| Deerhoof – Flower Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Given that there's also a "Flower" on Apple O, and that they did a pretty big reinterpretation of it for 99% Upset Feeling, I'd say these lyrics are a direct reference to the complete remaking of this song. That fits nicely with the theme of a breakup song, too, i.e. something that helps you affirm your independence from past attachments. | |
| Fleet Foxes – Bedouin Dress Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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He's talking about Innisfree, a reference to a William Butler Yeats poem: "Just to be at Innisfree again..." "One day at Innisfree, one day that's mine." If you read the poem it totally makes sense. For further evidence look up lyrics for The Shrine/An Argument, he mentions it again in that song. |
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| Fleet Foxes – Meadowlarks Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| songyone I think you're right. It's a great image and it's just like the Foxes to have a reference like that. | |
| Fleet Foxes – Meadowlarks Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| songyone I think you're right. It's a great image and it's just like the Foxes to have a reference like that. | |
| Deerhoof – L'Amour Stories Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Adam and Eve is definitely a possibility, since they reference the Fall (Lift him up for me), and there are number of other clues. These include: the fact that the preceding song is "Forbidden Fruits," that some voice in the lyrics asks accusatorily about a core, and that there's a mention of the devil. I think what this really is about, though, is love (l'amour), and that the song tries to suggest that just as the devil, or our darker side (whatever made Eve eat the apple) can bring us down, love can lift us back up. | |
| Björk – Pleasure Is All Mine Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Oh--and keep in mind that this is a song, presented aurally. Every aspect of it, not just the lyrics, are important to consider. For instance, the male accompanist at the end, grunting. How do you explain that with the interpretation that it's about birth? | |
| Björk – Pleasure Is All Mine Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I think it fits more closely the interpretation that it's about sex. "To finally let go and evenly/ be flown" doesn't really line up to the birth interpretation. It seems to be implying something at which you surrender in order for both (evenly) to reach some high point (be flown). Sounds more like an orgasm than the process of labor. "The strongest stance" part refers to the idea that there's a submissive partner and one who's in control, who sets the pace and decides when and what to "give" or play "host." The song as a whole, though, serves as a metaphor for giving, the connection being that giving ultimately benefits, even exhilirates, both the giver and the receiver. |
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| Tool – Jambi Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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As far as the "Damn" and "Dim" my eyes debate goes, I think you're supposed to hear both in there. "Damn" has a Judeo-Christian connotation, while "Dim" ties it in with the benevolent sun (son) at the end of the song. Having said that, I think anyone trying to understand this song should go look over the record at Wikipedia on "Jambi," the region in Indonesia that the Dutch took away from the Sultan, slowly but surely. It's pretty obvious after you read that that Maynard is putting himself in the place of the Sultan of Jambi. The "center" that Maynard refers to could parallel the main geographical part of the sultanate of Jambi. Now I suggest you take a look at Meddlehead40's analysis, and perhaps Blindrider's. I think the fact that you can read "I would wish it all away/ if I though tomorrow/ They'd take you away" in two different ways is deliberate. While the sultan's quest to regain the "center" of his kingdom feels to him like a quest to regain a part of himself, it also claims his life. Maynard recognizes this by having somewhat contradictory language. I think he might be doing something similar to "Stinkfist," in which he wrote a dialogue between an addicted person and the object of their addiction. In Jambi, I believe he is addressing (you my center) two different things/people, or at least two different aspects of that person. Part of this person acts as his savior, while part of them he's thinking about "wishing away." He's not sure whether his quest to find his center yields wishing this person away or keeping them in his life. Having two aspects also ties in with the "two becoming one" at the end of the song. |
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| Tool – Stinkfist Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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Every good poem or song by any decent artist has at least two different levels: the surface level (literal meaning) and the universal level (what it is saying about humanity, the world, etc.). Judging from the debate going every which way about the meaning of this song, it's obviously qualified to be one of those greats. I don't think there's much doubt that it's about (in one form or another) desensitizing and/or addiction. As to whether it's about drugs, one-night stands or fisting, I think Maynard left it deliberately ambiguous. The title Stinkfist could lead it in the direction of fisting, but also metaphorically toward "getting your hands dirty," which as Faith points out is the POV of the giver. To tie most of what people are saying together, it's important to look at the fact that Maynard references "comfort" "pleasure," etc. --not just tired moments and pain. The common theme is not just addiction or desensitivity alone: it's both. Taken from the angle of fisting, this song portrays one person who "needs more" and is constantly being desensitized by what gives her (or him, if you're into anal) pleasure. Again, "Stinkfist" is talking about the giver getting their hands dirty dirty--in two ways. First in the literal sense, but also in the sense of becoming guilty in the process of desensitizing their partner. From the drug angle, the themes are the same--the only difference is that giver and receiver become the same person. That's an important element because it makes the song ambivalent as to whether the themes address self-inflicted harm, per se, or those inflicted on someone else. Finally we come to the universal level where I think the song is is talking about how people take comfort in [addicting] momentary pleasures which really only serve to desensitize them even more. It also explores the guilt factor of those providing the pleasure, whether that person be oneself or, as the title implies, someone else. |
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