| The Who – The Dirty Jobs Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I remember being an angsty young man and noting the hypocrisy of jaded older men who had conceded to capitalism, family, practicality, quiet desperation. In those early years, Jimmy too is beginning to make concessions and older guys who work dirty jobs are a symbol of what he's likely to slide into, so he feels compelled to call them out. The journey of masculinity involves being emasculated, just as the journey of humanity involves being dehumanized, in our empty modern life of work/pay/leisure and for Jimmy, in search of a deeper meaning to life than dances and fighting - he is right to think, this ain't it. What I love about the Who is the complexities and open questions tagged on to the simple punk message "society is stupid." Sure, it is, now what will you do about it. |
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| Jane's Addiction – Been Caught Stealing Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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This album is about a love and drug triangle, between two members of the band and a woman. So I always thought "stealing" had to do with romantic jealousy... it's exciting, but it's petty and unproductive. You cannot make a solid living taking razors and skirts, you can't make a solid love life just from cheating and open arrangements. Enjoy the thrill but admit it's a little hollow. |
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| The Cult – Bad Fun Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Cocaine. | |
| Phosphorescent – The Quotidian Beasts Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Drug addiction. It can wake you up early, you can get high (or withdrawal) in a bath, you can scold your demons but they will only laugh, they'll tear out your good parts and you want them back. The raven beak is just pure death, evil, darkness but to her it's just a conversational matter-of-fact thing. "I've come to kill you." But until the addict gets free, he can still tell himself all this horror "isn't so bad." The musical build goes from kind of romantic to just scary, like an addiction. |
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| Radiohead – Burn the Witch Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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It's about the media and politics of the US and the UK in 2016, playing on natural fears and encouraging people to mistrust and accuse each other. Witch hunts have always been popular, but social norms were in place not to rush to conclusions or take unfair action... but this year that all seems to be eroded. All opinion is expressed in the form of violent disagreement with some other opinion, or more likely a person or group representing it. Beneath the song's lyrics is the plea that this is dangerous, counterproductive, and misguided. The UK referendum on leaving the European Union, and the 2016 US presidential election, were won through paranoia, propaganda, and intimidation designed to get people fearing and vilifying each other. FEAR WON. Demonizing others feels good in the short term but destroys us in the end. Love the tension that the fevered strings section adds. It was cool to see them play the cellos live too, they opened the concert with this. |
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| Okkervil River – Okkervil River R.I.P. Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The theme of a once-cool person getting older is pretty typical for a rocker turning 40, maybe even worse for an Austin musician that remembers how cool it was there in the 90s and doesn't recognize it now. But like all Okkervil songs, it's two sided: getting old and lonely and drunk and defeated is ugly, but he recognizes in the first and last verse the wonder of childhood, the magic of the weather and travel and music... ending on that note, music is amazing, even if it's a new generation's turn to have their minds blown. There will always be cover songs, the perfect symbol of nostalgia and being satisfied with the echo of cool after cool has gone. The title is funny. "Formerly cool" people often compare turning 40 to dying (see James Murphy, Pete Townshend lyrics) but they're almost always tongue in cheek, obviously there is a lot more time left to have fun and reflect. |
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| Elton John – Come Down In Time Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I think it's about how a memories are more distinct if they're emotionally loaded - and they can be at once positive and negative. It could also be about promises coming true or not coming true - she said come down in time and I'll meet you half way but now he's left counting stars in the night without her. The music tracks with the emotion, from the crushing sorrow of the verse to the empty promise in the chorus to the face-punch of the final line of the chorus. Like a few songs on Tumbleweed Connection, it grows and grows on you until you think it's so awesome you're not sure why it wasn't a bigger hit- but it's just too gorgeous to hit people with the immediacy of a pop/radio hit. |
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| Deerhunter – Punk (La Vie Anterieure) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Sexual identity, but also just the effort to be "cool." Everyone can point to times in their lives when they were faking it, and maybe a few where they were at the pinnacle of hipness, but it's a relief to not be self-conscious. "Being punk" is maybe the weirdest form of being cool since it's an effort not to make an effort, a very conformist model for non-conformity. It's also like dnddmdb points out a huge relief to come out of the closet! So this awesome mumbly song is about finding yourself and looking back on a period where you either had it, or were totally faking it. |
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| Phish – Down With Disease Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[mynameismike:5420] agree, I always thought this was about a partly enjoyable, partly disturbing psychedelic experience... all the images seem like creepy hallucinations that are interesting at first, then eventually scary. Even to an experienced traveler who can dismiss a bad trip and wait it out, there's that feeling of "this has all been wonderful...but I'm looking forward to going back to normal." A few experiences like that are when you learn you're sort of maturing out of regular psychedelic use, which I was sort of going through when this song appeared in 1994 so that's what it meant to me :) | |
| Japandroids – The Nights of Wine and Roses Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The opening couplet makes it sound like they've taken the party life a few years past its prime (also dealt with elsewhere on the album, like "younger us."). If you are in your 30s and still going for it, you might question why you're still doing it until you hit that perfect night of laughs and spills with good friends - then the answer is "Of course we still are." As a kid, partying is really about discovery and seeking new feelings, but we get older maybe it's about hanging on or going back there. Take it as a positive or a negative thing, but the song feels like if you can get away with it, it's worth it. |
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| City and Colour – The Golden State Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I've always felt like California is mythologized beyond its reality. The first time I was there and saw an overweight or poor person, trash on the ground, low income housing, etc. I almost couldn't reconcile it in my mind. It wasn't paradise, it was just... more America. Maybe a while ago it was new and fresh and mostly dreamers moved there. "People STILL follow their dreams..." This song grabbed me right away, in a straightforward way, saying, when are we going to drop that fantasy? |
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| Ween – Captain Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This is a great song about addiction, from two guys who had spent a decade + loving substances, bragging about their benefits, and laughing at any kind of judgement about their consequences or sacrifices. This album is where Gener realized he was trapped, or maybe better put, adrift on a dark dark sea with someone else steering the boat. He was the one who signed up for this boat ride but all I hear in this song is darkness and regret. It's almost a prayer - whoever or whatever got me out here, please please I want to go back. Song rocks |
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| Deerhunter – Dream Captain Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I like how a lot of Deerhunter songs look at childhood and the past as this hopeful, imaginative state... and that drugs are just an adolescent way of trying to recapture that energy but tend to end in unintended results. It's kind of a "Puff the Magic Dragon" thing, though a much nicer execution. The wonder and willingness to dream could be a young boy looking to the Captain, or any of us looking to drugs and other vices, begging for some kind of adventure or elevation. Maybe a little shout out to Billy Joel for using the word "Captain" in this way once too. |
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| Ween – Chocolate Town Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I saw Gener play this sober/acoustic recently, and it all kinda hit me at once how many of his songs seemed like they were about partying when he was using, now seem like they're about sobriety since he's recovered. Verse 1 - his Mom was usually cool with it but she called him on it when it got too bad Verse 2 - his friends stage an intervention on the porch, he can't disagree Verse 3 - he's got messes to clean up but instantly feels better It's no accident this appears on the album after "Captain," which seems to be about a low point in addiction. I know 2003 wasn't the last time Gener cleaned up but lots of things were coming to a head, divorce, band tension, etc. The chorus IS about poop, too though. I've always seen brown as this hazy, disgusting oblivion they were seeking as Ween, but once you sober up, you're just an old fat guy taking a shit. |
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| Kurt Vile – Shame Chamber Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Kurt Vile is a prolific and ambitious creative, which in a lot of cases is secretly driven by shame and self-doubt. Plus he's just now getting recognition in his 30s, so I'm sure he's had plenty of discouragement and setbacks. Yet I take this song as tongue-in-cheek, like he very much feels it when people and circumstances knock him back, but deep inside he knows he has to keep going and that somehow all this shame is actually a motivator. Most KV songs have some kind of chuckle or sarcasm built in. | |
| Electric Six – When I Get to the Green Building Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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There are a lot of great themes here but for me it's about the mystery of death and things ending- I feel like the first verse is about the singer's own personal death, and the second deals more with the end of the United States (or at least, its promising dream) due to our corruption, hypocrisy, and poor policies. In both cases, "it doesn't matter any way." Death comes to people and will come to our nation eventually/soon. Yet it is mysterious - and like the coda says, interesting. We're mystified by endings despite their inevitability. |
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| My Morning Jacket – Outta My System Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Like a lot of his lyrics it's a two sided reflection - he's agreeing with society's conventional wisdom that too much is no good, but then he kind of smiles to himself and says "some things I did were good and I'm not sorry." Growing up is about separating the identity from the experiments. Don't turn your back on formative experiences, but keep an eye out for long term consequences. |
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| The Flaming Lips – Vein of Stars Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I feel like in The Flaming Lips' world, everything is chaos. Everything is nature. Everything is equally terrifying and liberating. The fact that nothing's looking out for you in the universe is kind of sad... but on the flip side nothing's out to get you either. The light show to accompany this on the current tour really boosted my appreciation for the song. Besides, it's only a "maybe." |
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| British Sea Power – No Lucifer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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What a great theme "Loss of Innocence" is. All must favorite stuff goes there one way or another. A kid riding his bike in the North of England, getting his head around the concept of war, life as he knows it could be wiped out if the Lucifers keep coming. But we can beat them all. But, is that what the future holds? Pretty awesome look at the many sides of an adolescent morality puzzle. |
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| British Sea Power – How Will I Ever Find My Way Home? Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Pretty simple. Get the hell out of there. Everyone can relate to this feeling. I love it too, Open Season is really miles better than their other two albums (which are both good!) | |
| Queens of the Stone Age – Suture Up Your Future Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Obviously I get that the needle is a sewing needle, possibly the biblical reference, and that he's threading it up to make a correction, change/bury the past, fix something. But evil through a needle also means drugs. I always thought this was about an attempt to quit, because he's been down so long, but its ambiguous sound and lyrics don't really say if it's worth cleaning up, if he'll succeed, or what's waiting on the other side. The last two lines really capture the confusion. I should make a change...maybe...I don't know if it will work...but I have to. |
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| Queens of the Stone Age – Misfit Love Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think everyone's right about the first part, cockiness, bravado, strolling into the city like he's a badass and thinking he can rock star it up with no consequences. The end part (which is beautiful) is more like turning the lights on and looking in the mirror after a long night. You see the bloodshoot eyes and the dark circles and realize you're kind of already dead - all these adventures have been pretty fake - you're gone. I like how it's connected to "sutre up my future" where he also says he's already gone. Why go to rehab now? I am dead person walking around. |
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| Queens of the Stone Age – Into The Hollow Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think it's about oblivion. Both sexually and with drugs. He is impatient, unsatisfied and lonely - so why not go deep into erasing yourself as much as possible. "The Hollow" is a state where you can't remember or feel anymore, no matter how you get there. Loss of ego, loss of self. Musically the coolest thing QOTSA do is make hard metal music that somehow sounds quiet. Can't figure out if it's the arrangement, the production, or just his voice having more melody and tenor than your usual hard rock singer. But this song is crazy, turn it up as loud as you like and it still has this "quiet" thing |
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| Super Furry Animals – The Gift That Keeps Giving Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| This song is about marijuana. It arrived in the mail, made his day when he opened it, but will continue to make his day upon every use. It goes "back to the beginning" of his experience with it every time he uses it - a happy, fulfilling place. | |
| The Hold Steady – One for the Cutters Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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The Hold Steady paint so many portraits of trashy people, but this one is a view of trashy people through a middle class lens (the college girl) my question is, are the guys in the band working class trash themselves or more like the well-read college types that mimick, mock, follow and fear trashy people? T hey seem so obsessed with alcoholics in busted cars, I'm wondering if this is autobiography or zoology. |
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| Ween – Freedom of '76 Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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If you grew up in Philly in the same generation as Dean and Gene, many of these cultural references make sense as to how historic-yet-lame the city felt in the late 70s and 80s. The city was ghetto, but trying to promote this "image" which loosely ties together Rocky, cheesesteaks, and Ben Franklin. Appropriately ridiculous. |
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| Ween – Lullaby Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song really grabbed me, despite being a little out of character for Ween. Most of their songs are about substance "experiences" but this was obviously written after Gener got sober, and has a lot of great imagery about nature, innocence, courage, fear. I would imagine getting clean reduces your ego to a fetal state, in good and bad ways. | |
| My Morning Jacket – Highly Suspicious Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I'm with sable jester - Jim's "hiiiigh," but the backup vocal contrasts the giddiness with the paranoia. All good electro/beats songs should make you freak out a bit when you are baked, unlike rock which is generally comforting. This song touches on both. It is also arguably composed in the style of the little "songs" you hear inside your mind when you are heavily stoned... like Ween. | |
| Jens Lekman – Your Arms Around Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I have a much darker view of this song, because of its haunting melody and ESPECIALLY because of the updated lyrics about what is fixed will always be broken. They both know the relationship is kind of over - but they are still going out. When she tries to show affection like she used to, he cuts himself. She tries to comment, but the line between fixed broken, hurt OK, love alienation, has become too blurred. When he wakes up in the hospital they both kind of realize their relationship is dead. | |
| The Who – Blue, Red And Grey Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| There's more if you fit it into the context of the album - all about how Pete Townshend is sad he's become an alcoholic worn out rock star. He has no concept of time or place, trashing hotel rooms, up all night, etc. Probably doesn't know what time of day it is unless it's pitch black or glaring sun, and the weather is the only variable in his daily routine of excess. This song actually sounds pretty sad but he's kind of cheering himself up. He knows some partiers, and he knows some new agers, and he knows some business people, but life is too diverse to get stuck fixated on one element. This song has really helped me out of some low places. I just think the love element, "as long as you are on my mind" is a bit forced. | |
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