| Lily Allen – Fuck You Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Considering that Allen is British, I was under the impression that this song was about the BNP, not Dubya...? Or maybe it's both. The BNP is far more overtly racist than the Bush administration, too. |
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| Emilie Autumn – 4 o'Clock Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This reminds me of a disorder I used to have. It was like a sleep phobia combined with an eating disorder. Instead of restricting food I restricted sleep, and I felt guilty and ashamed about sleeping. I would never sleep for more than four hours or so each night, and it lasted for three years. The thought of sleeping in normal amounts was terrifying. I would do anything to avoid going to sleep. This song speaks very strongly to me. | |
| Within Temptation – In Perfect Harmony Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Although I'm sure that the meaning WT intended for this song is as simple as what everybody else has said, I interpret this song in a different way. I spend a lot of time thinking about the ethics of human existence in relationship to the other life forms around us (e.g. animal rights, eco-friendliness, whether to be vegetarian/vegan, et cetera), and the sad truth of it is that as one thing lives, it causes others to die. You could live nude in the woods and refrain from eating meat, but when you eat berries or fruit or vegetables, you may be depriving another herbivorous animal of food, or perhaps damaging the plant life; and every time you take a step you're probably killing an insect. The only way to truly cause no harm to any living thing would be to cease existing. When I listen to this song, I think of it as a symbol of this idea. A boy dies soon after his birth; only by being dead can he exist in perfect harmony with the non-human world, because then he is causing absolutely no harm, and his decomposing body feeds the flora and fauna around him, causing him to become one with the woods. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – First Orgasm Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is one of my favourite songs of Amanda's. (Then again, most of her songs are my favourite songs of Amanda's.) Her lyrics have really changed the way that I look at songs that are about sex. She portrays sex and relationships in a unique way that somehow doesn't seem sleazy or immature... it's difficult to describe. I was deterred by the title first, because it's just so blatant, but when you really pay attention to the lyrics it's much deeper. This song is about emptiness and solitude. It's remarkably forlorn, and the subject matter provides a stark contrast to the normal portrayal of sex in music (joyful, cheeky, passionate) that underlines the loneliness being sung about. p.s. Only Amanda Palmer could write a sad song about orgasms. |
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| Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Me and Mia Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I agree with Fevers et Mirrors, actually. Fionar's interpretation was a little bit stereotypical, and this song is anything but a stereotypical portrayal of an eating disordered mind. In my opinion, it describes the various moral dilemmas and the painful ambivalence that a person struggling to remain motivated to recover unsupported may experience. As I was walking through a life one morning The sun was out, the air was warm but ohh, I was cold Fionar was right here; eating disorders cause your internal body temperature to go nuts. However, this wouldn't necessarily refer to a low body weight were it not for the next line: and though I must have looked a half a person, to tell the tale in my own version, It was only then that I felt whole. "I must have looked a half a person" - this does refer to weight loss. However, I don't think that "[feeling] whole" refers to starvation. This song has always struck me as being about bulimia, not anorexia; "then. . . I felt whole" could easily refer to a stage when the narrator was completely immersed in eating disordered behaviours, after it had become very serious but before it began to take a toll on the body. From personal experience, I know that sometimes it can feel almost comfortable to reach that point - the eating disorder controls your life, but you're almost glad because you're tired of doing it yourself. Do you believe in something beautiful? Then get up and be it For me, this line evokes strong feelings of ambivalence. When you're trying to recover and struggling with your body image, one part of you is saying, "You know how to fix this. Just lose some weight!" Of course, the recovery factor isn't present for everyone who will relate to this song, but basically, this is the voice of the eating disorder. Fighting for the smallest goal: to get a little self-control. I don't think that "smallest goal" refers to weight loss. This is one of the lines that, to me, seems to relate much more to bulimia and the binge-purge cycle than calorie restriction behaviours. When you are caught up in a binge-purge cycle, you can feel completely ashamed of yourself and worthless, because to "gain a little self-control" is such a simple thing - particularly when you only need enough self-control to prevent yourself from gorging yourself on everything in sight and then puking your guts out, to put it bluntly. People who tell you to "just stop" only amplify this feeling. I know how hard you try. I see it in your eyes. Pretty self-explanatory, although I like melissadynamite's connection to bloodshot eyes from purging. Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten What it's like to eat what's rotten, and what's eating you alive, might help you to survive. Here, I very much disagree with Fionar. I don't think that these lines refer to seeking help for an ED, but rather to being in the grips of one. "Call your friends 'cause we've forgotten what it's like to eat what's rotten" - unfortunately, in today's society, most people experience disordered eating to some extent - I mean, I know very few high school girls who haven't tried dieting at some point in their life, whether or not their "diets" ever were effective, or were even carried out. This is a wake-up call to the narrator's friends, who passively try to offer help but don't realise how serious the problem is. "What's eating you alive might help you to survive": to me, this is another line about ambivalence. You want to recover, but even though the eating disorder "eats you alive", you need it as a psychological crutch to deal with life. We went on, as we were on a mission, latest in a Grand Tradition. "Grand Tradition": eating disorders are not new. They are deeply rooted in human society and psychology, and the narrator is just the latest one to add to the numbers. Ohh, what did we find? It was Ego who was flying the banner, Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, ohh, we'd been unkind. Here, the narrator takes on the voice of the eating disorder again. To me, the line "Me and Mia, Ann and Ana" seems to be more poetic than literal, referring to eating disorders in general. "Ego": eating disorders blot out the rest of the world. Sometimes you can't see anything beyond yourself. Do you believe in something beautiful? Then, get up and be it Fighting for the smallest goal: to get a little self-control. I see it in your eyes, I see it in your spine, Same as before, and I agree with Fionar that "I see it in your spine" is likely to refer to protruding bones due to weight loss; however, it can also be interpreted as having "backbone" in a metaphorical sense. Having an eating disorder can cause you to become remarkably stubborn. The ED twists your mind, and can cause you to defend your sickness to the death - sometimes quite literally. Even the nights, they could get better. And even the days aren't all that bad. And after a week of fighting, As more and more it seems the right thing Lasping back into eating disordered behaviours after attempting to recover, you try to convince yourself that it's not actually that bad. Won't anybody here just let you disappear? Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad, But me and Mia, Ann and Ana Know how hard you try, Don't you see it in my eyes? "Disappearing" does refer, metaphorically, to wasting away, but not just that. As previously stated, this song is primarily about bulimia, not anorexia. To "disappear" could also refer to leaving behind normal life, just becoming completely wrapped up in your eating disorder. In my personal struggle with bulimia, I quite frequently feel irritated at the routines of normal life; I find myself wishing that other people would just ignore me and let the bulimic behaviours take over. Sick to death of my dependence, Fighting food to find trancendence. Fighting to survive More dead, but more alive. These lines describe a variety of the different emotional struggles involved with bulimia. You get completely sick of food after a while, even though you can't stop eating it, and "fighting" can refer not eating and/or purging after eating. Food and eating behaviours begin to symbolise really weird things - anything from weakness, to appeasing one's parents, to manipulating social situations... anything. "Fighting to survive/More dead but more alive" - in the grips of an ED, you barely feel like you can count yourself amongst the living. Cigarettes and speed for living, Sleeping pills to feel forgiven. All that you contrive, And all that you're deprived. You need something to keep you going through the day, something to help let go at night, something to keep you alive, something to keep you wanting to die, because for some reason you can't survive without a metaphorical deathwish. All the bourgeois social angels Telling you you've got to change Don't have any idea They'll never see so clear. I don't think that this is talking about the media, but rather the people around the sufferer who want them to recover but don't fully understand the illness. These would be the ones who say it's selfish, say it's stupid, say it's shameful, say you can "just stop". But don't forget what it really means to hunger strike, When you don't really need to Some are dying for a cause, but that don't make it yours. And even the nights, they could get better... Here, depriving oneself of food via an eating disorder is compared to political hunger strikes. Some people have a damn good reason to stop eating, but you don't even need a reason - you can do it all by yourself. I think that the line "Some are dying for a cause, but that don't make it yours" has to do with what the eating disordered behaviours mean to the sufferer. At first, you pretend that it's about the food, the weight. Once you get in deeper, you realise that that's not the case at all. You can see the psychological links: how you starve to disconnect yourself from the world, perhaps, or purge to feel like you're getting rid of some sort of poison in your body. But eventually, you pass that stage, as well; you do it almost out of habit. You're completely addicted to the behaviours, whether or not you have a reason any more. Anyway. This is an incredible song. As tbot said, it takes my breath away every time I hear it. |
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| Silverchair – Ana's Song (Open Fire) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Obviously the song is about anorexia, as pointed out blatantly by, oh, everyone else. But I would also like to comment that I find it interesting how the video involves an obsessive-compulsive hand-washer instead of an anorectic. Interesting way to parallel the meaning. I suppose it's lighter than four minutes of staring at bones and empty plates. Obsessive hand-washing and anorexia nervosa (both of which I have had uncomfortable flirtations with over the years) are surprisingly simillar from a psychological standpoint. Both are largely concerned with purity and perfection... Well. I liked the song and video, to say the least. |
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| Katy Rose – Lemon Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I agree that the song refers to anorexia, bulimia and self-injury (I'd also like to point out the line 'pain is my only zen'). The title, to me, suggests direct symbolism. Lemons are sour and nasty when whole and so on. (But notice, a little lemon flavour is a very popular accent to taste.) | |
| Keane – Nothing In My Way Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Wow, the references to lies within romance are completely lost on me. The way I see it: -The 'turning tide'/'lovers at a great divide' lines are examples of a big change in life. -'Why do you lie when I know that you hurt inside'— Obviously, life is not going well for someone, and they're lying to people The 'just another day/nothing in my way' in the chorus also appears to refer to this. -'A telltale sign/You don't know where to draw the line' reminds me of myself, actually. I lie to most people, but not ALL people. In private, when speaking to those who he/she is comfortable confessing to, the subject of the song clings to his/her problems because he/she doesn't know where he/she would be without them. It's his/her only means of self-definition, so in times when things are a little better, he/she doesn't admit that either. -'For a lonely soul you're having such a nice time' also suggests the same thing as above. Yes, the subject is lying and deceiving people and so on, but it's working. Nobody other than the narrator suspects anything. The subject is doing bad things to achieve ends, but they work. Which isn't good either. |
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