| Don Henley – The Boys of Summer Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Great, great song. I think a few on here are making it more complicated than it is. He had the classic summer romance when he was younger. Come Fall, the relationship ended as it was fated too when he went back to school or whatever. Except he, somewhat surprisingly to him, never gets over her. I think the "Deadheads sticker on the Cadillac" line just represents the passage of time. The car driven by a former idealist hippie kid who has grown up and is now making good money with a corporation or something and is driving a Cadillac. |
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| Bob Dylan – Mississippi Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| What an amazing song. Beautiful to listen to, and incredible line after incredible line. Through the 100 or so times I've listened to it over the last couple months, a different line grabs me as especially poignant each time I hear the song. I hadn't heard or thought of the Jeff Buckley angle before. Wonder if it's true. I kind of hope it isn't and that the song's more personal to Dylan's life, but it's great none the less. From the drowning perspective, the last line of the stanza that begins "My clothes are wet, tight on my skin" is very powerful - "Give me your hand, and say you'll be mine." Man, when Dylan's been on his game, no one can touch him. | |
| Bob Dylan – Most of the Time Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Wow. Recently got his Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 and heard this song for the first time. What an amazing and beautiful song that everyone can identify with. Dylan is certainly one of a kind. This quickly became one of my all-time very favorites. | |
| Okkervil River – So Come Back, I Am Waiting Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| There's definitely heroin references in the song, but I personally don't think it's about heroin. Just as there's references to sex, the song's not about sex. The song paints a picture of the black sheep boy's life as a rock star. Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. | |
| Okkervil River – So Come Back, I Am Waiting Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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With Will Sheff being such a literature-style songwriter, I think this album and especially this song is about the devil and the lore of a devil and musician/rock star relationship in the “Crossroads” tradition. The fable of an aspiring musician making a deal with the devil or selling his soul to become a star. For me, all the mentions of horns and hoofs allude to the devil. Black sheep have horns and hoofs too, of course, but that plays into it brilliantly. Almost every line seems to be the devil seducing him and the Black Sheep Boy succumbing, going under his wing, becoming a star and living that life. He may have tried to escape, but he was committed and damned once he made the deal… • He says, “There’s plenty of time to make you mine tonight.”… • He says “There’s plenty of things to wear when you come to me.” • A black sheep boy grows horns, breathing smoke through his microphone… The devil’s power makes the black sheep boy a star… • There are millions of rolling eyes that still cling to me. • He’s the thrill of the abecedarian. (See the muddy hoofprints where he carried you?) The lyrics talk of the lore of the devil actually writing the songs, (i.e. the legend that Stairway to Heaven was written in just a few minutes and that Led Zep guitarist/occult enthusiast Jimmy Page claimed he felt like another force was actually creating it)…. • So why did you bawl from the spell of some old holy song, that some liar laughed as he composed - some liar I loved to control?” • So why did you flee? Don’t you know you can’t leave his control, only call all his wild works your own? The song builds and at the end the devil implores him passionately and graphically… • He says “I am waiting on hoof and on hand. I am waiting, all hated and damned. I am waiting - I snort and I stamp. I am waiting, you know who I am, calmly waiting to make you my lamb.” I think the last line is listed wrong and is actually “I am waiting, you know WHO I am…” (not “THAT I am.”) It sounds creepily similar to the devil’s narration in “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Stones and “N.I.B” by Black Sabbath. This direct theme is continued in the next song Glow. |
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| Elliott Smith – Fake It Through the Day (Miss Misery, early version) Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Both versions are great. I guess I personally prefer the newer version a little because of the "Do you miss me, Miss Misery Like you say you do?" lines. A little more poignant to me than the Some Enchanted Night version. | |
| Elliott Smith – Miss Misery Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Interesting what people have written about the song being about the depression within him. I had thought it was about a girlfriend who had broken up with him or moved away. He tries to stay in her life and she lets him sometimes, but as usually happens, he is pushed further away as time goes on. So I think there is a dual meaning or at least the listener is led to believe on the surface that it's about a relationship with a girl, or else he probably would have called it Mr. Misery. But I agree depression is the deeper meaning. Also, interesting is the director's cut video for this song. He's dressed in a white suit similar to the one he wore when he sang the song at the Academy Awards. For most of the video he is followed by a police officer in a black uniform about 10 feet behind him. Elliott knows he's there and is clearly uncomfortable about it. Upon reading the interpretations of this song on here, it seems the cop represents his depression that always lurks. Check it out on You Tube. |
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| Wilco – Jesus, Etc. Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Incredible song. I always felt like it was about a guy trying to comfort his girl as he breaks up with her. He's trying to tell her that he'll still be a part of his life - "Don't cry", "You can come by anytime you want." When he says about the stars, "Each one is a setting sun", it's their relationship that is setting, everything burns out and dies. I think the tall buildings shaking is her world collapsing around her and the voices escaping singing sad, sad songs is the chorus of the millions of people that have suffered heartbreak. It's a part of life that almost everyone experiences, but survives. Our love is all we have, might mean that they don't have anything else. Maybe they don't have anything in common anymore. He needs more. Finally, I think the "Last cigarettes" is trying to savor the last moments of their relationship as a couple like when a smoker smokes his last one before he quits the habit. Anyway, just my opinion and what always went through my head when I listened to this amazing song. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| ... and, also, with his failed escape from the lifestyle, he knows he's stuck and has given up on this life for himself and his girl. All he can hope for is that they'll get a rebirth as well (reincarnation) and be dealt a better hand the next time. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| What a great song. My favorite from The Boss. Like others have said, I think Atlantic City is the background and doesn't me the guy is a gambler. The Chicken Man and DA stuff also paints the picture of the setting of mob influence and the surrounding decay and financial straits. I think he has been a tough before and done shady things, but would like to escape it. He tries to walk the straight and narrow, but can't find a job, can't make ends meet. So depressingly, he's resigned to "do a little favor" and takes a job to do a hit. I think the lines "Everything dies baby that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back," is his remorse talking. Trying to justify it somehow, he says we're all gonna die sometime anyway, but maybe we'll all come back. He hopes maybe the guy he kills will live again in another life. | |
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