submissions
| Gang of Four – I Love a Man in a Uniform Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I love this song. It's slyly subversive and full of the sarcasm that Gang of Four were so good at.
Here, they are trashing the machismo that's used as a marketing tool of the armed forces. It plays on all the cliches of 'becoming a real man' by tying them to sexual prowess, and ultimately exposes them as impotent-the guy who is so full of self confidence can't perform without receiving an order.
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submissions
| Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Robert Wyatt's version of Shipbuilding is definately in the top 10 of my favorite songs of all time. Unbelievaibly haunting and beautiful, Wyatt's voice is dripping with grief and resignation here. Stunnig and amazing. Robert Wyatt is a genius.
Oh, and the song, writtten by Elvis Costello, is about the Falklands War. |
submissions
| Kirsty MacColl – Free World Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I agree that it's about Thatcherite England, but it's amazing how the lyrics apply equally well to George W. Bush's USA.
A great song. Love it. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Party Girl Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Vaguely desperate women hanging around bars, looking to pick something up. They've given up hope of finding a real realationship, although a glimmer of optimism remains.
Into this scene walks the song's narrator. Much more optimistic, he finds someone he likes but feears rejection. |
submissions
| Squeeze – In Quintessence Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Look up 'quintessence' in the dictionary and you'll find something close to this: "the purest and most concentrated essence of something".
This song is about the quintessential teenage guy's life. Being full of yourself, partying with friends, bragging about imaginary women, ending the evening by having a wank. |
submissions
| Squeeze – Labelled With Love Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song is every old Country music cliche' wrapped up iinto a charming litle package.
Angsty and melodramatic, with tongue held firmly in cheek. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Man Out of Time Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This is one of Elvis' most brilliant lyrics. That's saying a lot, he is an amazingly talented songwriter. The wordplay in this one still leaves me breathless, 25 or so years after it was released.
"Whose nerves are always on a knife's edge
Who's up late polishing the blade"
There should be a medal awarded for that!
This song seems to be a charecter study (like many of the songs on the essential masterpiece Imperial Bedroom) about a dried up shell of a man. He's dug his own grave for so long that there's nothing left to do but fall into it. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Beyond Belief Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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What a wonderful lyric.
It seems to me to be about hanging around in a bar, trying to pick anything up, knowing disappointment is in store no mater what how the evening ends up.
Cheery, isn't it? |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – The Beat Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Honestly, I've always thought this was about masturbation. Actually, I still kind of do, although it has a roundabout way of hitting that topic. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Shipbuilding Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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That's a really great analysis, thankd for that. While written for the Falklands war, it has so much resonance with other, more current conflicts that it's scary.
You absolutely MUST hear Robert Wyatt's version of this song. It will haunt your dreams. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Our Little Angel Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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That's an interesting interpretation.
Taking a more literal approach, this could be about a woman who has had a long string of 'serious' relationships, but who has commitment issues. I love the line 'In a white dress she wears like a question mark'. That's classic Costello. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – You Little Fool Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Daddy's perfect little girl finds the guy that is going to piss her parents off the most. Mom is jaded and cynnical, dad is mad, but not enough to take any action.
Daughter's little cry for attention is about to lead her to consequences she is unprepared for.
What a happy little song! I like this song a lot, actually. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – I Hope You're Happy Now Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This is one of those songs that make me glad I was never in a relationship with Elvis Costello!!
This is just what it appears to be: a bitter, spiteful post-breakup song that mocks his ex's new boyfriend whiletelling her she deserves what she's about to get.
I heard that it was written for Cosello's (first) ex wife. |
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| Elvis Costello – The Imposter Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This is written from the perspective of a girl who has gotten this guy drunk and has succeeded in seducing him, only to be dissapointed afterwards. |
submissions
| Elvis Costello – Motel Matches Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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An empty relationship, a woman cheating on her partner and being discovered.
Sam Cooke died after being shot in a motel room, which explaines the first line. |
submissions
| Rufus Wainwright – The Art Teacher Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I really love this song, and thought for a long time that it was really sad. I'm not so sure anymore. I mean really-you never got over the teenage crush you had on a teacher? |
submissions
| Crowded House – Nails in My Feet Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This seems to me to be about having a public life, and little privacy. Amongst all that, someone is there that you love, and that makes all the difference.
I really love these lines:
Total surrender
Your touch is so tender
Your skin is like water on a burning beach
And it brings me relief |
submissions
| Crowded House – Catherine Wheels Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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The Catherine's wheel was a medivial torture device. That seems to fit the idea that it's about a relationship gone wrong. By saying 'She's got her Catherine wheels on', it's implied that she is suffering. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Twisted Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Just a lot oa psychological fun.
I should point out that Joni didn't write this. Lyrics are by the vocalese master Jon Hendricks.
You really owe it to yourself to find the original recording by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross (Jon Hendricks also wrote 'Centerpiece' from Hissing of Summr Lawns). |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – In France They Kiss on Main Street Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Youth, young love, sex, romance, being a non-conformist. The past-tense wording suggests someone a little older (and wiser?) reflecting back on the innocence of youth. You just want to have lived this song. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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It's about a weathy woman with no life ouside of that given her by her husband. She's bored shitless, her soul nearly sucked dry, but she has no idea of the options open to her.
A much sadder song than it allears to be. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Hejira Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This song pretty much sums up the lyrical content of the wonderful Hejira album. Travel as a metaphor for relationships is explored throughout this album,but never so concicely or beautifully as it is in this song. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Free Man In Paris Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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It's pretty established that it's about David Geffen. One of a small handfull of songs I'd walk barefoot across a mile of hot coals for the pleasure of hearing again. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Court And Spark Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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Yeah, I like that interpretation. You're in love, but can't quite commit. Youre a little fearful of what loving this person will mean,but you can't give up the life you've made for yourself.
This is one of my all-time favorite songs. I've heard it literally thousands of times and have never tired of it. |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Don't Interrupt the Sorrow Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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a millenia of women standing up to their men and proclaiming their existence as individuals. all wrapped up in a night of boozing with a lover.
No one else writes songs this good! |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I think it's about the bittersweet seduction of heroin addiction. Cold blue steel is the needle, sweet fire the junk. "Black soot of lady release" refers to 'cooking' the heroin in a spoon over a flame (the spoon gets sooty),lady release is the orgasmic pleasure of the drug taking effect.
Another outstandig lyric from the master! |
submissions
| Joni Mitchell – The Jungle Line Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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This is one of Joni Mitchell's most impressionistic lyrics. Unlike much of her wriiting, an exact meaning is elusive. Metaphor runs rampant here; words and short phrases are used to suggest much larger concepts.
I think it's about nightlife, specifically the Harlem jazz clubs of the early 20th century. The mention of painter Henri Rousseau links the jazz club imagery to ideas of primitivism, wilderness, and the untrained creative impulse. It also links the Afrocnetric to the Eurocentric, which seems to be another theme here.
The cathartic experience of the wild and untamed urban nightlife is tempered by a hint of danger, as evidenced by references to poppies as a symbol of both war dead and drug use.
Much like Rousseau in the lyric, Joni is painting a scene for us here, as opposed to detaailing specific events.
This is one of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs. A truly outstanding piece of work. |
submissions
| The Residents – Moisture Lyrics
| 19 years ago
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I think it takes place during an autopsy, and that the woman either drowned or was dumped in a body of water. |
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