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Alanis Morissette – Joining You Lyrics

16 years ago

What I love about this song, is that Alanis does what she does so well in her songs: she cuts through all the b@*^S)%^, and tells it like it is. She means that we are more than just a bunch of labels. People like to catagorize each other and then make judgements and comparisons: What do you do for a living?; what neighborhood do you live in?; how much education do you have?; are you married?. As though people can be reduced to labels. We are more than the sum of our parts, and in the end, the only one that we are in competition with are ourselves. Alanis understands that if we just judge ourself by society's (meaning Western society's) standards, we end up feeling empty and unfulfilled, no matter how outwardly successful we appear to be. It took me a long time to learn this in my own life, but I'm a better, humbler, (and I hope, kinder) person for that hard-earned knowledge. The song is quite obviously Alanis trying to reason with the child of a friend who has bought into our societ'y false values and been driven to despair by it. I don't know if this song is based on fact, but if so, I hope the child listened to Alanis's wise words. This song is so relevant today, considering what has happended to our country in the last 18 months. This recession (swiftly degenerating into a depression, God help us), has laid a lot of people low, including myself. I was laid off from my job a year ago, and all the education and middle class striving on my part didn't help me. Isn't it ironic (excuse the joke) that this song is one that buoys me up in this very difficult time. It reminds me that I am more than a displaced worker, more than my lost job, more than the amount on my unemployment check. Thank you, Alanis, for this song, because I think you may have saved MY life with it.

submissions

Natalie Merchant – Not In This Life Lyrics	17 years ago
This song was featured over a scene from the first season of "Alias". Can't remeber exactly what was happening, but I knew right away that it was Natalie singing; no one else has a voice like that...

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XTC – Earn Enough For Us Lyrics	17 years ago
A song that had added poignancy and meaning in light of our failing economy. I don't smile anymore when I listen to this song.

submissions

The Tragically Hip – Courage (For Hugh Maclennan) Lyrics	17 years ago
Thought you'd like to know.....Sarah Polley, the Canadian actress, does a beautiful version of this song, in thr film, "The Sweet Hereafter" In fact, the whole soundtrack to the film is gorgeous. Check it out...

submissions

Billy Paul – Me and Mrs. Jones Lyrics	17 years ago
It's obvious what this song means, so I'll just comment on it's beauty. It is my favorite song of all time, and whenever I hear it, I SWOON, I just SWOON.....The building intensity, the soulfullness, that incredible voice, the orchestral quality of the background. It's just the classiest song ever.

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Tori Amos – Past The Mission Lyrics

17 years ago

I agree that the Mary Magdalyn/Christ interpretation makes a lot of sense, and a lot of posters have interpreted it well in that way. I've always seen it another way, however. The beauty of Tori's work is that it's often open to multiple interpretations. Anyway, the melody always seemed spooky and sinister to me, so I always put a dark interpretation on the lyrics. My take is that the singer is a woman who had fallen into the clutches of a femme fatale ("she" and "hot girl" in the song). The first stanza describes the seduction. I picture the singer as somewhat innocent and inexperienced. A man has also fallen for the femme fatale, and she has killed him. She is definitely a psychopath, perhaps a serial killer (very unlikely in real life, of course, most serial killers are men). The singer strongly suspects the femme fatale is guilty of the murder. As for "the mission", I'm not sure about that; it could be where the man was buried by the murderess. Note that there's also a reference to prison, perhaps a foreshadowing of what's going to happen to one or both of the women. If you're the type who enjoys a sad ending, you could imagine that the crime has been discovered, and the singer has been framed by the seductress, and the former is awaiting her execution in prison, remembering the passionate relationship with her lover ("I smell the roses"). Or maybe I've just overdosed on film noir:)

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The Innocence Mission – That Was Another Country Lyrics

17 years ago

This song was inspired by the book "The Go-Between". I think it was by L.P.Hartley, and it was later made into a great movie staring Julie Christie. Anyway the Christie character is the song's voice. Her fiance went away in WWI, and she was selfish and lonely, so she took up with a groundsman (played by Alan Bates) at her estate. At that time, the class system was impenetrable, and the affair was doomed from the start. The "Go-Between" of the title is an adolescent boy, a friend of one of the boys in the family, whom Christie uses to carry letters and set up trysts with the Bates character. At the end of the book, the "Go-Between", now a young man, has obviously been damaged and emotionally stunted by the way in which Christie has used him. She however is oblivious to the harm that she's done and justifies her amoral behavior ("he (the Bates character) was fine and in the first place was around"). She sees the Go-Between as her "friend", although she treated him, and everybody else including her fiance, in a very shabby manner. The title of the song refers to a famous quote from the book-it might be the first sentence, I'm not sure-: "The past is another country. They do things differently there".

submissions

The Innocence Mission – Bright As Yellow Lyrics

17 years ago

I agree with ameo747. To me this song has always resonated, because I'm a very shy person, and I've always wanted to be more outgoing (to "live life with your arms reached out"). A shy person often doesn't leave a strong impression (is "pale pink") rather than vivid ("scarlet and gold"). The thorns are the protection (really more like a prison) that the shy person uses to distance him/herself from others. Shy people are often perceived as standoffish, but inside they're wanting desparately to connect ("shouting here inside").

submissions

The Cowboy Junkies – Angel mine Lyrics

17 years ago

I too love this song. When i first got the CD, I played this song about twenty times in a row. I think what i love about it is not only the beautiful melody, but the message behind it, which i think is not too obscure. The song is about lasting love. When we first fall in love, we tend to idealize people. The man in the song thought she was an angel at first. As time passed, his view changed to become more realistic. Familiarity dulled the passion. Yet the man knows that sometimes the passion will reawaken ("the wings will grow back", "the halo still shines" and he'll feel about her as he once did at the start of their relationship). The woman in the song can't promise to always be angelic and perfect for the man. Age will take away some of her physical beauty. But she can promise to stand by him and be faithful. I think that this is the sort of love that we all desire in our hearts, and we would all be happier if we stopped chasing after the latest Hot Young Thing, and realized that there is a richness to sharing life with someone over a period of years. You don't treat your spouse like a car, and trade her (or him) in when the parts start getting old, and the engine doesn't reve as quickly as it used to.

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