| Vienna Teng – The Hymn of Acxiom Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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There's another concert that she describes the inspiration for the song. Paraphrasing here but she said she was living with this couple, and one of her roommates came in to tell her what they were working on. She said it was a database that has a fair bit of personal information for people in the list. For kicks, this roommate decided to look up her husband, and found him as well as a ton of data that she didn't think was public. She looked herself up, and same thing. It was the reaction this roommate had. It was a mix of being a bit creeped out by seeing it, and a strange sense of excitement that data could be so powerful and so easily controlled. Almost like a "how awesome technology is". Vienna said then that it seemed to turn into a love song as if it was written by a database. She also said the roommate worked for a company called Acxiom |
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| The Decemberists – Lake Song Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Sometimes Decemberists throw a song at you that you need to just fall into and let consume you. This song sat at the edges of my periphery since I first heard the album, and I needed one of those moments sitting out on a law by my own lake to really let it soak in. Then the interpretation that I embraced tethered to me, tattered me. In simple terms, this is unknown or unreturned love coming at that time when we still are learning what love really is. The singer (guessing this is a Colin telling his own story here) is regarding a story from his youth. It was a day, a moment, a period of magic. The experiences are real and specific - from the pinch of a cigarette to the sun on the radio. There were happy games like overturning pebbles, playful jokes of ill begotten children on the lawn.They were happy, they were enjoying this lake. Yet he harbored something more. Whatever he had to wait for, he was ready to wait for her ... until the oceans fell away. He wanted those footprints to be his ghost. The more he tries to define his love, the quicker he was to dismiss it. He wrote it down, threw it all away. "You won't will you, because you never do," judges her reaction before he ever takes action. He wants her to do more - wants her to say things that would lead him to know what is what she will do. He was naive, terminally fae. As confident she seemed to be was as unconfident he was in her. Yet where my mind churns is what she was - who she was. Did she love him in return, did she just keep him around, did she just want to stay friends. Why didn't she that she will, or will she or won't. What were the things she would do, what she wouldn't do. In the end, he never had a clue. But neither did we. So in part the beauty of this song is that it is like the singer that addresses the audience. It tatters me. It tethers me to it. It could be a much simpler song, a much simpler story - but to tell the truth I would never have a clue. |
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| Passenger – Things That Stop You Dreaming Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[mattdemanche:14954] To me the key is that last paragraph in your interpretation. The song is, in essence, the first step towards addiction and one of the most hidden aspects of it that those who never been on that slope sees. We drink, we take drugs, we do things we aren't supposed because it feels good - and when the rest of your life feels bad, it's nice ot have that escape. You give up your future - but that's okay, you have what makes you feel good now. So you end up needing these things ... the things that stop your dreaming. | |
| The Decemberists – The Singer Addresses His Audience Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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What a great way to start off this album. Lovers of the Decemberists have been so lucky over the years to be given such great albums and such great songs. Each one keeps the images of the band but explores new directions. So many groups have done that with far less success as this band, and doing so is a great risk - especially with long term success. So now that they are heading into a new album, and that fear once again comes along of whether or not they can hit another grand slam .. they start the album with dealing with the Elephant in the Room. This is a blunt, direct song .. humorous but to the point. They love us as fans, and they know they are loved in return. Yet the past needs to be sold (to Axe Shampoo apparently) and the future may lead to new hair cuts. But change has to happen for the fans to be happy, but what changes is the hopes that nothing changes. It's not just the risk and love of the changing band - but its the admitting the situation. The lyrics aren't just "We Belong to Ya" ... it's "We KNOW We Belong to YA". And it's not just the band, it's telling the fan they have to change too. "You Know, to belong to you." They faced it, they sang about it, they got the money from Axe, now lets go back to songs about Dracula's Daughter. |
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| The Poxy Boggards – I Wear No Pants Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| This is a song that offers up what one chooses for their dress. Then allows one to view this choice. | |
| Norah Jones – Come Away With Me Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Let me just start by saying ... I'm not a hater. This is a fantastic fantatistic song. But part of it's brilliance is when you see how beautiful it is DESPITE the story the lyrics tell: On an overcast, gloomy night (mind you, not during the day) we go someplace covered with weeds no one has bothered cutting in a really long time so far enough away from here that it's in the mountains, and when we are done we'll be stupid enough to find protection from the rain in a tin roof house ... all while taking public transportation. If I was to propose that to a woman, she's say 'don't hold me ... don't even frickin' touch me ... just get on your bus and leave'. |
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| Flogging Molly – Never Met a Girl Like You Before Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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What I love about this song is that -- at least in my ears -- there is two sides to what the guy is trying to say. The music is pretty quick, upbeat, edgy ... but most the lyrics are sweet and romantic. So it leads me to what maybe a pretty cool way of presenting a love song: First of all, he is throwing out soft warm feelings that question her commitment to him: I Would Wrap the World in Clover, but you make me see my way. That kind of thing. He is undeterred though in his effort to show his love. Then comes the chorus where he asks her to be his "flushing bride". When he follows with "I don't think so" -- it almost sounds sarcastic. What that says to me is the majority of the lyrics up to that point can be summarized with: 'Fluffy words about you' 'fluffy words about you' 'fluffy words about you'... can you believe people write this kind of bullshit? Probably sounds cynical, but it's the title phrase "I never met a girl like you before" that draws it back. So when I put that all together, this is what I get from the song: This dude who has a bit of poet in his heart meets a girl who is tough, edgy, and absolutely unique. Both are real rough around the edges, but find out they are great together in their own way. He knows he has deep feelings for her that brings out that poetic side, but it's kinda bullshit words tied to the feelings - he knows it and she knows it. That doesn't change the fact that he is nothing short of crazy about her, so he basically says: "Okay, yeah, all that romantic bullshit is bullshit -- but that doesn't change the fact that you are amazing and I am crazy about you." |
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| Dave Matthews – Say Goodbye Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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From the first time I heard the live version on the "Best of What's Around" bonus tracks, I was immediately pulled to the tropics. I felt like I was in a grand vacation resort sitting back and listening to some house band playing to the crowd. Somehow in that crowd that I imagine, I see two people who are sitting at a table but conspicuously on opposite sides staring at the band. As the song plays, something strikes in their head and they can't help turning to one another and giving a slight blush. This is a song about finding reason to take a friendship to a different level fully expecting that come the next day you step back to what it was. As wishful thinking as it sounds, it's not about getting in a quick screw and stressing about life then after, but about giving in to the magic of the experience. Throwing caution to the wind. Making the most of it. Then tomorrow you say goodbye and go back to your worlds. In my own vision of this song, it falls into that magic of the environment. The sea, the warmth, the air, the cocktails, the band, the couple, the magic. They cal it a vacation for a reason. |
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| The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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There was a version of this sung with a slower, more soulful feel to it. When it is not sung so upbeat, the lyrics are far more heartbreaking ... but for the same reasons you describe. While he can see she has made her life in a way that makes him think it's out of context with what he knows ... it hits harder now that he sees why he was the one worth leaving. |
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| Indigo Girls – Language Or the Kiss Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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When I first heard this song, I was running the gambit of long distance relationships. Somewhere between going off one or heading into one. This spoke volumes to that turmoil. How you could know what it was like to be a part of relationship that would be completely normal - and see yourself on the outside of it looking in (like through the window at the empty chair). How you find yourself choosing the physical relation in those few times together, and the emotional relationship happening in other ways, like by phone or letters -- and finding in those moments the things you love the most are the things you miss. Worst of all is those moments when you realize how lonely a relationship can be. Sitting alone in a hotel room working through the grammar of our fears. |
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| Barenaked Ladies – Be My Yoko Ono Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I always felt that this was about the singer's love. Sure, he wants you to know that he didn't think Yoko didn't break up the Beatles, but what if he means that John broke up the Beatles for Yoko -- and he is saying "I would leave the greatest band in history for you". | |
| The Decemberists – Dracula's Daughter Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| One can put into their own perspective of their troubles, by seeing their world through the eyes of the daughter of dracula. | |
| The Waterboys – And A Bang On The Ear Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| To be honest, I feel this is more about finding a place for those who got away. Between those girls you were too shy to talk to, those that left for other lands, those you couldn't keep up with or couldn't work out how to get by - all our lives are filled with the those we were sure to be the one, and that isn't what it turned out to be. But with all those that are in his past, he remembers why he felt the way he did about them seeing it through the "heart fire" -- so he thanks them (for more who they were, as much as who they are) by sending them his love. | |
| Colin Hay – Waiting For My Real Life To Begin Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Great points, great song, everyone is right there with me! Here's the part I love ... When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened But in my dreams, I slew the dragon And down this beaten path, and up this cobbled lane I'm walking in my old footsteps, once again And you say, just be here now Life continues on, and our dreams end up unfulfilled; but that doesn't mean the dreams still exist over and over again. It is that second character that says - its okay, don't worry so much about it, we can stil make it happen. |
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| Barenaked Ladies – Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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So I am late coming in on this thing ... but I felt I had to comment on what is one of my favorite songs and wondering why my opinon on the end hasn't been posed. The whole song is through the eyes of the man that dies. He describes where he driving to, what he remebers about the crash, the reaction of the other drivers, the rescue crew ... all in good detail. Then we get to the end: Now I'm floating above looking in As the radio blares and wheels spin ... he's still describing what he sees, but he is leaving his mortality behind. I still feel he is still looking through his mind at this point, just not though his physical eyes. Floating above his body ... and seeing what he sees. Then .. I can see my face slump with a grin And you... you're the last thing on my mind In my opinion, this is where his mind stops. But (and I know this is punctuation, but it is everything), I don't feel he is singing "I can see my face slump with a grin. And you ... you are the last thing on my mind" as if that is where that statement is coming from. For me, the word "you" is not leading into the next statement, but symbolizes the picture of the woman that was on his mind at the end. Like he is saying "I see A) my face slumped with a grin and B) you." or more importantly "I see you and because of that, my face has a grin." The man knew it was the end, he knew the last breath was near, and he had enough control to grasp for of one thing - to picture the woman in his mind one last time. That thought, made him happy, and the last reflex his body had was to make him smile. In all that ugliness ... a moment of overwhelming beauty. The most brilliant part of this song is the the contrast of the telling. This is an overly descriptive set of lyrics, and there was very little emotional words BNL used to tell this story. When they pulled it out, it was subtle ... a slumped face with a grin, and you. |
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