| Jenny Lewis – Born Secular Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the line "who knows where he is not." The word "not" coming at the end of the line just opens up a whole new meaning - I found it so arresting the first time I heard it. I mean, if you're looking for god, you want to know where he is. But if you're trying to escape from god, you want to know where he is not. It's like she's saying there's no point in trying to escape god because we're completely powerless. Yeah I agree with lilstacyQ this is a really honest song about faith. | |
| Tori Amos – Yes, Anastasia Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song came out when I was having a difficult time during High School, and I used to sing it to myself every single afternoon as I walked home. Even today, when I reach a certain spot near my old school, I can hear those first few piano notes going through my head. The lyrics in this song just seemed so random to me, so mysterious - I never could explain this song to other people. But to me, both then and now, it's sort of a Janus-like song. It looks back with sadness and it looks forward with fear. I used to think that was just adolescence, but 12 years later I think that's just life. We all carry the scars of bad relationships and failures, and we all step forward into the future, frightened of the tests that are going to be thrown at us. When Tori sings "I know what you want / the magpies have come" she gets immediate intimacy - past all the intellectual logical level that we all pretend to operate on - towards something more symbolic, more intimate. And what always surprises me about this song is just how many times the music itself, even when it's bursting with joy, always fades - again and again. It's not like it starts loud and stays loud - it builds up, fades, builds up, fades. At the end of it, I always feel like I've been on a journey. Under The Pink as an album gave me so much comfort, but no other song by Tori or anyone else seemed to express the confusion and fear of becoming an adult like "Yes, Anastasia." |
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| Aimee Mann – You're With Stupid Now Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This is my absolute favourite Aimee Mann song, and maybe my favourite song of all time. It's just a perfect song - her singing, her strumming, the strings, the harmonies. When I hear the opening chords it just sounds so final - like the relationship has turned completely crap and now it can never ever improve. She sings calmly, and quietly, but it's pretty clear that she's completely pissed off - but not with the guy she's singing to. She tries to tear strips off the guy with her sarcasm and her irony, but instead of saying "I'm with stupid" she says "You're with stupid now." She's pissed off with herself for loving a guy who doesn't know himself, and doesn't know what he wants from her. This is a guy in denial: "What you know you don't want to know." Saying "you're with stupid now" is still an insult to him, but mostly it's a way of beating herself up and expressing her humiliation all in one. I find this song inspiring because it shows someone going through absolute relationship hell, but instead of losing it they stay in control and cling to their humour and their anger. It's a witty song, and an authentic one, and I bloody love it. |
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