| Minus the Bear – Ice Monster Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Great band, amazing song. I especially love the acoustic version from their Daytrotter session! I don't mean to nitpick, but the way I hear this song (and the way I prefer to think of it I suppose), suggests that it isn't a song to himself about a girl he lost, but rather a song to the clingy, troublesome ex-boyfriend of a girl he's now dating. I think the usage of pronouns and the general syntax of the song fit much better under this interpretation. Anyway, I'll say again that I love this song. I have since the first time I heard it, but recently, I've grown to appreciate it even more. I just went through a rough break up after a long relationship, and listening to this song while imagining my ex's future boyfriend singing it to me was actually immensely helpful. It allowed me maintain an acute awareness of myself and my actions towards her in a difficult situation, and ultimately avoid becoming the kind of douchebag about whom this song was written. |
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| Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Travel Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I don't view this as a song about a personal relationship between two people. I always find it a bit curious--and sometimes even humorous--that everyone is so quick to presume that a song was written about a girl! (Case in point: '97 by Alkaline Trio) It seems clear to me that this song was written about the sort of corporate-industrial wage slavery under which most of us are forced to serve. He's writing about the manner in which people let their careers and jobs dictate the entirety of their lives. The chorus perfectly outlines the plight--the hopelessness and desperation--of those barely getting through the daily grind of their day to day routine. It tells of the tightrope walked by people who have been stripped of the freedom inherent in their humanity, people whose wills have been so thoroughly broken that they now rely on (or are "held together" by) an adherence to schedule, a routine and the perceived necessity of the pursuit of material wealth ("calendars and cents"), and the insignificant personal habits ("daily papers and a pack of cigarettes") that allow them to temporarily ignore their desperately unhappy situation and make it through one more day. (The background singing of "on a beach near your heart" at the end of the second chorus evokes the notion that people are always looking to escape their depressing routine--even if only by means of imagination.) The first verse alludes to the fact that people are so often putting off travel or other personal endeavors because of their work, and how they cannot say with certainty they're actually taking a trip until physically there (on the beach in the case of this song). It highlights the level to which people will allow work to consume their lives, and how the endless drudgery destroys their spirits to the extent that the only "blessed" aspect of one's perception of their future becomes the standard 2 weeks of personal vacation time allotted each year. The second verse is written about a boss or supervisor towards whom the speaker has an ill will--probably because he hates his job--and the surprisingly arduous task of putting work the boss and the office out of mind, even on vacation. I doubt anyone will ever even read this comment, but I have an oddly strong love for this song, and I feel it's deserving of--even if not necessarily correct--and alternative interpretation. Anyway, here are the lyrics as I hear them: Cannot say trip til our bodies rest on a catskill island shore Travel out west, our future's blessed only two weeks at a time Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Our Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes Try to understand she's a goddess of someplace we just left Try to understand she's got problems, son She's got problems you can't stand Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes (on the beach near your heart) We're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a [boot?] of cigarettes |
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| Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Travel Song Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I don't view this as a song about a personal relationship between two people. I always find it a bit curious--and sometimes even humorous--that everyone is so quick to presume that a song was written about a girl! (Case in point: '97 by Alkaline Trio) It seems clear to me that this song was written about the sort of corporate-industrial wage slavery under which most of us are forced to serve. He's writing about the manner in which people let their careers and jobs dictate the entirety of their lives. The chorus perfectly outlines the plight--the hopelessness and desperation--of those barely getting through the daily grind of their day to day routine. It tells of the tightrope walked by people who have been stripped of the freedom inherent in their humanity, people whose wills have been so thoroughly broken that they now rely on (or are "held together" by) an adherence to schedule, a routine and the perceived necessity of the pursuit of material wealth ("calendars and cents"), and the insignificant personal habits ("daily papers and a pack of cigarettes") that allow them to temporarily ignore their desperately unhappy situation and make it through one more day. (The background singing of "on a beach near your heart" at the end of the second chorus evokes the notion that people are always looking to escape their depressing routine--even if only by means of imagination.) The first verse alludes to the fact that people are so often putting off travel or other personal endeavors because of their work, and how they cannot say with certainty they're actually taking a trip until physically there (on the beach in the case of this song). It highlights the level to which people will allow work to consume their lives, and how the endless drudgery destroys their spirits to the extent that the only "blessed" aspect of one's perception of their future becomes the standard 2 weeks of personal vacation time allotted each year. The second verse is written about a boss or supervisor towards whom the speaker has an ill will--probably because he hates his job--and the surprisingly arduous task of putting work the boss and the office out of mind, even on vacation. I doubt anyone will ever even read this comment, but I have an oddly strong love for this song, and I feel it's deserving of--even if not necessarily correct--and alternative interpretation. Anyway, here are the lyrics as I hear them: Cannot say trip til our bodies rest on a catskill island shore Travel out west, our future's blessed only two weeks at a time Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Our Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes Try to understand she's a goddess of someplace we just left Try to understand she's got problems, son She's got problems you can't stand Cause we're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a pack of cigarettes (on the beach near your heart) We're just held together by calendars and cents Daily papers and a [boot?] of cigarettes |
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