| Bob Seger – Against the Wind Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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According to Timothy White, a writer for Rolling Stone, "'Against the Wind' is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time." During an interview on 100 FM The Pike, Bob Seger said that "Against the Wind" came about from his days as a high-school cross country runner. |
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| Elton John – Candle In The Wind Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The lyrics of the song are a sympathetic portrayal of the life of Marilyn Monroe (the song's opening line "Goodbye Norma Jean" refers to Monroe's real name). Also Taupin was inspired to write the song after hearing the phrase "candle in the wind" used in tribute to the late Janis Joplin. |
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| Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song tells the story of a young hopeful's disenchantment with a promised "Emerald City"--a land of opportunity, a town where troubles wash away. Instead, the youth is exploited for his talents and decides to abandon this place of vanquished dreams by taking the "yellow brick road" back home, where his future really lies. The song finds him telling off the persons who triggered this profound disappointment: "You know you can't hold me forever./I didn't sign up with you./ I'm not a present for your friends to open./this boy's too young to be singing the blues." "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" contains numerous references to Taupin's and John's early life. Taupin certainly had more than his share of disappointments prior to meeting Elton. During their earliest days together, he and Elton were unhappily trying to be Engelbert Humperdinck-style commercial songwriters. The song is also a thinly veiled reference to Judy Garland |
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| Elton John – Bennie And The Jets Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song tells of "Benny and the Jets", a fictional band of whom the singer, John, is a supposed fan. In interviews, Taupin has said that the song's lyrics are a satire on the music industry of the 1970s. The greed and glitz of the early '70s music scene is portrayed by Taupin's words: We'll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around, you're gonna hear electric music, solid walls of sound. A common coincidence of the song is the fact that Ben Graham, known as Benny, played with the New York Jets leading to the phrase "Benny & the Jets". |
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| Elton John – Rocket Man Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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RocketMan is loosely based on the short story "The Rocket Man" in Ray Bradbury's book The Illustrated Man, and shares a similar theme to the David Bowie song "Space Oddity". It first appeared on John's 1972 album Honky Château and became a hit single and popular album track. As Taupin once noted, "It became very popular among the listeners." The lyrics in the song, written by John's longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, describe a Mars-bound astronaut's mixed feelings at leaving his family in order to do his job. Musically, the song is a highly arranged pop ballad anchored by John's piano, with atmospheric texture added by synthesizer and processed slide guitar. |
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| Elton John – My Father's Gun Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is the most under rated elton john song. It's one of his best hands down. Taupin's narrator longs to head south and fight in one of the few major engagements unknowingly fought after the peace treaty ending its war had been signed. You know: "The Battle of New Orlearns." So we have the British-to-the-bone Reginald Kenneth Dwight inhabiting the voice of an American who wants to fight in a war already over because he hears "the Company needs men." The Americans lost 13 and had 58 wounded; the British lost approximately 700 and had 2000 wounded. What would the Americans have done had Taupin not sent intrepid Elton to the rescue? Would fourteen have fallen? Perish the thought! Then I realized the talk of "southern land" and its partner-in-rhyme "where any Yankee stands" probably place this song in the Civil instead of 1812 War. But that only makes the song stranger. Now Sir Elton is an orphaned Southern Boy who wants to parrot the slave's death sentence by travelling down the Mississippi on a riverboat to a city blockaded the Union Navy? And the reason this anti-Wilberforce wants to join the fight? To ensure that chidlren will grow (Can't have them not now can we?) and women will sew (What else are they good for besides producing stunted children?) and that there'll be laughter when the bells of freedom ring . . . in the infamous New Orleans slave markets wherein wealthy white landowners will again be free to trade in human chattel. While laughing. To murglarize one of my favorite passages in all of literature as thoroughly as they did American history |
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| Elton John – Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| This song reflects Bernie Taupin's take on New York City after hearing a gun go off near his window. A more upbeat sequel to the song was recorded about 15 years later for Elton's later album Reg Strikes | |
| Elton John – Tiny Dancer Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The song was written about Maxine Feibelman, a dancer on Elton John's tour who later married Taupin at his church called Holy Rood Catholic Church. (Later, the song from the Elton John album Blue Moves called "Between Seventeen and Twenty" referred to the divorce of Bernie and Maxine Taupin and the fact that so much had changed from when they first met when he was age twenty and she was age seventeen.) | |
| James Taylor – Fire And Rain Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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According to some sources, Taylor got his inspiration from an earlier tragic incident. Snopes.com reports and debunks the myth that "Fire and Rain" was written after Taylor's girlfriend, whom he was planning to marry, died in a plane crash ("Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.") The story is as follows: Taylor was booked to play a gig across the country on his birthday and, secretly, his friends bought plane and concert tickets for his fiance Suzanne so she could meet him there as a surprise. However, the plane crashed shortly after takeoff after complications due to heavy rain, killing many aboard, including Suzanne. Upon receiving the news, Taylor immediately wrote "Fire and Rain" as a sign of mourning ("Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone. / Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you. / Walked out this morning, and I wrote down this song./ I just can't remember who to send it to.") The "Fire and Rain" is said to refer to the fiery crash in the rain. However, Taylor has openly denied these allegations and explained the true inspiration behind the song. |
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| James Taylor – Fire And Rain Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Taylor has related different versions of what the song is about. In a BBC interview he stated that the song chronicled his experiences in mental institutions and the suicide of a friend. More recently, on the VH1 series Story Tellers, Taylor said that the song was, indeed, about Suzanne Schnerr, a friend of his who died suddenly while he was away from home. According to that account, he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band "Flying Machine" to coalesce (the lyric includes a reference to "sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground"; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored). As he was wondering what to do with himself, he received word of Schnerr's death, and the song explains that her death was a check for his own worries, a way of realizing the transience of life and his need to get back to his old friends. In other interviews Taylor has also indicated that a battle with drug addiction figured into the song. The song was originally written several years before its release and was refined over time; it appears probable that all the elements referenced by Taylor over time went into the final version. |
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| The Doors – Peace Frog Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Peace Frog" was originally called "Abortion Stories"; guitarist Robby Krieger gave the song its more tame title, "Peace Frog." The bloody images (There's blood in the streets, it's up to my ankles/There's blood on the streets, it's up to my knee, etc.) originated, like many songs of The Doors, from the poetry of Jim Morrison, including "Not to Touch the Earth" on the album Waiting for the Sun and "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" on L.A. Woman. The line "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding/Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind" originates from his poem, "Ghost Song," that describes an event that occurred when he was young. As Morrison described it in An American Prayer The phrase "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven" was Morrison's reference to the police in the town of New Haven, Connecticut. He had been arrested there while on stage for taunting them. |
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| Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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John Fogerty says that the song was indirectly inspired by David Eisenhower, the grandson of President Dwight David Eisenhower who married Julie Nixon, the daughter of President Richard Nixon in 1968. (Eisenhower later enlisted in the Navy Reserve.)[2] This song was popular during the Vietnam War and is included in the film Forrest Gump and in the computer game Battlefield Vietnam. It was most recently used in the 2007 film Live Free or Die Hard during a scene and the end credits. The song symbolizes the thoughts of a man who is being drafted. This spoke out against the war in Vietnam, but was supportive of the soldiers fighting there. It is sung from the perspective of one of these men, who ends up fighting because he is not a "Senator's son" or a "Fortunate one." |
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| Cat Stevens – Wild World Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song is in the form of the singer's words to his departing lover, inspired by Stevens' relationship with Patti D'Arbanville. Despite having continued feelings that are "breaking (his) heart in two," he accepts her decision and wishes her well, but warns her that life without him will not be so easy. The refrain begins each time with "Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world / It's hard to get by just upon a smile." I |
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| Santo & Johnny – Sleep Walk Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| johnny and santo's mother actually helped them write this wonderful song! its the most soothing romantic song EVA. it also hit number one on the billboard music chart in 1959 | |
| Buffalo Springfield – For What It's Worth Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| While the song has come to symbolize worldwide turbulence and confrontational feelings arising from events during the 1960s (particularly the Vietnam War), Stills reportedly wrote the song in reaction to escalating unrest between law enforcement and young club-goers relating to the closing of Pandora's Box, a club on West Hollywood, California's Sunset Strip. The song's title appears nowhere in its lyrics, and many casual listeners likely know it better by the famous first line of its chorus: "Stop, hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down." | |
| The Mamas & the Papas – California Dreamin' Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song was written in 1963 by John and Michelle Phillips while they were living in New York, inspired by Michelle's home sickness for California. At the time, the Phillipses were members of the folk group The New Journeymen which evolved into The Mamas and the Papas. This song is very catchy I'd have to say |
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| Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The song was originally called "Cindy Lou", and was named for Buddy's niece, the daughter of his sister Pat Holley Kaiter. The title was later changed to "Peggy Sue" in reference to Crickets drummer Jerry Allison's girlfriend (and future wife), Peggy Sue Gerron, with whom he had recently had a temporary breakup. | |
| Bob Dylan – Mr. Bojangles Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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yes this song is originally written by jerry jeff walker thank you. i like jim croce version myself. It was about an obscure alcoholic but talented tap dancing drifter (not the famous stage and movie dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, as sometimes assumed). Bojangles is thought to have been a folk character who entertained informally in the south of the US and California, and some say he might have been one of the most gifted natural dancers ever. His actual name is not recorded. Authentic reports of him exist from the 1920s through about 1965. According to the original lyrics by Jerry Jeff Walker, he met Bojangles in a prison cell in New Orleans (the first precinct jail to be exact). The two began to converse about life in the philosophical way two men on the skids often do. Bojangles began to dance as Walker admired his skill. The song has also been shown on The Simpsons episode "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", where Homer Simpson sings (badly) as a Panhandler to get money to buy his wife a pair of diamond earrings. |
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| The Cowsills – The Rain The Park And Other Things Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| HAPPIEST SONG EVER. its on dumb and dumber | |
| Pink Floyd – Hey You Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Like the other songs on the album, "Hey You" is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Pink. Pink realizes the mistake he has made completely shunning himself from society, and is attempting to regain contact with the outside world. However, his wall blocks any calls he makes. Pink's call becomes more and more desperate as he begins to realize there is no escape. The song constitutes the bridge from Pink isolating himself from reality to joining the fascist movement "The Worms", expressed by the line "...and the worms ate into his brain". |
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| Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| The song's lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters's feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it partly refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. However, unlike the Shine on You Crazy Diamond suite, Wish You Were Here is universal: it is directed at anyone who is missing a special person from their life. The main riff came to David Gilmour while playing his acoustic guitar in Abbey Road Studios. | |
| Otis Redding – (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Redding wrote the first verse of the song, under the abbreviated title "Dock of the Bay", at a houseboat on Waldo Pier in Sausalito, California. He had come off his famed performance at the Monterey Pop Festival just days earlier in June 1967 Such a tragedy he died just days after recording this song. |
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| Cat Stevens – Peace Train Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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"Peace Train is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions. There is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again. As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution." - Cat |
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| Tom Petty – American Girl Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The song was rumored to have been written about a girl who committed suicide from the Beaty Towers dorm at the University of Florida in Gainesville. There is no record of such an incident though. Although Route 441 runs by the dorms at the University, Tom Petty says he wrote it while living in California listening to the sound of the cars driving along the freeway. Good song. |
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| Sufjan Stevens – Chicago Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| i really like the idea how he's going an album for all fifty states he already has two down michigan and illinois hence Chicago! | |
| Tom Petty – Zombie Zoo Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| and she wouldnt disappear at sunset because she would be out during the night so it makes sense to disappear at sunrise | |
| Tom Petty – Zombie Zoo Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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i always thought it was just about a girl who loves to party and have a good time but sometimes she has a little too much fun "comes fallin' down again she shows up with her friends half-alive." and i like the boris karloff part and how he compares her to frankenstien ha |
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| The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| oh and the first time i ever heard it was on the movie Now and Then | |
| The Allman Brothers Band – Midnight Rider Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This could quite possibly be the greatest song ever. it uses traditional folk and blues themes of desperation, determination, and a man on the run: I've got one more silver dollar, But I'm not gonna let 'em catch me, no ... Not gonna let 'em catch The midnight rider. |
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