| St. Vincent – Now, Now Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The way she repeats "any" makes it sound like "Annie." I think it's intentional (e.g. I'm not Annie, Annie, Annie, Annie..."). | |
| of Montreal – Triphallus, to Punctuate! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Official lyrics are here: http://www.ofmontreal.net/discography/skeletal-lamping/ Someone should put them up here. |
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| of Montreal – Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Not bad at all le serpent mascara. It's definitely plausible. | |
| of Montreal – Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The novel Ulysses is by James Joyce (and of course also a Greek myth). The line "You're my Ulysses that I'll never end" is him saying she's his impossibly complex novel that will never be finished; thus, he can write a thousand songs for her a day and never run out. | |
| of Montreal – Triphallus, to Punctuate! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I believe the following lyrics are correct (I'm not sure what he's saying where there's question marks): "IT'S the kind of thought that kills you twice on the way down" (Over this line, he says something like "This instant, witch") "How they claw me in my FALSE OR foster reflection" "(???? to DEFY my wicked MASTER)" "The GREEK chorus of my skull is choking on their DULCET tones" (I'm certain it's Greek chorus; Kevin Barnes draws pretty heavily from Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy." Dulcet is a word meaning "a beautiful sound.") "NOW THAT I'm not a virgin to you" "Far beyond THE SELF-ABUSER'S shame" "You know I CELEBRATED YOU" "(I HEARTED for you girl)" |
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| of Montreal – Touched Something's Hollow Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I absolutely LOVE how at the song ends with the very plodding piano, Barnes singing, "I don't know how long I can hold on / If it's gonna' be like this forever...", and then it moves right into the frenetic, optimistic trumpets of An Eluardian Instance. Musically, it says that when one feels that way, they simply have to wait it out and things will change. The truth of life is chaotic, Dionysian proteanism. |
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| of Montreal – Gronlandic Edit Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| "Hope I'm not erasing myself" is, I think, a reference to the effects of anti-depressants. Consider his worries in "Heimdalsgate": "Chemicals, don't strangle my pen ... don't flatten my mind." | |
| of Montreal – Plastis Wafer Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Oedipux Rex (Oedipus the King), is one of the greatest Greek tragedies written by Sophocles. Oedipus, abandoned at birth, returns as an adult to (unknowingly) kill his father and wed & bed his mother. His mother ends up hanging herself, and Oedipus gouges out his eyes. I think perhaps Barnes is suggesting that the object of this song is the one person he can explore the outer limits of sexual transgression with. |
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| of Montreal – And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Thank you xerxes. I was wondering who or what "Lille Venn" was. | |
| Antsy Pants – Tree Hugger Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Aah. Appreciating distanciation. Maybe they read Deleuze? | |
| Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Read Baudrillard's work on Simulacra. Everything falls victim to the virtual, even our most private inner feelings like love. | |
| St. Vincent – Marry Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I wanted to add that, before Mary gave birth to "the kid," she was a virgin, which means they'll lead not just a life without any significance, but one without sex as well. I think this is a song from the point of view of someone who wants marriage for marriage's sake; the ritual is given more importance than the relationship. |
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| St. Vincent – Marry Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I read the lyrics to say, "Marry me John, I'll be so sweet to you (that) you won't realize I'm gone." John can marry her, and she'll act in such a way that he's ignorant to her absence. Everyone I've read talking about this in reviews, etc., seems to only get the sexual innuendo from the Mary and Joseph lines. What did Mary and Joseph do without the kid? They led banal, plebian existences without any particular significance. I find it interesting that she says that John is a rock. If we keep in mind the biblical reference to Mary and Joseph, it's curious that John is the rock here. Biblically-speaking, Peter was the rock that church was built upon. But John is the rock in this song. There's a sort of revision going on here. Anyhow, I think this song is deeply ironic. |
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| The Shins – New Slang Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth." Gold teeth are obviously not real, but they do provide a glossy facade. The positive, shiny front he was putting up left him when he started making his negative opinions known. "Only, i don't know how they got out, dear." We all slip and say things that, while true, we have a sense of regret and wonder at saying. "Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met. I was happier then with no mind-set." Pet is a great word choice. "Pet" can be used as a term of endearment; it can be a small creature that is cared for; it can be an animal lacking intellect. It seems he's playing with all of these. He was cared for affectionately and allowed, by virtue of the relationship, to be mindless. "And if you'd 'a took to me like A gull takes to the wind." I love this. A gull takes to the wind by flying right into it. The gull makes the wind evident; you can't see the wind, but you can see a gull flying into it. If she had taken to him that way, she would have filled him and defined him. "Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree" In The Beatles "Strawberry Fields Forever," they sing, "No one I think is in my tree." It's about isolation, self-preservation, seclusion. I'm reminded of hermits in the middle ages, intentionally isolating themselves at the top of poles. "And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well." While he would still feel like an eyesore, he'd be a happy eyesore, and he'd dance according. He figures if he was offered that sort of happiness, self-definition, mindlessness perpetually, he'd share in a good life. The implication is that he doesn't figure the rest of his life will fare will without the delimiting relationship. "New slang when you notice the stripes, the dirt in your fries." I always thought this was a reference to learning to curse. You notice the contrast in life, "the stripes," and you adopt "new slang" to express your dissatisfaction. The song is in a great part about developing a negativity you cannot contain or curtail. The "dirt in your fries" is a nice image of the sort of minuscule things that begin to create anxiety; things you could once overlook can no longer be ignored. "Hope it's right when you die, old and bony." He hopes that the person he's singing to (perhaps the listener?) doesn't get so disillusioned until their death of old age. This is an obvious impossibility; this is the sort of beautiful, unrealistic idealism of Holden Caulfield in "The Catcher in the Rye." "Dawn breaks like a bull through the hall," Sunrise, rather than being a beautiful thing, becomes abrupt and brutish. I'm guessing he's staying up all night long, the light of dawn reminding him of how out of balance his life has become. "Never should have called But my head's to the wall and I'm lonely." I think this is pretty obvious. He's phoning someone who he knows he shouldn't contact (perhaps especially because he's in such a bad mental/emotional state), but he can't help himself, just like he can't help his negativity. "God speed all the bakers at dawn may they all cut their thumbs, And bleed into their buns 'till they melt away." This is perhaps the most puzzling line. In one instance, bakers are generative; they make bread that nourishes people. Them bleeding into their buns seems like an image of someone giving too much to their art, like the typically tragic artist who "bleeds" to create (think people like Van Gogh). At the same time, he's established that dawn is something he perceives negatively. These people who get up at dawn to be productive and to nourish the town he curses are anathema to the speaker. He wishes they would suffer and die in their productivity, but refuses to imagine a gory death; instead, they bleed "'till they melt away." "I'm looking in on the good life i might be doomed never to find." This is pretty self-evident. He's imagining the life he wants, "and the rest of our lives we'd a' fared well," but he thinks he may be "doomed" never to find it. There's an element of fatalism here, but also doubt with the word "might." "Without a trust or flaming fields am i too dumb to refine?" I wonder if "a trust" is about money, like a trust fund. It is more likely that he's talking about a relationship: someone to sustain him. A flaming field, as another poster mentioned, is likely about rejuvenation through destruction (as fields can be burned to nourish the soil and start planting a new crop there); the singer cannot wipe his own slate clean. Repeatedly he laments his own jaded state. The question, "am I too dumb to refine," suggests that he might be "stupid" but also "mute;" he's in stasis, unable to communicate out (mute), but also unable to receive instruction or advice (stupid). "Well I'd a danced like the queen of the eyesores And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well." I'm not sure why he chooses to say "queen" here. Perhaps he is trying to make this song applicable to both genders; that way male and female listeners can relate to it. Perhaps if she took to him that way he'd be willing to emasculate himself. Anyhow, that's my take on the song. |
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| Ingrid Michaelson – Die Alone Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think it's very clever how the meaning of the lyrics shifts and changes: "I never thought I could love anyone." "I never thought I could love anyone but you." "I never thought I could love anyone, but you make me think that maybe I won't die alone." She's quite clever. |
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| Arcade Fire – Black Mirror Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| that's weird -- sorry that first post re-posted itself. | |
| Arcade Fire – Black Mirror Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Jung on the shadow, and how it works collectively: "It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses- and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster; and each individual is only one tiny cell in the monster's body, so that for better or worse he must accompany it on its bloody rampages and even assist it to the utmost. Having a dark suspicion of these grim possibilities, man turns a blind eye to the shadow-side of human nature. Blindly he strives against the salutary dogma of original sin, which is yet so prodigiously true. Yes, he even hesitates to admit the conflict of which he is so painfully aware." | |
| Arcade Fire – Black Mirror Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Furthermore, for the man who is aware of the shadow: "Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day." I think "black mirror" is a reference to the shadow. The black ocean is the collective of shadows, the dark subconscious of our society. "Black mirror knows no reflection" in this analysis would refer to the inability of most people to become aware of or 'see' their own shadow-self. If the darkness within us is a microcosm of the darkness in the world, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show me where them bombs will fall" makes sense; look within the shadow, within the darkness of one's own psyche, to understand human evil. |
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| Arcade Fire – Black Mirror Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Jung on the shadow, and how it works collectively: "It is a frightening thought that man also has a shadow side to him, consisting not just of little weaknesses- and foibles, but of a positively demonic dynamism. The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster; and each individual is only one tiny cell in the monster's body, so that for better or worse he must accompany it on its bloody rampages and even assist it to the utmost. Having a dark suspicion of these grim possibilities, man turns a blind eye to the shadow-side of human nature. Blindly he strives against the salutary dogma of original sin, which is yet so prodigiously true. Yes, he even hesitates to admit the conflict of which he is so painfully aware." | |
| Arcade Fire – No Cars Go Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| A song about liminal space as sanctuary. | |
| The Shins – Phantom Limb Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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locksmith: "well - i love "The Shins" they really shake and bake my world. but i gotta say - there is a wide gap between their music to their lyrics. while their music is amazing, the lyrics are childish and kinda meaningess..." You couldn't be more wrong. Mercer is one of the best lyricists I've ever encountered. |
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| Modest Mouse – Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice on Ice, Alright Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Christ is supposed to have walked on water. Religious folk try to be like Christ. The speaker in the song has had styrofoam boots strapped to his feet. It is as if someone tried to impose their tricky theology upon him, but all it did, when he was thrust out in the water, was suspend him upside down. Our tricks to be like Christ make us the inverse of Christ. Christ stood above the plane (the surface of the water) and the speaker is inverted below the plane. So, "it's all nice on ice", in this context, suggests that, when nature helps you perform the tricks to be like Christ, it's all nice. You can stay upright on the water and act like Christ, but hey, it's still a trick. It's all nice on ice, yeah, it's all nice to believe you're being like God, but hey, wait till spring and see if you can pull it off. |
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| The Shins – Phantom Limb Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Intersting, Elvis; I didn't know about that album. Where did you get your lyrics from? Are they from personal listening? |
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| The Shins – Phantom Limb Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Hey ... I have some lyrics corrections here. I've listened very carefully and I believe these are all accurate. The capitalized words are the lyrics I believe need to be changed: "fire past one, FIVE AND one," "OF sunday ham," "and they COULD float above the CRASS," "so we just skirt the hallway SIDES," (this makes a lot more sense) "A WEEK OF ROLLING eyes," (there's a lot of references to days of the week in this song) "AND cheap shots from the tribe," "another afternoon with the GOAT-head tunes," (i think he's referring to death-metal) "we wandered through HER mama's house," "this is that FALLEN land," (I'm not positive about this, but I believe I hear the "L" sound in this lyric, which wouldn't work for "foreign") "so when they tap our MONDAY heads" (Again, reference to days of the week for some reason) "TOO FAR along in our crime" "so when they tap our SUNDAY heads" (This lyric I'm sure about. For some reason, he changes it in the refrain from Monday to Sunday.) |
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| System of a Down – B.Y.O.B. Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Vandalroller -- if there is a word I absolutely hate in these debates, it is "unamerican". Speaking out against your government--distrusting your government--is, historically, very American. The frightening thing is that the "hypnotic machines" have tricked so many people into believing that to be American is to blindly follow and to believe whatever the television tells you. Those machines lead you to allow your civil liberties to be jeopardized by the Patriot Act, and allow you to blindly believe that the war in Iraq is a good thing. Listen to "Bin Laden" by "Immortal Technique featuring Mos Def" for an interesting point of view (its rap, but lyrically very brave and aggressive). Everyday you are being lied to, and as long as you stare into the bright lights they shine for you, you will never see the truth. This very message will be immediately dismissed as 'left-wing bullshit' before you give your brain a chance to really think about it. You know what kind of reasoning that it? Fanaticism. Fundamentalism. So many Americans have been tricked into turning their brains off. | |
| Weezer – Freak Me Out Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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How can you say that Rivers necessarily agrees with public opinion? Does the American public judge middle eastern people they meet in the street as dangerous terrorists? Isn't there something wrong with that? In regards to public opinion, plenty of musicians go much further than what I was suggesting (not stating) Rivers may be saying. For example: System of a Down - B.Y.O.B. - "we all live in a fascist nation" ... "Why don't presidents fight the war?" ... "Why do they always send the poor?" or Immortal Technique (feat. Mos Def and Eminem) - Bin Laden: "They say the rebels in Iraq still fight for Saddam But that's bulls**t, I'll show you why it's totally wrong Cuz if another country invaded the hood tonight It'd be warfare through Harlem, and Washington Heights I wouldn't be fightin' for Bush or White America's dream I'd be fightin' for my people's survival and self-esteem" |
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| The Cure – All Cats Are Grey Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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To me, the caves symbolize depression. Even amongst people, the person is alone -- other people are just stone columns that are impending doom via pressure: "begging to crush me." In the depths of depression, there are no markers toward escape, there is only a terribly isolated feeling. The deep lakes of introspection offer no sensible reprieve, either. "No shapes sail on the dark deep lakes And no flags wave me home." Everything that could once inspire happiness becomes drab, incapable of inspiring any feeling whatsoever: "In the caves All cats are grey." |
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| Weezer – Freak Me Out Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Fixxxer169, that's an unfair generalization of people of middle eastern descent. | |
| Alexisonfire – No Transitory Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This song begins with the statement "I'm in a constant state of getting cut / So why don't I feel anything?" which introduces the listener to the fact that the song is about desensitization. The line "Maybe I forgot what it was like / Before it entered me" and all the references to knives leads me to believe this song is primarily about cutting. People tend to cut to externalize internal pain and find temporary relief. What if somebody got desensitized to externalizing their pain? What then? The lyric "Imagine if we lived / Under the weather / We would never be found / Never discovered" seems to cause some confusion. I believe what it means is that if you're always sick ("under the weather") nobody will notice. They'll only notice changes. So somebody who's mentally sick all the time passes under the radar. I think the song ends with the person, no longer able to cut to free themselves from their emotional pain, trying to kill themselves, failing or getting caught, and finally getting the help they need and the cycle ended: "Seems everything went wrong / We were discovered / But this time there's no tomorrow / And tomorrow / And tomorrow ..." That's my take on this song, anyhow. |
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| Weezer – Freak Me Out Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I may be entirely off-base here, but I think this is a political song. There is nothing in the lyrical content to verify the fact, and I wouldn't expect Rivers to write something so transparent anyhow. Regardless, the first time I heard it, it struck me that it was about prejudicial treatment of middle-easterners in North America, and also at the same time about what the U.S. is doing overseas. The following verse stands out: "did i hurt you are you ok can i buy you a drink ah ah ah ah ah ahhhh whats the world coming to" Its just a hunch, however. Don't take it too seriously. |
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