| Death Cab for Cutie – Long Division Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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“And they carried on like long division.. for a solution that would play without a remain” I think collectively, the couple attempts long division, a prolongation of the relationship because both don’t want it to end. They want to find a solution where there isn’t a remainder, where both can walk away from the relationship whole, neither incomplete and broken. And till they find that solution they keep struggling along with the relationship. Through this struggle, the partner is distracted by “open doors”, other possibilities, perhaps with other women. However, he had sworn he’d be faithful this time, because he didn’t want to end up being a remainder, incomplete and broken like before. And sadly, he goes along with the temptation in the end, and she leaves. I think the whole song is about two lovers trying to salvage something which once worked, but now isn’t, because neither wants to be hurt. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Expo '86 Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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etimes I think this cycle never ends We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again And it seems by the time that I have figured what it's worth The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse Its symbolic of the aftermath of a relationship with someone, possibly a first love. Remnants of the relationship never quite disintegrate. Everything gets wound up in a never-ending cycle of frenzy bliss. The sliding from top to bottom over and over again, is symbolic of the cycle and paralleled to a slippery dip. Once you go up, there is only one way to go from there, that is to go down. Each time you go down, the scraping off your back on the steel gets harder and harder, especially on a hot summer day. The scraping of you back on the steel can be symbolic of the girl repeatedly doing something to you, like a knife in the back… we can only reassure this theory if we read on to the rest of the song. But if I move my place in line, I'll lose And I have waited, the anticipation's got me glued The aftermath of a relationship and all the constant cycles of fights and bitter sweetness is too much to handle, so there is contemplation of the guy to move his place in line. Forget about her and move on, but he realizes if he does that he’ll lose her forever. It makes you think, that he himself realizes that the source of all their arguments after their breakup is because they are not together. He has waited, and waited to get back together with her, the waiting has become so hopeful that he has become so glued to achieve this goal. It’s the thrill of the challenge. Sometimes it seems that I don't have the skills to recollect The twists and turns of plots that took us from lovers to friends I'm thinking I should take that volume back up off the shelf And crack it's weary spine and read to help remind myself He knows that a relationship with her is destructive. It seems he has forgotten all the bad however and is so fixating on getting this girl back. He doesn’t have any skills to remember the past and what happened that took both of them from lovers to friends. So he thinks he ought to “should” take that volume back off the shelf. (A volume is a series of books, long books, volume 1, volume 2 etc.. if you didn’t know). He ought to take the volume back off the self, crack the tired and old spine by opening it up and reading it again to help remind him the dangers of attempting a relationship with this girl once again. I am waiting for something to wrong I am waiting for familiar resolve I am waiting for another repeat Another diet fed by crippling defeat It is quite clear there is a strong element of wait and anticipation enforcing the reader to believe that this relationship he once had with this now friend happened many moments ago. Making the reader as if this relationship was infact his first love, which is the hardest. The whole waiting for something to go wrong is not symbolic of another fight with her it is symbolic of waiting something to go wrong in her new relationship with one of the many guys. However, he knows that there is always a familiar resolve, that perhaps even though this girl fights a lot with these other guys, they always seem to get back together, she always seems to go back to the same sort of guy. He himself is waiting on the sidelines, watching as these relationships with other men go by. He knows that each time she gets together with the same types of men, to him it is a “familiar resolve” and a “repeat”. And each time as she does this to him, it is a cripping defeat, it is a dosage to him, it’s a bittersweet meal fed to him. And I am waiting for that sense of relief I am waiting for you to flee the scene As if you held in your hand the smoking gun And on the floor lay the one you said you loved Notice how she holds the smoking gun in her own hand, she is not fleeing the scene herself, but she is fleeing the scene by driving the other person away. She fires the gun, and the person on the floor these guys, are the ones running away, the same ones she tells that she loved. The writer of this song, was obviously a victim of her. It is the same old story, he knows how she is, but still he is waiting for that sense of relief, for her to keep pulling the trigger and leaving the scene of these guys because it makes him more hopeful he might have a chance of her, and he doesn’t wanna lose his place in the line And it's strange They are basically the same So I don't ask names anymore Even though this is probably the shortest stanza, it does hold a lot of meaning it strengthens this idea of a circle that this guy is wound up. It’s routine. All the guys are basically all the same, he doesn’t need to know their names anymore as the story has been played out on repeat and rewind for some time now. Then at the very end, he goes back to the same first stanza. Sometimes I think this cycle never ends We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again And it seems by the time that I have figured what it's worth The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse It’s beautifully structured that the beginning is the end, just like a ring, a circular phenomenon. This whole song in its entirety is about the fixation of a former lover and even though we all realize that they are more destructive rather than good, it is something we yearn for and breathe for because there was once upon a time in those short lived moments where they were great. It makes you wonder why she has gone into this rampage of men that are nothing more than fleeting passes, it makes you feel that she herself was also cut by the relationship and this is why she is doing it. She is filling the void within her. It makes the reader feel that this constant slippery dip, up and down of emotions with this now friend of hers, is because of the aftermath of her relationship. Both former lovers feel the pain but in different ways. The guy fails to realize that she knows he is always going to be there in his line so she is able to yo yo with his emotions. The guy also fails to realize that she is the only one attempting to move on and that eventually one day she might and that for him. the thought of it ..is terrifying. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Lightness Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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There's a tear in the fabric of your favorite dress And I'm sneaking glances Looking for the patterns in static They start to make sense The longer I'm at it You know you shouldn’t look but you can’t help looking at the beauty of this girl. His sneaking glances and trying to make out the shapes of her most private parts. The more he fixates on her body the more he can make out her shape and long for it more. Its highly sexual. Ivory lines lead Oh wha-ho, oh wha-ho Where does these ivory lines lead… oh wha-ho .. too rude… = ). Ivory lines are significant of her white skin.. His tracing her all the way to these shapes he is making out =) Your heart is a river that flows from your chest Through every organ Your brain is the dam And I am the fish Who can't reach the core Her heart, her emotions, her inner most feelings flow through her, she herself wants him. She wants to feel him and has all these overpowering emotions to be with him in a more sensual way. It’s flowing through every organ. Her brain however is a dam, a restrictor, a barrier of her flowing emotions. It’s her brain and her thoughts and her rational mind that is stopping her from giving way to having sex with this guy. The guy is the fish swimming through her emotions but can’t seem to get to the core, the aim, to be with her. He can’t seem to reach her heart and penetrate through her mind. Oh, instincts are misleading You shouldn't think what you're feeling They don't tell you what You know you should want Instincts are misleading. Those impulses and urges and feelings are misleading… they can sway people from one decision to another, those overpowering impulses… He is saying, you shouldn’t think the same as what you are feeling… because If you did, you give way to all those impulses… Impulses don’t tell you what you what you really want, they’re deceptive devices. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Lightness Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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There's a tear in the fabric of your favorite dress And I'm sneaking glances Looking for the patterns in static They start to make sense The longer I'm at it You know you shouldn’t look but you can’t help looking at the beauty of this girl. His sneaking glances and trying to make out the shapes of her most private parts. The more he fixates on her body the more he can make out her shape and long for it more. Its highly sexual. Ivory lines lead Oh wha-ho, oh wha-ho Where does these ivory lines lead… oh wha-ho .. too rude… = ). Ivory lines are significant of her white skin.. His tracing her all the way to these shapes he is making out =) Your heart is a river that flows from your chest Through every organ Your brain is the dam And I am the fish Who can't reach the core Her heart, her emotions, her inner most feelings flow through her, she herself wants him. She wants to feel him and has all these overpowering emotions to be with him in a more sensual way. It’s flowing through every organ. Her brain however is a dam, a restrictor, a barrier of her flowing emotions. It’s her brain and her thoughts and her rational mind that is stopping her from giving way to having sex with this guy. The guy is the fish swimming through her emotions but can’t seem to get to the core, the aim, to be with her. He can’t seem to reach her heart and penetrate through her mind. Oh, instincts are misleading You shouldn't think what you're feeling They don't tell you what You know you should want Instincts are misleading. Those impulses and urges and feelings are misleading… they can sway people from one decision to another, those overpowering impulses… He is saying, you shouldn’t think the same as what you are feeling… because If you did, you give way to all those impulses… Impulses don’t tell you what you what you really want, they’re deceptive devices. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Pictures in an Exhibition Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think the closest person to grasp the meaning of this Death Cab song is a_contradiction . in the stanza below: I’m definitely shaking The silence isn’t breaking Backwashed and stranded memories Of something I thought could be Can noone else sense the sarcasm? His definetly shaking in his boots? He doesn't really care about the silence between him and a signficant other, and what could have been... or does he? You decide. It is that stanza that I just referred to that really tells me what the song is about. The rest of the song quite clearly describes the fakeness of this world. For me, that is what the significant other was to him, everything that happened between them or anything they experienced seems all fake in hindsight. Its a reflection of looking back on a relationship and realising that everything that was said or done, was maybe just a sham. Interpret it how you want. This song is bliss. |
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| The Killers – Under the Gun Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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To me, this is about a lover's girl dying. She died in a car crash. I don't think he was in the car at all, or the driver. When you hear; "then he says to me".. this makes me feel that the speaker of the song is a friend of the guy who has lost his lover. This is from his point of view. The line: "Yeah she's got a criminal mind" I don't think it mean she has a criminal mind, i think she has GOT his mind, his criminal mind. GOT in the sense, she's always on his mind, his criminal mind. He can't get her back. She's gone. And that's all he can think of . The only part that does not make sense to me is: "She just can't stop telling lies." Possibly in his dreams? I'm not sure. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Photobooth Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I absolutely, love this song and it's meaning has already been stated. Although there's one eensy weensy bit i dont get:: And this is all that's left Scraping paper to document what's that mean? Any help? |
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| Augie March – One Crowded Hour Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Interesting uptake Ben. I really enjoyed reading your interpretation, my take was a bit different, I’m not sure whether I agree with the prescence of a baby but there are a lot of indications with the mentions of womb and birth. Anyhow, “Should you expect to see something that you hadn't seen In somebody you'd known since you were sixteen;” In my personal interpretation I took it to be the guy visiting the woman from his past sixteen years later, and not seeing the love there anymore. “Far from these nonsense bars and their nowhere music ...” As for this line, I took it to be describing the bars of a song. The chorus which describes “One Crowded Hour”, I took this as the guy who really liked this girl, had finally got her for one moment. She had finally given into him, sexually or not. |
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| Augie March – One Crowded Hour Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Surprising nobody has commented, maybe that is because its relatively new. Nevertheless this is a great song and should be credited for, amazing and very well written and structured lyrics. I am not entirely show of the meaning, but at the very least, as a whole, I think it is about the doubting of love. Possibly the guy in this song thought he had found love but it wasn't there. Upon realising its' absence, his downfall began. I'd love to hear someone elses thoughts. Cheers. |
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| Pink – Stupid Girls Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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What does this song mean? Self explanatory. Don't conform to this generation's stupidity. Cheers Pink. |
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| Howie Day – Kristina Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Haha, this is so queer, my name's Kristina! Lucky me. Anyways, beautiful love song, it's self explanatory. |
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