| Against Me! – Black Me Out Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song (specifically, its sequencing on the record) initially threw me a bit, seeing as how TDB is meant to be a concept album about a transsexual prostitute, but the previous track—Paralytic States—seem to imply that she kills herself, succumbing to the dysphoria. So, where does that leave Black Me Out? It's probably still part of that story, given references to her pimp (plus the jewelry he's wearing seems to fit that bill), and balking at the notion of being his "fucking whore" any longer. I can possibly see this being about the same suicide of the track before, but from the perspective of the prostitute, taking the power back by taking her life. But parts of that don't sit well with me. This is a song about bold defiance—"piss on the walls of your house", "chop those rings off your fat fucking fingers"—not dying in a hotel bathtub. My personal interpretation is that the narrative matters. Some songs address the transsexual character in the third person—the title track, True Trans Soul Rebel, Paralytic States—but some are first person, from the perspective of someone who is definitely trans. FUCKMYLIFE666, and this song. And I think these songs aren't just in first person for the hell of it. I think our narrator is a different character who's also trans, and bonds with the prostitute. Given the fact that Laura credits finding the courage to come out to a trans fan she met at a concert, I think that's the story she's telling. "I wish I could have spent the whole day alone with you," she says on the opener. After living with the dysphoria her whole life, the narrator confides in it with this "True Trans Soul Rebel" (which is what I will be referring to the prostitute character from here on because it feels really dehumanizing to call her "the prostitute"), and they become close. But the narrator isn't optimistic about her life going forward, even though she probably isn't as desperate as Rebel. ("Even if your love was unconditional, it still wouldn't be enough to save me.") After burying a "Dead Friend" (POSSIBLY Rebel's lover), the narrator seems resigned to the fact she and Rebel aren't long for this world, ("Two Coffins"). But then Rebel actually kills herself in Paralytic States, and it hits the narrator in an unexpected way. She's not going to let herself get pushed around like Rebel did. She's going to find the source of the oppression in her life (for Rebel, it was probably her pimp, hence the last two lines of the second verse), and piss on their walls, chop off their rings, and just refuse to play by their rules or let herself be judged by their standards. That's just my theory, though. |
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| Metric – Breathing Underwater Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The way I take it, this song is about maturing against your will in the throes of young love. Maybe they're high school sweethearts, maybe they're of a bohemian set... but they've obviously been told in the past that it's unsustainable and the narrator is beginning to grow up enough to see the merit in their ideas ("They were right when they said we were breathing underwater"). Maybe she's become disillusioned from their contemporaries and peers breaking up or throwing in the towel on the life they're leading, ("They were right when they said we should never meet our heroes") but while she feels self-conscious about their situation ("Is this my life? Am I breathing underwater?"), her lover doesn't agree and seems content to stay immersed ("I'm the weight, you're the kite"). This is a particularly bittersweet song since she isn't expressing these thoughts to segue into a breakup, she's content to remain in this relationship, but is aware that the odds they're against ("I see the end, but it hasn't happened yet") and in the meantime, has to live with that knowledge. The lack of resolution gives this song some real heft (and Emily's delivery of the "never meet our heroes" line guts me every time). Incredible tune. |
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| Jimmy Eat World – Cut Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I like that interpretation, but I think this may be less about leaving music, and more about leaving the major label leagues and attempting at being the popular band those labels always really want their acts to be. No more disco-rock attempts, no more Butch Vig, no more names in lights. Just the Jimmy Eat World they're good at being. | |
| Motion City Soundtrack – @!#?@! Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| There's a lyric book? Shit, I bought the deluxe iTunes version with the assumption the "digital booklet" would be a dead ringer for what came with the physical release. Guess not. I'm kinda bummed now. (As bummed as anyone who just bought a fucking kick-ass album could be, anyway.) | |
| The Bravery – Hatefuck Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I thought rape at first, but the line "the only thing I ask / love me mercilessly" dissuaded me. I feel this is more about seduction out of revenge, a woman that's wronged him in the past ("you had no mercy for me"), and taking out his frustrations on her through some very violent, if consensual, sex. So yeah, even if it's not rape, it's still far from mentally stable. | |
| The Offspring – Hammerhead Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The way Dexter talked about this song, I thought it would be less deceptive, but Adrenalinne's comment put it back in a brilliant light for me. These maniacs usually do have their motives twisted from good intentions, and believe they're in the right. We never really find out what's going on in their brains since they usually finish by paining the blackboard with them The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say. These people probably never felt any less sane than any of us feel right now... Kind of funny how this song is so thematically similar to Come Out and Play, but where that one took a sarcastic, ironic tone, this one is brutal, unrelenting, and the thought-provoking kind of disturbing. |
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| Ben Lee – Apple Candy Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I especially love that he's trying to come to terms logically with the fact that this girl is taken, but her allure is stealing him away—that she smells like apple candy. It's a line that sticks out like a sore thumb on paper, but it makes total sense as a counter argument in the music. Hence, it's the perfect title. Question: Stupid American culture question - does he mean apple candy like a candied apple or like a green-apple-flavored lollipop/hard candy? Because I've like, totally associated this tune with the scent of an apple Jolly Rancher, right down to the greenish tint. |
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| Butch Walker – The Taste of Red Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song seems to be neither here nor there on either the drinking or the girl, and maybe that's the point, you have a glass or two, you spill your guts out, you have another glass. But the "come inside your kiss" line is definitely the classiest blowjob reference I've ever heard. |
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| Kay Hanley – In Clouds Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Wow. Kay posted the story behind this one on her website. Much heavier than I ever would have thought. http://www.kayhanley.com/news/in_clouds.html |
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| Marvelous 3 – Grant Park Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Butch loves sex. If listening to all his records taught me anything, it's that. So a song about homo/bi-sexuality is no shocker. In fact, he's even focused on the challenge of coming out while in a hetero relationship (verse 1) or just satisfying those needs behind your partner's back (verse 2). While verse 3 sums it up nicely while just saying that there's a time and place for sex, and too much of a good thing can take the meaning out of it. Of course, the big guitar-driven beat over these verses suggest that I started reading into the lines too far when I stopped dancing and started writing this. Plus any chorus that functions on one word deserves some kind of props. Also, check the video out if you get a chance, made by the band independently of their label. It anticipates the YouTube music video phenomenon by a good five years. |
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| Butch Walker – When Canyons Ruled the City Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Haha. I always had an inkling this song was awesome. This just confirms it. I have to give him credit that he could pull a song this coherent and poetic out of such an altered state. I have got to see this dude live. | |
| Fountains of Wayne – Elevator Up Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| ...Colin? What the hell is wrong with me. CHRIS. | |
| Fountains of Wayne – Hey Julie Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| They definitely just named the Scrubs character Julie for the sole purpose of using this song. Who can blame them. | |
| Fountains of Wayne – Elevator Up Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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No comments? I guess I shouldn't be shocked; Colin says it's about drugs right in the liner notes. Am I the only one who hears Jody channelling the Edge here? |
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| Butch Walker – Joan Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| Not saying I doubt TaraLeeAbby, but I'm not entirely sure Joan kills herself in the song. The moving out to Colorado line (and the fact that the bload-soaked letter made its way into the box with the others) seem to point to it being the landlord, but it seems to me the narrator would notice the fact that his rent checks weren't getting cashed. Although, the events in the song could all take place within days of each other. Still, hell of a songsmith Mr. Walker is. | |
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