| In Flames – Jester's Door Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| Yeah, I felt exactly the same - it feels too pitiably wretched in tone (especially that first line) to just communicate something as agreeable as a musician departure for me. I remember just when I first heard this song I was writing a really scathing review of the album and this came in and gave me a massive chill. | |
| Scott Walker – Cue Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I know that Walker has said this is a really difficult song to get, but I think I've got a bit about what he's getting at. Douglas Hofstadter wrote a book called "I Am A Strange Loop" which was an idea of what "the self" is; as he reasoned it, the self is the result of the mind looking in on itself infinitely, responding to and categorising its own changes. If you imagine that Walker thinks of the self in the same way (he's said that this song is about the self), the overall theme of these lyrics makes quite a lot of sense - he's comparing the way diseases react to stimuli and change infinitely to the way the mind can change infinitely as it views its own processes at continually increasing abstractions. And indeed he links the created form of humans to how they in turn respond to these diseases (herpes to clit, tumour to breast), as though the process of infection and evolution and immunity that take place in an epidemic are like the processes of a gigantic mind. It's still a really obscure song, but I get the feeling that's what he's going for; "Strain after strain after strain" is basically a colourful way of describing Hofstadter's concept of the self. | |
| In Flames – Your Bedtime Story Is Scaring Everyone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think that this song is about the voyeuristic compulsion that people have to behold destruction. You knot the sensation, of being attracted to the spectacle of a catastrophe- when Hurricane Katrina hit, or when Haiti fell to the ground, people weren't watching out of sympathy, they were watching out of fascination. Find time, And play with innocence, Like you ever would, This to me is ironic- it isn't saying people DO play with innocence, to me it's saying they're don't. But playing is meant for innocence, isn't it? Games of football and the like; happy childhood memories of being utterly carefree. Playing itself is innocent. When Anders says "Like you ever would", he's being mocking- "Ha, like you'd ever play with something at all innocent!" Doesn't seem to make any sense A more direct line here. It doesn't make sense that we're attracted to pain. We wouldn't wish it on people, but we still find it enthralling when it comes. It's very real, but it doesn't make sense. I guess you deliver misery, Just like you should, Oh, 9 o'clock, And you paint the skies gray, This is- as pointed out- directed to the news broadcaster who's showing all these horrible things. Notice that there's a bit of contradiction here- misery is delivered like a gift; it's justified (just like you should), and the skies are painted gray; painted, almost like art. It's not your fault We're the ones who betray, This is saying, to the newsreader, as pointed out, that it isn't the newsreader causing any evil, it's the people. Both in causing the evil, and in enjoying it- when both cause and fasciantion is a sin, being the impartial newsreader is the most blameless road. But how can you say with such ease, Wanna take a stand, Or you just wanna please This time he's questioning the point of the newsreader's words. The newsreader is calmly reporting absolutely foul actions- is he doing this to spread awareness, or because he'll be entertaining people? Is the knowledge of evil a way of stopping it, or a form of perverse entertainment? Your bedtime story is scaring everyone This- as someone points out- is a referece to Schindler's list, one of the most famous Holocaust films. A Jewish girl is telling the rumours about the gas chambers, and an old lady says "Ssh! Your bedtime story is scaring everyone!". This line has a lot of meanings. For one thing, the reference itself ties it to the Holocaust, perhaps the greatest evil ever to occur on the planet. It also ties it to a film made about the Holocaust- so it ties it to the fact that when the story of the greatest evil of humankind is told, it's a film; it is, to many, a source of grim entertainment. Furthermore, in context, the woman is quieting the other because she wants to close her mind to the reality of it. Similarly, we don't accept the reality of the evils in the world- we just take it as a bedtime story. Furthermore, sleep can show placation. This horror should be galvanising people into action to change the world- but it isn't, it just makes us all the more indifferent; "asleep" to the troubles of the world. And, in the final point, we take it as a bedtime story because it entertains us; it makes us calm. Someone mentioned that Anders's son goes to sleep during the 9:00 news. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that was Anders's inspiration- I write lyrics myself, In Flames being a big influence for me, and that's the sort of thing that would inspire me if I was in his situation. It's horrible, it's foul, but as long as it's far away, it will lull you to sleep. You make me understand the evil that men do, The evil that men do I think that these are two of the saddest lines I've ever heard in a song. What I believe he's saying here is that it loops around. It was mentioned earlier that Anders Friden's son goes to sleep when the atrocities come on the news. I think the "you" is now not talking to the newsreader, I think he's now talking to his son; and, through that example, to the entire human race that is appeased by cruelty, and turns a sleeping eye to atrocities. He's saying that he now understand WHY there are holocausts; why there are massacres- because deep down, it's what people want. He sees people calmly letting atrocities happen, and made all the more happy by stories of the crumbling world, and suddenly it doesn't seem strange to him that people are capable of doing such things. "Humane" is very far removed from "human", and Anders Friden understands the evil that men do because he knows that what really makes people human, is their love of all things inhumane. I must admit, I'm not quite as fond of this song musically as I am of other In Flames songs; the intro, as atmospheric as it is, does go on for a bit of time; if this went to a similar style as a song like Satellites and Astronauts, Evil in a Closet or Come Clarity, I'd like it more. However, I still really enjoy listening to it because these are some of my favourite lyrics ever written. |
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| In Flames – Evil In A Closet Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I somehow don't think that this song is about a woman, mainly because...I dunno, In Flames don't really do that type of song :P What I interpret this song being about is someone who's just left a close friendship with someone who tried to control him, for his own good, and kept him safe at the cost of a chance to live his own life. This could be a spoiling parent, or someone who sates a friend's addiction to keep him happy when he tries to break out, or many things. We were one in words That shows the closeness between the two, and also the fact that both of them had the narrator's best interests at heart. You finished my sentences I think this is where we start to get the implication of unwanted, if well intentioned control. While I can see that this could imply further closeness, "You finished my sentences" may have more meaning then just "We were so close, you could've finished my sentences for me". I think it actually means that, everything he set out to do, the other character finished for him, and it wasn't his "sentence" by the time it was done. You could also take "sentence" to refer to- in an abstract sense- punishment (As in, a life sentence, the death sentence...); whatever he did, this other person mopped up for him, and he never learnt from it. The answer to my puzzle He's tried to find out how to move on, and he's only just worked it out. I can never attract tomorrow It pushes me aside He admits that he feels weak, and that whatever happens next in life just barges right past him. This shows that he is really sad to be making a stand against the hold this person has on him; he knows hes never "attracted tomorrow" on his own, and doesn't know how. At the same time, "I can never attract tomorrow", may not refer to a lack of ABILITY to attract tomorrow, but an absence of chance- he can't attract tomorrow, because he isn't allowed to. I sink in waters deep Your presence kept me floating Far from depths where secrets lie My favourite lines in the song ^^ He's discovering the world, but in doing so, he's taking a risk; sinking. His friend kept him afloat, but he never got to see the "secrets" waiting for him below. Maybe in another lifetime I could be the first you meet This is where it could be considered to be about a woman. I think that this could refer to the motive behind his friend's controlling- possibly he's already seen people suffer, and can't bare to let it happen to this person. I'd also like to point out that Anders doesn't sing "Another life" or "Another world", or something- he says "lifeTIME", an actual measurement of time. So I think what he means is that, if he had another lifetime on top, he could've learnt enough to be an equal to this friend or parent or whatever. I once read a poem Held my breath But that moment's gone I think this symbolises fear of the real world "I once read a poem, held my breath" to me means that he was suspenseful of what the poem was going to turn out like. However, a poem, as opposed to a story, has a sort of association with emotion. So he used to be terrified of anything requiring passion and risk, and kept his head down. Now, he isn't going to do that anymore- the moment is gone. First time I felt life somewhat hurts His first step away from the protection- this is the first time he feels that life can hurt. This also ties into the poem, to me- poems are from the perspective of another; the only time before he'd ever felt the sting of life was when he was hearing about it from someone else. Also, because that person phrased it as a poem, it symbolises that it was a passionate, adventurous part of life to the person who'd lived it, as terrifying as it is to the narrator. Need an option He needs to chose for himself. and some hope He needs to stop being handled as if life is something to fear- he needs to find the positives in life. Yell at me His friend doesn't want to let him go. I want to be your light that shines He's contradicting the friend here; the friend is saying "Why do you want to go, why can't you stay with me?" and he's saying "I really want to, you mean a lot to me. I'd love to continue to be something precious to you- but I can't" But my ground's shaking and I might fall I think this refers to the onset of a change in his life that will damage him no matter whether or not his friend is protecting him or not. He can't continue to "be the light that shines", because he needs to learn how to survive on the shaking ground. I wish that I could say... I wish I could be your evil in a closet I think that the "Evil in a Closet" refers to the hidden destruction inside the kindness. A bedroom is a place where you're happy and content; where you rest every night. When you were a child, could you rest if you believed that there was a monster in the closet? What the narrator is saying here is that, while he wants to be able to sleep calmly in the "bed" of his friend's caring, he now realises that there is an evil in it all, and while he still wishes that he could co-exist with that evil, he knows he can't anymore, knowing the destruction it will bring. My two cents. |
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