| The Mountain Goats – Genesis 30:3 Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Two perspectives here: the child and the father of a child SHould make sense if you read it like that, don't feel the need to point out the obvious portions belonging to each respective narrator. Beautiful song about parenthood. |
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| The Magnetic Fields – California Girls Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Actually, I think it's quite literal. Obviously, it's songwriting, and thus a fiction; that doesn't mean it necessarily has to be "sarcastic." Stephin Merritt describes the song as coming from the viewpoint of a dowdy, deranged Midwestern woman. | |
| The Magnetic Fields – I Have The Moon Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Not her, him. ;) | |
| My Morning Jacket – The Way That He Sings Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think the "meaning" is fairly simple to comprehend, but the phrasing and intonations make this a remarkably beautiful and rare song. Lines 1-2: Rhetorical questions Line 3: Parallelism/rhetorical question turned romantic Line 4: I think the proper line is actually "..there's lots of things I can't define" or "describe." Anyway, this line links lines 1-4 and introduces the theme of these intangible, yes, Line 5: Yes, classic "Je ne sais quoi romance" as exhibit B on the intangibles. Some beauty defies physical description--some women/men have an essence about their movement or the way they carry themselves that is incredibly sexy or attractive. Line 6-8: More rhetoricals that I think aren't the driving messages in the song, but just a nice parallelism link Line 9: the romantic rhetorical, this time related to music instead of love Line 10-11: introduction of the "je ne sais quoi" applied to music; once again, defies physical description or technical skill or anything of that sort. Line 12: Should be I'm in love with "HIS" soul, not this soul. "He" being the singer. This final line finishes the analogy between romantic love and music by connecting the two into a kind of spiritual love of the art. In short, the gift of great music to defy its mere "sound" and captivate us the same way that love does |
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| The Mountain Goats – Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| what's this girl doing in the men's room in the first place is what I want to know | |
| The Mountain Goats – Slow West Vultures Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Yep good call. "Shooting the sequel before the treatment's even finished Sanding numbers off the monojects As our slight returns diminish" This whole section's about drugs. Monojects are syringes and I assume this is about heroin. "Slight returns dimish" implying tolerance to a drug meaning you have to increase dosage to get same effect. |
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| Phoenix – 1901 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| fall dead? | |
| Sufjan Stevens – The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song is so emotionally affecting. The transition from the string and trumpet section highlight this lyric which gives me chills and almost chokes me up: "I can't explain the state that I'm in/The state of my heart/He was my best friend." The subsequent lyrics are equally powerful--"Oh admiration in falling alseep," "we swaggered and swayed," "I can tell you the telling gets old," "I can tell you the day we were born," "My friend is gone/He ran away/I can tell you/I love him each day," "Though we have sparred, wrestled, and raged/I can tell you/I love him each day." Amazing and beautiful. I think Sufjan purposefully uses ambiguity to emphasize the very familiar ambiguity that young men have between strong feelings of affection for or romantic love for another male friend. The line isn't always clear and I think that is reflected. So I'm in the camp that thinks Sufjan has achieved exactly what he intended by not explicitly defining the relationship as homo or heterosexual. I imagine hearing this song after my best (male) friend has died and I'm at his funeral..and it chokes me up. |
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| The Mountain Goats – Cotton Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I've been a big Darnielle fan for a while but never paid particular attention to this song until I heard it on an episode of "Weeds" (a decently entertaining show). I listened to the song in its entirety soon after and the line, "This song is for the people Who tell their families that they're sorry For things they can't and won't feel sorry for" hit me hard. It was even completely personal, I just thought about how it applied to so many people, and even some of my good friends more than me. Apologies for things like taking a less lucrative career path, straying from one's birth religion, even being gay or enjoying things like sex and partying. There is so often such a generational disconnect in values preventing honest communication between a man or woman and his/her parents. And very often, rather than explain such things it's easier to just sigh and grant a dishonest "apology" to assuage their fears and disappointment. And I think that's a shame. Great song. |
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| The Magnetic Fields – Take Ecstasy With Me Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I google image searched raccoon eyes. Yikes. =/ | |
| Lou Reed – Street Hassle Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Part 2 of 3 (Street Hassle) is the best. I think that "Sha la la la la" is the M.O. of Street Hassle. The way they sing it has the tone of something like "that's just life, man" or "C'est La Vie." It's a perfect, wordless way of conveying the gritty street realism that makes this song so great. Definitely an early rock masterpiece in writing. | |
| Neko Case – Star Witness Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song's chorus is similar to "The Way that He Sings" by My Morning Jacket, a song that definitely fits in with the mood of this... | |
| Sleater-Kinney – Modern Girl Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I have to think this song is EXTREMELY scathing and sarcastic, almost Slyvia Plath-esque. Seriously, this band often writes autobiographical material in their lyrics, and do you really think Corin Tucker's "whole life looked like a picture of a summer day." I think she's satirizing the perceived happiness afforded by "domesticity." | |
| My Morning Jacket – The Way That He Sings Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think it's saying "he don't know, no." Which would be a precluding answer to all the questions posed in the song. Quite simply, no one knows. Music's emotive effects are inexplicable. | |
| Wilco – War On War Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I interpret the lyrics a different way. I see the subject of this song as being revealed explicitly right away. Q: What is this song? A: It's a War on War So basically, a protest song; a "war on war". In that regard, I see the basis of the protest as being a sad lament on the sacrifice that soldiers and young kids are asked to make during war and during military training: "you have to learn how to die" I see this as the death of your identity, your individuality, all abdicated for the sake of creating a strong military unit. In the army, it's all about uniformity and discipline; no one ought to stand out or break ranks! Essentially you are learning "how to die" or kill your identity so that you can be a better soldier "if you wanna be alive". Learning to work tightly as a unit rather than individualistically facilitates the success of the platoon (or whatever their called), thereby improving your chances of surviving war. |
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| Animal Collective – Peacebone Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| In the very beginning does that voice say "Bone fish"? | |
| The Dismemberment Plan – You Are Invited Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Basically an allegory of thinking that you want something and ultimately realizing that it won't make you feel any happier after you get it. And now that you're enlightened, you put someone else on that same path you just followed [that second person might as well be our protagonist at the beginning of the song, so it's cyclical]." Totally agree with this. We never really know what we want. He feels excluded and powerless at first, ostracized from the popularity and successfulness he has always wanted. Then I think the invitation is a symbol of something that suddenly empowers him (although he probably had that ability all along)... And once he is able to "play the game" successfully of being a socialite, he realizes it isn't what he thought it was anyway. Really reminds me of the party mentality and disillusionment that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about in the 1920s. And then this song transitions perfectly into Gyroscope in the narrative scheme, because the girl in Gyroscope is already "in" with the crowd, but not any happier with the "losers". |
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| The Streets – Turn The Page Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| OOOOOps. "Strife or crimes and a life of crime" | |
| The Streets – Turn The Page Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Sickest lyric: "Because it's a fine line between a strifeful crime and a life of crime." |
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| Yo La Tengo – Moby Octopad Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I really think "I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One" is one of the best albums ever. 10.0 This song is a gorgeous example of Yo La Tengo's ambient indie pop. I also think it's really romantic: "Locked in a kiss, outsiders cease to exist" |
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| Pretty Girls Make Graves – Bullet Charm Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Well this is the most amazing song of the new album. The album starts off great with "Nocturnal House" and then ends even better. Unfortunately the middle of the album isn't so good. Actually, their worst album so far. This songs is really scenic and descriptive- a sort of epic story of two lovers who have an acid adventure in the dark and light of night and dawn. The chorus sounds sort of like a dream, and how she describes what's going on in the present tense: "We're running...There's light in your dark eyes." And though the song is very descriptive its meaning is just thematic to me and not very specific. |
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| Bonnie 'Prince' Billy – I See A Darkness Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Wow...I can imagine this song as an incredibly powerful statement, the word emotion doesn't do this song justice. Neither does Johnny Cash. The way that Will says "Did you know how much I love you" is soooooo powerful, even though they look common in print. This is really one of the best albums of my generation. |
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| Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Their language is "Hopelandish" not "Hopelandic". And yes, they did sing on it on several songs on Ágætis Byrjun, including Olsen Olsen. The entire ( ) album is sung in Hopelandish. It consists mostly of: you-sigh-a-low (that's how it sounds to me), and deriviatives of it. Takk... and much of Ágætis Byrjun is sung in the actual Icelandic language, though. |
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| Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Their language is "Hopelandish" not "Hopelandic". And yes, they did sing on it on several songs on Ágætis Byrjun, including Olsen Olsen. The entire ( ) album is sung in Hopelandish. It consists mostly of: you-sigh-a-low (that's how it sounds to me), and deriviatives of it. Takk... and much of Ágætis Byrjun is sung in the actual Icelandic language, though. |
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| Explosions in the Sky – Have You Passed Through This Night? Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the drums on this song...sooooo good. And the texas accent is awesome. The only words on any EITS song? I really think they fit perfect, and yet I'm glad that they kept talking or singing out of most of their stuff. | |
| Okkervil River – For Real Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Yes, this reminds me of "Garden State" (the movie). The guy goes through life in a numb state (partially do to his anti-depressant medication), and wants to "wake up" and feel pain (although pain in this movie is emotional). I love this song, I am not scared of its darkness. Yes it is a bit unpleasant, but it is sooo raw, that it is impossible not to feel the emotion. The guitar riffs and screaming are amazing. This song sounds hugely like Goo Goo Dolls' song Iris: "Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive." |
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| Sufjan Stevens – A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| My favorite song title on Illinois =] | |
| Antony and the Johnsons – Hope There's Someone Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song really got me interested in listening to "I Am a Bird Now". And yet, while this song sounds mournful, it remains beautiful. I don't find this necessarily true of the rest of the album. I find myself too estranged from songs like "MY lady story" and "Today I am a boy". Maybe I'm a homophobe. Maybe I just can't relate. But THIS song speaks universally. I hear distinct religious/spiritual longing, and an innate human desire for comfort of someone to be there for you. No one wants to die alone. What a beautiful song. It is, undeniable in the sorrow and vulnerability of his voice. |
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| Devendra Banhart – Heard Somebody Say Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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A simple protest of humanity. I think you can appreciate this song regardless of political tendencies. I mean you can't really get enraged about an innocent "I dont want to kill!" plea, without looking completely foolish yourself. One of the better tracks on his huge, 23 song album - "Cripple Crow" |
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| Devendra Banhart – Little Boys Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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A literalist could find some gross pedophilic lyrics in this song...about the boys...and the shower... But it seems to me like half of these guys douse their lyrics with half tongue-in-cheek transgender & homosexual lyrics. The Antony/Devendra/CocoRosie clan occupy their own pew of freak-folk. I am ambivalent toward it...And I find that I can only listen in small doses. Lyrics aside, I don't exactly like this song, but that could be that the album honestly does get tiring by song #21. |
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| Belle & Sebastian – The State I Am In Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Yeah, its the same version on "Push Barman to Open Old Wounds" And it does sound a whole lot better. |
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| Belle & Sebastian – String Bean Jean Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Probably, my FAVORITE Belle & Sebastian song. I love how he says "Seven to eight years old...and that's pretty small". It sounds amazing in concert as well. I know some songs are just "words". Take the New Pornographers...Even some of B/S's songs are just silly rhymes. But this song sounds soo emotional to me that I am just sure that there is a cryptic meaning in it. I just can't begin to figure it out. :-/ |
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| Belle & Sebastian – String Bean Jean Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Probably, my FAVORITE Belle & Sebastian song. I love how he says "Seven to eight years old...and that's pretty small". It sounds amazing in concert as well. I know some songs are just "words". Take the New Pornographers...Even some of B/S's songs are just silly rhymes. But this song sounds soo emotional to me that I am just sure that there is a cryptic meaning in it. I just can't begin to figure it out. :-/ |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Marching Bands of Manhattan Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I love the imagery on this...But unlike "The New Year", this opening track isn't a thesis for the album. I think that had I first heard Death Cab with this CD I would have absolutely no complaints. It is just that compared to Transatlancism, Plans doesn't have the appeal of a unified work. It is more of a collection of singles, so it doesn't have as intimate of a feel as Trans or even Photo Album. Know what I mean? |
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