| The Beatles – For No One Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't understand the horn solo :C This song is so resigned, so fatalistic and 'nothing's gonna go right' and I love it. It's the perfectly pure breakup song and it conveys more of a mature outlook on how things actually work in the real world than most 'i hate you 'cause you dumped me' songs. So why French Horn, the sign of both the Hunt and being Horny (there's a reason we use that word!) I mean...Paul had to know that! It's beautiful, but it throws me for a loop every time. ...maybe that's the idea? |
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| The Beatles – Across the Universe Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Ok, it's not about drugs. But nn10000 I'm gonna have to disagree with you on a few points. For starters, there's no way you can conflate "pools of sorrow" and "waves of joy" into one lump understanding that both are about emotion overwhelming him. I think that the "pools of sorrow" are possessing and the "waves of joy" are caressing, and it's a fundamental shift in thinking. The pool is stagnant, its permanent, but it's also weak. The wave is quick, powerful, but fleeting. The wave simply cannot possess, because it isn't around long enough to. Rather, when a wave buffets against the rocks, it caresses and then quickly steps aside. John is possessed with sorrow in this movie, and the waves of joy that come against his shore quickly retreat, unable to solve the main problem of futility that runs throughout the song. I don't think 'nothing's gonna change my world' is an arrogant statement of defiance against the world. But I don't think it's a statement of oneness with the universe either. He repeats it too much, he needs convincing - and John knows what the 'refrain' of a song really means. It means it 'refrains' the music and meaning from going any further, it's a restriction and boundary that he's meeting up against. "Nothing's gonna change my world" means that despite his best efforts, he can't change his course. He's not in control of the situation. He's trying to catch words in paper cups but they just slip by. He's being called "on and on across the universe" because it's so far away. What I love the most about this song is the sense of space. The notes on "rain into a paper cup" or "wind inside a letter box" sound like twinkling stars, just two notes alternating between them create this wonderful vacuum for John to play in. Even the opening glissando - from low to high - it's conveying space. And when we're dragged across this space, across the universe, with no end in sight and unable to control it, it's frustrating as hell. - "restless wind inside a letter box" is an anxiety about being trapped - "sounds of laughter, shades of earth" are suggestions of beauty that ring through him, but they *aren't the things themselves.* He can never get laughter, or earth, just mere hints of those wonderful things. They call him on, and he goes on an endless search for them. In the end, "nothing's gonna change my world" is a resignation that no matter what we do in our own world, we can't fix the problem. We can't reconcile. I think this song is darker and more desperate than people have been giving it credit for. |
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| Fiona Apple – Red Red Red Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't think there is a relationship in this song, at least not in the official sense. Fiona's careful with her words. If she's seeing red, then they aren't together - they're getting bright. So why can't they be together? A hint might be in the colors, and her subsequent frustration. He's a coward. She can't reach him (like the diamond) and doesn't understand why. So the concern isn't the disconnect - it's the doubt. She honestly doesn't know if his resistance is because of his fear or her acts. Everything is a juxtaposition: the colors, the diamonds (bright) compared to the mining (dirt, dull), and truth/lies at the end. Musically, the song's center is neither major or minor. The entire doubt is then internalized to the song. Wonderful. |
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| Bruce Hornsby – Every Little Kiss Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The beginning piano lick from this is ripped directly from the Concord Sonata. A beautiful connection to Americana and family. | |
| Fiona Apple – I Know Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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People have hinted at it, but I think it deserves mention (as a tribute to Fiona's amazing lyric writing ability?) The last line *should be* "I Know" or "I'll Know" in the song's structure. Look at where it comes, in the other verses, and how it fits with the rhyme of "tell me so." But she doesn't sing it, she just lets it hang. It makes you wait just like she's waiting. It makes you feel some sort of loss every time you hear the song end, because the last lyric to tie everything up is absent. But in the end, it's totally unnecessary. "Don't need to say it." So she doesn't. And it's genius. |
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| Natalie Imbruglia – Butterflies Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song has to be about an abortion, it's the only thing that ties all of the confusion together. The drug references "purple terror candy" "cocktail sedatives" etc. plus the idea of cutting the stomach out. Also consider lines like "two months to hide somewhere" and "this dichromatic vision" - clearly a riff on the absolutism surround the abortion debate which leaves no room for gray area or moral ambiguity. From the moment I heard this I thought of a woman struggling with a choice she had already made... |
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| Stars – Look Up Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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i'm so glad somebody else pointed out the Berlioz connection. I first heard this song at a Gap, immediatly after a semester spent studying the Symphonie Fantastique. I was at first I was angry that it had been ripped - but then... as ohpioneer points out, the storm idea does connect, and it's nice that way. Except the entire movement of the Berlioz isn't about a storm, necessarily, it's about lonliness. The oboe is absent at the end, the melody at some points in the middle drops out entirely, it's far from a love song, it's a lost song. Plus, the entire symphony is more about dark obsession than pretty lovey-dovey. So I freaked out - Stars had missed the point entirely. But I re-evaluated. The call itself, the only part that's used in Look Up, is a love call. It's just never answered. But that small little 6 note pattern is the essence of love. And in that Stars did Berlioz justice. I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO LIKES THIS SONG TO LISTEN TO BERLIOZ'S SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE (No. 1) MOVEMENT 3: SCENE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE! :) |
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