| Japandroids – The Nights of Wine and Roses Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The phrase "wine and roses" comes from the poem Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam by Ernest Dowson ("They are not long, the days of wine and roses \ Out of a misty dream \ Our path emerges for a while, then closes \ Within a dream"). Although slowgoins might be right that it is used here as a reference to the movie The Days of Wine and Roses. In any event, both the poem and the theme song from the movie are about how life is a very brief event and it should be enjoyed while it lasts. We don't cry for those nights to arrive We yell like hell to the heavens |
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| Listener – Wooden Heart Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think one of the recurring images of the songs is that of things being formed from flawed, used, or disastrous sources. ("We’re all born to broken people", "I know that we are all made out of shipwrecks", "we’re making it, taped together on borrowed crutches and new starts", etc.) I imagine that line is a continuation of that theme. He doesn't specifically mention it, but fitting with the sailing motif, he is probably referring to the fact that you can sew a bunch of old rags together to make a sail. | |
| Maps And Atlases – Old and Gray Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I think it's "The fewer the coats" | |
| Phosphorescent – Song For Zula Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The first line is a quote from the first few lines of Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash: Love is a burnin' thing, And it makes a fiery ring Bound by wild desire I fell into a ring of fire. |
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| Owen – Too Many Moons Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The French translations are: Au revoir, bonne chatte => Goodbye, good pussy Bonne nuit, martyr => Good night, martyr Bonjour, chère épouse => Hello, dear wife |
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| Tune-Yards – Hatari Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The foreign phrases are in Swahili, which Merrill is fluent in. A few translations: Hatari => Danger! Mimi naweza => I am able, I can do (it) Sijui => I don't know Mimi ni mchizi, kama ndizi => Literally, I believe this is something like "I am crazy/cool like a banana". This is a common response when someone asks how you are. Wewe ni mbaya, kama nfiya => You are evil like ??? I only learned a little Swahili, so feel free to correct any of that. Merrill spent a while in Africa and that is what this song appears to be about. |
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| Cotton Mather – Password Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Seems about right. Edited with these corrections. | |
| What Made Milwaukee Famous – Self-Destruct Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| To me "you'd never be deficient for the comfort of heeding it" sounds like "you'd never be deficient for the comfort of heated air". | |
| The Gaslight Anthem – Casanova, Baby! Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Quarter to Three is also a Gary U.S. Bonds song | |
| The Gaslight Anthem – Casanova, Baby! Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| There's a famous quote that's been attributed to everyone from John Cage to Steve Martin that I think is being referenced here: "Writing [or sometimes "talking"] about music is like dancing about architecture" - meaning that it is ridiculous and basically impossible to adequately express one medium in another. I think that the start of the chorus is a reference to this saying. "We could run all night \ and dance upon the architecture" can easily be interpreted as "We can listen to music [Springsteen is specifically suggested] and analyze it". The rest of the song is full of allusions to other songs and the bridge reveals that analyzing the songs is ultimately futile ("And you hear me late at night pickin' at the pieces / Sometimes nothing comes out right") and unfulfilling ("and nothing is relieving"). | |
| Voxtrot – Wrecking Force Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I have a demo version of this song and you can hear the ending bit much clearer. The lyrics there are definitely this: Go on split your scene and let the dirty half come clean You are the wrecking force, you are the wrecking force in me Cause I'm the self machine I was hot when I was sixteen You are the wrecking force, you are the wrecking force in me |
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| BC Camplight – emily is dead to me Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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You're =/= your Seems to be about a guy who met a girl, then fell in love with that girl's mother, who disapproved of him. |
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| Ra Ra Riot – Ghost Under Rocks Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| To me this song is about clinging to your possessions, and the futility of that. Your possessions will not last and chasing after more possessions will just waste your life. "Breathing life into ghosts under rocks [and] notes found in pockets" is a way of saying that you are attaching importance to things that don't matter. Allie's lyrics fit this too: someone is saying goodbye to his things before leaving the house. | |
| Tiny Vipers – Dreamer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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A few corrections, as I hear it: >>but it drifts across the ground that down I look. >>and I could count the times that I am lost or won. I interpret this song as being the next day of a one night stand, but yeah, I have no idea. It is amazingly beautiful though. |
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| Bill Callahan – The Wind and the Dove Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Err, scratch that last comment. Just read this: http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2009/striking_as_ever_bill_callahan_returns_to_the_grey_eagle Q: does the “linger on” lyric refer at all to “Pale Blue Eyes” by Velvet Undergound? A: It’s not a reference to Pale Blue Eyes. Pretty good song, tho. |
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| Bill Callahan – The Wind and the Dove Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| To me it sounds like the Linger On part was a reference to the Velvet Underground song Pale Blue Eyes. It sounds pretty similar and since "And I am a child of linger on" doesn't make much grammatical sense, maybe he is saying that he is influenced by Velvet Underground. | |
| Smog – In the Pines Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Chorus is the (basically) same as the Leadbelly song "Where did you sleep last night" | |
| Daniel Johnston – An Idiot's End Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Best song ever. | |
| Shearwater – The Snow Leopard Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song is named after/about the Peter Matthiesen book. If you've never read it, get it. It will change your life. JM had this to say: "I wanted to write a song that reflected the exalted/frustrated way I felt when reading the book, rather than responding to it in a more literal way. Did you see the "Planet Earth" footage of a snow leopard hunting in the Himalayas? So surreal and beautiful..." |
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| Katy Perry – Ur So Gay Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| What'd she spend like 5 minutes on these lyrics? Haha, you should eat McDonalds, and you check Myspace, and wear H+M haha. How clever, Katy. And she says PENIS at the end! Haha, get it! Not gay gay, just gay! | |
| Mandalay – Like Her Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I've always thought of the song as from the perspective of a guy. Mandalay had two members: a guy that did all the music and a girl that did the singing. It could be that the guy wrote the lyrics. I think he's breaking up with a girl (or actually is being broken up with) and notices that this is just what happened in his last relationship. "Given the time \ And your mood \ You look a lot like her" The resemblance isn't so much physical as it is situational. |
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| The Twilight Sad – Cold Days From the Birdhouse Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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>>And breath and then -spoke sighs- Sounds to me like: And breathin in smoke signs >>I'm going where you should >>I'll -unplug- your mind Sounds to me like: I won't wear your shoe And I wont clap your land ... which admittedly makes no sense, but that's really what it sounds like. But I'm not Scottish, so the accent might be affecting what I hear. In any event, this song is awesome. |
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| Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| For the record, *I* give a fuck about an oxford comma. | |
| Fiona Apple – Limp Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This may be an immature interpretation, but I can't get it out of my head when I hear this song: When I was growing up there was a term for giving oral sex to a girl who was having her period: "waving the red flag". I can't get over the idea that this song is about that. The first line of the song ("you wanna lick my wounds") fits well and so the entire second verse spells it out ("You wave the red flag, baby\ You make it run"). And "It won't be long till you'll be lyin' limp in your own hands" has a pretty obvious sexual interpretation. Anyway, I don't think the song is actually about that, but it is a fun way of looking at the song. Hopefully that doesn't ruin the song for anyone. |
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| Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Obviously, you couldn't market a song called My Red Hot Cock," I buy a song called My Red Hot Cock. But maybe that's jus' me. |
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| Voxtrot – Real Life Version Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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A beautiful song. I think this is a love song to a tree. Or at least, to the association of a certain tree to childhood memories. He remembers this tree from his youth (before he "walked away from landscaped poverty") and he goes back to his old house to find that everything has changed ("And it turns around ... Into something new"), but the tree is still there ("I see you, always struggling"). He wishes that the tree could come to life and reminisce ("All the talking we could do \ Oh if only we could be \ A real life version of you"). I've also got the chords for this song figured out, so hit me up if anyone wants them. |
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| Voxtrot – Real Life Version Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think all the question marked lines are correct except "Twisted roots like tans" sounds to me like "Twisted roots like tails" | |
| Voxtrot – Brother In Conflict Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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to me it sounds like: "Drums beat, it's just the sun in the east" There is an excellent segment of the Reaching for the Lasers documentary that deals with this song. It's on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLs9WNmDjfA |
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| Kind of Like Spitting – We Are Both Writers Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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You missed the best line... "I am righteous in my anger! all I have to give you is my lower self We'll sing of how we made love like strangers all I have to sell you is my lower self " Also it's spelled W-H-I-L-E |
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| David Vandervelde – Nothin' No Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song is fantastic. I can't stop listening to it. To me it sounds like: "i'm much more frightened by the thoughts in your head" and "entertaining all the things that you hide", but I can't really tell. The album is pretty lo-fi. |
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| Onelinedrawing – Bitte Ein Kuss Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"this is where yastrzemski makes the big play" Carl Yastrzemski was a baseball players for the Red Sox. Where he made the "big play" is third base. So, another oral sex reference. |
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| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Army Bound Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think the song is about how people turn to the army for economic reasons without thinking of the other consequences. Often army recruiters target the poor, especially minorities, and portray the army as a way to get a good, (relatively) high-paying job. It's always there as a"way out" for people who find themselves in a bad financial situation ("Heard somewhere that there is a place now \ Someone who’ll catch you on your way down", also the entire outro verse). But, I think Ted is trying to make the point that by joining the army, you are signing up to possibly lose your life or your morals ("One day you’ll see your bunker walls degrade"). All of the lines that are "In every x there's a y now" kinda play on this point: for everything that the army gives you, it takes (or could take) something else away. | |
| Loveninjas – I Wanna Be Like Johnny C Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| About Johnny Cash, right? I'm guessing the line "Without a thought I'd kill my friends (to be like Johnny)" as a reference to the line from Folsom Prison Blues "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." | |
| Kind of Like Spitting – Grapes Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think there might be two KoLS songs called Grapes. I have a song called Grapes that has the above lyrics. But there is also another song I've heard called Grapes that match what charcolsketch is talking about. The lyrics to that one are: despite what you recommend despite what you implement this just can't stand anymore 3 A.M. at my door with no one to tell you that it's wrong drugged for some seasons sure we were pure like cancer's quick miracle or resin chalk spectacles party after party the laughs they just told you that you were on and the luckiest asshole I've ever met is playing music on my bed again sharing wings and boulders bringing me back in those who all give advice those who all recommend those who know everything kitchen philosophy those who speak quietly words wide and sympathy they don't know of your eyes six inches from mine or the taste of your hips with the windows wide open so here we hang loosely and dry on the vine I put my hair up and think of us marrying this garden's the same but these fruits have new names I have wanted you for so long and the luck of the lasso, for once I wept never seemed to get more than a glance and the feathers and boulders I once possessed they found a home in age and circumstance |
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| The Flaming Lips – Fight Test Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Oh, and I don't think this song is about violence. He's not talking about literally fighting someone, but competing with him for the girls affection. | |
| The Flaming Lips – Fight Test Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song is about a relationship with a girl. At some point she was either going to go with the singer or the other guy and the singer decided to just step back and let her decide, thinking that she'd eventually chose him. But she doesn't. I think the ironic thing about the song is the line "If I could I would but you're with him now it'd do no good". The whole song is about how he should have tried harder for this girl, but then he is still making excuses and refusing to try. I don't know if that's intentional or not, but I always thought it was funny. |
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| Jonah's Oneline Drawing – Better Than This Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| It's a different version though. The OLD version is much faster than the NEO version. | |
| Jason Mraz – Morning Theft Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song is actually by Jeff Buckley | |
| Onelinedrawing – Stay Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song is a cover, isn't it? | |
| Far – All Go Down Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the sigh at the beginning of this song. It's an homage to the sigh at the beginning of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. | |
| Penfold – Reflexivity Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The audio samples in the middle of the song (starting around 1:36) sound like Noam Chomsky to me. Reflexivity is the Social Sciences analog to Heisenburgian uncertainty. It is the idea that by studying a system, you will affect the system in a way that modifies the very things you are studying. |
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| Open Hand – Life As It Is Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| All these people commenting on how great the song is and no one notices that the title is wrong? The name of the song is "Life As Is". There is no "it" in there. | |
| Múm – We Have a Map of the Piano Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Anyone else notice how the piano part at around 1 minute in sounds just like River by Joni Mitchell? Might just be me... Anyway, cool song. |
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| Juno Reactor – Pistolero Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| You forgot the best lyric of all: "I hate robbing banks" | |
| Days Away – T. Kline's Decline Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the second verse of this song. The line where he says "But then I said I felt lucky and didn't mean it" and it builds up louder and louder and then just drops is awesome. That part alone makes the song worth listening to over and over. | |
| Mineral – Gjs Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song is amazing beyond words. A few corrections, though: >>And I know I'm done Should be "And I know I'm not" Also, the line below it ("And I can") really belongs in that verse. The lines are a response to "Too proud to hope too weak to climb", like he's saying And I Know I'm not (too proud) And I Can (climb). >>Like the stitches dissolved >>And the wounds all heal in time Should be "Let the stitches dissolve Let the wounds all heal in time" |
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| The Thermals – Back to Gray Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Agreed. This song is awesome. | |
| Voxtrot – Trouble Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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To me this song is about a musician that the narrator really likes and respects. ("I bought your record out on cherry red" - Cherry Red is a record label. They release some Voxtrot-ish indie-pop or twee stuff every now and then, so that may or may not be what he is talking about. My guess would be it's Momus, who is signed with Cherry Red and notoriously wrote an album of songs about people or groups who paid him $1000 a piece to write a song about them, hence the "He's just busy counting coppers") Then he starts to hear rumors about him, that he does drugs ("Somebody told me you're a junkie now"), and is just in it for the money ("He's just busy counting coppers"). Some of the lyrics sound like being on tour with the guy (being in Berlin and London, running around town, etc). In the end, the line "Underneath it all there's a motive to the voice" basicly sums up his feelings for the musician. |
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| Voxtrot – Trouble Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I love this song! There are few corrections, though: >>People fall into a trap just to stumble like the fourth time People fall into a trap just to stumble off the foot path >>And it's all a peice of a harmony >>To fall Texas servity And it's all in peace, love, and harmony To find Texas celebrity >>You are the back, the back seat of this town You are the bad, the bad seed of this town >>And it's all a part of a balance set And it's all a part of a balance act >>I bet you ever seen my million dollar shirt I bet you made a scene in my million dollar shirt |
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| Portugal. The Man – How The Leopard Got Its Spots Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Nodima and Jblake27: I agree completely. Whenever I tell anyone about Portugal. The Man I say: "Think of a less pretentious Mars Volta" :) Cheers. |
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