| Rob Halford – Made In Hell Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Any idea who The Wizard refers to? Black Sabbath? | |
| In Flames – Stand Ablaze Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I prefer a literal interpretation. Someone burnt at the stake. Not going to write you a love song. |
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| Rainbow – The Temple Of The King Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The problem with interpreting Ronnie James' songs is that he seems to start with a metaphorical story, and then puts it into lyrical form, so one has to decipher on two levels. The story here is of the young man searching for the "answer", whatever the hell it is. And the answer seems to be in the middle of the circle, where he started of, suggesting the answer was in him all along. The saga concludes with him sharing it with the rest of the people. The message of the song seems to be that rather than searching for Kings in the world around us, we should instead turn to the Kingly qualities within ourselves. |
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| David Bowie – Saviour Machine Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I would have personally interpreted the Saviour Machine to be a metaphor for a legalistic system in general, but I'm clearly in the minority. | |
| Def Leppard – Gods Of War Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| ip410; evidently you misunderstood the song. Yes, Def Leppard acknowledges they're Britain's biggest allies. Hence: "We're fighting with the gods of war". Their concern is the purpose of the alliance, ie "What the hell we fighting for?". It IS a legitimate question. I can't see how you criticise them for asking it. The Iron Maiden comment is also uncalled for: Run for the Hills is merely a narrative. Two thirds of it are in support of the genocide of the Indians, as you may recall. It's no more critical than the Trooper is of the Crimean war; the British and American crimes are treated equally. Perhaps you should get your head out of your ass and follow your own advice: learn from history rather than condemn its retelling. | |
| Iron Maiden – Virus Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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The youth of today, Maniac? "The two faced elite"? Hardly. Maiden usually sings about bigger things than juvenile delinquency. |
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| Sopor Aeternus – Shadowsphere Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Anyone else hear the similarity between this and Black Sabbath's Under the Sun? | |
| Judas Priest – Evening Star Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Well as hellfire pointed out, the obvious interpretation is with evening star being Jesus. In Revelation 22:16 he calls himself the "morning star" or Venus, which is just as commonly known as the Evening Star. Perhaps there is a better explanation, but I cannot see it. | |
| Judas Priest – Stained Class Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| In regione caecorum rex est luscus. | |
| Iron Maiden – Ghost Of The Navigator Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think the Odyssey is simply used as imagery in this song. The whole piece to me seems to be based on an extended metaphor of life via the sea. The first verse are the words of an aging man, who has "sailed" to many place in life, etc, and is about to embark on his final journey before he dies. He is heading west as that is the great unknown. The ancients knew well enough of Asia to the east, but not of the lands across the Atlantic. This therefore suggests that the old man wishes to see something new before he goes. He starts to "calculate and pray" as that is the only way one can pass through life: control things that are within his power, and hope those that aren't work his way. The sun that is hidden by the clouds represents the objective good, be it God, Providence or some other, elusive meaning of life, hidden behind the clouds but which the old sailor "know"s is there for him to find. The chorus is there to contrast with the resolve of the verses. A navigator's task is to determine the sea, to guide the ships safely to where they want to reach. The navigators of life, therefore, are the moralists, prophets, leaders of history who have guided the human race across the stormy waves of history. Yet in retrospect, looking back on these "ghosts", one does conclude that they are lost. If there is an objective meaning of life, they don't seem to have found it. Every generation a new navigator, full of self confidence, guides the human race in a unique direction yet dies seemingly just like all the rest did. And thus sailing to the sunset of their lives, they "count the costs" of dedicating it all to chasing what appeared to be the sun, but appeared to be just a rainbow, an optical illusion. And thus comes their final advice to the sailor, which he perceives to be "sirens" calling him off his rightful path, 'Take your heart and set it free'. The second verse returns to the narrative of the sailor, intent on his chosen course, steering past the rocks, the dangers in the life, and the sirens, temptations, both of which can equally detain him from his quest. His blood surges with the self inflicted strain, the pain he causes to himself out of dedication to the hope of seeing "sunrise". Yet the "darkness" he leaves behind is in actuality the whole of his life. The years he could have spent "carried forward by the waves" he instead struggled against them. Like the navigators before him, he sails into eternity with no assurance that the "sun" is actually there, but that is the path he chose for himself. "There is no other way". |
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| Dio – Don't Talk To Strangers Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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In my view, Aegipan got it right. This song is obviously about how we try to avoid the things in life that cause us pain, but as a result forgo that which makes life worth living. The "don't"s vary from the apparently reasonable, "Don't talk to strangers". to the absurd, "Don't smell the flowers". These, however, are presented with equal seriousness in the song to show us how far we already have fell into the trap of Stranger Danger and the like, living in a world where men exist only to molest children and women to break the hearts of men. The change of perspective in the song only further underlines that. While the narrator does not try to deny that he is "danger" he adds that "I'm forever the one that lets you look and see". The key that opens up the soul, so to speak, as the joys of life go hand in hand with the darker side. The repeated allusions to insanity, however, do suggest the bipolar interpretation suggested by The Oracle, but to me the other seems more convincing. |
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