| Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I always heard it as a comment on big-city life and how homogenized it can become. If werewolves lived in London, it would happen to them too. Sure, they'd still go around killing people, but they'd also be eating Chinese takeout and keeping up with the latest fashions. | |
| Yes – I've Seen All Good People: Your Move/All Good People Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Grey Eye Glances does a great, up-tempo cover of this song. It's tucked in on the end of Track 8 on "Songs Of Leaving". It has the added advantage that you don't have to hear "I've seen all good people etc." twenty times; I always find that part irritating when I hear the Yes version on the radio. I'd support the relationship/feminist interpretation of this song. It's about adjusting to the idea of a relationship as equal rather than patriarchal, and to opening up and sharing feelings with your partner. The antiwar theme is also strong, though. Hard to avoid that association when you're using chess symbolism, plus you can hear them saying "give peace a chance" in the background (very clear in GEG's version). Btw, lara311, re "turning the other cheek", I do not think it means what you think it means :-) Check out Matthew 5:39 or Luke 6:29. |
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| Grey Eye Glances – Better Part Of Me Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the vivid symbolism at the end of this song. The “mountains of fear” are a barrier that cuts you off from the truth (“grasping for vision”). If you cannot master your fears, the remaining path is the “valley of lies”, being dishonest with yourself and others. To break out of this cycle, you must look within yourself, accept yourself with all your faults (“to bring down the mountain/ I must close my eyes”), and you will be a stronger person (“so I might see/ so I might free/ a better part of me”). I’m not sure how to interpret the rest of it, but it’s sure nice to listen to. | |
| Grey Eye Glances – If I Was... Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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From greyeyeglances.com: “'If I Was...' is a song about obsession.” I think of this as a song that Madonna might sing if she had the voice. It makes liberal use of innuendo: “A little bit of something come undone” might imply an intentional wardrobe malfunction, and “butter on your corncob” doesn’t need much explanation. It’s a great description of infatuation, showing the fantasizing, watching surreptitiously, even stalking. She doesn’t care if she looks foolish as long as she can be near him. The guy is a little frightened by her flirting (“At a sensible sense of danger”), but also attracted to her, at least in her mind (“I caught you watching I was dancing”). It’s an attraction that’s too intense to last, but impossible to ignore. |
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| Grey Eye Glances – In The Company of You Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is one of GEG’s most straightforward songs, but a great illustration of their ability to tell a story with a few well-chosen words. It is sung by a career-focused woman, an executive in a company with offices across the US and Europe. She travels all over: London, Chicago, Norway, all with distinct impressions and yet blurred together in the hurry of her life. As for relationships, she’s the female equivalent of the sailor with a girl in every port. She hangs out with one guy in New Orleans, takes a quick trip to see another in Nashville, has a liaison in Paris (and accidentally leaves clothes behind). She has enjoyed this lifestyle while her love life has been relatively superficial, but now she’s found somebody that she cares for more than her career. Her need for stability begins to overcome her desire for freedom and travel, and this song describes the change in her thinking. The ending verses perhaps describe her first extended stay with this guy in Philadelphia. The lines “Keep the door unlocked I promise / I can be so unaware” show that she has trouble adjusting to a more settled kind of life, but may also refer to her lack of emotional openness. Since her past relationships have been mainly physical, she isn’t used to talking about her feelings, something that the guy clearly wants so that he can know her better. At the same time, she begins to realize what a toll her unsettled lifestyle has taken on her (“I’ve been tired, torn, and beaten down”). She couldn’t see or admit it to herself while she was in the midst of it, but now she can, and decides that, in spite of the consequences for her career, she needs to slow down. |
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| Grey Eye Glances – Angel Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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From greyeyeglances.com: "'Angel' is one of the all time favorite GEG songs. A live show rarely passes without it being played. It is based on the movie 'Wings of Desire' which was later remade as 'City of Angels.'" Though framed in a supernatural theme, Angel is essentially about loving from afar. For whatever reason, the singer feels the need to keep her distance from her loved one, and so she has to be content with being his friend. This song expresses the mingled joy and pain of being close to him, but not as close as she'd like to be. |
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| Grey Eye Glances – Big Red Boat Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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From greyeyeglances.com: "Big Red Boat has been a fan favorite ever since GEG started playing it live sometime around 1998. It is about a woman who made a promise to her friend that she would build a big red boat in her back yard and if things ever got really bad they would sail away on it." Big Red Boat is an anthem for anybody who's been stuck in a rut. Let the neighbors think what they want; it's better to go a little crazy than to let life beat you down. Of course, it's easier if you have somebody to share your delusion with... |
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| Grey Eye Glances – Hard Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I’m never completely sure what a GEG song means, but with their sound, I can’t bring myself to care too much. Just for fun, though, I’ll venture some guesses. I may be reading in more specifics than what’s really there… I hear this as a woman singing to her boyfriend. She’s the ambitious type, all about making the most of every day and aiming for the highest goal (“the morning and the sky”). She sees a lot of potential in him, but he’s more relaxed about things, and she sees his career stagnating. Her constant pushing and dissatisfaction have undermined his confidence and alienated him. He has pulled away emotionally, telling her she needs to back off and let him run his own life. She finds it difficult not to interfere, but she does as he asks. Being separated from him, she begins to feel lonely and realize how much joy he brought into her life. She sees that she doesn’t need him to be just like her, and that their different styles complement one another (“the balance keeps us both alive”). This song is her telling him what she’s realized, and asking him to come back to her (“I’ll spend the next lifetime by your side”). I can also see this from a more spiritual angle, which GEG seems to be fond of. It could be sung by somebody who’s recently died. She finds herself in an afterlife with many new dimensions (“unfamiliar worlds I’ve never known”), but still feels tied to the material world (“the life we’ve left behind”) and worries about how the ones she loves, perhaps her children, are getting on without her. With difficulty she learns to let go, content to sit back and watch them come into their own. |
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