| Joanna Newsom – Sprout and the Bean Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I hadn't thought of abortion before twocents mentioned it, but now it just makes perfect sense. However I don't think that being "fey" or "water running down the white throat" (the line is "...beneath the white throat" which changes its meaning a bit) refers to alcohol. The verse about white coats and broad boats perhaps refers to the procedure itself, hence the kinda frantic and anxious way in which she sings it. As for the "should we go outside" parts, I'm still not sure. It may refer to the counsellor/councillor and the king not really having any good answer, not wanting to face up to the reality of the question and simply changing the topic (a "funny" answer). Amazing song. |
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| The Shins – Sleeping Lessons Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Interesting angle ladybug. What make you think of the Nietzsche connection in the first place? | |
| The Shins – Sleeping Lessons Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Great opener. When I heard this song I thought, "This is going to be an awesome album". Reminds me a bit of Animal Collective (especially "Did You See the Words"). | |
| The Shins – Australia Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love it. The name of the song, plus a few of the lyrics ("feet in the fetters", "haven't laughed since January" -- the First Fleet arrived at Australia in January 1788) make me think it's about the convicts who were sent from England to Australia. I guess that's pretty obvious. I have no idea what it means beyond that. | |
| The Shins – A Comet Appears Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Some lyrics suggestions: "some überman i'd make, i'm barely a vapor", as harshfury suggested. The rest of that verse is about him feeling insignificant, so this line isn't so odd. "Blow on our thorns" = "blow on our thumbs" Great song. Such a lonely song, too. There are 2 metaphors here -- earth as a comet hurtling through space, with people trying to hold on and not get left behind; and the world as a sea, with people trying to keep from sinking. In both cases, the song takes the position that we're all naturally being forced from holding onto the comet, or that we're all sinking. So it's about the ways we try and fight our insignificance as history ploughs on and forgets us. For some it's religion, which people use to believe they'll never sink into insignificance. For others love will keep them from sinking away so quickly. But the lonely people are the worst off, they've essentially got nothing keeping them afloat. I think that's what the coming "worst part" is... dying alone with nothing to show, and being forgotten forever. Wow, how emo. |
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| John Mayer – Tracing Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| The line you have as "there is a reason strong, move slow" should be "there is a reason strong moves slow". He's saying that strong relationships are built up over time; you can't just blitz through all of the necessary stages in a new relationship by copying past relationships. | |
| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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When I think of this song, I think of it as being narrated from a younger, more innocent perspective than that of a present-day genius songwriter. I think it's Butler singing about how he felt at the time, rather than telling the story now of what happened in the past. The fact that he's always their "older brother" is an example of this, as well as calling his father "daddy", and using the childlike metaphor "bit by a Vampire" to describe Alex's scary change in character. The main thing that makes me think it's from the perspective of when the narrator was a kid is the line "Our mother shoulda just named you Laika". Given that the real Laika was sent out into space with no hope of returning, those are pretty harsh words to his mother. There's also the very parental phrase used to excuse doing something mean to your kid, "it's for your own good". Maybe the narrator saw his parents kicking Alex out/sending him to rehab/wherever as a kind of betrayal, just sending their problem off into space without caring what will happen to it. That's definitely the way a kid might see it. So yeah, when I hear the song I think of it as a kid's perspective of an older brother, hooked on drugs or scarred by mental illness (or something along those lines), tearing apart his family and eventually being sent away by his parents, with the kid feeling at the time like this was a cop-out and not something that loving parents would do. Whatever the meaning is, it's a bloody brilliant song. |
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