submissions
| The Sisters of Mercy – More Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I love the line "I don't know why you gotta be so undemanding." We tend to complain if people are demanding. But most people are UNdemanding, satisfied with mediocrity. They get scared to feel too much.
On another level the song is self-referential, the ambitions of rock stardom and of course "learning to cry for fun and profit." |
submissions
| Killing Joke – Democracy Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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"Et in Arcadia ego" is a Latin phrase that most famously appears as the title of two paintings by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). The phrase is a memento mori, which is usually interpreted to mean "I am also in Arcadia" or "I am even in Arcadia", as if spoken by personified Death |
submissions
| Killing Joke – Pilgrimage Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I disagree, "obviously," it is about any pilgrimage, it's a mythical archetype, not simply the hajj. Killing Joke are not so literal, and hardly religious in a traditional sense... |
submissions
| Killing Joke – Pssyche Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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So many quotable quotes, I love it! Am I wrong but I hear "And now I see with a social degree" as "a Nazi with a social degree!" I love the lines
"You'd wipe out spastics if you had the chance
But Jesus wouldn't like it, no!"
So over the top glorious. I think the sentiment is also reflected in the Laugh? I Nearly Bought One cover art. PErfect. |
submissions
| Joy Division – Dead Souls Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I see it as an expression of an obsession with the horrors of history: "dreams that point me to another day." |
submissions
| Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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You ridiculous British people are so obsessed with class. Read Borges if you think only what the artist intended matters... ART transcends politics, and the reader/interpreter has as much ownership as the original artist. That is true subversion, so all you would-be leftist subversives are just uncomfortable when your own concepts work against you. |
submissions
| Manic Street Preachers – She Is Suffering Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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She = beauty. Beauty is suffering. Beauty is torture to those who can never possess it... and of course beauty would be personified as female, but I don't see the song as misogynistic, just a recognition of the darker nature of beauty, the pain and lust and vice it causes among those who "exist within its shadow". she is suffering indeed. |
submissions
| Hole – Best Sunday Dress Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Pale blue eyes so dumb
Pale blue eyes so far away
Take him to the river
Could be references to the Nirvana song "Dumb" and the world-renowned Wishkah river (a.k.a. from the muddy banks of). |
submissions
| Radiohead – The Tourist Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Did the revolution succeed? Apparently not. This song takes the perspective of a "tourist" from another enclave of humanity in the post-apocalyptic world, or perhaps an alien like the one the protagonist of "Subterranean Homesick Alien" called for, or even a traveller from an alternate universe like the one alluded to on the album cover. The tourist has independence and freedom: his creative sparks are still flowing. He gets mad or excited and the "sparks" flow. The drugged, empty inhabitants of this underground world of drones don't understand, telling him to "slow down." His freedom is beyond their comprehension.
The album ends with a ping like from a microwave. The future is ready. What will it be? The dystopian world of the machine, or a world where "sparks" still flow?
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Lucky Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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A song from the perspective of a "lucky" rebel who has escaped through the cracks in the pavement. He looks forward to a "glorious day," or revolution. He refers to humanity still living in the aftermath of the apocalyptic war by pleading "pull me out of the aircrash." He will be the messiah-figure to lead humanity back to independent life, a "superhero." Sara could be the lover from Exit Music (For A Film). The head of state has called for him by name, signifying that his rebel movement is large enough to be acknowledged by the ruling forces. Humanity is now "standing on the edge," and revolution is seemingly near at hand.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Climbing Up the Walls Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The lives of all humans are monitored by the machine. Humans do not know they are being watched: "if you get too far you'll only see my reflection." "Open up your skull, I'll be there" refers to cybernetic surveillance implants. Human homes are equipped with alarms, which loyal citizens use to summon the Karma Police. The machine warn that "either way you turn, I'll be there:" it controls all aspects of society, including the Karma Police.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Fitter Happier Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The proper life, as the machine sees it. The "moral bank" is a reference to the Karma Police, while "fond but not in love" refers to the machine's aversion to love as a possible source of rebellion. The machine compares humans to pigs like in "Paranoid Android."
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Karma Police Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The Karma Police are the enforcers of morality and public order in the machine's world: Orwellian thought police. They may be robots, human apparatchiks or some sort of combination. The man who "buzzes like a fridge" and "talks in maths" is experimenting with forbidden sciences; while the girl with "the Hitler hairdo" is attempting to organize a fascist, pro-human and anti-machine party, which the Karma Police "crashes" The human despairing in the other verses of having "given all I can" pleads for some degree of independence. In the end he is brainwashed into recognizing the error of his ways: "for a minute there I lost myself."
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Let Down Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The dreariness of the machine-regulated society is again expressed. A would-be rebel has been "crushed like a bug in the ground" but left to dwell as a failure in the totalitarian society, "clinging to bottles," or succumbing to alcoholism. The rebel still has the independent spirit in him, however; his "wings" still twitch. He knows that one day "the floor," or foundation of the totalitarian society, will collapse and "you'll know where you are." In other words, the masses will realize they have been enslaved.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Exit Music (For a Film) Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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A human attempts to escape the totalitarian society with his lover. The "father" with his "rules and wisdom" is the machine. Choking is something humans do when under pressure; by wishing that the machine choke, the rebel hopes that the intelligent (hence fallible) machine breaks under the pressure of its coding. The "everlasting peace" refers to the two lovers finally finding freedom, in death.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Surviving humans live below ground (the subterranean of the title) in an artificial environment. You "can't smell a thing" and forget "the smell of the warm summer air" because it is underground and all aspects of the artificial environment are regulated by the machine. Like the paranoid android, humans seek salvation from above, but in the form of aliens. The "cracks in the pavement" represent areas not under the machine's control, where the "lucky" rebels can experience freedom. The alien of the title refers to the despairing human himself, who is an alien in a machine-dominated society, homesick for the surface world.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Paranoid Android Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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This song is from the perspective of the intelligent machine fully coming into sentience and succumbing to madness and existential despair. It was deactived before ("that's it sir, you're leaving"), and in its death-like, forgotten state asked, "why don't you remember my name?" It is then reactivated in the midst of "the dust and the screaming, the panic, the vomit;" an apocalyptic war. "I guess he does" remember me, the machine thinks when reactived. Conflicted "unborn chicken voices" within the machine speak of a thirst for vengeance against humanity ("when I am king you will be first against the wall"), and a despairing desire for some sort of sign from above ("come on rain down on me please"). The machine concludes that "God loves his children," even (or especially) his robotic grandchild.
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Paranoid Android Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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This song is from the perspective of the intelligent machine fully coming into sentience and succumbing to madness and existential despair. It was deactived before ("that's it sir, you're leaving"), and in its death-like, forgotten state asked, "why don't you remember my name?" It is then reactivated in the midst of "the dust and the screaming, the panic, the vomit;" an apocalyptic war. "I guess he does" remember me, the machine thinks when reactived. Conflicted "unborn chicken voices" within the machine speak of a thirst for vengeance against humanity ("when I am king you will be first against the wall"), and a despairing desire for some sort of sign from above ("come on rain down on me please"). The machine concludes that "God loves his children," even (or especially) his robotic grandchild.
From From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
submissions
| Radiohead – Airbag Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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The "airbag" the song refers to is the intelligent machine that saved mankind from total destruction in "the next world war." The reference to being in a "fast German car" alludes to Germany's role in starting the Third World War (they did start the previous two). The machine is "born again" because it has been reactived as a last ditch option by a falling government. It is born again in a "jackknifed juggernaut," the ruins of civilization; the "neon sign scrolling up and down," humanity's desire for automation; and the "deep deep sleep of the innocent," the death of billions in the war. The line "in an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe" signifies the role of the machine as saviour of humanity and also the machine's growing delusions of grandeur, which becomes full blown madness in "Paranoid Android."
From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html |
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