submissions
| Loose Fur – Laminated Cat Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This is a reworking of the Wilco song (cut from "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) "Not for the Season." I think it's an expression of time passing and not much changing. The words are kind of depressing, but there's a kind of unexplainable hope in there. |
submissions
| Michael Knott – Herb's Garage Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Supposedly this is a verbatim transcript of an old man's rantings in a mechanic's waiting room. It seems like "Hold on, let me get the lyrics together" is Knott speaking, though. |
submissions
| Michael Knott – Over Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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In the "Fluid" rock opera, this song is Satan bargaining with God for Jenny's soul as she's in a coma. |
submissions
| Michael Knott – Skinny Skins Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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It's about Steve Hindalong, the drummer for the Choir. Hindalong said Knott got two things wrong in the song: He owed Derri Daughtery, not Hindalong, money; and 1993 was a vodka year. |
submissions
| Bruce Cockburn – Badlands Flashback Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Here's my nonprofessional translation from the French:
My body imagines itself
My hand understands itself
Takes of the gravel
A white piece of shell
For an instant
A howling
The ancient sea
Fills this space that was mine
Mobile lozenges
Of floating grasses
A sudden cry
Of blazing birds to the firmament
A group of antelopes
Traverse the horizon
Sparkling hooves as though made of glass
A laugh rings like crystal
In the empty sky
Someone dances like a flame |
submissions
| Luxury – Biography, Autobiography Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song appears to be about Jamey Bozeman converting to Orthodox Christianity, as he sings the second verse and his brother Lee sings the first. |
submissions
| Luxury – The Four Quartets Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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The world is coming to an end, and you're stuck in a shitty hotel room in the middle of Missouri.
The song is full of references to T.S. Eliot, most notably "The Four Quartets" and "The Dry Salvages," but also "The Four Quartets." Lee Bozeman claims that the last stanza is a reference to the funeral of Pope John Paul II, but the lyric seems to have been written before John Paul II died. |
submissions
| Luxury – Shake More Hands, Give More Hugs Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Lee Bozeman: "I believe that people, Americans in particular, are only concerned with leisure and entertainment. Apparently, tellng jokes and sunbathing are the two most effective ways of appearing pleasant and even likeable in society." |
submissions
| Adam Again – Worldwide Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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"Headman" Joseph Shabalala was the leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo (probably best known for their work on Paul Simon's "Graceland" record). He was shot and killed just before this song was written. |
submissions
| Adam Again – River on Fire Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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It's about Gene Eugene's divorce from Riki Michele, as many late-period Adam Again songs seem to be. Eugene calls it "one of the saddest songs ever written," and I think I agree: It perfectly captures that stage in a relationship where one person wants out. "You could be happy, and I could be miserable."
The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire several times in the late 20th century. In this song, it's just an image of the impossible coming true. |
submissions
| The Jayhawks – Big Star Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The title is a reference to the classic power pop band Big Star, a major influence on Gary Louris. That reference makes the chorus ironic, though, since Big Star never even got close to being huge. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Highway 61 is also known as the "blues highway." Practically speaking, it's how the trucks carrying old blues records would have gotten to Dylan's hometown of Duluth, Minnesota.
And so this song is a bit of imaginative self-mythologizing--all of these legendary and in some cases biblical events took place on the road to Dylan's own self-discovery in music. |
submissions
| Bob Dylan – Tombstone Blues Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I love the way this song sounds like it's perpetually about to go off the rails, but manages to stay just balanced. |
submissions
| Ken Stringfellow – Down Like Me Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The plot goes like this: The girl breaks up with the guy (who is the narrator). He decides to kill himself over the situation, but before he has the chance, he receives word that the girl has killed herself. |
submissions
| Ken Stringfellow – Sparrow Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I believe Ken said it was written in response to some Christian friends of his, in order to tell them that he didn't agree with their beliefs. |
submissions
| The Posies – Suddenly Mary Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Like several other songs on "Dear 23," "Suddenly Mary" is about getting married too young and the pain that occurs when you realize your mistake. |
submissions
| The Posies – Solar Sister Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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"Sister Carrie" is a naturalist novel by Theodore Dreiser. It concerns a young woman who is drawn to Chicago and abandons conventional morality in order to survive. The only similarity it seems to have with "Solar Sister" is its repeated use of the image of the magnet.
I think Ken Stringfellow said this song is about a friend of his who didn't realize how great she was. |
submissions
| The Posies – My Big Mouth Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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"My Big Mouth" is a jaunty, Beatlesesque song whose upbeat feel and bright melody obscures its dark, cynical lyrics. It's about getting caught cheating on your lover and not knowing what to say in your defense. |
submissions
| The Posies – Golden Blunders Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Like many of the songs on the "Dear 23" record, "Golden Blunders is about marrying too young and the pain that occurs when you realize your mistake.
Ringo Starr covered this song, which is fitting, as the title is deliberately similar to the Beatles classic "Golden Slumbers." |
submissions
| The Posies – Grant Hart Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Grant Hart was the drummer and one of the singers for the classic college-rock band Husker Du. This song is obviously an expression of what Hart's music means to Ken Stringfellow and shows the irony that while "power trios with big-ass deals" (read: Nirvana) hit it big in the early 1990s, their obvious predecessors, like Husker Du and the Minutemen, languished in relative obscurity a decade before. |
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