| Elliott Smith – Say Yes Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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It's rare and refreshing to have a break-up song that is, as Smith himself put it, so "insanely optimistic." I love the little nod to the Beatles (there are many in Elliott's songs) in the line "and you see how it is," which is lyrically and musically reminiscent of "I Am the Walrus" ("see how they run [...] I'm crying"). It similarly reminds me of the famous story of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's meeting, at an exhibit of Yoko's in which one would climb up a ladder into a loft to read a tiny word with a magnifying glass: "Yes." Lennon later remarked, "It's a great relief when you get up the ladder and look through the spyglass and it doesn't say no . . . it says YES." Of course, it would be difficult to argue that Elliott Smith was intentionally evoking Lennon and Ono in this particular instance, but he said many times that The Beatles were among his earliest and most powerful influences. Regardless, their influence in this song, whether liminal or subliminal, seems strong and obvious to me. |
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| Hefner – The Hymn For The Things We Didn't Do Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The difference between "things we haven't done yet" and "things we didn't do" is painful and melancholy. This song so perfectly captures that feeling that comes when a relationship is ending and you realize that all those things you figured you'd do sometime later will never happen. In that moment, though you know nothing can ever be the same again, you don't want it to be over. |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Funny Face Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I'm intrigued by the childishness of this song. The first thing that jumped out at me was the line "Lo lo lo lolita," in reference to the Nabokov novel. Is this "little princess" just a child-like woman, as I am inclined to think? Or does this song maybe (just to play the Devil's advocate for a brief moment here) indulge in a bit of lyrical pedophilia? He likes this girl because of her "funny face," her "laugh," her "paper chase," her "poppy eyes" and "tears," her "bunny shake"... And she's his "angel baby," his "darling," his "star Lolita"? Though I don't think the RHCPs are pedophiles, I certainly wouldn't put them beyond some flirting with sexual perversion. |
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| Tally Hall – Haiku Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure it's "Maybe you're beyond ancient Asian poetry" rather than "big on." *cough* Talk about point of the song... |
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| Cold War Kids – We Used to Vacation Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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--------------- by rav4guy on 08-12-2006 @ 10:40:29 PM very poignant writing. a song about a man looking back on his childhood and his father's alcohol addiction, but seeing the situation from his father's perspective in an attempt to jusitfy his behavior. in the same vein as death cab's "styrofoam plates", but with less animosity and more empathy on the part of the singer. --------------- I agree that it's poignant, but rav4, I'm curious--what makes you think this is the son, not the father? The lyrics themselves seem to be pretty clearly in the first person, and I can't find anything in the song that makes it sound like the speaker isn't truly the one battling the alcohol addiction. On the contrary, lines like "It sounds so soothing / to mix a gin / and sink into oblivion" would take some pretty serious getting-into-his-shoes-ness for a kid tell a parent who missed graduations, ruined recitals, and got into an accident that "left everyone a little shook up." I once was that kid. And the accident left me shook up enough that I can't imagine gin-mixing being anything but nauseating, let alone soothing. I think this has got to be the dad. |
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