| Bruce Springsteen – The Rising Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Sysiphus did not carry the rock. He pushed it. This song is so obviously about 9/11 from a firefighter's perspective. What an absurd over-interpretation. Glad you bring up Albert Camus, since he's my favorite author (best of the best: Le Premier Homme). While he's known for The Stranger, his philosophy changed radically, from the absurd to solidarity with humankind, because of his participation in the Resistance during WWII. He and Bruce would be pals. Back to the song - brilliant. |
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| Underworld – Dirty Epic Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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As far as I know, this song is about Underworld (illegally?) listening to people's phone conversation (channel 6? connector in. receiver out?). I learned this in an interview with them, and they said that it eventually became too much, because people laid their emotions bare, and there were all sorts of family secrets discussed (affairs, etc.). This interpretation of the song make more sense if you listen to the remix, which features fragments of sentences rather than these lyrics. |
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| Underworld – Juanita : Kiteless : To Dream Of Love Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I concur with ReActor that "homeless trees" should be "hopeless strays", though it could also be "homeless strays". The lyric reminds me of a character in the book La Peste (The Plague) by Albert Camus. This man throws bits of paper outside his window to attract stray cats (homeless or hopeless strays) then spits at them when they get near. I don't have a clue as to what this song means, and perhaps it's simply cryptic to be cryptic, but it's an amazing song. It's not often that you hear an electronic song with movements. On the live CD, which I wholly recommend, there is a wonderful contrast in the vocal, which is robot-like in the first half, but then turns to "human" at "there is a sound on the other side of this wall", to great effect. |
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| Everything but the Girl – Walking To You Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is one of a number of songs by EBTG about being stuck in the past and not being able to move on, either from a relationship or from a friendship (Missing, Two Star). But who doesn't get nostalgic? This entire album is wonderful. |
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| Everything but the Girl – Missing Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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There is an important mistake in the lyrics posted here. It's important because it can strongly influence how you interpret this song. I don't think this song is about love. It's partly about a normal nostalgia and partly about an abnormal emptiness, an inability to move on from a certain phase in life and build one's life. I think the person who's being missed was part of a circle of friends. Google the lyrics for this song and you'll find "WE'D walk behind" in several places. I just listened to the song again and it's a bit hard to tell, but that has always been my interpretation because it fits better with "you always were two steps ahead of EVERYONE". The person from whose perspective the story is told always used to sit outside the house of the friend, and the friend used to shout down, I imagine something like, "hey, XYZ, what's up?" It strikes me as something that happens between friends, not lovers. I don't know if the friend was cool and the center of attention, with others latching onto that aura and therefore ending up alone when that friend left, or was just lively and organized (went to school and moved away?) "Could you be dead" suggests that the two didn't stay in contact, so the friendship was far less important to the person who moved away. Well, that's my two cents. While the electronic version is very good, the original is superb. |
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| Tears for Fears – Fish Out Of Water Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The lines "with all your high class friends... with all your cigarettes and fancy cars" seem particularly stinging. I think Smith just left. Wikipedia says that the two of them traded barbs against each other through their songs before the split. "You walked into the room. I just had to laugh"? | |
| Everything but the Girl – Five Fathoms Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This song makes me think about London, and it contains an incredibly profound thought: "the people fill the city because the city fills the people, oh yeah." I agree with anope's interpretation about finding freedom in a big city, experiencing new sights and sounds, going out clubbing, etc.. The bridge (the days roll by... I go out) has me quite perplexed. I'm not too sure what that means. "I'll take you home, make it easy" makes me think of the scene in Trainspotting when he goes out to a club, meets this girl, and they just go back to her place. |
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| Everything but the Girl – Rollercoaster Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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For me, every EBTG album starting with Amplified Heart has been outstanding, and a welcome break with EBTG's earlier jazz-pop sound. This song is the first salvo, and an outstanding one it is, as is true of the opening tracks of Walking Wounded (Before Today) and Temperamental (Five Fathoms). This is a simple but powerful song. In contrast to other songs about not being able to move on (Missing, Two Star, Am I Walking To You), 1) I think this one is about the period soon after the end of a relationship, and 2) it contains a ray of optimism (this is my road to my redemption). However, one thing that's similar about these three songs is that they're from the perspective of the person who was more dependent on the friendship (Missing: the years have proved to offer nothing since you moved) or relationship (Rollercoaster: I'm not really in your head; Walking to you: I met your boyfriend...; Two Star: go on, stop listening to me). I don't completely get the lyrics. "My life is just an image of a rollercoaster" seems to mean "I'm having ups and downs", but "anyway" suggests "that's always been true and this love then breakup are no different". I love the lyric "falls to minus zero". |
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| Everything but the Girl – Troubled Mind Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think this song is about being with someone who is depressed or otherwise has some kind of psychological disturbance (your troubled mind, a goods train running through these rooms/my life), and who is also verbally abusive ("think before you speak, my darling" and "you tied these knots, now you undo them"). The protagonist is trying to empathize (I know it's hard)... but it's becoming too difficult to cope with (you bring me down too... that's something I would not do). | |
| Sarah McLachlan – Hold On Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is one of my absolute favorite songs by Sarah McLachlan, from what I consider to be her absolute best album (I saw her three times on that tour). I absolutely love the way she sings "I-I-I-I (am standing)". The lyrics, her singing, the music. Wow. While the song is about trying to find comfort, there's a very sad aspect to the story. As someone wrote above, it's based on the documentary A Promise Kept. Sadly, the woman at the center of the story contracted AIDS from her partner and later died. She was there for him, and I wonder if anyone was there for her. |
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| Sarah McLachlan – Gloomy Sunday (Billie Holiday cover) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I think her version of Gloomy Sunday is the best by far, although Heather Nova's is interesting. Note that the lyrics "dreaming..." were added to the original song because it was found to be too depressing. | |
| Everything but the Girl – Better Things Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song is incorrectly attributed to EBTG. It's Tracey Thorn, all right, but she's singing for Massive Attack. Nevertheless, great tune. I love the way she sings "save" in "save your lying". | |
| Everything but the Girl – Apron Strings Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| What a sweet ode to parenthood. | |
| The The – Jealous Of Youth Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This is one of the best B-sides I've ever heard. Nostalgia, feeling one's life and potential slip away... Great music, and not too much obscurity to dispell in these powerful lyrics. | |
| The The – True Happiness This Way Lies Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song is off-the-charts fantastic. The very beginning is a bit odd, but the lyrics are about as profound as they get. The music is great, and Matt Johnson sure sings this one like he means it. Wow. There isn't much to interpret, just the essence of man laid bare. | |
| The The – This Is the Day Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This is one of my absolute favorite songs, like top 3 or 4. I'm always torn about whether it's optimistic and pessimistic, and I think that it's about a false sense of optimism, meaning someone resolving and hoping yet again to break out of a rut, but knowing deep down that he won't make it. His memories are the only thing keeping his life together. He's wasting the days away in the dark and alone, thinking about what might have been. That's my doom-and-gloom take on it. | |
| New Order – Love Vigilantes Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is a fantastic song, quite different from typical New Order material. Another song written from the perspective of a dead soldier is Billy Bragg's Everywhere. And how timely is the subject matter? I suppose it always will be, since after Iraq, there will be another war fought in the name of "truth" by brave men with rifles and grenades hoping for some help from God. |
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