| Counting Crows – Cowboys Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Im not an american, I'm actually Mexican and I hope I don't offed anyone but here are my thoughts: I think this is in many ways a big republican bash. Adam mentions cowboys on the radio (republican talk shows), he mentiones "blue-eyed baby boys" (George Bush), he mentiones the president not being able to sleep because those cowboys are killers (many republicans are pro Irak)... He also talkes about nobody being able to sleep beacuse of the satellites (general fear of terrorism and uncertainty in the US)... I think he can't look at america right now, he feels he is nothing as an american, he knows the country weeps ("but I can feel, I can feel") and looks for comfort in religion ("God who'll welcome me cause I believe"; some very conservative republicans cling to religion as justifcation for questionable actions) I think his whole album is a kind of cry of dissapointment because of the way america's culture the natoin's political sistem have gone awry in some aspects. In several other songs from the album he brings up themes related to america's past and present ("I'm a Russian-Jew american native african what I would like to be is Indian Jamaican", or something like that can be heard in 1492) and ("why'de you wanna talk to me when your vision of america is crystaline clean" he sings in Micheallangelo)... I don't think Adam hates his country (He keeps singing about Omaha and Reno and Miami and all sorts of american destinations) but I do think he has a list of "what it should have been" and right nos is not, he'se just "not seeing it".. Anyways, my thoughts |
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| Jason Mraz – 0% Interest Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I have a very wild and very personal theory about this song: I think this song circles heavily around Jason's growing up permiter, I think it focuses heavily on his parent's divorce, or on some other, but equally intense, childhood experience Jason begins talking about his friends: "They're expending lines and finding more energy for the effort and getting distance from that front porch spotlight" I believe he speaks about how his friends escape their present-day problemas and complications by hanging out and talking about the pleasures of life. It would seem THE FRONT PORCH SPOTLIGHT simbolizes the awareness one might have of their present situation, and the sense of visibility and vulnerability this creates in the individual. Jason's friends escape this every day reality by hanging out and joking about life. Then he contrasts his friend's methods of dealing with hardships with his own: "but us we found peace in shadows long enough to see the monsters rise candy's got some space to fill in her daydreams living high on yesterday's lie" Jason and some girl (presumably his sister, but it could be any girl) hid inside themselves for a while, IN THE SHADOWS, this was their means to escape thier troubling reality. Daydreams are always a good way to isolate oneself. "the way the lightning shocked us when we were lost and looking down that long missouri highway your hair was longer then and now I remember" Again, another reference to a strong childhood impression "slide your foot off the gas before we crash right back into the median it separates our house from the middle of the street.." I think Jason is telling himself to stop thinking about those days, for fear of CRASHING RIGHT BACK INTO HIS HOUSE... a sort of fear of returning to those memories, which were painfull in a way. But the song is optimistic at the end... as Mraz and his "little sister" come full-circle: "but us we found peace in shadows long enough to see a monster die. we all need to find a little space in our daydreams long enough and just so long." It's as if he, or he and his girlfriend or sibling or whatever, finally managed to confront whatever was bothering them, realizing it was never so bad after all, SEEING THOSE MONSTERS DIE..eliminating the need to SWING SWIFTLY TWOARDS HAPPIER TIMES... I think Mraz claims to have achieved this by dreaming, and conecting these dreams to his present-day reality.. I believe the middle parts of the song sort of narrate some of the events that Jason could have experienced between his childhood beginnings and his new-found adulthood: His sister or friend or whatever traveling abroad to sweden... His missing her and her not missing him as much.. So anyways, a crazy theory, probably VERY distant from Jason's original meaning, but I like to interpret it that way because it fits my life in a beautifull way, and because I think it's almost univeral that one should one day confront his own demons... long enought to see those monsters die. cheers, Mike |
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