| Okkervil River – A King and a Queen Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is gorgeous songwriting. Will Sheff manages to generate so much raw emotion from the old classic childhood story of prince and princess. Its both beautiful and sad, but most of all it reveals how love and desire dont change with age. She is a princess. She dreams for her prince to come and wake her. And Will Sheff brilliantly opens his song by painting this theme. Drawing from 'sleeping beauty', but giving it a shade of darkness. She is waiting, laid out on the bed. And its murdering him, because she doesnt see a prince in him. If you want to see and be seen, then be seen Your dress is dark red And your opening eyes are bright green. Make a scene But don't lie on the bed, laid out like you're dead Because honey, you're murdering me It goes on ... Be a little sheep learning who'll shear and who'll feed The hands come and they leave Be hands holding a knife. Be a being on two feet With his heart trembling Butchering for a king he believes in though he's never seen He is a sheep who she just uses, and he tries to tell himself to be man... hold a knife, stand up on your two feet. But he realises he is just weak at the knees, heart trembling and all he has managed to do is butcher his chances of being her king. A king he believes in, this great man she wants. He wants to be this king. But he does not know who that man would be. Be the princess in that stone tower Crying for that handsome butcher's plight (And, as some princess might She still calls him a knight) He wishes she wasn't that 'sleeping beauty' just waiting for her royal prince, instead why can't she be that princess in the tower cheering for the man that actually fights for her .. the butcher Also known as the knight..oh…the knight can never be king. :( But the best thing for you would be queen, so be queen You're all that I need. Though I know that it never can be, I'd be pleased To post your decrees, to fall at your knees To name all your streets and to sit down and weep When you're carried back through them and set down to sleep And to lie by your side for sublime centuries ('Til we crumble to dust When we're crushed by a single sunbeam) This is where the songwriting is just magical. Will Sheff purposely rounds out this story, where we started with the princess asleep and waiting for her prince to wake her. He sings about how the best thing for her to be is queen. A queen being someone who isn't so helplessly waiting to be saved like a little princess. But instead to be that woman he already admires. To name all your streets. Because he fully realizes her. He wants to be with her for eternity. And brings the story full circle by describing how he just wants to sleep right there alongside her for sublime centuries. Forever. |
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| Radiohead – Reckoner Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Note: the lyrics are completely wrong on this site. This song is clearly inspired by religious text. Reckoner, being the end of earth or judgement day. Reckoner is not the words of god as many people here suggest. These words are that of a human being. Someone who is clearly in awe for the day of reckoning. The day which will purge this earth of our 'bittersweet distractions.. dancing for pleasure'. Suggesting he/she has possibly grown restless, tired, or disapproving of the way mankind has become. He relishes the thought of God's dedication (dare not speak its name) to bring forth the day of reckoning for all human beings. And that day when light ends, it will break down and separate into its little pieces, like colours in a rainbow, that will herald a new day, on the shores of a blank/untouched/new place. 'Reckoner, take me with you' he/she sings.. |
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| The National – Secret Meeting Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think at the core of this song there is a man who is being self destructive. How one specifically interprets this depends on the lines and verses that most speak to them. Some people suggest its his self destructive attitude towards the record labels and becoming famous. Personally I was in a fading relationship when I first heard this song and thats how I connected with it. The verse "Sorry I missed you I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain" rings true to the way I felt around her. I was withdrawn and always lost in my own train of thought. I remember driving home one day with her and during the entire car trip I was deep in thought in my own world of almost nothing. In reference to the "spies" thats how silly my thoughts were. Not so dramatically paranoid but just as silly. I remember her talking in the background about seeing her parents for dinner next weekend and what we should get for my birthday... and I all I remember at the time was thinking, "if the world was suddenly over run by Zombies I would definitely hide in that house over there". Go figure. "I know you kept me in sunglasses" also rang so true in many ways, I knew she was the best thing to happen to me. When I met her I was still very impressionable and she turned me into a member of society. Stylised me with her fashion sense. The 'sunglasses' is such a clever use of word because it also suggests hiding or trying to fit in. She tried to make me fit in with the rest of the crowd. And now its almost annoying for her because all her friends she introduced to me are very good friends of mine too. "gracefully disappear in a room".. another reference to the dynamics of the realtionship. Where he is naturally introverted and withdrawn, she is outwardly vocal and confronting. He wants her to just leave him alone right now. |
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| The National – Mr. November Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is a clever song that is simply about his move from America to England. He Has skillfully interwoven many themes to describe this transatlantic voyage. On one plane his move is an awkward one, almost like changing schools. If u have ever done this you know how it feels. Back home He was once loved by friends.. "used to be carried on the arms of cheerleaders" but now he stands in his best clothes trying to fit in. He has to prove himself again. "Cheerleaders" is a clever choice in the verse as it is very much part of American culture and not so much English... Which further reveals just how disconnected he is to his new surroundings. On another plane, he cleverly describes this voyage in the way of conquest. Just like the way the English set out to conquer the Americas during it's colonization. He brilliantly draws parallels between the two worlds, referring to his own American identity in the way of its independence from British influence. 'The great white hope' is a coined term during the industrial period when America became the more dominant Anglo-Saxon Power. 'Im the the new blue blood' is in reference to American independence from British rule (A term derived from the American national flag and its inception). These references cleverly paint the picture of his feelings of isolation/loneliness and being lost and disconnected in England as a foreign american but at the same time suggest his determination to succeed like his forefathers once did. All the while hinting about the great pressure he feels when making this move. "i wont fuck this over im mr november" Mr November again is in reference to a unique distinction in american culture. An 'MVP' type of expression in sport and college. He was mr november.... Carried in the arms of cheerleaders. So not an English thing. He is psyching himself up as he make this voyage to England. It's easier for me to see this because as an Australian we are exposed to both English and American culture. |
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| Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This song is about a vagina with herpes | |
| Pearl Jam – Nothingman Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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12 years later I listened to this song again and finally understood what it had meant. This song is about the regret of leaving someone for nothing. I was in a long term relationship through college and soon after we graduated, I let her go. I wanted to experience new things, new people. I cant help but sometimes think about what happen. She was very upset though she found resolution and moved on...I walked away without looking back but I look back now.. and I will always carry that burden. which is unresolved. "he who forgets is destined to remember" "Once divided...nothing left to subtract" -Once broken up there is nothing left "Some words when spoken...can't be taken back Walks on his own...with thoughts he can't help thinking" -The regret "Future's above...but in the past he's slow and sinking" -The decision "Caught a bolt 'a lightnin'...cursed the day he let it go" -The mistake "She once believed...in every story he had to tell" -She admired him so "One day she stiffened...took the other side Empty stares...from each corner of a shared prison cell One just escapes...one's left inside the well" -He left her without remorse, without even looking back. Left her there "And he who forgets...will be destined to remember" -But his actions now haunt him. The guilt and regret is eternal. The remorse is forever. "Oh, she don't want him... Oh, she won't feed him...after he's flown away" -She wont come back. she has moved on. And he realises it is he who is nothingman. Has nothing. Could have been something. Nothingman. |
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| Andrew Bird – Masterfade Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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this is clearly a song about the world being swallowed by the digital medium 'when the sky is full of zeros and ones' look at your default wallpaper on microsoft windows. |
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| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| EDIT: VAmpires sleep during light... wake at night | |
| Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laika) Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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This is a story about a loved one who gets lost in life. Falls on hard times... depression..drugs... "Alexander, our older brother, set out for a great adventure. He tore our images out of his pictures, he scratched our names out of all his letters" Alexander started off with energy... with purpose... with intentions.. good or bad... he set off to find his purpose. "Our mother shoulda just named you Laika!" Laika and Alexander. I think he is referring to Alexander the great. Laika is greek. Maybe Laika is the one ... the brother who achieves nothing. Its interesting, our parents name us with best of hopes. As if trying to spearhead our fate. But Alxeander is nothing like the Great greek conqueror. Just an ordinary person. Maybe mother should have never beared so much pressure on Alexander by naming him that. "Come on Alex, you can do it. Come on Alex, there's nothin' to it. If you want somethin' don't ask for nothin, if you want nothin' don't ask for somethin'!" Alexander is lazy. "Our older brother bit by a Vampire! For a year we caught his tears in a cup. And now we're gonna make him drink it. Come on Alex don't die or dry up!" A Vampire sleeps at night. Wakes during night. A trait of all lazy people. HE has caught a bug... the bug is deppresion. His tears.... depression They have caught in a cup... i.e. they have been putting up with all his mess. they have listened and cared... but now they want to help him wake up...i.e. poor it on him. "When daddy comes home you always start a fight, so the neighbors can dance in the police disco lights. The police disco lights. Now the neighbors can dance! Look at 'em dance." Daddy... ahh... the hopes and dreams of a farther. What's the bet.. .dad comes home and sees Alexander sitting on his ass doing nothing... hence fight... Police Disco lights... The neighbours (dance) watch in excitement as the blue and red lights twirl around the neighbourhood. Any disruption... or excitement in the neighbourhood brings out people. Have you ever had police line up in front of your neighbourhood. Everyone goes out in their gowns... chatting... talking... curious...Probably the only time neighbours will actually talk to each other these days. |
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