submissions
| No Doubt – Sunday Morning Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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"Composing the song began when Tony Kanal was having a fight with Gwen Stefani, who was then his girlfriend, through the bathroom door of his parents' house in Yorba Linda, California. Stefani later changed the lyrics to discuss dealing with her breakup with Kanal." |
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| Oingo Boingo – Wild Sex (In the Working Class) Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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"Gas":
slang meaning "something exciting or excellent" first attested 1953, from earlier hepster slang gasser in the same sense (1944). Gas also meant "fun, a joke" in Anglo-Irish and was used so by Joyce (1914). |
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| Oingo Boingo – Gratitude Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I believe they sang this song on the Boingo Alive album, definitely qualifying it as an Oingo Boingo piece (though my understanding is that all the 'So-Lo' pieces were also songs Boingo performed in concert.)
Anyway -- I always got kind of a vibe like this song was about an emotionally abusive relationship, for some reason. The first verse with all its questions ("Was it everything you expected?" etc.) followed by "Now is that gratitude" suggests a negative answer from the female party, for which she's being scolded. The later bit, "I used to eat little girls like you for breakfast..." smacks of more veiled threats from the man. "But when I think of you and what you've done to me/You took away my hope, you took away my fantasy" sounds like it could be a POV switch to the girl's side, responding; or else like it may be the fellow trying to turn the tables and make her feel bad for all the "grief" he accuses her of causing to him for which she should be more grateful. |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Fool's Paradise Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The old expression 'fool's paradise' indicates a denial of reality so as to believe in a happier situation, and the song seems to just keep on that theme. About half the verses seem to be about love in particular, others are apparently more general ("caught a saint while he was sinnin'" etc.) |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Can't See (Useless) Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I don't know why this same song is listed twice... anyway, something that struck me was that around the time the album was released/being composed, was the same time that Elfman and Burton had their falling out (that caused Ed Wood to be the only Tim Burton film which was not scored by Danny Elfman) which was so bad they weren't even on speaking terms anymore. While the song seems like a bit much for a fight with a friend, love songs do sell better than friend songs, and phrases like "You're everywhere" and "You're right there but I can't see you" could maybe imply something like a celebrity whose name/image is turning up all over and in a sense is visible, but on a personal level is disconnected. Admittedly Elfman probably has lots of celebrity friends beyond Burton to whom this could apply -- and interviews with him have indicated that (by his own acknowledgement) it's not that uncommon for him to lose his temper and swear he'll never speak to a person again ("I thought I was right, but it's useless"), so it could be all kinds of people the song is about; it may even be put together from a composite of experiences in his life.
Got to say though, most of why this song really works is the screamingly weeping tone in which Danny delivers it. He could have overtly written the song about a lost sock and it would still work on an emotional level, delivered that way. |
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| Oingo Boingo – Bachelor Party Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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This one's pretty straightforward: it's about the signifigance of a bachelor party, and I do believe was written for a movie titled Bachelor Party. |
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| Oingo Boingo – Insects Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Best guess: Danny Elfman wanted to write a dance song and came up with this inane subject matter, and from there wrote whatever came to mind. |
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| Oingo Boingo – Just Another Day Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I respectfully disagree with the suggestin that this, and other Boingo songs, are about being addicted to methamphetamines. There is no evidence whatsoever that Danny Elfman was ever addicted to the stuff, and he never directly mentions it in any of his songs, although he's not the least bit shy about calling other illegal substances to attention (cocaine is clearl mentioned in "Ain't This The Life" and "Cool City," for example.)
I think it's a song about not wanting to go out and face the world -- and with good reason. The 5th verse ("I had a dream last night, etc") is confusing, though, and might have some significant bearing on the interpretation, if it can be interpreted. |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Cool City Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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Something about the song just SOUNDS like Los Angeles to me, without any attention to the words. It sounds even moreso like the city seemed in the 1980s from what I can remember. |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Mary Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I first heard this song when I was about 10 years old and it first came out. I never thought it was bout hookers (don't think I didn't know full well what those were) until I asked my mom to help me interpret that line about the mountain, and my mom responded "It sounds like she ran away and became a hooker."
Anyway, the line where her family tells her to repent for her sins does suggest that at the very least, her family is religious, and perhaps that's what drove her away. Think about it, they could have said "Mary, please come back to us now -- we love you!" or "Mary, please come back to us now -- we forgive you!" But instead, they say "There is still time to repent for all your sins!" No wonder she fled from a bunch of nuts like that.
I always thought the line about bleeding hands souded more like an implication that she was "working herself to the bone" so to speak, than like any sort of stigmata. |
submissions
| Rammstein – Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen (English) Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think this song is about someone whose lover (wife, girlfriend?) has left them for someone else, and they fantasize about surprising the new and happy couple in their bed, stabbing them and setting the bed on fire -- not so much out of desire to cover evidence, but out of sheer outrage and a maniacal desire to destroy all there is about the couple. I think the rather bizarre line about licking the dagger might have possibly come up mainly for rhyming purposes, but was used because it keeps an image of someone who has completely lost their mind doing bizarre things in rage.
It is also possible the man is considering setting his own bed that he shared with his lost girl aflame and then killing himself with a dagger. |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Can't See (Useless) Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I quite agree with Polecat above. I've lately been in a similar situation and recognized it at once. All I have to add it that he also seems to have tried to remedy the situation once s/he left, but, now, realizes it's useless -- he efforts to talk it out went badly, as far as he's concerned entirely on his part, and possibly he's even starting to feel that the version of her that he knew and loved is fading away from his sight now, cementing his sensation that there is no point in trying anymore to salvage things. |
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| Oingo Boingo – Cry Of Vatos Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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This was probably a sarcastic and ironic response to all those rumors about albums you could play backwards to hear Satantic messages. If you play this song backwards, it tells you to praise God and accept Jesus! |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Nasty Habits Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I think he's talking about general sexual kinks, solo or otherwise. ("Does it please you to employ little girls or little boys?") Specifically, he talks about people who perform them and then never mention it again outside their homes or even bedrooms. |
submissions
| Oingo Boingo – Helpless Lyrics
| 20 years ago
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I used to listen to this song in the car on the way to chool, much to my mom's annyoance. One day she asked "Why does he say that about ex-cons? Ex-cons don't have a reputation for homosexuality!"
Anyway, to the main meaning of the song. Looking over the lyrics just now, it occurs to me that through several verses he talks about how ugly he or someone else is, starting when he was born: "This poor little monster is better off dead!"
It is perhaps a song about someone born with a hideous deformity. The slighty circus-like sound of the melody might perhaps be implying a "freak show" of some sort.
The killing line is vague -- did he kill his mother, or did his mother kill someone in like fashion? There are many possibly interpretations based on which one it is. |
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