| Sufjan Stevens – Impossible Soul Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I think TheLightIsMine is right on the money. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Bridges and Balloons Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Hi alradav, I've also been intruiged by the milky moon bit. I like your idea. I had thought of it a little differently, to go along with the lines about calm canaries getting irritable when they see devices made for exploration and discovery. The moon could be taken as a symbol of wanderlust (what spurs wolves to howl), a small taste of which can make those hard-hearted canaries want to adventure out into the world. In this interpretation, the last of the three lines could mean that a tiny taste of adventure will go a long way in changing somebody's worldview and their future course of actions... or it could mean that the taste of adventure will have an effect on people UNLESS their heart is smaller than a thimble... in which case their own disposition has rendered them immune to inspiration. |
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| Tom Waits – Soldier's Things Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The melancholic piano suggests to me that the soldier is decesased, and this is a yard sale with his old belongings. The understated emotion of the narrator in going from describing useless junk like an old radio, to the important stuff like war medals and cufflinks (perhaps from a wedding?) implies that it is somebody who doesn't have any emotional connection to the soldier. Perhaps the landlord he was renting from, or some distant relative, or simply somebody who collected his junk as it was being thrown out, and is now selling it. In the bigger sense, the meaning I get out of this song is that all things go in the end. The things that one accumulates over their life are all just things, and in the end will be discarded in one way or another. The events that happen in ones life are where true meaning occurs, but it is meaning that only exists within the memories of the people who experienced and remember them. Life is fleeting. |
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| of Montreal – An Eluardian Instance Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I simply choose to view it as a different song at 3:53. The cd has 15 tracks, whereas the album has 30-ish songs. | |
| Joanna Newsom – Bridges and Balloons Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Excellent interpretations by Annelise and HeyJude91. I will add one thing that has intruiged me. The adventures she describes could be taken to mean risk-taking and setting out for the unknown, or more generally the wonder of simply being alive. And in this second idea I think it's noteworthy that in the chorus she says that it was a funny thing - not to see the things, but "to be the ones to've seen." What a mystery to be alive! Think of all the random events that had to occur for any individual person to be there and muse about the adventures they have lived to see (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents ... on and on since the beginning of all life). The song "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel captures much of this same sentiment, and sums it up in its last line: "Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all" |
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| Blitzen Trapper – Furr Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think several of the commenters here have nailed it. Being a werewolf is a metaphor for giving in to wanderlust, hedonism, the "search" This theme (lyrically, not musically) reminds me of "The Rainbow Connection" from the muppets http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/108571/ |
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| Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Sometimes when I'm at a concert or listening to a cd, the band strikes me as doing all the technical stuff right but just lacking a certain something. All I can think to myself at those moments is "groove is in the heart." | |
| Man Man – Whalebones Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Great, sad song. I love the sparse instrumental arrangements - just enough curious instruments creeping in and out to give it a full sound without being crowded. When the chorus of women comes in towards the middle of the song, I just melt into a puddle on the floor. I believe the correct lyrics to "Who are we to know at all?" is actually "Who are we to love at all?" You can pretty clearly hear the women start the word with an L ...Which could be interpreted two ways... who specifically are each of us destined to love, and how do we know? Or... with all of the problems and complications that each person in this world has, are we really capable enough to complicate our lives by loving another? Given the words up to that point I think it's the latter. It sounds like the song is about a man who doesn't realize he's in love with a woman who can not love him back. Also, is the first line really "He felt a curse around his neck"? Like the curse of the albatross around the neck of the Ancient Mariner. Hard to tell. |
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| Phish – Reba Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I love this song! The lyrics crack me up, and they are classic Phish - tongue-twisting, oddly detailed descriptions with no apparent explanation or purpose. The composed music part has a cool feature to listen for. At 5:12 (studio version) the guitar and keyboard play a schizophrenic melody together in unison. At 5:48 the melody repeats - but this time with the piano staying a beat before the guitar. And of course the jam after that is sublime. |
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| Pedro the Lion – Arizona Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't think the rock paper scissors is random *straightens sweater around neck* I think the song is about jealousy. It's easy to fixate with jealousy on things our neighbors / coworkers / relatives / friends have but we do not. Anybody, no matter how wealthy, successful, or happy, could always find something to be jealous of. When we're totally consumed by jealousy, we think that if we take away something from the person we are focusing on, we'll feel better. And maybe it gives a brief high, but in the long run it doesn't make you feel good about yourself. And it only hurts the people you take things from. So if everybody gave in to their jealous urges, it would just be like one giant game of rock paper scissors where everybody loses. |
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| Pedro the Lion – Transcontinental Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Love the song, this one and the Fleecing are my favorites from Achilles Heel. I agree with the general sense of Envelopes' interpretation, but I think there is a religious metaphor in the sacrifice of one's body parts. The "certain tales of bravery" the narrator recalls are about Jesus sacrificing his own life to save the world. The narrator has been "spared the hard part" - he doesn't have to willingly sacrifice anything of his own. All he has to do is live by Jesus' message. But this proves hard for him to do, and he feels inadequate for failing at such a comparatively simple task. |
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| The Flaming Lips – Waitin' for a Superman Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Just recently saw the Lips in concert... Wayne gave a little speech about the Iraq war, and the band played "taps" in memory of all that had died. They then segued into this song, it was perfect. There is no superman who's going to swoop down and fix the war, or the general screwed up state of our country... it's up to all of us to keep hope alive, and to hold on the best we can. | |
| The Flaming Lips – All We Have Is Now Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Like mrvis, I think Wayne is using sci-fi as a vehicle to get to talking about universal themes in a funky, unique way. Just because the song is about a man meeting his time-travelling future self, that doesn't mean that it's not ALSO about appreciating what you've got. To me the specific meaning of this song can be interpreted several ways, depending on who you take to be the "we" in "we're not going to make it." You could take it to mean the narrator and his future self, the entire human race, or the narrator and someone he's in love with. In any of these interpretations, the basic message remains the same: make the best of what you've got right now, cause some day it's going to end. |
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