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| Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Not heavily into Bikini Kill, so what I'm about to say may be obvious, but what struck me about this song is how the topic is pretty outside of the mainstream, what with its focus on the primarily female phenomenon of "besties." The narrator loves this girl platonically and wants to be like her, but without necessarily sexualizing her. (Although it does say "In her kiss, I taste the revolution!" so maybe the friendship has some romantic/sexual aspects.) |
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| Queen – White Queen (as It Began) Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Not much else I can add to the analysis of this song's meaning, but I just want to point out that if the supposed backstory to this song is true, then somewhere, right now, some lucky person has a Queen song written about her and she has no clue. ;~; |
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| Queen – Headlong Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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IMO it seems like a crazy relationship with extreme ups and downs, that both parties rushed into "headlong" without thinking it through.
"When a red hot man meets a white hot lady...Soon the fire starts a raging gets 'em more than half crazy."
BUT I'm a hopeless romantic so I tend to see everything as being about relationships in some way, so take that with a grain of salt. Regardless, it's a damn good song. I used to be too much of a snob to enjoy simpler rock tunes like this, but now I've grown up a bit. :P |
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| Tom Petty – Breakdown Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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Been there, done that...usually as the person who was holding back. :P
One thing I really like about this song--and I have no idea if it's intentional or not--is that the narrator tries to play it cool and put on the whole "I don't care" act ("It's alright if you love me/It's alright if you don't"), but as the song progresses it becomes painfully obvious that he does very much care, and it frustrates him to no end that the object of his affections won't give into her feelings for him ("Breakdown/I'm standing here, can't you see?"). |
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| Pink Floyd – Candy and a Currant Bun Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I know that in this case, "fuck" is used to mean "copulate," but it just occurred to me that the song's even more interesting when you interpret "fuck with" to mean "mess with, tease." As in, "I know you're not going to talk to me, you're just going to tease me and lead me on and drive me crazy."
Eh. I'm tired, so take this with several grains of salt. |
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| Nirvana – Come As You Are Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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Probably this is just because I've heard all these stories (which may or may not be true) about Courtney and Kurt's relationship being really dysfunctional, but to me this song sounds like a destructive romantic relationship in which feelings oscillate from "love" to rage at the drop of a hat.
"Come ... as a friend, as an old enemy" (mixed feelings about the relationship)
"Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, don't be late" (Passive-aggressively saying you want them to do what they like when you really want them to do what you want)
"Come soaked in mud, doused in bleach, as I want you to be" (Placing unreasonable expectations on one's partner)
"And I swear that I don't have a gun" (Trying to get your partner to trust you, maybe?) |
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| Iggy Pop – Sixteen Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I love this song. It's the only one written solely by Iggy, and it kind of shows--i.e., the sheer passion and simplicity. Maybe he's talking about lusting after an underage girl who he knows he can't have, which of course makes her all the more enticing. The lyrics are painfully raw and honest--"I'm an easy mark with my broken heart" and "Go out to the funky bar I get hurt, crying inside/Cause everybody's so fine/And they don't need me." |
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| Jethro Tull – Cross-Eyed Mary Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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jsbst18--I know you wrote this three years ago and all, but I just want to applaud your theory. This song finally makes sense to me now, after 6 years of listening (which is meager compared to a lot of Tull fans, I know, but it's a lot for me).
wankers--There's really no need to be so rude. Chill out, okay? Also, Highgate is not only a school, but an English suburb--and a very wealthy one, at that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgate So jsbst18's interpretation still stands. Take a chill pill, okay? |
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| Warren Zevon – Suzie Lightning Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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http://books.google.com/books?id=YVF9M2XZGmoC&pg=PA261&dq=%22suzie+lightning%22&hl=en&ei=aVuUTuDIHMfJiQLR2Nj8BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22suzie%20lightning%22&f=false
Apparently Zevon got the idea for the song from the name of a stripper. Yes.
Anyways, I'd always considered it an unrequited love song, but Buddha of Suburbia's interpretation--that she has no time for him *anymore*--makes a lot of sense.
And yes, the melody's great. I like to play this one on guitar.
Fun fact: my dad wooed my now-stepmom by giving her a copy of "Mr. Bad Example" with instructions written on the outside to listen to Suzie Lightning. At the time she found it stalkerish and creepy, since she didn't know him at all then.
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| Jefferson Airplane – Comin' Back to Me Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I love the line "The shadow in the mist could have been anyone" especially. Yeah, it seems like some kind of post-breakup, "I want you back" song. Also, the line "the summer had inhaled and held its breath too long" instantly made me think of the Summer of Love. Probably unintentional, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
Marty said that he wrote it after smoking weed. |
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| David Bowie – Candidate Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I get the feeling that this song is partially inspired by O'Brien arranging to meet with Winston and Julia in "1984." Mostly "There's a bar at the end/Where I can meet you and your friend." Maybe the "it" in "If you want it, boys, get it here thing" refers to freedom and rebellion. But in the context of the third stanza, it sounds like it's referring to sex.
Also, does anyone else think "Till the sun drips blood on the seedy young knights/Who press you on the ground while shaking in fright" could refer to a rape?
One more thing: parts of the fourth stanza, especially "Well I guess we've must be looking for a different kind/But we can't stop trying till we break up our minds" make me think of Wintson and Julia's relationship in general. At some point they know full well, deep down, what will become of them because of what they've done, but they just can't stop trying to rebel against Big Brother, regardless of how little of a chance they have of winning.
In a 1976 interview with Playboy (http://www.cameroncrowe.com/eyes_ears/articles/crowe_jrl_bowie.html), Bowie said that he wrote most of the Diamond Dogs album in a stream-of-consciousness fashion. I thought that was interesting and it certainly sheds some light on the potential meanings of the songs. |
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| Alice Cooper – Desperado Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Well, the lyrics describe a rogueish, reckless character, much like Jim Morrison probably was. And we all know that Jim wore black leather, though I'm not sure about lace. It isn't wholly about Jim Morrison by any stretch of the imagination, but I imagine it's possible that Alice just had him on his mind when he wrote it, so the spirit of Jim is there even though the content doesn't specifically pertain to Jim. (Does that even make sense?)
It's crossed my mind that the "Tell me where the hell I'm going" stanza could be Alice pondering his own death, wondering if his own self-destruction would take him to the same place that Jim ended up. This is a shaky hypothesis, I know, but it just struck me as a possibility since Alice has said that watching all of his friends die young was what made him realize that if he didn't change something, he'd end up the same way.
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| Pink Floyd – Vegetable Man Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Hmm, I didn't know that Syd wrote this about what he was wearing that day. That's interesting. (Now I'm tempted to do the same thing with one of my own songs...)
This song has always struck me as being about the stupidity of fashion, and being judged by what you wear instead of who you are. The narrator (presumably Syd, though it could be somebody else) recites the clothes he is wearing, then says "It's what I wear/It's what you see/It must be me/It's what I am." To me, that stanza is expressing the assumption that what you wear indicates exactly who you are, no ifs, ands, or buts. And who hasn't at one point or another been frustrated because they were judged at face value and not because of anything they said or did?
But I'm probably overanalyzing it. Great song, overall. Trippy. |
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| Melissa Etheridge – If I Wanted To Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think this song is about being in love with someone (like bluestruck mentioned) and realizing you have no control over it, and not liking that fact at all. You tell yourself that you *could* stop being in love with them if you wanted to, but you really couldn't. The reason I get this impression is that the narrator also says they could do all sorts of impossible things "if I only wanted to," adding the occasional "I wouldn't have to be in love with you" to the list. You don't want to face the fact that you have no control over the situation, so you tell yourself that you do even though you don't.
Beautiful song. I've just discovered Melissa Etheridge and I think she's absolutely amazing. The beginning makes me think of David Bowie's "Stay." |
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| T. Rex – Get It On (Bang A Gong) Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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The line "And meanwhile, I'm still thinkin'" at the end is from Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie," which Marc admitted to filching the riff to this song from as well. I suppose the inclusion of that lyrwas a sort of homage. (Personally, I don't think stealing the riff was much of a crime, since the riff's pretty generic, but that's just me.)
Anywho, killer song. My grandma told me that she liked it because it was really easy to dance to, so when it came on at a party or whatever she could dance and not look like a fool. |
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| T. Rex – Crimson Moon Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Wow, no comments? I'm surprised.
This seems like a pretty straightforward love song to me. It's interesting how colors are referenced in the song, though. "Chantreuse," evidently, is a color that is exactly 50% between green and yellow. I don't know about anyone else here, but I'd never heard of it before listening to this song. |
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| Jethro Tull – Taxi Grab Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Ray Lomas and Salamander (i.e. "Sally") take a taxi for a joyride. I think. Musically, it's a great song. I just love the guitar. |
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| Jethro Tull – Salamander Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song details when Ray Lomas meets an attractive woman named Salamander, who is also the subject of "Bad-Eyed And Loveless." (At least, that's the idea you get from reading the comic strip included in the album.) I think she's briefly referenced in "Taxi Grab" in the line "Come on Sally, let's take a ride." ("Sally" could be short for "Salamander.") According to Wikipedia, Kensington is "an affluent and densely-populated" "district of West London, England," so that's the closest I can come to figuring out what a "Kensington Haze" is. |
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| Bob Dylan – Isis Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I'm no expert on Bob's personal life, but does anyone else think this could have to do with Sara Dylan? Just throwing it out there.
Other than that, I have no idea what this song is about. |
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| Alice Cooper – Is It My Body? Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I agree with jordand33. I was surprised that Alice Cooper would write a song with this sort of theme. Which made me realize that I tend to make groundless judgments about people I don't know. Therefore, Alice Cooper has made me a better person! YAY! XD (I am sugar and caffeine high right now, so bear with me.)
Idiocy aside, this is a great song. Like everything else on "LOve It to Death", for that matter. |
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| Pink Floyd – See Emily Play Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Redback911 is right. This was inspired by Emily Young. There is a lengthy article about her (the end of which deals with the song specifically) here: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article1140837.ece
Oddly enough, when I found this out, I was almost disappointed. It almost destroys the mystery around "See Emily Play." Almost. |
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| David Bowie – What in the World Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I adore this song. I became rather fascinated with it for a while. According to Wikipedia, some people think the girl in the song symbolizes Bowie's anima (unconscious inner self described as a female personality). There is another theory that states that she appears in "Life on Mars" and "Wishful Beginnings." I disagree with the "Life on Mars" theory (it *could* be her, but there isn't much evidence for it), but haven't heard "Wishful Beginnings", so I couldn't say. |
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| Rod Stewart – Maggie May Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The woman described in this song could very well be a metaphor for the graveyard that employed Stewart (he was a gravedigger) at some point. He could have had a single-minded determination to become a rock singer, but, at the age of seventeen, gotten a summer job as a gravedigger to earn some extra cash. Unfortunately, the graveyard seduced him even further, causing him to seriously consider giving up school/his dream of becoming a rock singer and spending the rest of his life toiling in the graveyard. (Basically the type of thing that Johnny Cash sang about in "Dark as the Dungeon", but with the local graveyard.) Finally, in this song, he declares all the injustices the graveyard has done to him and severs ties with it for good.
I'm kidding, of course. Crackpot theories aside, this is an amazing song. And I find gracelyn's theory that the narrator is trying to get Maggie to ask for his forgiveness to be highly insightful. |
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| David Bowie – John, I'm Only Dancing Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I came up with a theory about this song. Basically, it is about a guy who is running around at a party stealing people's coffee. The first verse details a time when he takes Annie out to breakfast in order to steal her coffee. When he takes a sip, he declares, "Joe is awful strong!" and is annoyed with what he feels to be a trick against him (ie the coffee is too strong for his tastes). Then we find him on the dance floor at John's party. He is dancing and simultaneously stealing the dancers' coffee (don't ask me why the partygoers are drinking coffee there, though. Maybe it's a special kind of party). John sees him stealing coffee and the guy declares that he is "only dancing." "You're everyone that ever cared" is the coffee stealer boldly telling John that it doesn't matter if he steals people's coffee; he'll do it whenever he pleases. The line "Dancing, won't someone dance with me?" is when the other dancers realize what the coffee-thief is doing and they all refuse to dance with him. He pleas for sympathy, but to no avail.
In fact, a couple months ago, I sent an email to David Bowie which was a line-by-line analyzation of the song that demonstrated the theory. |
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| The Doors – L.A. Woman Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Perhaps the "City of Light" and "City of Night" in this song are meant to describe the heavy contrasts of LA. When you're in Los Angeles, you can be driving down what looks to be a wealthy/high-class part of the city, and then turn a corner and find yourself in a place that looks rather sleazy. At least, that is the experience I've had when I've been to LA. Just my two cents, though. |
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| The Doors – L.A. Woman Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Well, "The End" originated as a breakup song about Mary Warbelow. I wouldn't doubt that the majority of Jim's love-centric songs have to do with Pam, though. |
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| Tom Petty – Mary Jane's Last Dance Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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For some reason, I got the impression that Mary Jane was a prostitute. The narrator repeatedly pays for her 'services' and ends up growing attached to her. I agree with whoever it was who suggested that Mary Jane jumps off of the hotel balcony and kills herself. This would explain why the song is called "Mary Jane's Last Dance" as opposed to "Last Dance With Mary Jane."
Then again, maybe I just have vile thoughts in my head... |
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| The Rolling Stones – Can't You Hear Me Knocking Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The narrator is infatuated with a rich girl and is tirelessly attempting to get her attention. Maybe the girl lives with her parents, who don't approve of the relationship, and the guy has to sneak in (perhaps he knocks on the window so the girl can open it and toss down the keys so he can get in the house). The verses give the impression that the girl generally has it better than he does ("satin shoes", "fancy boots", "when you're safe asleep"). "Hear me ringing, big bells toll" could allude to wedding bells, but that's just speculation.
To me, the drug references just symbolize the narrator's "addiction" to the object of his affections more than an underlying drug-related theme in the song.
One last thing--the lyrics of this song make me think of the poem "The Highwayman." The Stones probably weren't inspired by it, but it has the same theme--the highwayman rides down to the house where his girlfriend lives, and (if I recall) they have to meet stealthily and in secret because the girl's father doesn't approve. (One of the few "classic poems" that I wasn't force-fed in Language Arts class...XD) |
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| Led Zeppelin – Royal Orleans Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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John Paul Jones commented on the transvestite rumor in a 2007 interview:
"The transvestites were actually friends of Richard Cole's; normal friendly people and we were all at some bar. That I mistook a transvestite for a girl is rubbish; that happened in another country to somebody else... Anyway 'Stephanie' ended up in my room and we rolled a joint or two and I fell asleep and set fire to the hotel room, as you do, ha ha, and when I woke up it was full of firemen!"
Of course, there's always some possibility that he's lying to save face, but this is nonetheless interesting. |
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| David Bowie – Cygnet Committee Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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According to Wikipedia, there happens to be a specific real-life event that had a hand in inspiring this song:
"During 1969 Bowie and then-girlfriend Angela Barnett lived in Beckenham, where they ran the Arts Lab, trying to encourage young people to be creative. However, Bowie soon quit the Arts Lab, when he realized that most people were coming just to see him perform and not to participate. His disappointing encounter with the hippies during this time is the basis for the song, as he felt he was used and abused by the teens: 'I gave them my life... They drained my very soul...'" |
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| David Bowie – Andy Warhol Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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To me, this song is about blurring the line between the artist and his art. Think about it: "be a standing cinema"; "put a peephole in my brain/two new pence to have a go/I'd like to be a gallery." The first verse basically expresses themes of not making the art, but *becoming* it. He wants to reinvent himself in such a way that he is a walking art piece. Just my take on it, anyway. Granted, the second verse doesn't seem to support this theory...I have no idea what that's about.
Personally, I'd be more than happy to shell out two pence for a look in Bowie's brain! :D |
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| Oingo Boingo – On The Outside Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I had heard this song several times before, but last night when I listened to it, my dad and I came to the conclusion that this song was (semi-)autobiographical. It isn't at all far-fetched that someone like Danny Elfman would have trouble "fitting in." |
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| Pink Floyd – See Emily Play Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I came up with a crazy theory one night that it could be partially about Syd's anima. Just throwing it out there. Especially because Syd doesn't seem like the type who had an exact meaning consciously worked out for everything he wrote. |
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| Alice Cooper – Second Coming Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Interesting, Beardawg. I'd never even considered that it could be directly related to Ballad of Dwight Fry.
When I looked up the lyrics, I thought it was about Jesus, in exile on Earth for some reason. He's still driven to protect the human race from the Devil, but he can't. Or it could be about a mentally ill person who gets the delusion that he/she is the reincarnation of Jesus. (Funnily enough, I'm not offended by this, despite the fact that I am a Christian myself...maybe because there isn't any direct bashing of the religion at all in it.) |
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| David Bowie – Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Qtilley is quite right.
I doubt that this refers to LSD use, though. Bowie said that he did it a few times, but wasn't especially thrilled with it and liked his own imagination better.
I think, in part, it examines the illogical nature of infatuation. The narrator seems to be infatuated with the girl to some degree, yet simultaneously expresses disdain for her.
You know, I went through a lengthy phase where I was utterly fascinated with this song, listened to it repeatedly, and even attempted to create songfics and drawings inspired by it. (All were ill-fated, of course.) |
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| David Bowie – Be My Wife Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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I agree that it could very well be about Angie. Upon examining the lyrics, though, I get the impression that it was stream-of-consciousness, perhaps not intended to have a deep meaning. That's just me, though. |
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| Queen – The Night Comes Down Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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"Lucy was high and so was I, dazzling"
I hate to be one of those people who equates every remotely imaginative lyric to being about drug use, but don't you think that could be a reference to such things? Either that or it's an allusion to "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Or it could be both, I suppose. |
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| Queen – Dancer Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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One of the more listenable songs off of Hot Space, in my opinion. |
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| Queen – Son and Daughter Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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"What'll you think of Heaven/If it's back from where you came?" seems to imply that the woman in this song came from Hell. At least it does to me. (I chuckled out loud when the thought occurred to me.)
I don't get the feeling that May is being a chauvinist, though. He doesn't seem to be attacking the feminist movement, period, but the specific belief that, mentally, men and women are exactly the same. It isn't chauvinistic to believe that men and women are different and possess different roles, and it certainly doesn't imply that one gender is superior to the other. |
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| Syd Barrett – No Good Trying Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Definitely a good song. For some reason it reminds me of Berlin-era Bowie (which is a really dumb thing to say, since David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy didn't come out until 1977), but ah, well.
My friend, a great Floyd/Barrett fan, once remarked that nearly everything that Syd wrote could be interpreted as a love song of sorts. This one...it seems the narrator is saying that he knows more about the person in the song than that person thinks, and possibly has feelings for her, yet at the same time is somewhat annoyed by the person's assumption that the narrator can't tell what she is thinking. (I'm mostly using 'she' as a default gender pronoun more than anything else.) |
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