| Ray LaMontagne – Burn Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| A friend gave me tickets to see Ray a few years ago in Boulder, CO right when this stuff was coming out, and I had no idea who he was. What a great way to experience music, BTW, with no knowledge of whats coming. There was no band, just him and a guy playing stand up bass. But when he sang this song it absolutely floored the entire place. you could here a pin drop, it was unbelievable. I felt shell-shocked from it. Its definitely on record as one of the most moving performances I've ever seen, and I go to a lot of shows. If you get a chance, go see him! | |
| Radiohead – Let Down Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Anybody Heard the classical piano CHRISTOPHER ORIELLY version of this? Its pretty understated and slower, which I think was a good choice if your going to cover a song this intense--gotta do it differently at least. But its really beautiful. I got really emotional listening to it for the first time....probably just emotional leftovers from the real thing, but anyway.... | |
| Radiohead – Let Down Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
This is my favorite song by my favorite band, and it has really meant so much to me in many different ways since it came out. For a long time I just loved the sounds and the melodies and then the lyrics slowly became relevant....I also thought of this as the "airport song" in my own mind, the traveler imagery in the beginning really speaks to that overwhelming and alienated feeling of being alone and bored and even a bit depressed while traveling among tons of other people. Then the chemical reaction...the growing wings...the bouncing back... its really a triumphant song in my mind. Overcoming the flatness of commuter life. The squashed bug chemically becomes something else and flies away. I had a conversation with a friend and we landed on that strange and wonderful emotional tone Radiohead strikes: Its an ecstatic sadness. Almost happy to be sad, in a way, celebrating it. Like they invented a new emotion, and this is a great example of it. And yes, my log in name is stolen from this song! |
|
| Iron & Wine – Innocent Bones Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| What about the "Burning Man" thing? The Burning Man festival is a crazy party in the middle of the desert every year where thousands of people congregate and party. Lots of drugs, music, very hippie and artsy, and everyone brings an artistic or functional contiribution for the benifit of all the other residents of a temporary city. I'm reading this into the "burning man" reference followed by all the "auction" and "buying" stuff. I think Beam might be using Burning Man as a contrast in his critique of Christians. You have two groups of people operating in very different, nearly opposite ways: One with the trappings of religious piety but no real connection to it, the other with no religion but an (ostensibly, at least) great connection to a mode of existence, albeit temporary. | |
| Iron & Wine – Carousel Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I think most posts are right on this one, but a couple of things confused me and I might have some ideas... The Noah references may be suggestive of the old bush team, in that they A) made claims to superior moral judgment, (Bush has said that god speaks to him directly) and superior knowledge (WMD's etc.)and B)were aggresively trying to get everyone "on board" with the war (ha ha, pun intended). With the "return home" theme the Ark becomes a troop transport, and our "sons sunk in a trunk of Noah's cloths" makes me think of how our troops were commited to this war by the posturing of politicians, i.e. the "clothes" that the Bush Admin wore. Both are going down together. the clothes are lies, and our children are dying. The more I think about it the more scathing the last verse becomes, where the "crackhead" Noah requests that the only remebrance is the "kinship of the kids and the riot squad". In other words: "Your chidren, that we have taken and killed in an unjust war will only be remembered as soldiers." As if the rest of the humanity of these troops is swept away, and they will only be honored as part of the propaganda. Maybe I'm overstating, but maybe not! Great song. |
|
| Iron & Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I just picked up the album, and the lyrics are in the CD. He might sing it differently live, but assuming it was just hard to hear, corrections are needed: It is officially "Street light eyes." 2nd verse: "*wide* fence cracks" is correct. Last Chorus: "Flightless Bird, *grounded*, bleeding" The last line is "Big *pill*, stuck going down" My thoughts: This is surely a lament of lost America, in my opinion. It starts with childhood memories, toys, the County Fair: Leave it to Beaver America. Then the "cops" shut it down, he grows up "cut my long baby hair" and he is searching... "called for you everywhere", with an "American mouth" The second verse gets into this loss of voice thing that is really cool: the house cat, too fat to do anything about the rats in the yard, his tongue sore from talking. This is a powerful analogy IMO about feeling alienated and voiceless in America, unable to help the broken/flightless/bleeding bird....er....bald eagle?? Is it lost or found? too late or are we to save it?? Also, you might find it interesting that Sam uses the same chords/progression in this song as in the 50's classic "Earth Angel" (think "back to the future" and the Dance scene). Slowed down a bit, of course. (for you guitarists: capo on 5th, then C, Am, F, G) Great song! |
|
| Elliott Smith – Son of Sam Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I'm seeing a few people who are confused or have some details wrong about the Son of Sam Killings, I'd suggest a quick wikipedia browse. Pretty fascinating stuff. One detail people missed: Early on in the big NYC scare (in '77) that there was a killer on the loose, the police had thought that nurses/med students were targets. This might explain where that part of the song started, but I think the line is more about contrasting a kind of medically clean love to a really screwed up, psycho relationship. I think Elliott is mostly drawing an emotional parallel between his own failed relationships and the "crazy", "murderous", "schizo" kind of feelings you get when overwhelmed by an angst of that kind. I think anyone who has self destructed in a relationship can relate. There are a few comments on how different this song is from his others, which I find interesting...I like learning his stuff on guitar and musically he puts this song together in a very "Elliott Smith" manner, same kind of picking technique. I guess they just rock it out a bit more with the electric. Anyway, I love this song, love the artist, and it really pisses me off he's gone. This guy should still be making music. crap. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.