| Belly (US) – Untogether Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[Centri_Alpha:28327] - fair point. "bird's nest on my back" isn't so far from "monkey on my back." And "I keep my speech" could be that her speech isn't slurred from being high any more. | |
| Belle & Sebastian – She's Losing It Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is a difficult song to interpret. I'm fairly certain that "she's losing it" refers to Chelsea losing it (not Lisa). I'm also fairly certain that it IS about young lesbians (although it's about other things too). The line "Who needs boys when there's Lisa around" makes that pretty clear. Not to mention "The boys go with boys and the girls with girls." The singer (a boy) wants to get to know Chelsea better "I think that I could help here out," but she wants nothing to do with boys "The girl's using me as a punching bag." So Lisa takes Chelsea with her to another school where they're free to be lesbians. It's interesting that Lisa changes Chelsea's life, but Chelsea changes Lisa's life too: "It changed her philosophy in '82." The first time we hear that line it seems to refer to Lisa, but the second time it refers to Chelsea. It's tricky because when it says "she" or "the girl" we're never quite sure which girls it's referring to. |
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| Belly (US) – Judas My Heart Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Like most belly songs, this one is very difficult to interpret. Here's my best crack: "Judas" is used here as a verb meaning "betray" (Judas betrays Jesus in the bible). The singer has been been hurt and abused and so she's closed herself off to protect herself. I think "the scars of the drunks" means her scars caused by drunks in her life. She's covered the scars with a "blanket of gauze" and a "blanket of sighs." Then she talks about a lady that "walks everywhere on her hands, doesn't trust where her feet want to take her." This is an allegory for not trusting yourself and not trusting your instincts. "This is the room where we met." In other words, this is the state I was in when you came into my life. She's crippled by the fear of "that moment" when you "wake up and no one is there." That is to say, the fear of being hurt again. "Judas my heart" means "betray me." The key twist in the song, I think, is when she changes the words to **I'm** afraid that **I** walk everywhere on **my** hands, **I** don't trust where **my** feet want to take **me**. Then a few lines later: I say, "I" 'stead of "she." Now you're here. Once she recognizes that SHE is the lady that walks everywhere on her hands she can open up and let the person in. Instead of waking up and "no one is there," it's "Now you're here." Beautiful song with a wonderfully crafted message. |
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| Belly (US) – Untogether Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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This is a song about hopelessly failed relationships of all kinds. "You can't save the unsavably untogether." In other words when it's over it's over and there's nothing you can do about it. The first verse is about a friend that turned out to be a pathological liar - "She told outrageous stories ... 'till the endings were changing from endings before." So the singer gave up on her - "She's not touching me anymore." The second verse seems to be about a romantic relationship that was so confining that it was like being "shipwrecked" on an island with him. For a while she tried to ignore his "outrageous demands," but eventually she just surfed away. Like the end of the first verse "He's not touching me anymore." The third verse is much more cryptic and open to interpretation, but I think it's about the singer's relationship to a certain part herself. The first verse ends with "I couldn't help HER, I got hard." The second is "I couldn't help HIM I got hard." But this time it's "I couldn't help IT, IT got hard," which implies that it's not about another person; it's about her own choices in her own life. The "bird" on her back I think represents her desire to be something that she isn't and it "keeps her turning and twisting to see" . She tries to be the kind of person that "throws outrageous parties" - she wants to be "golden." But because that's not really her and she gives it up - "The bird keeps its distance and I keep my speech." So a relationship with something inside yourself can be a hopeless as a failed relationship with someone else. Anyhow that's my interpretation. I'd be interested to hear others. Eventually she gives up that |
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