| M.I.A. – Paper Planes Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think that, going off of the interview quote, this song is just plain and simply making fun of the widespread belief of programmed stereotype thinking, and that's pretty much it. The great thing about music is that everyone has their own interpretations, but the tone/style that she wrote the tune in pretty much lends itself in an incredibly strong sense to that interpretation. It's typical of classical satirical writing (Jonathan Swift, for instance), where the majority of the style is true to form, but there are subtleties that make the satire known (such as hyperbole, outrageous proposals, etc.). Things like "All I want to do" and especially "Sticks and stones and weed and bombs" (immigrants are usually looked down upon as primitive, druggies, and/or terrorists) all point back to her satire pointing to prejudice against immigrants. |
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| State Radio – Sudan Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Just to give a little band bio to add to what AuntEggma said, State Radio is pretty active in the anti-genocide movement. They played at Newton High School (school just outside of Boston) for a STAND: a Student Anti-Genocide Coalition fund raiser, and just in general they have been really supportive of relief. Faceless man = janjaweed "And if I had wheat to burn, / And if I had a lot to learn, / It still would not matter what color you were." This quote refers to the fact that though the genocide is grouped into arab and african darfurians or sometimes seen as farmers and herders, the lines have significantly blurred and the line describes the extreme break out of hate based upon minute differences. "Ghost town in my homeland, / I will come back again, / If you make a ghost out of me, / I will still be free." This part refers to the fact that when the janjaweed go through villages they completely burn down the structures leaving only charred remains of villages behind them. There are some pretty vivid photos floating online that show some refugees returning to the charred remains of their homes. |
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| State Radio – Rash of Robberies Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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As Hondo928 said the song is a slideshow through time. I'm still stumped by a couple of references (Solarium malaria doesn't come up with any connected hits on google), but the two containing Paris burning are pretty obvious: the two world wars. JP Sousa is a direct reference to the famous marching band composer John Philip Sousa who wrote most of the patriotic songs that Americans know (Stars and Stripes Forever, for one). Probably a reference to the start of American Cold War pride that got its start from World War II patriotism. "Nostrovia" is a little weird. Not sure if Chad meant for it to have a double meaning. It's a drinking toast in Russian. The mention of December makes me think it is seeing as December is a powerful month in Russian history (the Decemberist Revolution for one). |
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| Manu Chao – Homens Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Nahtankies, the woman's name who sings this is Valeria but that's about all I know. I'm almost positive that she is (obviously) a musician of some sort but I'm not sure of the groups she sings/plays with. Also, though I don't speak português I Babelfish'd the lyrics and the song is basically talking about how a good man will treat a woman well. This is a rough translation of a piece of the later portion: "the true man, he loves you, loves you, treats you, treats you, with affection with respect and love, and gives for all of his life great happinesses to you these are true men." Again, I had to fool around with the direct translation by deleting a couple of words and shifting around some of the syntax, but nonetheless it's pretty representative. The beginning and the very end of the song, from what I've gathered, is talking about how what makes a man is not his ethnicity or social status but his soul. There's a video on YouTube that shows her singing with Manu on an acoustic set: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHVkcuJtwek |
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| The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| When I went to go see the Lips last night Wayne gave a speech before they started playing. He basically said it was first written to get rid of peoples frustrations. Wayne, over the course of the speech, basically stated that while everyone in the audience was a "real" person he wanted everyone to don the other hat and create a massive satyr on the government's actions and all the stupid stuff that's been going on globally. Instead of giving a sympathetic response everyone was told to give a superficial response: "yeah, yeah, yeah." response. I definitely agree with the previous responses though (maybe with the exception that the human psyche is naturally ill natured... I'd consider myself a little bit more optimistic :) ), and I'm sure Wayne would agree with all of them (again, maybe not with the same which I said, but that's pure speculation). | |
| State Radio – Gunship Politico Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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While I'm not completely sure on the exact meaning of this song, here's what I've gathered so far: "In your Gunship Gunship Gunship Politico. I hope you don't get what your after." I think this verse clearly states what the main part of this song is. Gunship Politico is a wicked easy translation to "Political Gunship." All these people, these murderers, they're getting a free ride through the political system and something's clearly screwed up (to put it lightly). Why? Why do they (I'm thinkin' military) choose to shoot fleeing people? Why do the cops choose to act as street toughs, the very thing that they should protect against? The third to last verse also seems to point a finger at the listener too -- you could be next. Following this, the person that did get away is tainted with a guilty conscious. To elaborate, at the end of the Holocaust a lot of the survivors were in a horrible mental state: why were they the ones to survive? "Just trying to wash all his conscience away." This might also have to do with a question of why he didn't do anything, why couldn't he do anything, or why isn't he doing anything. The final full verse sort of shapes the victims mentioned as people that were just lookin' for a way to live out their live, or perhaps a better analysis, something to believe in so that they could live, but this way, this ideology, has come under fire from oppressive governmental forces hindering people's way of life (a.k.a. the political gunship). There was one thing I have a question about in the song, though. Who is the person who "wasn't beggin". Is this a local Cambridge incident or is it an allusion to something bigger? The only thing I can come to a conclusion off of this was that he wasn't begging, but just carrying out his life. Does that sound right? |
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