| Bright Eyes – From a Balance Beam Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I'm seeing, as Conor does every so often, a use of Christian imagery in a combination of truth and satire. The first verse is intensely cynical of Christian ideology, and the line "there's a man holding a megaphone, he must have been the voice of God" is a sarcastic dismissal, in my mind, of anyone who claims to speak for God. The angels references seem to symbolize people being duped. The broken armed angel is the collapse of the illusion... but then he almost goes back on this. "It was a spectacle, no, a miracle." The rest of the song seems to involve death literally as well as figuratively the death of past personalities and the birth of the new. The last verse confuses the fuck out of me... clearly he's describing a solution, but I have no clue what it means. | |
| Bright Eyes – Method Acting Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| panic, i think it's a historical more than religious reference, sand being time, since the verse involves that. and of course, it's our first (unless im missing something from the big picture which, like many of you, i only listen to sometimes) reference to the album title. The last two verses before the ending section are amazing, and the "this method acting, i call it living" concept comes up a lot in this album- certainly false advertisements, lover i dont have to love, waste of paint, all involve the conflict between who we are and the facades we use. But mostly I love the way this song addresses time, and the sound he puts out at the end of verses, it's really powerful and ups the stakes of the album brilliantly. | |
| Bright Eyes – Another Travelin' Song Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| SnwBorder52, I completely agree on that verse, I never listened hard to that song until one day those lines caught me and I loved it. As to the "prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown" line, I have one thought that just popped into my head now, I never thought about it too much before. Since the song is about the fabric of America, I think "an old man in a fast food crown" could represent the corporate power structure, and "a prostituted child" is the innocence of the American people being raped by it. | |
| Bright Eyes – False Advertising Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I love the way this song discusses the cheapness of the music industry, especially "onto the stage I was pushed with my sorrow well rehearsed, so give me all your pity and your money now." It's such a perfect diss to the scene and all the fake depression and angst associated with it. Two songs later, when he says "bad actors with bad habits, some sad singers they just play tragic" in Lover I Don't Have to Love, it alludes back to this song and Method Acting perfectly. | |
| Bright Eyes – Bowl of Oranges Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I really like the anti-depressant idea from back on page 2, the beginning is certainly about being freed from oppressive sadness, and it goes on to be about helping others with the same. I don't think the last verse is actually so sad. "And everytime you feel like crying I'm gonna try to make you laugh And if i can't, if it just hurts too bad, then we'll wait for it to pass And i will keep you company through those days so long and black We'll keep working on the problem we know we'll never solve Of love's uneven remainders there lies fractions of a whole" This is about comfort and love, and how it's important even if you can't make life perfect. It's about always being there for someone when they need you, even if all you can do is sit with them and understand. It's about a sad condition, but it's not such a negative outlook on it. |
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| Bright Eyes – Lover I Don't Have to Love Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This was the first Bright Eyes song I heard... I didn't like his voice the first time through, but by the third time I was hooked on it. I love the line "now the phone's ringin and the van's leavin, let's just keep touching, let's just keep... keep singing..." As much as I'd love to imagine Conor swinging both ways, the "I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk" is definitely him speaking for both characters, just like the exchange at the end, "love's and excuse to get hurt, and to hurt.... do you like to hurt? i do! i do! THEN HURT ME!" I also love this part because after this song about meaningless sex and heavy intoxication (the line, "i asked your name, you asked the time" is incredibly powerful to me) he finally turns to asking for love, whatever the risks, even referring to it as asking his lover (or hers? this could be from the woman's point of view at this point, I can't judge it well) to hurt him. |
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| Bright Eyes – Lua Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| I'd agree that it's an alcohol/drug issue. An eating disorder can easily be read into it because the way he's discussing addiction, it's a very similar problem, and the song is as much about loneliness and the things you have to do to make it through everything as about anything in particular. I love the lines "I know you have a heavy heart, I can feel it when we kiss" and "we might die from medication, but we sure killed all the pain..." I think they really showcase the depth of Conor's writing. | |
| My Chemical Romance – Give 'Em Hell Kid Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| The part of this one that always gets me is the second extended chorus, with "you're so far away, so c'mon show me how, cuz I mean this more than words could ever say!" I was listening to this with my girlfriend the last time I saw her before I left for college and we both almost started crying on that line. | |
| Bright Eyes – An Interview with Conor Oberst Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| This is what I direct people to who say Bright Eyes is all full of shit and Conor spends all his time feeling sorry for himself and hating life. I just love this caricature of the tortured artist/emo singer. My favorite part besides all the contradictions and jokes surrounding them is when he asks the radio guy to turn off the persistent buzz thats been holding from the final chord of "An Attempt to Tip the Scales." I'm wicked jealous of you few who have met him, he sounds like such a fucking amazing guy... | |
| Bright Eyes – Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved) Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Bright Eyes is my favorite artist, and this song is one of my top three favorites. It's about seven or eight solid minutes of lyrics just pouring out, each line better than the last, about the modern human condition. I'm glad someone pointed out the Dylan allusion, I never caught it but I'd say that must be what it is... this whole song is just pure songwriting gold, I can't describe how much I love it... one of the few I can hear over and over and love more every time. | |
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