submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – Can't Take Love For Granted Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Why did MCC have to play around with this song when she did it live and completely change the music? Much better left as it was on Shooting Straight In The Dark. "It was a funny way to show I love you/a funny way to care/it's a funny thing to be without you/as empty as your stare" the last line seems rather cutting in contrast to the first three .... |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – A Lot Like Me Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I've never quite worked out what the the phrase "he looked a helluva lot like me" means. It would seem unlikely that the guy had a physical resemblance to MCC, is it that they were both looking for the same thing in music? "Looking" as in "searching"? Whatever the answer, a great autobiographical song of MCC's early days in music, described in a wonderfully flowing lyric. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – Stones In The Road Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This has to be one of MCC's greatest songs. Joan Baez asked to use it before MCC even did and she agreed to let her. In my opinion, Baez did not do a good job of it, she sounded pretentious while MCC's version carried the right amount of world weariness the lyric requires. She did write it after all. A magical mix of melody and rhyme lamenting the passing of times when people had role models to inspire them, like Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Whatever "role models" are held up today usually reflect shallowness and stupidity as if it were a virtue. |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – Song Sung Blue Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This song was based on a piece of music written by Mozart, Diamond has admitted that. Neil just modified some of the notes in the intro. Very clever, he wouldn't get sued for plagiarism since Mozart is long gone .... |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – Shilo Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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This was the first Neil Diamond song that left an impression on me. It is about having an imaginary friend. I believe Shiloh had religious significance as an oasis, a place of rest. |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – I Am... I Said Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Shilo507's explanation about the chair seems pretty much right to me. I can't believe the presumptuous attitude of mflat that "the chair comment is completely uninspired and inane". Neil Diamond obviously knew what it referred to when he wrote the song, is mflat suggesting Diamond doesn't know his own mind? |
submissions
| Neil Diamond – Cracklin' Rosie Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Ok, pinback, Rayman and sing em, you've all got parts of the idea. I heard Neil once describe the origins of the song, it was about an Indian reservation where the women greatly outnumber the men. For the guys who miss out, a bottle of wine becomes their woman for the night. The title Cracklin Rosie is a play on rose wine. I think the bits about aftershave lotion and blow up dolls are the product of over fertile imaginations though. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – Late For Your Life Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I could never understand why this song was listed on the album as being over 11 minutes long, and yet it is made up of extraneous bits and pieces including MCC collapsing in laughter in the studio, and another completely separate song to finish. This song stands on its own with lines like "you might still be searching every face/for one you can't forget/love is out there in a stranger's clothes/you just haven't met him yet." Beautiful melody and some eloquent lines. A winner. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – Late For Your Life Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I could never understand why this song was listed on the album as being over 11 minutes long, and yet it is made up of extraneous bits and pieces including MCC collapsing in laughter in the studio, and another completely separate song to finish. This song stands on its own with lines like "you might still be searching every face/for one you can't forget/love is out there in a stranger's clothes/you just haven't met him yet." Beautiful melody and some eloquent lines. A winner. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – Where Time Stands Still Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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"I remember like a lover can/I forget it like a leaver will" "So baby, where's that place where time stands still/is it under glass inside a frame/was it over when you had your fill ...." classic MCC. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Moon And St. Christopher Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Brilliant lines, 'there's two lanes running down this road/whichever side you're on/accounts for where you want to go/or what you're running from. I also like the lines "I have run from the arms of lovers/I have run from the eyes of friends/I have run from the hands of kindness/I have run just because I can. Have often wondered, are those lines courageous or a cop-out? I suspect it's just plain honesty. |
submissions
| Mary Chapin Carpenter – A Road Is Just A Road Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Love the lines "on a lonely interchange, the signs all look the same" - they don't just refer to signs on a road, but a relationship that isn't working out. "A road is just a road/that the one you love is leaving on." |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – The Birds of St. Marks Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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The song arose from Jackson's involvement in the New York musical scene in the late 60's and specifically is about his observations of Nico. As hearingcolor suggests, the poetry (and the melody) stand on their own. A pity it was never recorded on a studio album. In the video Going Home, Jackson reveals the song was originally written on guitar, but was trying it out on piano for the first time. Sure worked! |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – Soldier of Plenty Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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An insightful look at the relationship between the US government, the military-industrial complex, religion and money - whichever way you look at it, someone's going to make a killing .... |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – Somebody's Baby Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I remember that in a Rolling Stone article around 1983, the writer lamented that with reference to this song, Jackson was now "wearing tacky green shoes and singing throwaway pop songs - talk about running on empty ...." A clever play on Jackson's own words, but I always find this song appealing, obviously it was quite a departure from his 70's material. Somebody's Baby is a song most guys could identify with. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – The Barricades of Heaven Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I always thought this song was about religion, but it just occurred to me that as Jackson eschews the lifestyle of the rich and famous, the line "all the world was shining from those hills" may refer to Hollywood - most of the song seems to refer to aspects of LA. "Among those there to test their fortunes and their wills/I lost track of the score long ago ..." I suspect Jackson would see the culture of Hollywood and his own view of the world as being diametrically opposed, and that he sees that plastic culture as irredeemable. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – Our Lady of the Well Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Sounds kind of biblical to me .... but maybe it's a forerunner to Jackson's overtly political material of the 80's - "across my home has grown the shadow of a cruel and senseless hand/but in sone strong hearts the love and truth remain". I guess there's something healing about water. Drawing water from the well could be symbolic of new ways of thinking? |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – Looking East Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Though it's not mentioned directly in the song, it's not hard to see that looking east from Los Angeles, where Jackson lives, the furthest point is Washington, where "power and position are equated with the grace of God." A great companion song to "For America" and "Soldier Of Plenty" |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – Lawyers In Love Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I heard Jackson do this song live in Belgium in 1982 a year before the album was released. By way of introduction, he said "this song is about ........ (long pause) ..... this song is about the United States right now". I've never really worked out what the title "Lawyers In Love" really means, but with the lines "I hear the USSR will be open soon/as vacation land to lawyers in love", Jackson seemed to envisage Russia being taken over by the worst aspects of American culture .... and a few years later, it happened. Mikhail Gorbachev championed the changes, but while many people in the former Soviet Union despise him for it, the proponents of new right economics in the west loved him for it. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – In The Shape Of A Heart Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Jackson's double imagery in the title is what strikes me about this song. There is "the ruby that she wore/on a chain around her neck/in the shape of a heart". One one hand, the ruby pendant signifies something about the outer appearance of a person, while the "unseen reefs" refer to their emotional makeup - the shape of their heart. One of Jackson's best songs ever. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – In The Shape Of A Heart Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Jackson's double imagery in the title is what strikes me about this song. There is "the ruby that she wore/on a chain around her neck/in the shape of a heart". One one hand, the ruby pendant signifies something about the outer appearance of a person, while the "unseen reefs" refer to their emotional makeup - the shape of their heart. One of Jackson's best songs ever. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – For America Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Although this song was written in the Reagan era, its true relevance could not be clearer in the wake of the invasion of Iraq. "Will they really think their way of life has been protected as the next war comes?" This song is about a guy who loves his country but hates what it has done to the rest of the world. One of Jackson's most direct songs that really delivers a punch. |
submissions
| Jackson Browne – I'm Alive Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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The cover of the "I'm Alive" album says it all ... Jackson has his head just above water. Rather than suggesting "everything's great", he's actually saying, "well, I've survived" ... and I believe it may be related to the demise of his relationship with Darryl Hannah. |
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