| Brand New – Yeah (Sowing Season) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The second verse begins "Leo loved his wife..." In the liner notes to The Devil and God there is a dedication to a number of people who passed away during the making of the album, one of whom is Leo Lacey. I'm assuming this is Jesse's grandfather or another older relative, and that the line that goes "huddled in the brig all with his shipmates, praying for his life when they dropped the bomb" is a reference to WWII. A quick Google search confirms that a Leo Lacey who spent his life around the NJ/NYC/Long Island area did indeed serve in the Pacific Theater during WWII. That might give some insight as to the meaning of the song. |
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| My Morning Jacket – Holdin' on to Black Metal Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Though it probably doesn't alter the meaning of the song, MMJ is not referring to heavy metal ("heavy metal" is still a term, by the way), but a specific sub-genre of heavy metal called black metal: blast beats, shrieked vocals, extremely distorted tremolo picking, intentionally shit recording quality, corpsepaint, undeniably anti-Christian pro-pagan lyrics. The second wave of black metal was probably the most responsible for articulating its specificities, and most of those bands were Scandinavian: Mayhem, Emperor, Burzum, etc. A lot of the members of that particular scene were involved in church burnings, one of the members committed suicide with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head (and his bandmates took pictures and made jewelry from pieces of his skull), and one brutally murdered another after he became convinced that latter was going to torture and kill him and film it. Gruesome, fascinating stuff. With that in mind, the song becomes even more poignant and humorous. I like the rest of your interpretation, though. |
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| mewithoutYou – Allah, Allah, Allah Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| You are mistaking the word "Allah," which simply means God, for the Islamic god. It's an honest and understandable mistake, as most of our Western exposure to the word is in the context of Islam, and the Islamic god is not the Christian God. But the word itself simply means God, and I am sure, as others have stated, that an Arab Christian would likely refer to God the Father as "Allah." When you claim there's a difference between "Allah" and "Yahweh," you forget to acknowledge the language difference. Yahweh is God's name in Hebrew, and Allah is a word for God in Arabic, and God is an English word. We know God's name is Yahweh but we call Him "God" in English anyway, even though the word god could be applied to any pagan deity. We don't have any problem with this. So why should there be a problem with referring to the Christian God as "Allah" when speaking Arabic? It's no different than calling Him "God" in English. | |
| Weezer – Butterfly Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Sigh. This song is not remotely about rape or coerced sex. It's about a relationship where the girl is truly in love with the guy, and the guy really only wanted a physical relationship, but comes to feel bad about it afterwards. As is mentioned a million times throughout these comments, this song and most of the album Pinkerton contain references to Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly: the main character is named B.F. Pinkerton, and the leading female is Cio-Cio San (i.e. "listening to Cio-Cio San, fall in love all over again" from "El Scorcho"). In Madame Butterfly, Pinkerton is a Naval officer stationed in Japan who is infatuated with Cio-Cio San (a.k.a. Butterfly) and marries her, claiming that "throughout the world, the Yankee wanderer is not satisfied until he captures the flowers of every shore and the love of every beautiful woman." Cio-Cio San truly falls in love with Pinkerton who, after marrying her and sleeping with her, has to leave her to continue his Naval expeditions, but promises to "return with the roses, when the earth is full of joy, when the robin makes his nest" (recognize that last line?) i.e. spring. Cio-Cio San has Pinkerton's child and waits 3 years for him to return, becoming impoverished but always hopeful that Pinkerton will return, despite being told that foreign husbands never return to their wives and only marry them to have someone to have sex with while they are in Japan. Cio-Cio San does not believe this until the American consul shows her a letter in which Pinkerton reveals that he assumes that Cio-Cio San would not even remember him, meaning his view of the relationship was extremely casual while hers was so intimate. She has Pinkerton informed by letter that she has his child, thinking he will return when he hears this news. Pinkerton does return, but he returns with his American wife to take his child, and though he feels extreme remorse and even affection towards Cio-Cio San, he does not love her in the way she loves him. She gives up her child to him and commits suicide at the end of the play while Pinkerton weeps her name. When Rivers saw this opera for the first time, he wept uncontrollably--presumably because he related very deeply to the story, although it is extremely sad and beautiful and I wept the first time I saw it even though I cannot relate to it in that way. This song is about sleeping with someone because you are infatuated with them ("I did what my body told me to") and hurting them very deeply when you leave them because they love you in a way you do not love them and you took advantage of that, perhaps even unintentionally. It's not about rape. Give it up. |
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| Some Girls – Ex Nuns/Dead Dogs Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| DIVORCES IN STEEPLES KEEP ON BURNING ME | |
| The Hold Steady – Stevie Nix Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Laaawwwwwwd to be 33 forever. | |
| Brand New – You Won't Know Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This song sounds very much like it is about a man leaving his girlfriend/wife and their child. Especially the part, "don't blame your mother, she's trying not to see I was her worst mistake/I wish that I could tell you right now that I love you, but it looks like I won't be around/So you won't know." Sounds very much like a father leaving his family and writing a letter to his child. | |
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