| Frida Hyvönen – N.Y. Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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A powerful, foreboding response to the metropolis. Whether calling forth the pathetic spectacle of pure American kitsch (the sentimental Christmas tree, wrapped in the light of destroyed West Virginian mountaintops, destroyed lives) or urban isolation -- the narrator can't live with or escape the decadence out of which she is woven. The decay exemplified by the infamous city. She wants to concede, surrender to the city's terms (and social/ecological life) but is unable to ignore the grisly truth: the city lies, beneath the veneer of its pristine marketing/self-promotion, it is unhospitable and alienating. She cannot express the depth of her insatiability, the earth-shattering force of her anger. The song evinces her melancholy...she is resigned, not strong enough to resist, and ends by echoing her desire to somehow fit in ("I wanna be a part of you, New York"). |
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| Yo La Tengo – Tiny Birds Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The song soothes; its quaint imagery and graceful concern couldn't be more reassuring: the relationship described whispers of elegant intimacy. | |
| Grizzly Bear – Colorado Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Haunting. I relate strongly with MistaSparkle's interpretation. The lyrics, incredibly brief, are provocative. I started listening intensely to the song while reading Jon Krakauer's popular book Into the Wild: no doubt dramatically shaping my own associations. Grizzly Bear evokes here a deep sense of loss, abandonment. The urgent, intensely repetitious question "What now?" remains unanswered.... The song leaves us adrift, unassuaged, insecure. |
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| Doves – N.Y. Lyrics | 19 years ago |
| also the Chris Coco remix of this song is excellent. that track can be found on disc two of the Austrailian edition of Lost Sides. | |
| Doves – N.Y. Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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an exhilirating take on the metropolis. why go? "they're throwing rocks and paving stones" - politics lived outloud on the streets. not just talk anymore, something's actually happening! "so let's go while we can!" for it may not last - who says it has to?! carpe diem! affirmation of nomadic livelihood: "on the road and out of town we're moving on again". the city is to be explored, rife with opportunities for those with a taste for adventure. taking refuge: "on the run till we're caught / in New York / 'cause we're all better THERE than be caught". amidst erupting "chaos" and the city's immensity, the free-spirited nomads can evade detection from the authorities. they don't plan on surrendering! |
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| Foo Fighters – Aurora Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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"on and on and on and on" - a candid description of life. not as a negative judgment against life, just without rose-colored glasses. events without any overarching plot, happening for brief intervals and then passing away. the nostalgia - "we can do this one more time". while we would like to believe that identical repetition of treasured moments is possible, it's not - it's never the same. the Italian film Cinema Paradiso beautifully explores this theme. time drifts ever onward, all is changing, becoming different. the chorus is a celebration of existence - a cheerful commemoration of powerful times - moments laced with giddiness, a robust sense that anything's possible. "we can spin the sun around / and the stars will all come out" the impotency of beliefs. "you believe there's something else", but your emptiness won't be filled. it needn't be; that's the lesson! "you believe there's somewhere else", but all places present challenges. don't chase utopias, face your predicaments courageously. |
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| Muse – Blackout Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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accepting finitude: "don't fool yourself", the life you're living now is all there is, and nothing besides! in vain, you anticipate "heaven". you will become compost in the grand economy of the cosmos. accepting transience: "don't kid yourself", relationships are unstable. you cannot finally depend upon them, for you are always already somehow separate from them. "this love's too good last" because it is real - and reality does not endure but flees ever onward, producing new arrangements and configurations. "don't embrace the past", as nostalgia is dangerous and will delude you - in its grip you will squander your brief time here. it is not useful to idealize and over-romanticize what's happened. press on, for you must. combine the wisdom of the elderly - "too old to dream" - with the divine innocence of the youthful - "too young to care", "too young to see". you will celebrate life as tragedy, abolish all pessimism and nihilism to thunder "Yes!" to the meaningless, purposeless swirling vortex of the cosmos. |
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