| Neutral Milk Hotel – April 8th Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| ya ure cheezy i laff@u lol! | |
| Leonard Cohen – Seems So Long Ago, Nancy Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Nancy's father molested her. Reread the lyrics. | |
| Bright Eyes – Cartoon Blues Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song smacks of the absurd. Read The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In my interpretation, the final verses are essentially about an existential crisis. Life itself is to blame in that humanity demands meaning of it, yet there is none to be found but what enslaves us. That meaning is futile, emphemeral, in that we're going to die. There is no absolute meaning to life. Time is responsible for this. Time urges us consistently toward death. We work toward goals that ultimately decompose and buried beneath the ashes of time. He sees the meaninglessness of life and envies death from the start. Everything seems illogical to him, backwards. Still, in that he sees these truths squarely, he must adapt his behavior to them. Feel free to offer a better explanation, not just some bullshit like "OH THAT'S YOUR SUBJECTIVE CRITIQUE LOL!!!1111one" | |
| Bright Eyes – Cartoon Blues Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song smacks of the absurd. Read The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In my interpretation, the final verses are essentially about an existential crisis. Life itself is to blame in that humanity demands meaning of it, yet there is none to be found but what enslaves us. That meaning is futile, emphemeral, in that we're going to die. There is no absolute meaning to life. Time is responsible for this. Time urges us consistently toward death. We work toward goals that ultimately decompose and buried beneath the ashes of time. He sees the meaninglessness of life and envies death from the start. Everything seems illogical to him, backwards. Still, in that he sees these truths squarely, he must adapt his behavior to them. Feel free to offer a better explanation, not just some bullshit like "OH THAT'S YOUR SUBJECTIVE CRITIQUE LOL!!!1111one" | |
| Bright Eyes – We Are Free Men Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Okay, let me attempt to lay out my interpretation of this song. This song is almost a diagram for how life should be lived, how a relationship should proceed. I have a terrible conscience about writing this analysis right now, as I should be studying, but I’m going to do it anyway. This relates to one of the themes in the song however, that of spirituality. There are heavy Buddhist and Christian undertones throughout the song, and I believe one’s conscience is sometimes the dictation of God--our understanding of what is good in the world, what actions we should not only perform, but intrinsically understand, conform our behavior to, as it relates to the universal good. Evil is essentially selfishness in the face of others, and it always backfires--all evil is self-punishment, and it offers only shoddy, unauthentic rewards. For instance, if one is seething and inflicts his torments upon another, it offers no real reward. It’s just a cheap surrogate for love, an attempt to establish a union through dominance and control, when true love is free--and freedom is true love. The song begins with an analysis of choice. I think the comment about remaining in one’s bed out of cowardice is meant to be ironic, though it’s a comment that we’ve all related to at one point or another. Oberst then talks about the personas and styles we assume in order to hide ourselves from the mirror, though that again, always snaps back in our face, as all lies do. At the end of the night, we’re picking our scabs and have to realize that we’d lied not only to others but ourselves, stifled ourselves in order to appear more beautiful or charming to others, as a result of dissatisfaction with ourselves. And the more we assume this pattern of behavior, the worse it will get. We’re hiding from our problems rather than discovering who we are and allowing others to love us for who we are, which of course, I will not lie and say is always a matter of course. Regardless of all the successes assumed from our personas, we are still not free to be who we truly are. We even feel hurt (backs bruised by accolades) that others would praise something we are not. But there is a spiritual solution--accepting the impermanence of the universe, a Buddhist induction, though all energy can only be converted or transferred, which brings us to consciousness and my favorite line in the song. “If it’s really all just physical, then my memory’s immaterial, so why do I remember you at all?” If there is only the flesh, physical gratification, then his memories shouldn’t affect him and he shouldn’t be in such a state of spiritual thirst. However, he’s also pointing out the duality of the body and consciousness. Consciousness is either a byproduct of the body, or choices are a byproduct of consciousness. Does it really matter so long as we can establish that they are correlated? Furthermore, conscious thoughts are immaterial, intangible, yet they are exactly what instill life with meaning and are, in my opinion, though not a biologist’s, a key property of life. Consciousness and free will are what make us animals, and set us above our animal nature. A cell is just a deterministic configuration of chemical reactions within a plasma membrane, but as animals and spiritual creatures we transcend the limitations of determinism. He is also, of course, referring to his lover. He’s seen her face, yet there is an honesty to who she is. He shared a cup of life, which is a direct allusion to the Holy Bible, and spiritual redemption. God, I feel like such a hypocrite capitalizing those words. I am far from perfect, but that’s irrelevant to dissecting this song that has nonetheless touched me. He shared in God’s love with her, and still remembers the sweetness of her kiss. She has saved him and helped him rise above this life; he is intoxicated by the perfection of their arrangement. They are ready to begin again, which is also an allusion to rebirth, a pervasive theme in the Bible. Perhaps they reached spiritual redemption together. Men who feel that they can take the lives of others simply because others too, have succumbed to the same degree of imperfection. It is also an accusation against God--saying that God is responsible for hell. The devil was created for hell. Why would God create hell at all? Paraphrasing knowledge received from someone during a near-death experience (whether a byproduct of a dying brain, or true enlightenment), that Jesus told him, as the subject was a painter, to attempt to create a painting from one color. Yet, to my understanding, heaven is essentially of one color--perhaps it’s imperfect creatures in spiritual form working for perfection, striving toward it, drinking it in, yet unable to reach it, just as it would be impossible to reach absolute imperfection. These are absolute archetypes, yet we are limited creatures; we are double. I do not yet know how to explain this. And then--and I want everyone to ponder this deeply--he speaks of consciousness surviving the decay of the human body. In light of near-death experiences, this seems wholly possible. All matter is energy. Is the soul, or consciousness, energy? If so, is it impossible to destroy, except in hell? Do we live on? What is the point if we don’t live on? Why do we love if consciousness is just a byproduct of the nervous system, can’t influence behavior, and thus has no evolutionary value? Why do we feel our chests aflame, or the gentle breath of the stars? Why this miracle, and why this transcendence that one need only momentarily introspect to discover? If there is no reason, I will not say life is meaningless, but… I just want to believe in something higher. Something that will awaken us all. How do we fix all this? How do we ever find the absolute confidence to fix ourselves? It reminds me of “We Were Meant to Live for So Much More” by Switchfoot. It also reminds me of “Reflection” by Tool. There’s a deep darkness to that one, but there is something beyond it reaching for redemption, quaking with desire and thirst. |
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| Radiohead – 2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm) Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I don't know if it's already been said, but the song is most likely based on Dostoevky's Notes from the Underground. The protagonist is... abnormal to say the least. Beautiful specimen. "Are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights?" Well then. The closing of the novel discusses how with more freedom, relaxed discipline, and a widening of the sphere of our activities, we would most likely be begging for the ordered life to be reimposed on us. He knows from experience, because he has chosen to alienate and isolate himself from society, and live in a damp cellar by himself. "I stay home forever, where twice two always makes five." This is directly related to the book. He talks about a world in which all values and ideals are tabulated, and knowing that behaving according to virtue will always logically work in one's favor, would be of no consequence and not impose any lasting changes on behavior, because humans are not entirely rational creatures; they are highly emotional and prejudiced. He refers to the argument as an exercise in logic rather than evidenced by the senses, a sample of "twice-two makes four," when, in his opinon, "twice-two makes five" sums up humanity on a much grander level. He's incredibly spiteful, seeks to alienate himself from, subjugate, and dominate everyone he comes in contact with, and is incontrovertibly incapable of love. He is also incredibly narcissistic, and paranoid. This is what the devil's way now bit is all about. And the fact that others castigate or ignore him just adds to the spite he nurses within himself, and only finds an outlet for in others. "I try to sing along; I get it all wrong." He tries to instate himself in society, fit into the harmony, but he's too different from everyone else; he lacks certain human characteristics and is so vain and desires so much to impress others with his notions of the "sublime and beautiful" that he's unable to interact with others. He usually just ends up exploding at them, and regretting it bitterly or hating them even more. Some other stuff I'm not sure about, blah. Read the book and you'll see the correlations. |
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| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Actually, a martyr is anyone who renounces his own life for a principle. It isn't stipulated that he be killed by others. The song is about going to hell, anyway. | |
| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| K, I read some of the other interpretations, listened to the song again, and I get it. Forgive the prior, scatter-brained interpretation. Mephistopheles is a demon through which a man made a pact that he would never experience one day of true happiness, and if he did he would willingly submit his soul to the devil. Here, the man has recorded the experience of perfect happiness on videotape, and can refer to it whenever he desires. It will also be on his life review at the gates of Heaven. He is saying goodbye to his lover before he dies, who facilitated the happiest day of his life and is his very heart. However, she shouldn't be afraid, because in his eyes, the perfect day has justified eternal damnation. This is a farewell, from Radiohead to its fans. | |
| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| My God. What a shitty, pretentious interpretation that was. I apologize. | |
| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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Okay, I’ve been studying biology all day and my mind is depleted. Forgive an inadequate, poorly-formulated interpretation. First off, I’d like to note the melancholy, rickety, monotonous tone of the song, as if to suggest that every day passes into the next, without significant change. The days roll on in an apathetic, disillusioned, meaningless blur. The rickety effect is similar to that of an old film reel clicking with each rotation. However, this one moment he recently experienced has made his life all worthwhile. “When I’m at the pearly gates, this will be on my videotape. When Mephistopheles is just beneath, and he’s reaching up to grab me.” According to Christian theology, he will be presented with the two potential fates of any individual, and due to his sins and refusal to repent, he will be going to hell. However, it doesn’t matter to him, because relatively speaking, eternal damnation is of little consequence to the event he will be dying for, which remains ambiguous. However, we can conclude that it was experienced with his lover. All that matters is that he’ll be allowed to re-examine this moment during his life review. “This is one for the good days, and I have it all here in red, blue, green.” The event was recorded in Heaven. Metaphorically, the colors symbolize the feelings of the experience, and though the exact details may be lost, he recalls the metaphysics, the contrasting, pleasant universe of emotions that the experience provided him. “You are my center when I spin away, out of control on videotape.” His lover is his stabilizing force when he loses direction or logic, when his mind is clouded by irrational emotions. His world revolves around his lover, yet he is deviating from his course, this concentric pattern around her, because he has been assured that this ambiguous experience was the meaning of his life. “This is why I’m saying goodbye. I can’t do it face to face, so I’m talking to you before it’s too late.” Assured of the meaning of life, though perhaps illusory, he has decided to commit suicide, just as martyrs such as Jesus died for the illusions that gave their lives meaning, or martyrs like Socrates died for reason. He is dying due to the ambiguous event that gave his life meaning; all has been consummated for him. He knows that no other day will compare to what he has experienced, and sees no point in perpetuating a life that has already been fulfilled. He has never been so keen on anything as he is on this one point. “No matter what happens now I shouldn’t be afraid, because I know today has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen.” Even if he goes to Hell, it is inconsequential. He shouldn’t be afraid, because this event has instilled his life with a greater purpose. |
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| Bright Eyes – Weather Reports Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| Please note that my interpretation is shaded by my current beliefs, mood, and situation, and is by no means considered absolutely accurate. As I listen to song again now, I ascertain new shades of meaning, and form a slightly different interpretation. Ain't that versatility the beauty of art? | |
| Bright Eyes – Weather Reports Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I always love Bright Eyes's more melancholy songs; they seem more honest, though perhaps that is only because they are the songs I most identify with. This song makes me want to cry, had I the strength to break down all the barricaded emotions I store within me. To dissect this song, one has to be the victim of a same or similar passion. Here is my subjective interpretation: I left my baby for a dream as lovely, for a love that's only in books I read. The individual is searching for an absolute, ideal love that cannot exist, that exists only the written fantasies of men. And then I hit the city, spent all my money; I just left my whole life in a taxi cab. He is clearly distraught. Tangled in his inability to find the ideal love, he searches for stimulation and distraction, anything to assuage the pain, spending all his money. He thinks that purchases will fill the void; he searches for a surrogate. He leaves everything behind, believing that he can start anew in a new land, as if the problem were geographical rather than interpersonal. It's just a memory I can love completely; when you're really with me, I'm indifferent. The memory is coated in nostalgia. We always desire what we can no longer have or is inaccessible; this has even been scientifically proven. He sugars and ornaments his memories, wishes to recede into the past, to convince himself of a love that never existed. In sober reality, he was indifferent and unappreciative of the experience. Perhaps, however, there was a tinge of beauty in the initial experience that went unrecognized until remembered. But I tried to get my head clear; it's too full of ideas that I haven't thought of yet. Many ideas, perhaps rationalizations applying to his predicament, alternate possibilities, and different courses of action to obtain the love he desires swirl within his unconscious. The ideas are preconscious and inaccessible to him; they're still formulating, though they will eventually sprout into his conscious mind. They are most likely striving towards a way to reconcile the relationship with his lover, or to determine a new path to the ideal love he desires. On time, clocks keep waving their hands, doing all that they can, to get our attention. Time is man's worst enemy. It is the always-ticking reminder that life is not eternal and the opportunity to reach our ideals is stipulated by eventual death. He is conflicted, simultaneously desiring to make haste towards his plan of reconciliation or new love, while also attempting to blot out the stipulations of time because he cannot face them. It's the same as asking a question you already know the answer to in advance--you can't face the truth. Instead, the days fly away, down a clear interstate. I'm staring drunk at a map. The days pass without any course of action; it is navigation without direction. He continues to a new location, his ostensible escape from his interpersonal problems. He is melancholy, and attempts to cure his ailed heart with a depressent. He doesn't understand what course of action to take, as alcohol blurs one's sight, rendering his interpretation of the map poor. So I let my hair down for the second time now, for the final time now I've had my fun. He lets his hair down, an expression of freedom, strength, and beauty. He decides that the relationship is over and there is no remedy. Perhaps, he recognizes that ideal love is unattainable and losing sight of the motivation to reach it sets him free. There's no returning from the places we've been; just repeat our slogan: never again. He carries the negative experience of their relationship within him; there is no escaping it. It will forever haunt his periphery. However, he vows to never recreate it. So you split, said you had to get out, headed back to the South, where everything's gentle. Self-explanatory. She too believes that the problems are geographical rather than due to the relationship, and envisions the South as "gentle." However, I personally sense a tinge of bittersweet sadness, associated with loss, etched into this gentleness. I stayed for a couple weeks more. On the weather reports, it says there will snow for sure. Snow could symbolically refer to the lack of warmth, the warmth he wishes to derive from another, and the innocence of his predicament. It signifies simultaneous purity and an emotional void; offering a double reflection between the scenery and the individual. There will be snow, even if fleeting, before tomorrow's mud. The snow moved away to a neighboring state. I started the car. He starts the car to follow the snow, finding solace in the aforementioned double reflection. All in all, the song refers to people going in two directions; the separate highways they take define their parting. Neither of them knows what they truly want, but are tortured by the knowledge that the relationship is over and the love they so desired is inaccessible. |
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