| Michael Jackson – Beat It Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I had a similar interpretation, but I always thought the song was pretty clear. MJ is singing about the talk that we get from our parents about what to do when the police get that look in their eyes. I mean, that talk is something that a father (or mother) will tell her (Black or Latino) son when he's young, "When the cops get that violent look in their eyes, just leave before violence happens; they might kill you." Obviously, the song has multiple meanings depending upon what community you come from, but think about what effect the conversation has on a little kid. It's just one of those things that you'd pick up on if you've had that conversation, you know? And there is a lot of evidence for this not-so-hidden meaning. The key line is only said once, but it's the center of the entire song, "They'll kick you, then they beat, then they'll tell you it's fair." This is about having violence done to you, then someone telling you that that that violence was part of justice, when "it doesn't matter who's wrong or right." Just run. Just "beat it." It doesn't matter how angry you are at the injustice. Don't let your macho side take over. Just run. I mean, that's the talk I got as a kid. I know that lots of others like me get the talk. And I imagine that MJ might have gotten the same talk, too, from somebody. Anyway, that's just my perspective. |
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| Katy Perry – E.T. Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Alright, so the album version I have doesn't have West singing in it. I know the video has him, but he didn't figure into my version of the song when I first interpreted it and I was never impressed with his live performances anyway... so I'm just going to ignore him! This is, after all, the forum that has the lyrics posted without West's ft. I'm going to weave the video and the song together. The comments other people have made about celestial beings, whether aliens or angels, are very fascinating. While some interpretations seem a little... reactionary, let's give them some substance. Context first; the being singing in the video is falling from heaven. That comparison could be either the angelic fall from grace OR an alien leaving the stars to be on Earth. In my interpretation, they are the same thing. It's the action of FALLING that's important. I know most people are saying that the song is about the man being an alien. That's an easy, direct interpretation; woman and alien sex. Ho hum. I think the video makes it much more complicated. What's clever is that SHE'S FALLING FOR A MAN, not an alien. So, we have a creature falling from grace for a man. It starts out as foreign, unfamiliar, misshapen, then takes a vaguely humanoid figure. It sings about encountering this man who is so "hypnotizing." Not sure if it's angelic or devilish at first, it can't help but be drawn to be with him. When I first met a guy that beautiful and charismatic, the experience was overwhelming. I was afraid of getting swept away. How can you be sure that someone like that would treat you right? He could be an angel or a devil. I understand that sentiment that the creature is singing about. But it's too late, the creature is falling for this guy. He's from a whole other world that the one it is from. And suddenly, it becomes a she. Notice that the creature changes as it draws closer to the guy she is falling for; she becomes a woman for the first time, beautiful... human. It turns out the man really is different than other guys. He's unbelievable, his very touch leaves her glowing, ecstatic (the sex must be phenomenal). She opens her eyes (literally in the video, she gets eyes for the first time), and suddenly she realizes that she would be taken "into the light" for this man. She would become a better person. Not be dark anymore. Maybe even die for him (going into the light). As she falls for him more she changes to be more human, moved by how much she loves him unconditionally. Until she touches down, kisses him and is finally with him on Earth, feet on the ground. The veil falls away and we recognize that she is not like him. She never was. But that's the whole point, he's not like other men; she was alien, barely even human from the beginning. The song is about falling for someone so hard and then being blessed by it actually being true love. It's by being saved by that faith in another person. That one person. That one unfathomable person that brought you to the pinnacle of what it means to be human. |
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| Santigold – Shove It Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I had a similar interpretation to Jamaican's, but with some subtle differences. There's a definite political message here, especially the "war tactics make me sick" lines. That part is about being tired of dirty political messages, trying to sell positive social change with hatred, war, and slandering others. JamaicanB totally taps into that part of the message. However, I think the song is relating this trend to other social problems. These issues are related or inseparable. The first section of the song is about being from a rougher area. While not explicitly about race, I feel what she's saying as a non-black person of color. She's singing about pride in where you come from, even if most people don't consider it much. It's as if she's saying, "Despite where I come from, I've still got soul and you can't just run over me as a person." We might not be rich, but we've got soul. This ties into later lines when she says, "I hear them all say that I got heart but not everything that it takes" Your background, whether it's race or being poor or how you grew up, is often used to hold you down. Others make assumptions that you can't do as much because of this. Maybe I'm biased, but I'm the first of my family to graduate high school and I used to hear this (you got heart, but you gotta have more than THAT to make it) through high school and college all the time. The lyrics talk about the common experience of lots of people like me. You can't keep us down because of where we come from. The second section is about the politics of keeping people down, as JamaicanB posted. Just because of who we are, we're not going to put up with power-hungry, war-mongering politics. We know better BECAUSE of where we come from. It's our duty to say that there's another way. The last section is about being true to yourself despite "the man" keeping you down. While I personally connect with this section, I also think that the artist is talking about her own music. People might criticize her for being eccentric, but at least she's not selling out. She's willing to make what she feels inside and to hell with people who don't think she has what it takes. The whole song weaves these three things together. It's about being true to yourself despite the oppression we face. When she chants "We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine," she's making two statements at once. The first is what some prejudiced person/dirty politician/hipster-wannabe music critic might say to you, "Look at who you are, all hopeful, but you're nobody. We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine." However, these words themselves can be reclaimed. We don't have to be held down, "We know how you work and you use guns cause you don't have any other strength. We gain soul from where we come from and who we are. We think you're a joke. Shove your hope where it don't shine." The chant can be heard both ways. I think she's asking us to decide which way we hear it, but that's just me. |
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| The Knife – We Share Our Mother's Health Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I see two emerging interpretations of this song. On one hand, people seem to think that "north" refers to a literal place in the north. Whether that's Scandinavia or the emergence of humans is debatable, but that seems to be one interpretation. The second interpretation is that the apple represents a metaphor for the Eden myth. It's true that images of abundance and apples are almost always references to Eden, utopia, or redemption. The concept of the "perfect place" is totally present in this song. Let's also take that there are two competing voices in the song. One voice is very negative. While there may be elements of male-dominance there (and that was very interesting to point out), I think the contrast between the two voices is more important. The negative voice chants about falsehood and petty, self-aggrandizing competition, "Say you need it when you don't... Looking better... than you do." The other voice is more hopeful, though more insecure. Her voice is hopeful for what she will find in this plentiful place; maybe trees and apples. I do agree that she's singing about paradise. Still, the two voices are singing counter to one another, constructing hope and tearing down with selfishness. I see no reason why the song cannot be talking about both things simultaneously. It's a HUMAN narrative, we destroy what we're given. We destroy it because we can't help it. We're self-serving and near-sighted. "We came down from the north Blue hands and a torch Red wine and food for free A possibility" This sounds like the human origin story, whether Christian or not. Let's say it's the story of how the last ice ages receded leaving us in a land of plenty. Either way, she sings about possibility! She sings about the paradise we've been given to us in the form of a chance to start over, a beautiful world, innocence we have at birth. "We share our mothers' health It is what we've been dealt" I see this as a general statement that we are connected with the things around us. For instance, we've been given a beautiful planet to live on; our own Eden. We share the fate of this world. When she dies, so do we. This interconnectedness is our human condition. "What's in it for me? Fine Then I'll agree" However, we always choose the more selfish option. We decide our paths in self-interest, not with our human condition in mind. Our Eden is doomed to end because we don't deserve it. The rest of the song is the competing human impulses of hope and reverence for what we've been given (generosity or natural beauty) and our self-serving, destructive nature (we destroy the natural beauty of the world because it makes a profit). I use an ecological example because it fits more closely with the Eden narrative, but I think the message is more generally about our conflicting human natures. |
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| Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This is, by far, the most insightful interpretation of the song so far. I agree that the song is about authenticity and artifice. We tend to chase things that glitter. However, we're not after precious gems anymore; it requires far too much work to pursue the real thing. We've traded all that away for rhinestones, plastic, and all the breakdown that goes along with the pursuit of the base, vulgar versions of beauty. What we now pursue is simultaneously glamorous and incredibly heart-breaking. We've gained the art of making the insignificant (those pixels, rhinestones, and plastic) seem glorious. And we've ruined the world, both the environment and our own human 'natures,' in the process. A superb song. |
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| M.I.A. – Come Around Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| "Paid the dolla" could also just be another way of saying "paid money." I mean, she IS singing in slang English. Paid the rupee sounds kind of weird, heh. The song's event could also be happening in America. However, I don't think she literally means "dollars." However, American dollars are taken as currency in many foreign countries... Good question. | |
| M.I.A. – Come Around Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I rarely get seriously excited about really small things, but OMFG, I LOVE the little sly chortle at the very opening of the song! Haha. Alright, so I have an interesting alternative interpretation. Call me twisted, but it totally works; and it's not like M.I.A. isn't wicked playful herself. So go ahead, play the song again as you read on. I think M.I.A. is singing circles around Timbaland. The whole song is very feminine, so I'm going to play off that. Cause she's about to femme-fatale assassinate Timbaland. In the first part, she's obviously checking into a hotel. She paid the "dolla," or money, for the room. She gets a call from her counterpart, her sidekick, and the conversation goes like this: Controller: "Sup?" M.I.A. (pretending and speaking in code): "Holla!" Controller: "Text the address" (of where the clean-up crew should show up) M.I.A.: "I'll see ya later..." Then she gets the nervous rush of someone about to make a kill. "Baby calm down." (She totally says "calm," listen to it). Calm down, calm down... make a run down (check for the weapon, etc.) And then her HEART STARTS POUNDING! A dun da da dun dun... It's totally a rushing heartbeat in any interpretation. Beat goes on. Now we figure out the rest of the story. She describes a hard-core, sexy female freedom fighter, "ride up on our tanks, invade." It might be one of the civil war fighters, given the "save our name" reference. "We hit s*** out when it rains," they raid targets in harsh weather. She's lured Timbaland to the hotel to knock him off. "Would you come down and catch my train? Would you run down and play this game?" He's obviously a bastard of a guy. He's sexist, culturally-stupid... tee-pee? Seriously? "I've been overkilling them, I break backs," he's probably an enemy general or crime boss. The last refrain catches up to the present moment. She's checking into the hotel about to make her kill. She's rushed, checking to make sure everything goes perfectly. The song breaks. I imagine them going back to the room, then she pulls a gun on him when the electronic music starts. Bounce. He starts to back up to escape. "Don't get it twisted baby girl, baby boy 'cause Timbaland ain't dead" He might be dead, but there's another just like him. (That, or he added that part because he realized that the song made him sound like an a**. He explicitly tries to NOT have us have this interpretation, "don't be twisted, man"). Bounce, she leaves the room. Just a thought, hehe. Thought one or two of you would get a kick out of this interpretation. I like it! |
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| M.I.A. – Galang Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| And by "India," I mean Sri Lanka. While the artist did live in India for a while, I actually meant to say that she was singing about the war conditions in Sri Lanka. Sorry for the thoughtless slip. | |
| M.I.A. – Galang Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Wow, some intense hostility on this song's page. This is a tricky song; it shows some interesting structure to it. I've appreciated some of the posts so far. Thank you. Hopefully more people will be willing to share what they've developed. I can't speak for anybody else, but I find reading interpretations much more fascinating than wading through negative comments that don't add meaning to the song. I don't post very often, but I'll take a leap on this one. I'd like to first point out that almost all the lyrics are advice, if not outright commands. I think one other person mentioned something about this. I totally agree. The song is about figuring out how to go from living in another country to living in London. It's about all the difference of London, but how much of the violence and insecurity are exactly the same. But life goes on, because it has to. I definitely see some drug reference, but the advice theme is far too strong for me not to base my interpretation on that. So, "London calling," this is a double-entendre. It can bluntly be taken to be a phone call. Someone is calling from London. However, the more delicate meaning indicates that she has been "called away" to London. London is her new home. I use the word "she" because this, in fact, happened to the artist. She moved from conflict-torn India to London. However, it could be about anybody going through this same situation. Then the advice starts, starting with the slang, "Boys say wa gwan, girls say wha- what." The friend is explaining who uses what slang words. Galang, go on and do what you want, this is how things work in London. And get down when there's shotgun fire, or you'll get hit, "shotgun get down... too late you down." I'm still working through "blaze a blaze." I imagine her seeing a building burning down, the same she had seen during the violence of India. However, it could also mean, "smoke a joint, it'll make you feel better." She does follow with "purple haze," which could be the cannabis type or the resulting smoke from the fire. The lyrics are loose enough. Maybe she means both. The next set has someone following her in a BMW. She's worried, but she's getting advice on how to get through the situation (whether the police, crooked cops, or someone just hunting her; she has to get away). She puts her head down, pulls the strings on her hoodie to conceal her face, and walks away quickly. She, like most people in inner London, are worried. Paranoid. Because you have to be in that situation, you have to look out for yourself. Strangely, this constant paranoia is a lot like being back in India. The last set of lyrics is just more and more advice on how she'll survive the transition to living in inner London. However, the best part is the chant at the end. The chant is in solidarity with where she comes from, and all those in her situation... both in London and in her old home. We're all going through this same struggle. In our own cities, in our own lives. For her, it's recalling India. Everything she left behind, good and bad. How much is alien in London, but how much is still the same. Anyway, I hope somebody out there gets something out of this interpretation. Thought his thread could use a little positive interpretation. Take it for what it is. Good listening, boys and girls... and be nice. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – Scarborough Fair/Canticle Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Thank you, everybody, for your comments. They're been very stimulating and have expanded my interpretation of the song! I listened to this song after a break up thinking it was about the impossible tasks love requires, but I couldn't figure out why the word "gun" came up. I began to focus on the more subtle lyrics and came to the realization that the song was anti-war! After reading the additional comments shared by everyone else, I thought I'd offer my own interpretation. It's based on the thought that the song is, indeed, anti-war. The "original," or classic, Scarborough fair lyrics are about two lovers who will never be able to reconcile their broken hearts, but still love one another deeply (the black plague would also work, but I'm sticking to one interpretation for now). The impossible tasks asked in the song are about being unable to heal a broken trust, "a shirt without needlework." If the "one who lives there" is able to do impossible tasks, then the love could be restored. Sadly, the trust is gone. The relationship is broken. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme... the herbs that dull bitterness. The second lyrics speak of innocents being killed in war. They start with a land yet despoiled, ending with invasion and death. The soldiers no longer even know why they are fighting. While this probably references the Vietnam war, it's vaguely stated intentionally to apply to all wars. The singer either has been sent to war, himself, or is lamenting against his own nation's involvement in the slaughter of innocents. Let us say it's the latter, since it seems most poetic and the stronger of the social commentaries. The singer is betrayed by his own nation, which kills innocents in his name. The song, when put together, is about the broken faith in a nation that goes to war, especially for shallow reasons. Do these impossible tasks, the singer states, and I will love you again. Do these impossible tasks, and maybe you can bring back the lives of the innocent people we've killed. Sadly, both will never happen. The trust, like the young lives, are lost. |
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