| Regina Spektor – One More Time with Feeling Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I think Regina does a really clever job of using metaphor - in this case, acting vernacular - throughout the song. The speaker makes numerous references to acting and audition "language" - "everyone takes turns / now it's yours to play the part," just as actors take turns with lines during an audition...then there is the entire chorus with the director saying, "Hold on / one more time with feeling / try it again," etc. While this is going on, I'm pretty sure that the speaker is thinking about something bigger - what it's like to fight disease or something of that magnitude in this case. She just does it so masterfully, I feel like it's as if Regina has these stories running through her head, and when she wants to, she sits down to choose an image or idea to focus on in one of her songs. Sometimes the image is related to the plot in her head, but sometimes it isn't, and then she just proceeds to kick the hell out of infusing that object into the plot because she's awesome and felt like sharing some of her badass talent with us through song. |
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| Our Lady Peace – Thief Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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In response to adagiominore's post, your observations are keen but I don't necessarily agree that the opening verse is alluding to the coldness of hospitals. I think when the speaker says, "Everybody ends up here in bottles / But the name tag's the last thing that you wanted," he is referring to people who resort to alcoholism as an escape from horrible things such as terminal disease, tragedy, or the like. (And this doesn't necessarily have to be the victim him- or her- self resorting to alcohol, this can be people closely affected by something horrific as well. It could be a general reference to escapism) I think the speaker is saying that in situations similar to the one that the subject of the song is facing, other people turn to "the bottle" - they descend, they let themselves go and in this case, find themselves in AA meetings (hence the nametag) - but the subject fights to be different. The speaker knows that there are many people who falter in the face of adversity and turn to escapism. What sets the subject of this song apart is that she is more brave than those people; being stuck in some AA meeting with only a nametag to her credit is the LAST thing she wants. And yes, the idea that a little girl could imagine herself in an AA meeting is far-fetched, but I don't think the speaker is reflecting something that she said directly. Instead, I think he is simply giving testament to the strength he sees in her; speaking to her, he knows that horrible things lie ahead of her, and that she is aware of it too. But unlike the many who are not as strong as she was, she was never going to give in or give up. |
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| Regina Spektor – Ode to Divorce Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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lacrimosa, I like your idea about parting with her piano b/c the narrator says to "break me to small parts / let go in small doses," as you would a piano; but you're right, the rest of the song doesn't fit :) i just wanted to point out that i really like how regina can just hide a metaphor in her lines and it works whether you interpret her words literally, figuratively, or both... on one hand you have the speaker offering advice to her ex that deconstructing the memories can make it a little easier to let go - "break me to small parts / let go in small doses" - that much i can take at face value. but at the same time i always feel a little sarcasm in those lines, especially when combined with the next line, "but spare some for spare parts / you might make a dollar." I feel like the speaker is really talking about how the process of divorce is making her feel less human and more like an object that one would actually break down and sell as "spare parts" to "make a dollar." The lines emphasize how she feels like a lifeless object, devoid of emotion and useful for little more than providing some secondary monetary value. The narrator goes on to repeat and repeat that "you might make a dollar," resonating the sad truth that people focus on "who gets what?" in the settlement, while completely losing sight of what it meant to be an emotionally meaningful part of someone else's life. regina...so clever and so brilliant |
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| KT Tunstall – Heal Over Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Like others have said, the speaker, if a female, could be talking to a friend or daughter, but I also think the speaker could be talking to herself. Songwriters often write songs as messages to themselves; as I'm sure many people would agree, sometimes it's easier to give someone else sound advice than it is to follow the same advice yourself. Songwriters can utilize this reality in their songs, so here I can see the speaker talking to herself to help make her feel better. When she says "Come over here lady / let me wipe your tears away," I think the speaker could just be trying to pick herself up and give some reassurance that things are going to be ok. Of course, another distinct possibility is that KT wrote this song from the perspective of a man. |
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