| X – The Once Over Twice Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Some self-absorbed jerk in a band is pursuing the girl (presumably Exene) and when she shows some interest back (asking "when", as in, when can they see each other again) he ditches her ("okay so long") because he's in it for the chase, not the catch. She gets upset ("I could throw my lipstick and bracelets like gravel and move to Alabama, I got some more scotch instead") and every time she's reminded of what the motherfucker did to her she's humiliated that she fell for the trick and mortified that she still feels something for him ("then I died a thousand times/ hung me with the endless rope") As a result, she feels empty and hopeless ("got a hole in my heart size of my heart") and possibly bitter towards men ("hang another man, he hung me with the endless rope"). In summation, this song is so great because that is exactly what it feels like. |
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| Le Tigre – Hot Topic Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| this song always makes me teary. | |
| Le Tigre – Deceptacon Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love that a large part of this song is Kathleen Hanna's angry plea not to depoliticize her rhyme, yet so much of what her 'fans' have to say about this song amounts to little more than 'oooh, I LOVE dancing tot his song! it's awesome guyz' | |
| Le Tigre – Bang! Bang! Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| as for Patrick Doorsman, I was unable to find much information on him except that he was a security guard who was shot and killed by the police. | |
| Le Tigre – Bang! Bang! Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I actually did research on this song as a small part of a larger presentation on racial profiling- it's absolutely not about the police shooting a guy for being gay, as is evident from the content of the song- "There's no fucking way this is not about race." This song is important in times when police brutality is sparked in any way by unjust racial prejudices, and was especially relevant at the time it was released because of the NYPD Street Crime Unit that was created under Mayor Guiliani during the late 1990's. The controversial Street Crime Unit was a force of plainclothes police who were involved in matters involving gangs and violence and were highly criticized for using unduly violent measures, especially in the case of Amadou Diallo. Diallo was a 23 year old immigrant from Guinea who had come to New York City to study computer sciences. He was walking back from breakfast one day in 1999 when several plainclothes men of the Street Crimes Unit accosted and shouted at him. He apparently fit the loose description of a serial rapist who was then on the loose (he has since been captured). They yelled for him to hold still, but Diallo reached for and took out his wallet, presumably to show the policement his ID. The police mistook his wallet for a gun and fired 41 shots at him- that is the significance of the countdown at the end of this song. Diallo, of course, died. The officers involved were acquitted of all charges. Diallo's parents accepted a settlement from the US government and have since become activists. Once the people learned of the death of this "unarmed immigrant", public outrage mounted and the already fed-up people of New York City conducted massive protests and demonstrations; criticism both within New York City and outside of it maligned the Street Crimes Unit, the policemen involved, and excessive racial profiling in general. Riots in New York City lead to the arrests of over 1700 citizens. The Street Crimes Unit was disbanded in 2002 because of all of the negative publicity coming from the Amadou Diallo incident as well as SEVERAL other similar incidents in which they injured or killed innocent victims. The death of Amadou Diallo has since become an event of monumental significance for the city of New York and the movement against unnecessary racial profiling and police brutality, much like the Rodney King incident, amongst many others. Amadou Diallo is the subject of or is mentioned in several works of music, literature, film, and art; notably songs, books and films by Wyclef Jean, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Spike Jonze, Common, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Eggers, Erykah Badu, Leftover Crack, Le Tigre, and many many others. I got a lot of this information from wikipedia; you can look up this event in any news archive or database, and in many books about police brutality, civil rights, the ACLU, the NAACP, and racial profiling. RIP Amadou Diallo |
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| The Old 97s – Salome Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| Unsure if this is what the title of the song refers to, but in the Bible, Salome was the name of the dancer whose stepfather, Herod, asked to dance for him and his guests at a gathering. In return, Salome was promised anything she wanted, and she asked for John the Baptist's head on a platter. Nowadays, Salome is a name that is commonly associated with belly dancers. Oscar Wilde also wrote a one-act play about Salome that was later turned into an opera by Richard Strauss. The scene in which Salome was presented with John the Baptist's head is also portrayed in several famous paintings. | |
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