submissions
| Crywank – Handbong Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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@smoothies - Here you go:
http://notvoanb.tumblr.com/post/5506989946/thomas-saunders-helped-me-write-this-while-we |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Four New Trees Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I think this song's a general statement about how people can just sort of arbitrarily hate something that's so similar to other things they love. |
submissions
| AJJ – Free Bird Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I'm guessing that this song was written in part to provide an easy deterrent/response to hecklers. |
submissions
| AJJ – Zombie By The Cranberries Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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This is very obviously not a cover of "Zombie," but I suppose they're saying it's similar in spirit, or it's a response to or qualification of the song. |
submissions
| Smog – This Insane Cop Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Overreaction to a simple event. Everyone's had this. Get pulled over for speeding, tell all your friends, "SO THIS INSANE COP, HE PULLS RIGHT UP BEHIND ME..." |
submissions
| Smog – Peach Pit Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Vile, but in a lovely way.
He utilizes the grainy, lo-fi aesthetic to make you extra uncomfortable.
"That was the juiciest peach" should make you squirm a little if you're really listening. |
submissions
| Smog – 37 Push Ups Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Life is turbulent; ups are followed by downs and vice versa. He's feeling like crap right now, but he'll get better, and then he'll get worse again, and so on. Hence the push-ups. Up, down, up, down. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Bluejays and Cardinals Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Clear references to baseball at a couple of points.
The refrain of "This world couldn't hold you" suggests suicide, I think.
In any case, it's a goodbye to someone he loved who slipped free. |
submissions
| AJJ – White Face, Black Eyes Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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It sounds like it's specifically referencing victims of bombings or something of the like, but just in general it's about how painful it is to care for someone who's hurt beyond repair. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – Crucifixion Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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The acoustic guitar version is actually more powerful than the orchestral version, I think... When I heard him play the bullfight verse on guitar, it literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Brilliant songwriting. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – When In Rome Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Phil is comparing the development of America to the development of Rome, Nazi Germany, and various other empires. At the end, he wraps it up with a final note on the vindictive self-destruction of a society driven by war and bigotry. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – Draft Dodger Rag Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Jerrybear hit the nail right on the head, actually. When Phil Ochs was asked about this song, he said:
"In Vietnam, a 19-year-old Vietcong soldier screams that Americans should leave his country as he is shot by a government firing squad. His American counterpart meanwhile is staying up nights thinking up ways to deceptively destroy his health, mind, or virility to escape two years in a relatively comfortable army. Free enterprise strikes again." |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – Miranda Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Phil is searching for an escape here. Miranda is this perfect woman immune to the evils of the world... He may or may not be being sarcastic about this idyllic girl who does no wrong. |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Black Eyed Dog Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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There are two possible interpretations I've found:
The black eyed dog is death; he's giving into death the same way he'd give into a stray dog.
or...
The black eyed dog is depression; depression keeps coming back to him to take his energy the same way a stray dog would keep coming back for food. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Toolshed Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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The chorus line is taken from a segment of "Stairway to Heaven" played backwards:
Oh, here's to my sweet Satan
The one whose little path would make me sad
Whose power is Satan
He'll give those with him 666
There was a little toolshed
Where he made us suffer, sad Satan |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – 1 Samuel 15:23 Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I just kind of assumed that this song was about a cult leader who lures in the poor and recruits them.... The "crystal healer" line implies black magic (as the Bible quote says), and I think the "cloaks and capes" line implies some sort of uniform. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Crows Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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It seems like a satire on the lack of restraint in modern reconstruction projects. I wouldn't be surprised if it were based on actual events, though. |
submissions
| Nick Drake – Know Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I personally like solarion's interpretation, that it's about an unrequited infatuation... It seems to fit in more with Nick Drake's overall mood, especially on Pink Moon. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – Colored Town Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Even though this song is forty-some years old, it's still frighteningly accurate. Hopefully Obama will help with this. |
submissions
| Logan Whitehurst – How Ya Doing, Emily? Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This has got to be a break-up song. Throughout the song, especially in the last verse, the speaker is sardonically saying, "Yes, you really are as great as you think you are." The bridge before the last chorus implies that the speaker was dumped by Emily and not vice versa. The over-the-top upbeat melody and instrumentation is meant to emphasize the sarcasm. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – The Harder They Fall Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song seems to be parodying how even the darkest news stories are sugarcoated; the most poignant example is the last verse, in which Mother Goose pursues ethnic cleansing. The phrase "six million jingles" demonstrates how problems and criminals are simplified in order to be palatable to the public. |
submissions
| They Might Be Giants – The Day Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Someone should go back in time and alter the timestream so that the marriage of Marvin Gaye and Phil Ochs could be an actual historical event. |
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