submissions

Paramore – Pressure Lyrics	18 years ago
Pressure to do the right thing in the wrong situation, is what this one means to me. Much like the physics law of inertia whereby something remains at rest unless acted upon by some external force, here, the external force is the pressure of the singer's conscience (based feeling incomplete, or "empty"...) which will serve as the force to push her to do the right thing -let it go.

submissions

They Might Be Giants – I Can't Hide From My Mind Lyrics	18 years ago
My interpretation of this song is simply that a person can build up an idea or fantasy in their mind about the nature of their relationship with another person. The song addresses that point in which one decides to face reality and that the the bases of the fantasy -despite stemming from one's own mind- are acknowledged at last as a "lie."

submissions

The Smiths – London Lyrics

18 years ago

"London" is one of my all-time favorite Smiths songs. Simple premise, bone-crushing delivery. It's lyrical simplicity seems to draw some mild criticism from some of the posts here, but this is what makes it such a great song. It's about getting out of small town and moving to the city in pursuit of something. I love the repetition (chorus?) of the question, "And do you think you made the right decision this time?" which - in setting up the ominous fade-out in minor chords - shows that the person leaving for London is now making a decision of serious import that may or may not be for the best. I disagree with earlier poster that it's a decision necessarily doomed to "failure"... what's important is that the decision to leave has the potential to lead to failure. A great topic for Morrissey or any songwriter to address.

submissions

King Missile – The Indians Lyrics

18 years ago

One of John S. Hall's best pieces. Fairly self- explanatory, but thought-provoking and worthy of comment nonetheless. Demonstrates genocidal conduct of a culture and how our basic understanding of such events is flawed- down to the very words that signify the events themselves, and is misunderstood even by those trying to understand them. For more on this topic (which I would guess that Hall has read, based on these lyrics) see Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States. Wiki describes Chapter 1as follows: "'Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress' covers early Native American civilization in North America and the Bahamas, the genocide and slavery committed by the crew of Christopher Columbus, and the violent colonization by early settlers."

submissions

Vanessa Carlton – White Houses Lyrics

18 years ago

I agree with most of these posts, but I don't think anyone pointed out the possibility that there were more than 5 people involved. Lyrics state "It's the five of us/ WITH pretty eyed boys..." [emphasis added]. To me, it sounds more like a summer timeshare/rental between four young women, and numerous guys drft in and out of the scene. As the lyrics only provide detail of the writer's interaction with two people -Jenny & "Red Shirt"- it sounds like a classic summer love triangle to me. I think the song is brilliant as it shows that her interaction with Red Shirt changed everything, including her relationship with the four others... I also like prior poster's analysis on the video- while at first I thought video and lyrics were totally unrelated, the interpretation as sex changing a person into a second, diiferent version seems plausible. The "dancing" Vanessa seems young energetic, physical, impulsive (and then later) worn out, fallen, etc. However, the "piano" Vanessa seems intellectual, reflective cerebral, more mature. Just my 2 cents...

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