submissions
| The Replacements – Alex Chilton Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[tintorera:20761] I always just figured Paul flubbed the lyrics a bit and they decided to leave it in. You can hear a similar mistake around 2:10 on "I Don't Know" - I think I read somewhere that he got confused which mic was active, so you hear him say "One foot in the...where's my mic?..okay." I think in the Trouble Boys biography it was mentioned that if you screwed up there was a better chance of it making it on the record than if you played something perfectly. |
submissions
| The Long Winters – Scared Straight Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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@[wasmuthk:16070] Also, George Washington is on the one dollar bill...I don't necessarily see how that squares with the story he's telling, but I end up thinking about it each time I pull a dollar out of my wallet :) |
submissions
| The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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There's a cool podcast called "Song Exploder", and in one of the episodes they talk to Carl Newman and John Collins about the writing and recording of this song. It's definitely worth a listen, only about 12 minutes long: http://songexploder.net/the-new-pornographers
The TL;DR is basically:
• Carl was playing around with the three chords that make up the bulk of the song, and the instrumental demo had the file titled "Rock You" ala "We Will Rock You" based on the heavy backbeat he had in mind.
• Perhaps based on this, the lyrics ended up revolving around notions of rock stardom - "The sea was all lighters," etc.
• I think he states that the lyric in the bridge is actually "A fire in love with sirens".
I also end up hearing in the first verse "...send you back to stages set and sailing away", which could totally be wrong, but I like the twist on the phrases "The stage is set" and "Set sail" in a single phrase. |
submissions
| The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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Just saw them play in San Francisco a week or two ago, and they closed their encore with this song. Carl intro'd it by saying he used to live in SF but ended up moving to New York, where he ended up meeting the love of his life, even while he was still in a relationship with someone in SF. He described the song as having to do with the dawning realization that he had to end the relationship with the person he had left behind on the west coast.
As a side note, while he hadn't been very talkative throughout the rest of their set, he started to light up during this introduction, and ended up goading the crowd a bit with a twinkle in his eye, saying things like "Sometimes you just have to break up with your San Francisco girlfriend. You know, that whole thing about 'I left my heart in San Francisco' - that's bullshit. Leave someone else's heart in San Francisco." It was pretty great. |
submissions
| The Long Winters – Shapes Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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The first video clip here explains that "throwing shapes" is akin to assuming poses, ala rock musicians trying to look cool, but that the song itself was written in relation to being cheated on by a girlfriend.
http://www.dorsiafilms.com/the-house-show-songs/ |
submissions
| Bob Mould – Keep Believing Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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The last few stanzas are references to songs by other bands. From Reddit's AMA with Bob:
"In order: Byrds, Beatles, Who, Cheap Trick. KISS, J Thunders, Suicide Commandos. Ramones, Joy Division, Germs, REM. Minutemen, Pixies, Nirvana, then a mashup of HD and My Bloody Valentine. And the "never lose that feeling" is a nod to Swervedriver."
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/14zzpp/iama_bob_mould/ |
submissions
| The Replacements – Portland Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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A few (possible) corrections:
I'm fairly sure it's "Shared a pack of lights for lunch" (light cigarettes having less nicotine and all that, some people end up smoking more of them), as opposed to "pack of lies". In "Serving boy can chain nothing that ain't anchored to his throne", the "anchored" part sounds like Paul is saying something else, but I'm not sure what. Finally, I hear "And your ears just wanna ring" as opposed to "Your ears is gonna ring". It's not a major difference, but given that ears cannot will themselves to ring, it may serve as a Westerberg twist of language. Then again, I've been wrong before. Thanks Mr. AwesomeSquared, you picked up on some things I had previously missed. |
submissions
| Jonathan Coulton – Nobody Loves You Like Me Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Sounds like he might have gotten shot in the parking lot as he was leaving. "Move along, nothing to see" is often associated with police officers trying to keep a crowd from gathering. |
submissions
| Jonathan Coulton – Sucker Punch Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I just listened to this again after watching the first half of Season 5 of Breaking Bad, and it surprised me how well the pieces fit together. Of course, this song was written before those episodes even aired, so there's now way....unless Coulton has paranormal abilities....I wouldn't rule it out. |
submissions
| Jonathan Coulton – Dissolve Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I don't think the mysterious object in question is important - it signifies the ways that in the wake of a breakup, the other party now has all this power over you, knowing your most vulnerable places and the things you really care about, and if they wish they can really start to unmake you by pressing on those tender spots. The second verse could be about the emotions surrounding the relationship: "It was mine now, something secret / something precious and rare / then it changed me, and I liked it / now I wish it wasn't there." |
submissions
| Jonathan Coulton – Alone at Home Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I'm not sure whether the guy is actually out shopping with his wife, putting on a good face but secretly wishing he could be alone at home and not deal with it, or if it's actually about a lonely man who fantasizes about all the mundane stuff that comes with a relationship, he's so desperate NOT to be alone at home. The bridge seems to imply more toward the former, and that maybe the reason he is "alone at home" in his mind is out of embarassment and fear of being seen as a "weak" husband, following his wife around on errands. |
submissions
| Wye Oak – Holy, Holy Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Here's Jenn talking about the song:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/jenn-wasner-of-wye-oak-discusses-and-performs-holy,64084/ |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – I Thought I Was a Child Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I always thought it was interesting that on his first album he has a song that says "I am a child in these hills" and on his second album puts one saying "I thought I was a child", like he's grown a bit since then and re-appraised his previous situation. |
submissions
| Five Iron Frenzy – I Still Like Larry Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I've known some people who ended up getting divorced and became sort of ostracized from the church because there was a sort of assumption that no "godly" person would get divorced. I interpreted Reese as saying that's it's okay to love people even if they do things the church doesn't agree with. |
submissions
| Five Iron Frenzy – Giants Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Thank you, Fayiirah, for actually responding with fact instead of fear and guesswork; also, for referencing Winnie-the-Pooh. |
submissions
| Tom Petty – Even The Losers Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I'm with McPoyle. Even though on the surface this song has a self-deprecating feel to it, there's an undercurrent of arrogance to it. "I showed you stars you never could see" could translate to "I rocked your puny little world" followed by "It couldn't have been that easy to forget about me". If he really thinks he's such a loser, why should she have a hard time forgetting about him? Ultimately I think the song works on both levels, but I think it's likely that it is actually more of a precurser to a song he would write later, "You Got Lucky". |
submissions
| Spoon – Take A Walk Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I can't see how this would have any direct connection, but I was watching Full Metal Jacket again and noticed that "Tough break for Handjob" is spoken as the soldiers stand over two of their dead comrades ("Handjob" being a nickname they had given to one of them due to his chronic masturbation). Anyway, having been recently listening to "Girls Can Tell" a fair bit, the opening line of this song stuck out to me. |
submissions
| Pedro the Lion – Slow and Steady Wins the Race Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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One thing that occurred to me was that at the end he mentions that he won't ever lock his doors in heaven because he's confident they deserve to be there. Yet the first part of the song illustrates that he clearly doesn't care about his brother(s), familial or otherwise. It struck me that if heaven is filled with people who show little concern for their neighbors, perhaps he would be wiser to lock his heavenly mansion's door. |
submissions
| They Might Be Giants – Feign Amnesia Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I have no idea what this song is about, other than perhaps avoidance by pretending you have amnesia. However, in the second verse, the line about "that crazy guy dancing behind us" reminded me of the song "Where your eyes don't go". A sampling of the lyrics:
"Where your eyes don't go a filthy scarecrow waves its broomstick arms
And does a parody of each unconscious thing you do
When you turn around to look it's gone behind you
On its face it's wearing your confused expression
Where your eyes don't go"
Could there be a connection? |
submissions
| They Might Be Giants – Stomp Box Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Stomp box is a slang term for a guitar effects pedal, often a distortion pedal. So it sounds to me like it's just a cathartic jam with as much noise as possible. Sometimes the best therapy is just to play music very very loud. |
submissions
| They Might Be Giants – The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Though there's not a whole lot of evidence for it, this sounds to me like a critique of the music industry.
The silver spaceship is the record label's corporate headquarters, perhaps in a large building pointing high into the sky. The lion represents the head of the company, or maybe the band's agent, as he "takes control", is "on the phone" (spoken condescendingly to the inquirer by his secretary), and eventually "waves goodbye".
Additionally, the song begins and ends wondering who the guitar player is, a question to which no one has the answer, perhaps representing the anonymity fame/marketing brings. The middle refrain of "Turn it up / I can't hear the guitar", though it sounds like an energetic middle section to a dance tune, could in fact be alluding to how the music eventually becomes swallowed by corporations.
Anyway, that's just my take. |
submissions
| Weezer – Burndt Jamb Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I'm not sure if I read it somewhere, but knowing that Rivers is a KISS fan, the first stanza about "gothic flavor" and "if I only once could kiss you" could be a reference to the band. |
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