submissions
| Jackson Browne – The Pretender Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The line about the veterans fast asleep at the traffic light is one of my favorite in the song, but I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with old people (a few people have said it does). This song came out in '76, which means all the Vietnam veterans had just come home and were very young. I think the meaning has more to do with what someone else sais above about Veterans getting bored with the civilian life. I think there's even a little more to it than that...more like they are sleepwalking through a wasted life. |
submissions
| Don McLean – Castles In The Air Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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In having someone else say his "last goodbyes," he is showing how quickly he just wants to split, now that he recognizes what he wants. He is done with society and all that jazz and isn't even going to go back to say farewell. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – The Last Carnival Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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The line about "two daredevils" really resonates. Danny Federici was considered the wild one in the band and was always pulling ridiculous stunts and even sometimes running from the law. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Bring On the Night Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I love this song, but I don't think the lyrics are among Springsteen's best. It's just the incredibly sexy, sad, passion of it. His voice just echoes at the beginning there and almost gives me chills. |
submissions
| Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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When Leonard Cohen was asked if this song was about someone specific he said yes, but that he couldn't remember who. It is also noted that he himself used to be seen around in a blue raincoat. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Mary Queen of Arkansas Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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It's not too hard, assuming I have the right idea of it, to figure out the big picture, but when I look at each individual line, there's so much I can't really grasp. Anyone have any explanations for any of those tricky ones? |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Girls In Their Summer Clothes Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I think it's important how he suggests that Shaniqua may have saved his life just by asking what was going on with him. After everyone else (the girls in their summer clothes) just ignored him, he needed someone who would notice him and care at least enough just to listen. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – A Good Man Is Hard To Find Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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As far as that Flannery O'Connor thought goes...I can't see a connection either, but I did hear a guy in a documentary on Bruce Springsteen say that Bruce used Flannery O'Connor's "meanness" concept. This guy was refering to Nebraska when the killer in the song said "I guess it's just a meanness in this world," but Bruce also used the concept of the "meanness in this world" in this song and Flannery O'Connor referred to "doing him a meanness" as in killing someone or burning down his house. I don't know if she used this phraseology anywhere else in her writing or wrote of it more in depth. I'm not sure of the meaning of all this, but there you go. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – The Angel Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I don't think people are just in awe of him. To me he seems more like a menace than a hero. The nervous roadside attendant and the "poison oozing from his engine" suggest that he is feared. "Poison oozing" and "humpin' his hunk metal whore" make him sound dirty too. This and the "trainer bra" make me wonder if this has something to do with pedophilia(love as a lethal weapon)..? I feel silly suggesting that one if I'm way off.
I guess that theory would have little to do with the Angel's death/if it were correct his death wouldn't be so relevent/wouldn't be in the song. So this song's way beyond my comprehension.
Also, I wonder if anyone can fill in the holes for me here: I think baseball cards are put in bicycle spokes to make them sound like motorcyles...so why does he have them(isn't he on a real motorcycle?)?Could this be saying that, although he has a real motorcylce, his image is just as false and manufactured as that of a child on a bike pretending to be a motorcyclist? |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – For You Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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P.S. ScubaDoo, you leave great comments on Bruce's songs. On others you have really pointed out some things that really helped me figure things out. Thanks. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – For You Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I've listened to this song more than any other of Bruce's, and he is my favorite artist. I think I've developed a pretty good understanding of it, but I haven't quite been able to connect the lines with the "power of a locomotive" and "strength is devastating" to the rest of the song's purpose. I guess it almost seems contradictory to me in some ways...though these lines are independently some of my favorites.
Also, everyone was right about Hammersmith. Amazing, and amazingly different. But I still prefer the original. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Bishop Danced Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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I haven't been able to glean too much from this song, but I'd be willing to bet that there's something there--while a fun dance song indeed, there must be more to it. |
submissions
| The Rolling Stones – You Can't Always Get What You Want Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Eatapch4pce, I am not trying to argue, I mean this as a legitimate question. If it was this song that Jimmy Miller played the drums in, the song must have been written before they decided to put him in it as some sort of respectful gesture. So there must have been a meaning to that verse that had nothing to do with that man in particular. So was the name just used as a meaningless name to replace whatever other name they might have had there before (or did they alter or add the verse for him)? Your theory (or facts) doesn't really tell us what the song is about, and, therefore, hardly discounts other people's opinions--though I understand that Mr. Jimmy did not likely refer to Jimmy Miller and Jimmy from Minnesota. |
submissions
| The Rolling Stones – You Can't Always Get What You Want Lyrics
| 17 years ago
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Since there are a few people backing it up, I definitely think that the story of Jimmy the handicapped man is worth considering, but I do not, however, think that this means the song is about him. His being alive does not prove that the song is not about death. He is just a metaphor. And, if there is any validity in the Jimi Hendrix story, there is a possibility that the name was used because it could refer to both of them. Often times songs, even songs about a single character, are not about a single real-life person. If Jimmy and Jimi both inspired this song, the important aspects of each, as well as perhaps some made-up things could have been combined to get a point across. The metaphor used is not always, or often, the real subject.
Just an interesting point: in the movie High Fidelity, they say this song is about death. Not that they cannot be wrong, but I tend to believe them. I came here to find out specifically how it is about death or what point it is making about death. |
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