| Atoms for Peace – Amok Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is good. I think both interpretations tie together actually. On the surface it seems to be about romance, but on a deeper level it's about the torture of ruminating over things that are both unknown and out of your control, like someone else's thoughts. Whether someone else feels the same as you feel about them isn't in your control. You can't control falling in and out of love. You can't control what other people think of you. You can't control the fate of humanity, the earth, civilization, etc... If us humans screw it up, they'll screw it up. So yea, it's a lot of the same theme that appears on a lot of tracks in The Eraser. It's about all the stuff out of your control. How do you deal with it? Write music about it! "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." I think western culture is so focused on the individual and taking action that we forget the serenity part. No matter how much personal "success" you have, there's still things about life / the world you can't change. You can't change other people. So I think the theme is accepting things that are out of control, hence "amok". |
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| Atoms for Peace – Amok Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| The lyrics seem pretty dark and paranoid. The beats and dissonant vocals to me evoke a lot of anxiety (big time fears of rejection or doomed unrequited love). It's more going with the theme of the album than anything person though. Thom just likes doing what he's good at, which is mostly dark neurotic themes. Art is often about channeling emotions, it doesn't have to be personal. | |
| Atoms for Peace – Judge, Jury and Executioner Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I don't think this song is that abstract. It's about struggling with criticism. If you've ever had someone tear you down to the point where you just have to get away by going for a long walk, you will relate to the lyrics. I agree with the person above that the true lyrics relate to biblical themes, but I think it's sarcastic, accusing the critic of being high-and-mighty / acting like God in the final judgement. It's not coincidence that it's the same as the alternate name to the song myxomatosis. That song seems to be about public criticism or dealing with the media / being in the public spotlight. |
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| Modest Mouse – Bukowski Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I don't think the song is a literal complaint about "God" (in quotes because he is using the term as a hypothetical) being an asshole or control freak. It's more a lament at how absurd the notion that there is a God watching over or having a plan for people's individual lives seems to him. As someone who simply could never quite "get" religion despite growing up surrounded with it, I can easily relate. The relation to Bukowski is tied to the sort of anti-romantic anti-sentimental take the author had on life. For good or for evil, most people are just looking to get by and find some kind of contentment, nothing more, nothing less. Some win, some lose. There is no grand plan and if there was it would be have to be some kind of cruel joke. | |
| Puscifer – Momma Sed Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I had to take my father to the ER a couple nights ago for a kidney stone attack. Had to watch him writhing on the floor and vomiting uncontrollably. At one point he was wailing and crying like a child while waiting for the nurse to hook him up to the IV and administer pain meds. Now I got this damn song stuck in my head for some reason. A whole new appreciation for the line "like a kidney stone (this too shall pass)". In case you didn't know, passing a kidney stone is one of the most painful non-lethal thing you can experience, worse than giving childbirth, worse than being shot or stabbed, possibly worse than being anally raped by satan himself. |
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| Massive Attack – Flat Of The Blade Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| This is a wonderful slow creepy tune. It reminds me a little bit of "We Suck Young Blood" by Radiohead. Same kind of mood. Of course Thom Yorke was likely inspired by MA's earlier stuff. | |
| Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I think the entire song may just be about having your hopes crushed when things don't turn out the way you'd envisioned. The first few lines seem to be about a relationship/marriage gone sour. Then after the chorus of "it's easy, don't let it go..." the second stanza seems to be about a financial failure. For the third stanza containing the title of the track... Well... I'll have to think about it. I don't quite get it yet. |
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| Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I'm not sure what this song is about its entirety but these lines seem political. "They shadow box and they Paper chase It never stops And we'll never learn" paper chase = wall street greed? "No hope without dope The jobless return The bankers have bailed The mighty retreat" the economy? "The pleasure it fails At the end of the week You take it or leave" people are a slave to their paycheck? |
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| Portishead – Threads Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I've struggled with severe treatment resistant depression most of my adult life and this song pretty much describes it to a T, especially the ending. The frustration in her voice is right there, at the very surface. | |
| Radiohead – Videotape Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| I think this song is written from Thom's perspective as a parent. It's about cherishing quality time with his children as a father while he still can, before they grow up. It's also about overcoming his fears, guilts, regrets regarding his role as a father. I think the reference to mephistpheles is supposed to symbolize these. | |
| Yeasayer – 2080 Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This is one of those songs that on first listen makes me want to lay claim to it as part of my own personal life soundtrack. The sound and lyrics are both so poignant. | |
| Thom Yorke – Cymbal Rush Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Me too. The lyrics have so much despair but the music is so soothing and beautiful that there has to be something positive about it. The music fits the whole deluvian theme so well. | |
| Radiohead – Like Spinning Plates Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The part in the beginning sounds like someone starting up the propellers to a plane. At first it has trouble getting up to speed because a bird is stuck on one of the blades, but as the bird gets chopped up into smaller bits and propeller starts whooshing faster and faster as more chunks break loose and are flung off. Unfortunately some of the innards get thoroughly wrapped around a couple of the blades and this keeps the propeller gunked up and chugging slightly off balance throughout the entire of the song. Have I ruined this song for you yet? ;) |
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| South – Loosen Your Hold Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I heard this song in the movie "Mozart and the Whale". Can't get it out of my head. Such a good song, why only one comment? | |
| Radiohead – How to Disappear Completely Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I find that the music and lyrics describe that desperate yearning that is only experienced in the state of utmost emptiness that comes with extreme stress/depression/burnout. It can build to the point where it’s this huge weight whose source is almost impossible to place. It feels almost like the only possible relief is an escape from my corporal self, hence floating. | |
| Radiohead – How to Disappear Completely Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I find that the music and lyrics describe that desperate yearning that is only experienced in the state of utmost emptiness that comes with extreme stress/depression/burnout. It can build to the point where it’s this huge weight whose source is almost impossible to place. It feels almost like the only possible relief is an escape from my corporal self, hence floating. | |
| Thom Yorke – Jetstream Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think he says "you live or you die" at the beginning. I don't know but this is one creepy song. | |
| Thom Yorke – Jetstream Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think he says "you live or you die" at the beginning. I don't know but this is one creepy song. | |
| Thom Yorke – A Rat's Nest Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think it is inspired by the Dr. Kelley incident. To me this song is about something hidden and unspeakably evil. A conspiracy against you that no outsider will ever believe. Being trapped in a surreal situation that is almost too horrible to believe and impossible to escape. The mood is so menacing. | |
| Radiohead – Where I End and You Begin. (The Sky Is Falling In.) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Actually it’s quite ingenious if I think about the whole song as a dream or premonition. The whole song has that kind of slow motion, lead footed, dreary feel to it. It’s the emotion I feel in that kind of dream where kids are running out into the street about to get run over by cars but I can’t do anything about it because my legs are weighted down and I can’t yell because my voice is gone. | |
| Radiohead – Where I End and You Begin. (The Sky Is Falling In.) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I think this song is about knowing there is some kind of impending doom but not being able to do anything about it because nobody else will listen or can even comprehend it. The “dinosaurs roaming the earth” is a reference to the end of the cretaceous period I think. They are oblivious to the asteroid that will wipe them out. The whole song sounds like some kind of anxiety dream where everything’s out of control and nobody will listen to reason. Also, they way he repeats the last lines over and over again before the song abruptly ends is reminiscent of waking up from a nightmare. | |
| Modest Mouse – The Stars Are Projectors Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This song has some of the best MM lyrics. I think it’s about fatalism. “All the stars are projectors, yea. Projecting our lives down to this planet earth.” From our perspective the stars move in a very predetermined, predictable way. The line is contemplating whether our lives are predetermined, even though they aren’t so predictable. We can be set on a course that can’t be undone. “Everyone wants a double feature, they want to be their own damn teacher.” People want to learn from their own experience – be free to make mistakes in order to learn from them. The “double feature” refers to wanting to live a second life where you’ve learned from your mistakes in the previous life. Problem is we only have one life and some mistakes can’t be undone. The second feature might refer to people’s belief in an afterlife. |
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