| Avey Tare and Kría Brekkan – Sasong Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| this song is so peaceful & joyous. those high notes just fill me. | |
| Animal Collective – In the Flowers Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I feel so much when I listen to this song. I want to cry, run, dance, sing, fly, scream. I want open fields. And all of the sudden all the emaciated bimbos around me don't matter. And the way I am doesn't matter. And the heat on the street doesn't matter. And everything's better, better than ever before. | |
| Animal Collective – In the Flowers Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| it jumps out of me & my chest expands four times its size. | |
| Amanda Palmer – Runs in the Family Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I agree with another poster on the page before in that I believe this song is more of a ... sort of sarcastic highlighting of what cop-outs people can be about their problems. The way so much of society just wants to pass the buck to the next person and point the finger somewhere else, often times the past. To find someone who takes responsibility for their mistakes, emotions, misgivings, actions 100% of the time is very rare -- and in my opinion, it's become even more of a rarity. We needn't look further then all the civil cases that go on these days to compare this song to our current culture. I think the most poignant part of the song is when she goes on about the girl whose "grandmother's grandfather's grandmother's civil war soldiers ... probably infected her" back in the 17th century. It's those kind of stretches that we hear all the time, just maybe not in such a blatant sense in reference to our society. AND THEN the way the narrator feels so trapped by this destiny, like there's no way to overcome such terrible genes. I feel like a lot of people resign themselves to that sort of fate with their own problems. They say such and such is the government's fault or my parent's or my ex's fault etc as though there's no possible way out of it. Anyway, there's obviously a ton more in here, but that's what resonated with my the most. This song is just Amanda at her finest, once again. |
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| Conor Oberst – Synesthete Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| to williambleak -- I copied the lyrics out of the booklet that came with 'Gentleman's Pact' -- a small EP they were selling at his concert. they sound pretty spot on, so I'm just going to stick to the version I have up there unless someone presents something to persuade me :) | |
| Destroyer – Strike Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I find this song so powerful, moving and freeing. I agree with upthera44 -- that it's about some sort of self imposed obligation that the singer is questioning. | |
| Conor Oberst – Synesthete Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Synesthete: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia |
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| Conor Oberst – Milk Thistle Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I didn't know what milk thistle was used for but now that I do, I think it really fits with all these other stanzas, as though, the narrator -- and all that we know about his apparent alcoholism from his other songs -- is sort of suffering and rooting for the underdog, in a sense. I love the image of this herbal remedy sort of aiding him on, just as, in another stanza, he supports Lazarus. Someone asked who Lazarus was in the Bible -- I think there were two, but in this one he's referring to the parabal of beggar, not the one raised from the dead. There was this beggar that this rich guy in the Bible doesn't help, as he sits at his door step asking for assistance day after day, and in the afterlife Lazarus goes to heaven and the other guy goes hell for not helping someone in great need. So that certainly fits with the stanza about Lazarus where Conor compares her to a washed up actress in LA. My favourite line, aside from Conor saying he'd be bored as hell in heaven, which I love, is this stanza: All the sights and sounds This little world's too crowded now And there's only one way out An elevator ride Through the tunnel towards the light And I'm nowhere bound Keep going up and down Up and down I love how he compares death and the descent or ascent to either heaven or hell to an elevator ride. I guess it just really strikes me because I can relate to the exhaustion and there only being one way out. But the whole "nowhere bound" just going up and down from heaven to hell on an elevator is just a stunning picture. |
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| Conor Oberst – Souled Out!!! Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I think this song is really interesting -- there's a lot of mystical & religious themes (aside from the souled out in heaven) and I love how some of these things really contrast each other ... I'm going to take a stab at this, but I think maybe he's trying to emphasize his contrast to his surroundings in Mexico AND his not fitting into Heaven. For instance, he's living in Mexico ... he's friends with Miguel, they're smoking Mexican brick weed and he's building this "reputation" of being this cool guy from the states even though his appearance (pale skinny guy long hair etc) is so much different from theirs and would normally keep him apart. And there are all these lines like, "Like dry ice in the summertime" OR "Flying kites in the wintertime" which are just kind of contrasting things. putting out dry ice -- which creates all that smoke because of its extremely cold temperature, in the summertime. and then flying a kite in the wintertime, which just seems like a bizarre statement in itself -- it seems like such a summer/spring activity to do -- it seems out of place -- just as conor is in mexico. just as conor would be in heaven. But I think this place he's found here mexico just really suits him ... the song is just littered with all this mysticism, "Magic carpet is the transportation Went to the moon in a soda can" ... And I think it has more in it than conor and his hard partying ways and not getting into heaven, etc etc -- because that's all so surface level. I just feel like like if we really look at this song and everything from snow white and magic bullet line to stretching the truth to the promise land ... there's a rather surreal but deep statement here. |
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| Conor Oberst – Lenders in the Temple Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| OHHH and I have to brag! I saw him do this live yesterday at amoeba and it was just brilliant! | |
| Conor Oberst – Lenders in the Temple Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Wow, I'm really trying to figure out the third to last stanza and I am having a lot of trouble with it. Anyway, even despite the songs numerous religious references, I think this song has a lot more to do with not trusting one's self and feeling really empty and alone -- certainly isolated in one's choices and in one's mind. I'm just trying to figure out how that relates to the whole "money lenders" line automatically reminds me of pharisees and people trusting the church and being taken advantage of ... so I can sort of see how it relates. Maybe Conor is relating letting down your boundaries in love and trusting someone in a relationship (and then being taken advantage of) to the money lenders in the temple, a sacred place ... ? As though, both institutions are equally sacred. I mean, he says, "If you loved me then that's your fault" as though it was silly for the female counterpart to trust the narrator (and vice versa). But what still really bothers me is the third to last stanza. the whole "Mandela" line is just baffling. like is referring to Nelson Mandela? What else is he referring to? I thought maybe mandalas but I looked it up and those are spelled differently (I didn't know that until I looked it up) ... I feel like one of the really good song interpretators here could figure that out and sort of break the code of that stanza and the whole "cause it did not happennnn" line. which is just so powerful in its subtly. This song just feels better than anything Connors ever done. |
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| Conor Oberst – Beach Bum/Postman Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| what is this from? | |
| Conor Oberst – I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I love watching him perform this. He was so into it. It was fucking magical. | |
| Bright Eyes – Devil in the Details Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I don't think it's about acid b/c I read an interview in Rolling Stone last year and they asked Conor what's the one drug you'd never try again and he said, 'acid' and I think he went on to describe how it didn't vibe well with him. Sorry if I have the details mixed up. But I know the drug was acid -- only b/c I used to be a big fan of acid myself. |
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| Bright Eyes – Devil in the Details Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I feel like this song is about Conor's -- or rather, the narrator's -- tendency towards manipulation, both of himself and of others. I think the narrator is influence a lot of people in toxic ways and you see it throughout the stazas. For instance, in the first stanza when he's coaxing someone to eat the cake, he sounds like that bad influence, that negative voice inside your head that pushes you the wrong way when you're on the fence. But then he says, "This is gonna be reality You can never dream it down I have no way of telling the two apart" And I think he's referring to his own manipulation (both of himself and others) and reality. I guess I view person in this song as having a lot of additive behaviors, someone who lies, breaks promises, twists the truth -- so it's hard to separate their lies and self-seeking motives from reality. But the part of the song I love is when he says, "Well, I made amends In the general sense But the devil's in the details" It reminds me of the 9th step in AA -- an alcoholic makes an in-depth ammends to all those he/she has harmed in their alcohlism. But this narrator is kind of saying he skimmed over it, and the real pain -- and real growth -- are in the harder things to admit. And then I think what the song essentially gets to, what the narrator comes around to -- because he starts out very malicious, is really recognizing that he's his own worst enemy, that his life is completely unmanageable (repeating that he can't stop but he wants to, etc) and that he's so good manipulating, he doesn't even realize he's doing it to himself: I am the first one I deceive If I can make myself believe the rest is easy |
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| Bright Eyes – Gold Mine Gutted Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I love the imagery of a "gold mine gutted" in relation to the addictive lifestyle. ... OKAY first I need to back up -- I've read all the comments on this page and it fascinates me how Conor reaches everyone on such a person level, as though he's telling a story about himself and reaching the listener about things that have happened in his/her life (or at least, that's the impression I've gotten from a lot of posters). With many of the artists on songmeanings, it's much easier to say "the narrator" or "storyteller" is trying to convey a certain message, but when Connor is singing, it almost feels like this driven story straight from the core of him. It's hard for me to remember that lyrics are merely poetry and poetry is comprised of so many influences and emotions and stories. Now that that's been said, I was utterly enthralled with Conor's music, lyrics, message, downward spiral when I was using and loved picking out every drug reference. I felt so bonded with a singer suffering from the same cold, empty disease, never thinking he is also just a vessel for a message as well. When he says, "And from the sidelines I see you run Until you're out of breath. And all those white lines that sped us up We hurry to our death Well, I lagged behind So you got ahead" I always assumed he was referring to being on a drug "run" -- I never really heard anyone call them that until I got into recovery but I thought he was just using a play on words. Essentially I just had this picture in my mind of the two characters being on a metaphorical track-and-field drug run where the narrator eventually can't keep up with the pace of the other person he's using with. Anyway, what I really meant to comment on was the gold mine gutted imagery. Just from personal experience, I feel as though the disparity in that imagery -- the idea this piece of earth that was once rich with some rare, precious metal has now been gutted -- really fits the before and after of someone who has a lot of promise and gives it away to a life of addiction. Or rather, they would feel it was taken. Because addicts don't often feel much responsibility in the thick of things -- from what I've seen. ("We were a goldmine and they gutted us") This is just maybe a stab at things, but maybe the narrator just feels cheated. Like I have a lot of friends who have used drugs (some in recovery and some still trying to get there) and if there's one common thread, it's that before they do some work on themselves, there's always a million stories about how if so-and-so and this-and-that hasn't happened, they could have been great or would have finished college and would have finished that album, etc etc. There's always this alusive "they" keeping the world down. |
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| The Apples in Stereo – Beautiful Machine Parts 1 & 2 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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god this song moves me. particularly the last two stanzas. |
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| Sunset Rubdown – Us Ones in Between Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Oh man this is just too much! Sometimes I think lyrics can be interpreted however one wants them to be based on the experiences one is coming from at the time. For instance, I have this absolutely painful tendency to think every song is referring to various things that ail me at the time ... I always hear drug references from the past if I'm feeling particularly tempted or stories of relationships gone sour if I've recently had my emotions trampled on, etc. I think it's natural to use lyrics and find our own personal associations to them. And isn't that partially what this site is about? And isn't that partially what the artists want us to do? So I think "justicehawver"s analyzation, while certainly not my take on it, is totally interesting and completely legit to him. The lyrics, as vague as they might be, certainly support it. That's the hard part about Spencer's lyrics, though. They're really vague and kind of wandering and sort of surreal, as someone as else put it. I have a hard time pinning down what he's getting at, but I take little phrases and really seem to find myself in them. For instance, the opening just kills me: You are a waterfall Waiting inside a well You are a wrecking ball Before the building fell And every lightning rod Has got to watch the storm cloud come. --The first two examples are about anticipation. Something is about to happen and the object of the song is the thing that is going to bring about action. But the third example almost causes me anxiety. It's like the negative reprocution of anticipation. The opposite perspective of the wrecking ball crashing into the wall: the lightning rod waiting for the storm to come in. I just think this is a really ingenius way of thinking of things. Spencer is really an incredible lyricist. |
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| Wolf Parade – You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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okay the way i saw it before i read a bunch of interpretations here was that this was about the narrative voice recognizing that he was the same man his father was. and almost in a painful way. and i guess i took this song to heart, even though i'm not a guy, because i feel the same way about my mother -- this fear that i will beceome her, develop her mannerisms or treat my family the way she treated my siblings when i was growing up. and i got this sense, or maybe i just wanted to relate with the song, that this song was an expression of that emotion. this fear and realization that you are becoming the thing, the person, the mannerisms and ideals you so never wanted to undertake. and there's so many keywords in this song, quintessential ideals that men are "supposed" to take on, like being heroic or "building a house inside of you" ... i feel like that represents almost providing (building a home) and hiding (because it is inside of someone). but when i heard that line, i assumed the runner was a woman ... as though now he's speaking in the sense of, he's his father's son and now he's treating women in the same way b/c he's becoming THAT guy. and now, just as in his father's life, there's someone who's maybe trying to get away? maybe not even get away ... what else could run be? i don't know, to be honest, i'm not entirely sure how i feel about the whole "runner" part. the one idea that i totally dug out of all the interpretations was the id, ego, superego one for these lines: one of them will be me as a boy one of them will be me one of them will be me watching you run rockin. |
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| Wolf Parade – Language City Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I have a feeling that a lot of songs are a lot simpler than we make them. They have more to do with day to day struggles and some extended biblical allegory. | |
| Tokyo Police Club – Tessellate Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| i love this song. so beautiful. im trying to understand the cocaine reference though? i honestly don't understand what it's about ... | |
| The Dresden Dolls – Shores of California Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i really agree with annegata. when i listened to the song i got the impression amanda was making a statement on how unattractive both sexes are when they operate in the extreme stereotypes. the listener is not being presented with prime dating candidates, but certainly confused, relateable ones. i feel like, as a woman, i have some of that clingy over-attachness in me that i choose not exercise, just as i'm sure men have that escort ordering side, sex driven side. but i don't know if that's even the point. i don't really think amanda's saying women aren't interested in sex -- i think she's saying they play games. that they really want to turn off the lights and dance but that something is preventing them, whether it be just that they want to be a "tease" or there own morals (reminds me of the references to midwestern states) or societal bounds. and when she says, "Why all these conflicting specifications?" it makes me think of all the games both sexes play. or at least that's how i relate to it. the games that prevent anyone from really getting what they want out of any relationship, let alone fucking. but i think ultimately the point is here: Must not be too kind Stop thinking love is blind Clench your fists, yeah, write: "She's just not my type..." ditch the crappy ones. dream for someone more level headed. the thing that annoys me about this song though, is the endless rhyming. it seems more intense then her other songs. just kind of childish. it is a good catchy song though. ive had it stuck in my head all day. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Dirty Business Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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i guess when i heard "poster girl" i wasn't thinking anything in terms of her being famous but more like ... "she" represents something or is the epitome of something. i guess as i heard talk about the check out girl or girl with slings and arrows from the dumpster or the girl with the condoms on the bedside table ... it felt like as the poster girl, she was the ringleader of them all. she says like, "lift your hats" "raise your glass" like we're toasting and celebrating these classless, crazy women in society. and i love that. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – First Orgasm Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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im so surprised by the people who don't like this song -- i make up that some people have trouble dealing such directness around masturbation ... especially when it involves a woman. i don't think society is all that comfortable with women getting themselves off. anyway, this song really struck me .... the way some of the lines are really short and seem to observe really mundane things (eg: I make some coffee / I eat some rice chex / and then i sit down / to check my inbox) reminds me a lot of depression. she seems so removed from herself and i feel like the song and her reaction to getting herself off and not being aware or present in her body while she's doing it is a way to expand and explain the emotion she's experience. despondent. that seems the best way to describe it. and for her to say she's too busy for friends or a lover is just a front. because when the song gets honest, gets lost in the repetition of the end, she admits she wants to be held. |
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| Regina Spektor – On the Radio Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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to me this song is about the trials and then joy of freeing yourself from drug addction. she says, "this is how it works" which is a phrase from a reading in AA. she talks about spreading the message to other alcoholics and addicts. like here where she says, "this is how it works you peer inside yourself you take the things you like and try to love the things you took and then you take that love you made and stick it into some-- someone else's heart pumping someone else's blood" that's like the fourth step in AA where you look at all your character defects and begin to transform yourself into a new person; pray that a higher power will remove your character defects. and then you pass the message on and help others who were so transfixed by the incredible feelings of addiction (like what she talked about in the beginnign) but are now dying from it. it's just all about looking into one's self and learning about one's self and becoming a better person -- freeing one's self from bondage. to me it's about the bondage of addiction. |
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| Regina Spektor – On the Radio Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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to me this song is about the trials and then joy of freeing yourself from drug addction. she says, "this is how it works" which is a phrase from a reading in AA. she talks about spreading the message to other alcoholics and addicts. like here where she says, "this is how it works you peer inside yourself you take the things you like and try to love the things you took and then you take that love you made and stick it into some-- someone else's heart pumping someone else's blood" that's like the fourth step in AA where you look at all your character defects and begin to transform yourself into a new person; pray that a higher power will remove your character defects. and then you pass the message on and help others who were so transfixed by the incredible feelings of addiction (like what she talked about in the beginnign) but are now dying from it. it's just all about looking into one's self and learning about one's self and becoming a better person -- freeing one's self from bondage. to me it's about the bondage of addiction. |
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| The Shins – A Comet Appears Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| i'd have to agree with another post. ive always thought that the "worst part" was some sort of eternal judgement that so many think we're going to face. i like all the hoaky he mentions in the song, such as "burnt sage" and a forest of bygones ... as though he's just reaching out for anything, trying figure all this shit out. i really got the impression out of, "close your eyes to corral a virtue, is this fooling anyone else?" -- that everything is really just some pathetic show. i can relate with song a lot. i just love it. it's my favourite from album right now. | |
| Bright Eyes – Hot Knives Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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wow i absolutely love this line: "Out the window as the car rolled away She just vanished into a thick mist of change" i feel like i can relate with that woman a lot in all the change im going through right now. i can barely recognize who i once was. i scream the words to the world sometimes. |
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| Bright Eyes – Coat Check Dream Song Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| wow i certainly thought i analyzed songs quite carefully but i guess i couldn't get over all the references to an E trip. i definitely agree with a few posters above: he's definitely describing that in the beginning. maybe that's just another metaphor for something false and conjurred and fleeting. | |
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