| Animal Collective – Taste Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I'm disappointed by this song. Don't get me wrong--it's a beautiful track that I could listen to a million times over and still vibe to. But when I first heard the refrain "Am I really all the the things that are outside of me?" I thought AC was getting into some profound philosophical stuff about creating our own realities (cf. Schopenhauer, the mind, subject, object, the thing-in-itself, all that shit). That's something I think about often. But after reading the lyrics--100% correct or not--I see it's not about that at all. It's about something a little less interesting to me. I think "Taste" is about...well, taste, especially in the context of the identities we create and how they relate to others' identities. We judge people based on the identities they show to the world, but don't feel too bad if you get judged negatively because the identities you've created aren't really a reflection of who you are, underneath your "ego." That's my take anyway. | |
| The Hollies – Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Isn't it "Well, I gotta be forgiving if I wanna spend my living . . ."? | |
| The Killers – Human Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Sorry. *Verse 3 sarcastic. (because "grace," "virtue," "good," etc. are defined by the system of power that plays the music for this human to dance to) |
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| The Killers – Human Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Understanding what Hunter Thompson meant about America "raising a generation of dancers" tells us pretty much the main idea of Flowers' lyrics. But I think Thompson--and thus Flowers--is a little misguided in his application of the word "dancer": a dancer CAN be one who just performs a predetermined pattern of steps to music someone else puts on (like a dog doing tricks at its owner's commands), but I think most of us would associate dancing with letting loose, being free, and moving to our own rhythms. So, for me, that slightly sullies what is otherwise a good song. As for the question of whether we are the human race or the dancer race, I think Flowers gives the answer, at least for himself: "And sometimes I get nervous When I see an open door Close your eyes, clear your heart Cut the cord" This erstwhile "sheep" is standing at the door to something new and, scared shitless, he closes his eyes, clears his heart (I'm imagining a deep breath and closed eyes), and makes the decision to cut the cord (i.e. cut the apron strings to big brother, cut the umbilical cord to our omnipresent protector who knows best, cuts whatever metaphor to oppressive control you want, etc.) and says “so long to devotion.” Being an optimist, my take is that on his way “up the platform of surrender” there is an “open door” through which he can and does escape (metaphorically speaking, of course). I think verse 4 is sarcastic. Anyone else? |
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