| Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues Lyrics | 1 month ago |
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To me: “Look out kid, they keep it all hid” is the defining phrase of the song. The world does not work the way you have been conditioned to believe. The politicians, the police, the military, the intel agencies, big business, and so on, are all deeply corrupt. These corrupt entities will endless harass, and punish, those committing victimless "crimes." All the stuff you have been taught the system being good and honest, about how to be success, all that stuff is crap. |
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| John Prine – Sam Stone Lyrics | 5 months ago |
| @[dcat:48901] I thought it meant: a sweet, happy, life, does not last for a broken person. After Vietnam, Sam was a broken man, he had no chance of an enduring happy life. | |
| The Guess Who – Hand Me Down World Lyrics | 7 months ago |
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Could there be an environmental message here? It would not be the first time the Guess Who had such a message. Consider: "Anybody here see the sky weeping tears for the ocean" I don't want anything that somebody else has used up - be that clothes, shoes, love, or the earth. |
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| Grateful Dead – Cosmic Charlie Lyrics | 8 months ago |
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@[ShivaX:48204] Is it "deep unreal" or "people unreal" ? Everywhere that I see the lyrics, it's "people unreal." Although "deep unreal" probably makes more sense. |
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| The 5th Dimension – Age Of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In Lyrics | 8 months ago |
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@[Genesis35:48139] In the Grateful Dead song "Ripple" I thought water was used a metaphor for knowledge, i.e. the ripple, the fountain. Until now, I thought that was an isolated example. But now that I think about it, I guess water has been commonly used as a symbol for knowledge. I think the reason that the Norse god, Odin, is missing an eye is because he went to some sacred river and traded his eye for omniscience. Did a quick google search, and it seems to be a thing. |
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| Grateful Dead – Truckin' Lyrics | 8 months ago |
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I wonder if any of this song is based on real events? Busted - down on Bourbon Street / Set up - like a bowling pin / Knocked down - it gets to wearing thin / They just won't let you be / Seems like something that might have actually happened. |
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| Bob Marley and the Wailers – Three Little Birds Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| Matthew 6:25-27 : Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? | |
| Grateful Dead – Me And My Uncle Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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"I know my uncle, he's as honest as me" LOL. Yeah, they were both equally honest. |
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| The Guess Who – Hand Me Down World Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| Could the song possible be, even in part, about the environment? It was a common theme back then. I think The Guess Who had other songs with that theme, i.e. New Mother Nature. Consider these lyrics: "Anybody here see the sky weeping tears for the ocean." Hand-me-downs are often used up. | |
| Styx – Mr. Roboto Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| @[jimshine:44542] But why "Kilroy?" Kilroy is a mythical person. Kilroy was a universal sign that American soldiers had come through an area and left their mark. In 1983, US-Japanese relations were a very hot topic. In 1983, it was feared that Japan would replace the US as the world's technology leader. So why does the song switch back and forth between Japanese and English? | |
| Bob Dylan – What Good Am I? Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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I wonder if this could be about the plight of the homeless? "If I just turn away when I see how you're dressed" "If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin' sky" |
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| The Cars – Drive Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| She's a wreck, probably an alcoholic. He is telling her: "you need me, and to keep me, you need to change. We cannot keep pretending there is not a problem." | |
| Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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I just listened carefully to the song. Then I went to howtopronounce.com to find out how "Jeux Sans Frontiers" should be pronounced. The pronunciation in the song does not sound anything like the correct pronunciation. I am clearly hearing "she's so popular." Maybe Gabriel was just messing with us. |
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| Foghat – Slow Ride Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| @[groundHOG63:44386] Some of the lyrics, towards the end, also make it more obvious. "slow ridin' woman you're so fine . . . Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy" | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Daylight Again Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| Is the subject of the song looking forward to death? \n\n\nI have heard of this. I remember watching a Vietnam soldier being interviewed, and the soldier said he sometimes wished to catch a bullet, just to get it over with. In Vikter Frankl\\\'s classic "Man\\\'s Search for Meaning" the inmates on the Nazi concentration camp often wished for death. \n\n\n> Daylight again\n> Following me to bed.\n\n\nThe day is a curse. Another awful day to endure. The horrors of war.\n\n\n> All the brave soldiers that cannot get older,\n> \'Been asking after you.\n\n\nLife has become a curse, and the dead are calling for him to join them.\n\n\n> Mother Earth will swallow you,\n> Lay your body down.\n\n\nJust get it over with. Rest in the sweet ground. | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Daylight Again Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| Is the subject of the song looking forward to death? \n\nI have heard of this. I remember watching a Vietnam soldier being interviewed, and the soldier said he sometimes wished to catch a bullet, just to get it over with. In Vikter Frankl\'s classic "Man\'s Search for Meaning" the inmates on the Nazi concentration camp often wished for death. \n\n> Daylight again,\n> Following me to bed.\n\nThe day is a curse. Another awful day to endure. The horrors of war.\n\n> All the brave soldiers that cannot get older,\n> \'Been asking after you.\n\nLife has become a curse, and the dead are calling for him to join them.\n\n> Mother Earth will swallow you,\n> Lay your body down.\n\nJust get it over with. Rest in the sweet ground. | |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Find the Cost of Freedom Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| There is a longer version of this song. \n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5YAMPyxS2c | |
| Peter, Paul and Mary – If I Had a Hammer Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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No need to guess: the song explicitly tells you what it means. Hammer = Justice Bell = Freedom Song = Love between your "brothers and sisters" |
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| Bob Dylan – My Back Pages Lyrics | 2 years ago |
| The song reminds me, a bit, of Candide by Voltaire. When Voltaire said ‘One Must Cultivate One’s Own Garden’ he meant that we must keep a distance between ourselves and the world, because taking too close an interest in politics or public opinion is a fast route to aggravation and danger. | |
| Paul Simon – Slip Slidin' Away Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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@[edguidry:35431] Slip sliding away means wasting our time, and our lifes. This was a common theme used by Paul Simon, consider "have a good time" or "still crazy after all these years." We do all the things we're supposed to do: get married, have children, keep a job, we think we're gliding down the highway, but in fact we're slip sliding away. |
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| America – A Horse With No Name Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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I remember when this song when it first came out. Up until recently, I thought they were singing "Under the seas lies a heart made of ground" instead of "Under the cities lies a heart made of ground." In a way, my understanding did make some sense, since the line just previous to that is "The ocean is a desert with it's life underground And a perfect disguise above." I mean, they were singing about the *ocean* why the sudden switch to cities? |
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| Marshall Crenshaw – Cynical Girl Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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Well I hate TV There's gotta be somebody other than me Who's ready to write it off immediately One of my favorite lines, in any song, ever. |
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| Jimmy Buffett – Margaritaville Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I like when song make subtle changes like this. First it's : "But I know it's nobody's fault" Later: "Now I think, hell it could be my fault" Finally he just owns up to it: "But I know it's my own damn fault" |
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| Glen Campbell – Gentle On My Mind Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Did he abandon his wife in favour of his new lover and nomadic lifestyle? > And some other woman's cryin' to her mother > 'Cause she turned and I was gone |
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| Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Refugee Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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A refugee is somebody who does not have choices. A refugees has to go wherever he/she is accepted. Tom is saying: you don't have to live like that. You have choices, you don't have to settle for a crappy relationship. > We did somethin' we both know it > We don't talk too much about it > Ain't no real big secret all the same > Somehow we get around it > Listen it don't really matter to me baby > You believe what you want to believe > You see you don't have to live like a refugee Maybe the song is about two people, both in bad relationships, who cheat with each other? Maybe there is some amount of guilt, and Tom is saying "screw it, we don't have to stay in bad relationships." |
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| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Marrakesh Express Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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According to wikipedia . . . "Marrakesh Express" was written by Graham Nash during his final years as a member of the English rock band, The Hollies, of which he was a member from its formation in 1962 until 1968. The band rejected the song as not commercial enough, but it found a home with Nash's new band Crosby, Stills and Nash.[3] Nash recalled his inspiration for the song occurring during a Moroccan vacation he took in 1966. On the trip, Nash traveled by train from Casablanca to Marrakesh. He began the journey in First Class, surrounded by people he found to be uninteresting—as he described it, they were all "ladies with blue hair." Upon this observation, he decided the compartment was "completely fucking boring", so left his seat to explore the other train carriages. He was fascinated by what he saw. The song mentions "ducks and pigs and chickens," and that, according to Nash, is actually what was there. He recalls the ride by commenting: "It's literally the song as it is—what happened to me."[4] |
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| Dire Straits – Once Upon A Time In The West Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Today some people think there hot shots because they break a traffic law. Contrast that to the real wild west. Back then, you come across an outlaw, in the middle of nowhere, you have nothing but your own weapons, and fighting skills, to protect yourself. Bad guys knew they had little chance of being caught. Much of the wild west was literally lawless. Think you're a bad ass because you break the speed limit? Imagine living back then. |
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| Tears for Fears – Everybody Wants to Rule the World Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[ZachKing88:4610] Worth noting: the song was released in March of 1985 - which means it must have written, a least a few months earlier. | |
| Billy Squier – Everybody Wants You Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| Could this be about the plight of an aging rocker? Young and sexy, everybody wants him/her. Maybe gets a little older, maybe it's a while since the last big hit; you go from top of the world to a nobody nearly overnight. The strain leads to alcoholism, which perpetuates the situation. | |
| Fastball – The Way Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| To me, the instrumentals sound like something that you would hear in a Quentin Tarantino movie. | |
| Butthole Surfers – Pepper Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| I have read that the song is about how the media will portray what ever they want to as long as they get ratings. | |
| Eric Clapton – Walk Out In The Rain Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| One thing I don't understand: he came to see her, but he's telling her that she can leave. | |
| Smash Mouth – Walkin' On The Sun Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think the song laments the death of the hippy movement. For a short time, there was a movement away from all the excessive commercialism, and consumption. But, then even that movement sold out. Now we have crap sold on these "now how much would you pay" TV ads. The epitome of tasteless, soulless, commercialism: "order now! supplies are running out!" The beginning two lines of the song spoofs on the old coca-cola ads. If anybody here remembers, the old ads exploited the hippy culture. I think the song went: > I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony . . . > I'd like to buy the world a coke The song was a bastardization of a song called "I'd like to teach the world to sing." The irony is: this hippyish song is being used to hock chemical-water from a giant multi-nation corporation. |
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| Talking Heads – Dream Operator Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I get the idea he is singing this to his own child. | |
| Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think Janis is spoofing on people who pray for material luxuries. Prayer is supposed to be deeply spiritual. But here in the USA, we have ranting, raving, televangelists who tell us that if we give them enough money, god will reward us financially. It's shameful, and it really is a joke. |
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| Paul Simon – Duncan Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I don't think it's just about losing virginity. He is remembering when he was completely down and out. He met a girl who accepted him, and loved him; and this completely changed his outlook. By the end of the song, instead of feeling "destitute" he felt thankful just for being alive, and whole. |
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| Fleetwood Mac – Sara (Unedited Version) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Supposedly, the song is about an abortion. > "Among the women he dated was Stevie Nicks, who wound up pregnant by him and had an abortion. (She sang about their unborn child on the Fleetwood Mac track Sara.)" http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/H/Henley_Don/2000/05/21/745953.html |
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| The Zombies – She's Not There Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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He comest to find out she's not the woman he thought she was. She does not feel the way he thought she felt. All his friends could see it right away, but he was too infatuated with her cool voice, and clear bright eyes. She plays the field, misleads the guys she's with, and breaks hearts. The woman he imagined her to be is not there, she never existed. When somebody is infatuated, you can't tell him about the person he is infatuated with, he would never listen. So nobody told him about her, although they all knew. |
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| The Beatles – Baby You're a Rich Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The condescending tone of this song, fits so well with the attitude that was portrayed by Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. | |
| Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Real life vs fantasy life? In his fantasy life, he is a great ladies man, everybody pays attention to him, and adores him. In his real life, he is the joke of the neighborhood, and his wife thinks he's nuts, and looks at him like part of the furniture. His fantasy life is what he *could* have had, if he had more time. His real life is so painful that he can't stand to go home, so he takes the long way home. | |
| Pink Floyd – Run Like Hell Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| To me, the song seems to be about a sexual relationship that would not be approved of by society, and may even be illegal. That's why you have to run, hide, and disguise yourself, to escape detection by our society's "Nazis." You are made to feel guilty about your past, and have to hide your "dirty" feelings, and publicly deny your "hungry heart." | |
| Eagles – Desperado Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Musicians often compare their own lifestyles to the lifestyles of the old west cowboys, gamblers, or gunslingers. The lifestyle is unsettled, filled with constant travel, and therefore unpleasant and lonely. It is a life of desperately chasing the money. No doubt, well meaning friends and family advise such desperados to come to their senses. Practically all musicians reach a point where they have to debate whether living on the road, for the sake of their careers, is worth it. | |
| Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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>>He's saying he "found out for sure" from her doctor. The doctor gave her the breast implants and told him, any love is good love, so he took what he'd could get.<< Breast implants? I alway had the idea that the "devil woman" was a total crazy slut type, and the guy picked up some sort of curable STD. |
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| Bachman-Turner Overdrive – Let It Ride Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The dude has been out all night, probably screwing around. The 'ol lady is pissed. The dude tries to weasel out of it with the "oh just lighten up - you take things too seriously" defense, but she's not buying it. The dude finally says: "okay then, though luck, that's the way it goes, but at least I have a life - which is more than I can say for you." BTW: I also think it's "try try try" not "ride ride ride." Dude: Good Bye, Hard Life Don't Cry, Would you let it ride? 'Ol Lady: You can't see the mornin', but I can see the light Dude: Try try try to let it ride 'Ol Lady: While you've been out runnin' I've been waitin' half the night Dude: Try try try to let it ride Dude: And would you cry if I told you that I lied And would you say goodbye Or would you let it ride? Dude: Babe my life is not complete, I never see you smile Try try try to let it ride 'Ol Lady: Baby you want the forgivin' kind and that's just not my style Dude: Try try try to let it ride Dude: I've been doin' things worthwhile, you've been bookin' time Try try try to let it ride |
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| Bob Dylan – Tangled Up in Blue Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Maybe the sequence of events are "tangled up" in a pulp-fiction kind of way? For example: '"I thought you'd never say hello," she said "You look like the silent type."' Doesn't that imply she just met him? The "don't I know your name" is just the old "haven't I seen you here before." Maybe it's something like: he sees her in a strip bar, goes home with her, falls in love. She's already unhappily married, he somehow ends up living with her and her husand - or maybe just nearby on the same street. Something goes down, they have to leave and split up, he lays low for awile taking odd jobs while on the run, but now he wants to get back to her. Maybe "he" and "I" are not confused in the song. Maybe the "he" is her husband, and the narrator is the "I" ? |
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| Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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In part, it's about what we are taught growing up -vs- reality. We are taught to conform: work hard, stay in school, stay out of trouble - keep a clean nose; and everything will be just great. But the real world is full of back stabbers, phonies, thieves, and vandals. The DA does not care about right and wrong, or about whether a "crime" is victimless. The girl by whirlpool is looking for a guy to dupe (undercover cop?). Our 20 years of schooling are worth squat. The establishment especially hates free-thinking, counter-culture, types. They are treated with fire-hoses, and have to constantly look over their shoulder for undercover cops. BTW: I think the "Weathermen" got their name from the song, not the other way around. Also, Weird Al did a great of the song, and the video: go to youtube and search for "Bob." |
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| Mark Knopfler – Border Reiver Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The truck driver seems to gloating about his government job being a license to steal. | |
| Steely Dan – Do It Again Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The guy is old western drifter, gun slinger, and gambling addict - and a dishonest gambler at that. In the old west you could get away with murder. Obviously, this kind of guy is not exactly the relationship type, but then, neither are the woman he hooks up with. Nobody can trust him, and he can not trust anybody else - not even his only friend. Black cards are used for cheating, hiding cards is also cheating. But, at some point you have to "put your cards on the table" at that point, if you can get away, you high-tail it to the next town and start all over again. BTW: rock musicians often compare themselves to these sorts of old west "desperadoes." |
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| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Thoughts: 1) what is he doing with a case of dynamite? 2) why would he rather die than be taken alive? 3) could bookkeeper mean "bookie?" 4) I think "crossed" more likely means "double-crossed," instead of "killed." His old man, a bookie with ties to the mob, gives him a job to do. He is supposed to blow up something to fix a bet. But, he double-crosses his old man, and thereby the mob. The police are on him, but he won't be taken alive because he knows that being shot by police is better than mob vengence. |
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| Bruce Cockburn – Wondering Where The Lions Are Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think Bruce Cockburn has already explained the meaning to this song, although I forgot where I read it. Bruce, and a friend of his, were talking about some hostilities that were going on, at the time, between the USSR and China. His friend said something like: "man, if this keeps up, we'll wake up one day and the world will be gone." That night, Bruce went to sleep, and dreamed of ferocious lions that suddenly become friendly. When he woke up, he sort of laughed to himself and thought: "waddahya know, the world is still here." That was the inspiration to the song anyway, not sure if it explains all the lyrics. |
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