| Cake – Jolene Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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WOW! Boone, I bow to you, the semen thing was just an idea, but your analysis is much more lucid. I obviously think that the smell represents something major about the meaning of this song. However, I am willing to admit that it could either be representative of 1) Jolene's father, or 2) a waitressing job or something... which opens me up to additional interpretations. Stale tobacco is a sickly kind of smell... BUT that scent is always ALWAYS THERE!!! YEAH YEAAAAAAAH! Consider this... "I want to cast your face in lead" - you are so beautiful that I would make a statue out of you... BUT! "I want to throw you down into bed" - this should be obvious to adults! BUT! BUT! What would keep a man from loving a lovely, sexy woman? Her situation? This makes me favor the 'father' interpretation rather than the 'bar waitress' one. (Or my own, of course) Whatever it is, I am not willing to budge from my point that the smell is the key to the meaning, no matter what it is. Once again, BIG props to boone for an EXCELLENT interpretation. I don't care how much John claims his lyrics are simple, to many (including me) they are modern poetry and thus subject to traditional analysis. Perhaps his forebrain was just thinking about a girl, but the result was art, rife with meaning. In the same way that "Never There" is appliccable both to women and to God/prayer, (for me) this song may have valid, multiple interpretations. Trying not to be too verbose!!! But I have to add, that, like Skaman, this song has one of the COOLEST guitar riffs EVER!!! The only other band I like that is so country is Lynyrd Skynyrd... and perhaps Meat Puppets (who managed to combine country with punk) (guess that comes from living in Nashville!) Props to all, and keep thinking! |
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| Cake – Commissioning A Symphony In C Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I agree with mdg on this, which also agrees with what tunasandwich quotes... This song brings me to tears almost every time I listen to it. I always connect it with Mozart's Requiem (my favorite classical piece), because I know that the story is similar, and was extremely common in its time... apparently is still extremely common, according to McRea. Anyway, when Mozart was dying, he was 'commissioned' to write a requiem (song to be played at a rich person's funeral or wake) for some noble. (Some research shows the Requiem was written in D minor, so I am not precise here, yet the acuracy remains!) The tradition of the time was to pass off 'commissioned' art as the purchaser's own work, giving no credit at all to the artist. Mozart told his own wife that he was writing the requiem for himself (since he was dying) and, in effect, it was to be his crowning work, his final work. Though it was claimed to be 'unfinished', the Requiem seems finished to me, it seems to take the listener through illness, death, and then the choice of damnation or redemption, and then the results of that choice (obviously redemption!), into 'grace'. I find the song amazing regardless of my belief in grace or even the typical division of the afterlife into realms of punishment or reward. For me it represents the agony of death (physical or moral), and the release from the bounds of the material. As for the Cake song, I see it as the "comissioner" trying to take credit for the "art" that he/she has "paid for". I also interpret it as saying that the "commisioner" does not realize the value of the art, beyond what monetary gains they may recieve - "They are not about what is but what is not" - means to me, MONEY. The agents/record execs/ commisioners/ etc are only looking at the art for what they can get out of it - money, which is not there now, but can "come in" if the song or whatever is popular. They BOUGHT it, then they can SELL it. I want anyone who thinks they can sell art to think about this, and to listen to this song... then think about it again. That's all... |
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| Cake – Jolene Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Sometimes you have to LISTEN to the song to figure out what it is about. What I mean is, in this song, the emotion and emphasis comes in the chorus, especially the last half, where he smells her hair. I'm not saying that I figured this out yet, but I have some ideas. The chorus says: I want to screw you, you are as beautiful as a statue, as wondrous as the stars, but, but, BUT!!! There's a sickly scent in your hair. Either it's the nauseating mixture of "cream rinse and tobacco smoke" or something else. My bet is on something else. I thought of this because I used to know this girl, you know, friend of a friend of a friend... she was, like 16, and she used to... well, there's no other way to put it. She gave out free blowjobs to about anyone who asked. In addition, she was kind of trashy (bad hygeine)... to the point, she always had semen in her hair. I know a lot of guys don't have a really good sense of smell, but dried semen has a salty-sour, kind of rotten sweat smell. It could very well be called sickly. Then again, so could second-hand tobacco smoke. The semen theory makes the song incredibly disturbing when you notice that Jolene apparently lives with her father. EW! I don't know... But I will agree, it seems that Jolene needs to be saved... from something. |
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| Cake – Long Line Of Cars Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I get a more spiritual metaphor from most of Cake's songs... I think that, besides talking about girls and cars, he's also talking about God, and destiny. (Yes, the metaphor is almost always applicable to 'society' as well) In fact, the multitude of metaphors I find in their music only makes me enjoy it more! Anyway... this song mentions sin and burning, in the bridge(s)... When I hear it, I always think of the long line of cars as the line to the gates of hell. A lot of their songs seem to poke fun at the christian mythology, and if there were truly gates to the 'realms' above and below, then the gates of hell would surely be a lot like the universe's biggest traffic jam! The long line of cars "will never have an end", which means it is infinite, and will "keep coming round the bend" forever... Another interpretation of the same points I brought up, is that the song is about pollution. The "sin" of driving forces us to "accept a little grey" (smog?), and we "don't wonder where we're going" or what we're doing to the environment, or "remember where we've been", as in just a few decades ago, when smog DIDN'T EVEN EXIST. It's not only "because of YOU", if you check the lyrics again... but also "because of me". Of course, if everyone is equally wrong, nobody can get blamed... right? |
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| Cake – Never There Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I always get the feeling that a lot of Cake's songs are about the christian version of heaven and hell, God and Satan, often quite playfully. There are no reasons that a song about a girl (which means MOST of Cake's songs) cannot be a metaphor for something else, as well. I find more layers of metaphors the longer I listen. In that sense, this song seems to be talking about prayer, like if you try to talk to God, "long, long distance, always through such strong resistance", it seems like he's "never there". Other lyrics seem to say, "if you love me so much, why don't you show it". |
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