if you reserve it only for people who will benefit most? |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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"why not give it all away?" - wow, that's a mind trip, a whole new way of looking at your life... i didn't like this song until i read Anthony's explanation of why he wrote it. i didn't like it because it sounded like a bunch of random sex-crazed clanging. funny, that's exactly what the description said - it seems like it's a song about nothing, but it really does have something important to say. the subtleness is part of the magik (and i listened again carefully - the music is brilliant). "I think it's great when people interpret songs to fit their own lifes. I think it's part of the reason artists like Anthony Kiedis write so non-literally." --> TRUE DAT, but for this song it's like RHCP is giving us orders to take it literally and start sharing our stuff. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Easily Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i like the war interpretation. the battle field is so different from the glorified posters and parades, most soldiers question and forget why they're there. good thinking, Maggot, both about the wolves having more order than the army and on the "research monkey boy ... going to destroy" line. war breeds new technology to facilitate the "war effort" (killing) and demands that we invent ways to use existing resources to make bombs and shells etc. i also like the Shao Lin monk interpretation that Polak mentionned because it goes along with the idea behind "Give It Away" (if you share, you'll get what ever you're sharing returned to you ... so why not give everything away?). and Hevnervals, i do hear something in the chorus that gives me a mystical shivery tingly feeling. it immediately caught my attention on the Californication album. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Easily Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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garage/yard sale ... "lookin' mighty tired/of all the things that you own/everything must go" it reminds me of a break-up, where she's moving out. she's taking her stuff with her and he's feeling the emptiness. the relationship is crumbling; despite efforts to get away ("let's get caught in a wave"), they're just getting "caught in a cage". at this point, on the "morning of the war", he's forgotten why he bothered to care and why he wanted to save it in the first place ("remind me if you will..."). he knows that there was "something in the air" worth saving, but it's gone now. the "little research monkey boy" could be a jab at her for trying to change him during their relationship, and how it backfired. the "throw me to the wolves... throw me to the sky..." seems to be his way of putting a positive spin on the break up. he knows he's in for a rough ride, but he knows that this isn't all his fault so he can pull out of it. |
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| The Tragically Hip – Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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up in Canada we have something of a bird-eye view of American politiks. i did read somewhere that this, like many Hip songs, takes a jab at making a political/historical statement, this time about US foreign policy in the post-9/11 world. "something to kill and eat" - invade, stabilize, govern to utilize resources, and eventually take it over. "is it because someone talked and she told me" goes with "what's troubling Gus overhearing conversations" - paranoia and conspiracy theories. "that it's because you're too either them or me/ when it's either them or it's us" - the great unnamed "them" that must be feared, fought and conquered. plus, being only for oneself, having a country that thinks that they're under attack so they have to go out and save themselves before the darkside comes along. "is that what's troubling ya Gus the mere mention of the name/used to be enough to make every bird stop singing?/is that what's troubling ya Gus? no one is afraid enough?" - we used to be so powerful, and we're not going to lose it to anyone. let's get out there and reassert our might, show the world who's boss. "The mere attention of the name/used to be enough to make every bird stop singing" - we used to be able to quiet those rogue nations just by threatening to get the USA involved, but that's nearly forgotten now since "the whip-poor-will at dusk tells you no one is afraid". great music, so Hip. got my mom hooked... |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – This Velvet Glove Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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my first impression was that Anthony is so taken by a girl that he'd "take a fall", knowing that he'd "do anything, i will for you". it's not just the sex (so beyond the 'velvet glove' ... and besides, we know how messy the Chilis can get), it's the being "close to my skin". she stuns him, and his friends can see it. they also see that she doesn't really have a clue how much he's into her. they're laughing so he can't say anything to anyone about it, but he wants to. otherwise, maybe they don't believe his sincerity, sort of like 'Sea of No Cares' by Great Big Sea. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Fortune Faded Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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they've been lucky in the past getting away with living life on the edge, but they know that there's no real strategy ("they say in chess...") and that one day their good fortune will fail them. if it officially isn't about anything in particular, maybe it's a collage of all the lyrics and thoughts that didn't fit into other songs. like when you're making cookies and you re-roll the dough, the lyrics are all the pieces that were too good to throw away. it appeared on their Greatest Hits album, so why not as a way to bring everything together? the music rocks, plain and simple. it's controlled randomness, which takes skill and is so impressive. this_velvet_glove said it exactly right: "RHCP rocks my socks"! |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – This Velvet Glove Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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yet another song to stop you dead in your tracks, saying "omg, that is so me". there are so many fantastic lines in this song that if i had to pick a favourite, i'd wind up highlighting the whole song! ... i'm tingling as i listen ... |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – My Friends Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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why does everyone seem to think that this song is about friends being there for you? methinks that this song is about always being the one your friends turn to with their problems. the first time i heard this song i was near tears because it's a "nursing song" for me - i listen to my friends (and often other people who need to talk even if i don't really like them), let them vent, rant and rave. i feel the pain with them and try to help them find what's left of the bright side. it's a wonderful gift to have that much of a person's trust, respect and love... but there's a downside. i want to be listened to, too. i want the same empathy, but i often feel breezed over. i understand my friends because i've been through similar situations (or i put myself in their shoes) but i don't think that i can tell them what i'm feeling because they won't walk in my shoes. i think this is what Anthony is telling us. his friends - and even the Ex - flock to him for answers because they know that he'll be "on [their] side". he gives freely, because he cares for them and acknowledges the gift he has in having their trust. it seems that Anthony has been through this (whatever the crisis) before, even if there are "no words [he] know[s] of to express this loneliness". he asks, "imagine me", i know what it's like (having been "taught by tragedy") ... but we won't talk about that right now because "release is peace" and it will help to "confide" your pain. everyone wants to be understood, so maybe Anthony wants his friends to return the favour... that said, this is a beautiful song lyrically and musically. it hits home with nearly anyone, and yes - listen to the little girl. |
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