| Joanna Newsom – The Book of Right-On Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| oops. two different items combined into one document+copy and paste=oops. ignore the first part. | |
| Joanna Newsom – The Book of Right-On Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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To Whom it May Concern, My name is Eric Sutherland and I am an employee at Neumos. I wanted to express my opinion regarding the Capital Hill Block Party and what that event means. The block party is a festival that I and countless others look forward to every year. It is a significant Summer event that brings the people together and generates invaluable traffic for our local businesses. The Block Party also creates community by bringing people together in a positive, festive and creative event. In my opinion, events the size of the Block Party are essential for helping maintain Capital Hills sense of community/. What I fear is that we could become a city that does not have a three day neighborhood festival that strengthens the bonds between people, enlivens and entertains, and also furthers the success of local businesses which in turn, benefit the hundreds of people employed by those organizations. As an employee of Neumos, the three days of Block Party is important to me as it provides me with a much needed paycheck during the month of July. Without that paycheck, July is a meager month, and in my experience, lower income employees like myself can suffer the most when we loose work. Especially in the current economic climate. I understand that shortening the festival is the aim of some, but I strongly oppose this idea and would rather see the festival carried out as it has, for three full days. The benefits of the Capital Hill Block Party greatly outweigh the perceived downsides of the festival, and for someone who is directly impacted by the Block Party, I hope that we can continue as we have in the past, with three full days of productivity, music and enjoyment. Thank you for your time and consideration, -Eric Sutherland I have to say, I don't quite agree with the consensus on the thread that this song is about romantic relationships or religious subjects... there is nothing so specific in the lyrics that points directly to that. One of the beautiful things about song writing is using vagueness as a canvas for listeners to project their own mentality and experiences onto the music. And I think that's what Joanna Newsome is doing quite effectively here; riding the line, sitting right on the fence, in that grey area where ambiguity flirts with clarity. Let's talk about children, wolves, and how it relates to forming identity. "We should shine a light on A light on And the book of right-on's right on It was right on --------------------------- “Shine a light on” quite a common way to say “illuminate” or to expose a certain truth. Now, the book of “right-on”: If there was a big book describing what is “right-on”, then it by virtue of being about what is right-on, it must be, RIGHT-ON... Right? On? I killed my dinner with karate Kick 'em in the face, taste the body Shallow work is the work that I do" -------- Playing with food? A forceful display of personality? Shallow work... are children not involved in what adults see as shallow? Depends on how you think but I’d say you might concede that it’s possible. "Do you want to sit at my table? My fighting fame is fabled And fortune finds me fit and able" ------------- I think of the kids table : ) And a kung fu movie. "Do you want to run with my pack? ------- first animal/canine reference which has everything to do with social structure. Do you want to ride on my back?-------- ride on my back; piggy back? another image of childhood. Pray that what you lack does not distract" --------- almost xenophobic! "you can join me, you're from another kind but as long as your deficiencies don't inconvenience me, you're cool to stick around." And you do say That you do pray And you say That you're ok ---------- is this not what everyone does when we want to be accepted or seek approval from others? Social dynamics, identity.... are we getting somewhere?? : ) And even when you run through my mind Something else is in front, oh, you're behind And I don't have to remind you To stick with your kind ----------------------- kind of an oddball lyric to me. Almost as if this person joining the pack is needy and clingy and there's always something to look forward to outside them. Like a bratty little sibling. Children, again. (on the themes of being childish, there is something to be said for the way words are enunciated and the timbre of JN's voice... she once said she was disappointed in critics saying that her singing sounded childish, however, it's almost impossible not to think of an 8 year old Björk when you hear JN's voice. Nothing to be disappointed about... the way she sings is an effective way to curry favor with listeners: like a high forehead implies youth, so does this singing. ok lets move on...) And even when you touch my face You know your place And even when you touch my face You know your place------------------- okay, here's a lyric that for me, almost certainly implies some kind of intimate relationship. Certainly there are roles in intimate relationships. For example, a man wouldn't try to take on the role of his female partners best female friend. If he does, he's pushed the "girl looses attraction for boy" button. The big red button. With his fist. In this regard, as the lyric says, "you know your place". As for religion, the words "the book of" seems to imply something super heavy, revered, holy, etc. and the colloquialism "right-on" is the complete opposite of that... very hipster, actually, and putting together something very heavy with something very light is quite trendy these days; incongruity+irony=identity. (Oh and having the word "pray" in a song doesn't mean there's struggle with god going on. In this case the lyrics are essentially saying you're praying that you're ok.) The most reasonable explanation in my mind is that the song is about identity. And in a way, her voice sounding young further strengthens this connection I see, of seeking and hoping and creating identity. In a world where a young person, especially a young woman is told so many things, and one is bombarded with billions of ads and signals and sight/sounds and enough information and enough push-pull to stun an ox, (especially a kid like Joanna Newsome who grew up with no TV, radio, media, etc) then identity is very likely a huge issue. Isn’t it always? Ok, it’s about identity. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it until I decide to change it. |
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| Psapp – This Way Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| isn't it "your milky black eyes resting on me" ? | |
| Sigur Rós – Untitled 5 Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I listened to this track a lot when reading the book "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy... Try it sometime... Untitled 6 works well to that book also. It's the only music that reflects how bleak that book really is. | |
| Sigur Rós – Untitled 5 Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I listened to this track a lot when reading the book "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy... Try it sometime... Untitled 6 works well to that book also. It's the only music that reflects how bleak that book really is. | |
| Sigur Rós – Avalon Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| ehhh i'd have to disagree. It sounds similar, but if you speed it back UP, it sounds nothing like starálfur. probably was an early version of starálfur or an outtake. I absolutely love the movement in avalon... i want to see a choreographer use it. | |
| Sigur Rós – Andvari Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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its sung in 'Hopelandic' which im pretty sure is the lead singers made up language that he sometimes sings in. I thought it sounded so much like english i wrote down what i thought he was saying if he was singing in english and it came out like this: You saw the whole You sighed oh no oh life You sighed all for You sighed oh no You sighed only should I- -I know I–love–you You saw no one for You don't know I would You… You don't love you You don't know, how could You don't know I would You… You don't know you sweet, eh? kinda sums on the feeling of the song. |
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| Radiohead – Motion Picture Soundtrack (Kid A version) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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To say “This song is about____” is bigotry and an offense to the album as a whole. How can you make sense out of an album built on ambiguity and seemingly nonsensical ideas? At that point meaning and interpretation becomes fluid and conforms to its container: the listener. Since it is impossible to remove ourselves from the observer position when interacting with Kid A, I believe it is safe to say there may be commonalities in analysis but the significance of the differences in opinion of what the album (and this piece in particular) is about becomes an gratuitous discussion; a dog chasing it’s tail, so to speak. My interest of Motion Picture Soundtrack focuses mainly on what it possibly isn’t about, and the inherent subtleties in that thought. I don’t believe this song is wholly about a relationship in the sense of a male-female relationship. I won’t say that is isn’t about that, but take into account, how many songs of that nature has Radiohead put out? How many work on only a level about a relationship? Not too many, considering their prolific output. Though it’s easy to say that a relationship is the main gist of Motion Picture Soundtrack, it must be said that whatever the relationship is, it is not of one meaning. Consider the piece in relation to the album as a whole and the two main scenarios of what the concept might be: 1.) The last surviving person after a great apocalypse; 2.) The story of the first human clone. There is enough material (obtuse and otherwise) in the album to advocate for both concepts, yet this is part of the dual, illusive nature of the album and its source of beauty (and confusion): since it is the least talked about and least explained, (in all accounts Thom has hardly said a word about the lyrics) there is elbow room for radical interpretation. In one song, the apocalypse could be used as a foil for the clone, and visa versa. In my mind, Motion Picture Soundtrack is the simple conclusion and result of the many intricacies and nuances in Kid A. As it possibly documents the death of a person, clone, survivor or otherwise, the final blow to anything familiar in rock and progressive rock music is two minuets of silence followed by the ever-moving apotheosis and rise into the immensity. The idea that the silence is to prepare listeners for the ‘play again’ is convincing as well, and a bit tongue and cheek in the most subtle Radioheadesk of ways: I get the sense the whole album is a slap in the face of the music industry, the listeners (who expected OK Computer II) and traditional conventions for producing and marketing an album. The silence brings into question the title of the work “Motion Picture Soundtrack”. If set to film, was the music and ‘song’ part a section of film where characters where not in dialogue, and the silence is the action (minus music) on the screen? After the ‘ascension’ is the silence referential to credits? Again, the mystique and ambiguity plays out on the listeners’ nerves and creates discussions such as this into the meaning and significance into what the creators have just drenched a musically thirsty audience. It’s most often said on many levels that the piece is a departure; physical, emotional, spiritual, [?] in any form; all wrapped up in one, separately, in combination, etc. The lyrics are some of the most straightforward in the album, even though in all the songs it seems there is sense and nonsense mingling freely. All throughout Kid A, a the subtle workings and depictions of a chaotic blend of simplicity emerging from complexity and visa versa shows itself in the most unique of ways, which I think is why this album is Radiohead’s “Quantum Theory” whereas OK Computer was their “Relativity” album. To me, this is the most intriguing and powerful thing about the piece: the silence. We are lulled with the hum of an old harmonium, Thom’s muttering, the harp glissandi, the groan of Colin’s bass, the spectral choral arrangements creeping up your spine, and almost immediately after the climax of “I will see you in the next life” stillness and utter silence. If you notice, we are not accustomed to silence in our culture, as there is sound and noise all around us. Look at Kubrick’s original intention for the beginning of “2001”: ten minuets of silence before the film to represent the blackness of space (of course the studio denied that, being the falsifying bigots they are); the bizarre ending of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (though not real silence, the similar questioning effect remains the same in the audience). I believe the silence is Radiohead turning the mythical “camera” onto the listener and in a few moments the ideas, thoughts and discussions of the listener become the real, Motion Picture Soundtrack. For a brief time, we are no longer the listener but the main attraction, and the music is listening to our ethereal “music”[maybe these discussions]. In the end, where words fail music speaks. It’s useless to try and describe how one feels when listening to this or any other music that moves us. It cuts through the callus exterior of social conditioning and the chatter that fills our heads. To describe elation is nothing compared to actually feeling it for real. Theory and analysis works only to a certain point. Beyond that we must stop trying to explain it and simply live it. Thanks for reading, -E |
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