| Negativland – U2: 1991 A Cappella Mix Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I think this song can only mean one thing: Negativland were great at what they did over a decade ago and they continue to be great at it today. More people should give these fellas a listen. I can't imagine that reading this and not hearing the song would enable anyone to understand exactly what the song is about. It is a "cover" of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, with the lyrics twisted and narrated by the one and only Weatherman. The other prominent voice is that of Casey Kasem, caught saying some nasty things about U2 and in general. The other song included on this single features most of his worst stuff. Negativland were sued; I don't know near enough of the specifics except that I have read that the record companies claimed to be worried that people would confuse the Negativland album with the U2 one (they both came out around the same time). Apparently the fact that Negativland's album cover had a U2 spyplane on the cover did not change their minds. They made fun of U2, they made fun of Casey Kasem (simply by playing clips of him speaking) and they got the s*** sued out of them. They wrote a book about the experience and copyright issues, one of their main focuses, in a book called "The Letter U and the Numeral 2" (I believe that's the title) They've got literally hundreds of hours of output plus an ongoing radio show every Thursday night that can be heard over the web. Check out their website: www.negativland.com |
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| The Beatles – She Said She Said Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Add to that the fact that the early demos were called "He said he said" (I've read several instances of John mentioning the Peter Fonda thing). I love the song itself because it perfectly seems to capture the beginning of the LSD experience: confusion, anxiety and excitement. In fact, the "when I was a boy everything was right" part always reminds me of Strawberry Fields Forever (also comparing the LSD experience to childhood). |
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| The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| I remember reading that John had read these lyrics, or at least something very similar to these lyrics, into a tape recorder to play back to himself whilst tripping. I guess he decided to go an extra step further and make it into a song. As Tangled said it's all largely from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I love this song, one of the most psychedelic things the Beatles have ever created. | |
| The Beatles – I Am the Walrus Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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At the end I believe they're saying "Everybody's got one, everybody's got one" although I've heard allegedly false rumors that it's "everybody smoke pot, everybody smoke pot" I think the first line "I am he as you are me as you are he and we are all together" sets the stage for the rest of the song. It's all open to interpretation. I think if John was alive today he would laugh at the idea that there are five pages of text on a website devoted to discovering the meaning of a song he intentionally wrote to throw people off and make them look for meaning that didn't exist. :) That being said, who knows what associations he had when he wrote each lyric? I'm sure they all mean "something" but I don't think they're written in such a way that we can say for sure. I know some of them are specific references ("yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dogs eye", some schoolyard saying twisted around). |
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| John Lennon – God Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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As an atheist I probably read more into the song than may necessarily have been intended (can you blame me? :) Note how he doesn't mention anything about not believing in communism. Apparently he was becoming acquainted with it around that time, perhaps someone can shed more light on it. |
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| The Beatles – A Day in the Life Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I think the only lyrics in the song that show the real meaning of the song itself are "I'd love to turn you on." It seems to be more of a "list" of news items Lennon had been reading. In comparing war and suicide to the triviality and meaninglessness of "four thousand holes in blackburn, lancashire" with little change in tone or style, I think the indication is that no matter what he reads or sees his response is going to be "Oh boy". The middle 8 part by Paul, in reality, probably doesn't have a lot do with the "meaning" that John had in mind. They more than likely just thought the combination worked but I could be wrong. I suppose one could say that the quick change of pace and theme just goes along more with the idea of the song. Basically, it's about LSD. |
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| Pink Floyd – Dogs Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Although I think the "greedy businessman" analogy is fairly obvious, I think the song is intended to go a little bit further as some have suggested. I would assume that in using the animals metaphor, Waters was including ALL people. Therefore, if one is part of the working poor and is NOT a sheep (that is, having the qualities laid out by said song) then they must be a dog at least in the sense that they are competing for survival. Beginning with the "Gotta admit, that I'm a little bit confused...." up to the line "who was breaking away from the pack?", particularly in its delivery, always made me think the implication was that a "dog" had realized what it had become and was trying to change. There is also the mention of "any fool knows a dog needs a home" and "now that I've found somewhere safe to bury my bone" in Pigs on the Wing part II, maybe indicating some kind of balance with the original character Waters was representing in Dogs. Of course, I could just be stoned. That is entirely possible. |
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