| Andrea True Connection – More, More, More Lyrics | 19 hours ago |
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@[jonasminduim:50813] It reads sarcastic, though. "How do you like it?" sounds like something a waitress would ask. |
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| Puddle of Mudd – She Hates Me Lyrics | 8 months ago |
| A little surprised to see comments here speculating about the meaning of the word "trust". I read it as basically an exclamation point. Since he's already shouting the rest of the lyrics, he can't just raise his voice. Circa Y2K, "trust" was commonly used this way. As in "trust me on this". Similar to how "bet" means something like "you can bet on it". | |
| Tracy Chapman – Fast Car Lyrics | 9 months ago |
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@[Derf:47651] I think meowowsyd got it right. Sure, she's more economically independent that she was. OTOH, she's repeating the actions of her mother. This isn't a song about individual in poverty. It's about the cycle of poverty. |
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| The The – Love Is Stronger Than Death Lyrics | 10 months ago |
| It's not an explicitly Christian song but the interpretation is hardly "rubbish". The cover of the single features a picture of Christ on the cross. | |
| The Cardigans – My Favourite Game Lyrics | 10 months ago |
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@[KonekoChan:47271] Skimmed through the comments & think you're the only one who got this. The name of the album was Gran Turismo so it's almost impossible to find a confirmation of this explanation online. But I remember hearing this when the album was originally released. |
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| Faith No More – We Care A Lot Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[WeWillFallTogether:45894] Seems like a distinction without a difference. Like they say, DC is Hollywood for ugly people. |
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| Mr. Big – To Be With You Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[WinterOnyx:39125] I thought it was a reference to the Greens & Blues, rival factions in the early Byzantine Empire. They hated/killed each other over chariot races & squandered the nation's potential. Justinian consolidated power by crushing them & went on to dominate the Mediterranean. So in this reading, the singer sees himself as a Justinian figure to the woman's Byzantium. Turns out he was talking about his mood ring. From Eric Martin: 'Waiting on a line of greens and blues…’ I had a mood ring when I was a kid. I threw that in to be quirky. http://www.tonyedwardsphoto.com/ohtonyedwards/waited-on-a-line-of-greens-and-blues/ |
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| XTC – The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[youb6ib9:38216] As Conan O'Brien says, JFK had a "fat, Irish face". He also had addison's disease, which gave his skin an orange tint. And the music video repeatedly references JFK, so your interpretation is definitely valid. OTOH, I think Partridge was just being coy with the JFK stuff. The lyrics pointedly criticize the Vatican. He could have later inserted JFK to prove he wasn't singling out Catholics as a people. |
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| Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[lastofthedogman:38113] Others have noted the connection to Dwyer, which is definitely referenced. But this tidbit explains the line "I could have saved some face." |
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| Filter – Hey Man, Nice Shot Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[lastofthedogman:38112] Others have noted the connection to Dwyer, which is definitely referenced. But this tidbit explains the line "I could have saved some face." |
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| The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[goldenshoes:37793] I used to hear it that way, too. But "one long sleepless night" is consistent with the rhyme pattern. |
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| Jimmy Eat World – The Middle Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[invaderzim7695:37189] Interesting. The lyrics also work as if the "girl" is the band itself & the song is about their struggles with the business side of making music. Similar to Sara Bareilles' Love Song. |
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| Morrissey – Interesting Drug Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[v0reason:36994] I wouldn't say it sounds libertarian. But politics have shifted dramatically from the Thatcher days. Corporations have learned they can placate the left by tossing a few bones to fashionable sexual/racial fringes & go on to ignore the much more expensive quality of life issues like health care, housing costs, crime & the labor market. Getting "canceled" definitely reminds me of the line "Saving their own skins by ruining other people's lives" line. I'm sure Jack Dorsey & Carlos Slim appreciate this, too. There's a reason they want to punish Moz for his support of Brexit. |
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| Cocteau Twins – Bluebeard Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| Bluebeard is a French story of rich man marrying naive young women who mysteriously disappear. When Bluebeard leaves for an extended trip, he gives his latest wife free reign of the estate except for 1 room. Her curiosity gets the best of her & she opens the forbidden room, finding the murdered bodies of his previous wives. | |
| Sponge – Molly Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@gl0ws in the dark I remember 2nd hand claims from the band that it had nothing to do with Ringwald. But it seemed like they were being coy. So much of youth culture was drenched in irony, back then. People have always loved John Hughes movies but it was hard to admit it in the zeitgeist. That they wanted Ringwald in the video suggests they approved of the association. Not that this song is about the movie. It's clearly about something else. Just that the pop culture reference to the old, doo-wop song & movie evoke an image. |
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| Whitesnake – Here I Go Again Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Heard about a guy who walked down his wedding aisle to this song. That made me smile. In earlier versions, the lyric "drifter" was sung as "hobo". Lyrically, I prefer drifter. It suggests a little more mystery. They might be running from persecution or working towards an unorthodox goal. A hobo just sounds lazy. Just ran a search to clarify my understanding of the term "hobo". Mencken defined it as a traveling worker without a home. He also said a "tramp" was a hobo who only works enough to get by & a "bum" was someone who never works at all. Hobo/tramp sounds like a distinction without a difference. Is a traveling worker really doing more than the bare minimum? Probably not. Which is why we use the 2 terms interchangeably. |
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| Prince – Purple Rain Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[kristaselene:5581] “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.” -Alice Walker, 1 year before this song came out. |
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| The Cranberries – Free To Decide Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[wag:4295] All true. But the refrain of "Free to Decide" makes this song about more than just a middle finger to the busybodies. She's actively refusing to participate in the stupidity. |
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| Prince – Purple Rain Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I've always thought of this song as a rebuttal to John Lennon's trite All You Need is Love. He brought love to relationships yet reaped sorrow & pain. Consider the line: I never wanted to be your weekend lover Scratch "weekend" and it's easier to see it as a lament on the fleeting nature of human relationships. This becomes even clearer considering the verse dropped from the original: Honey I don't want your money, no, no. I don't even think I want your love. If I wanted either one I would take your money and, I want the heavy stuff. Source - http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-purple-rain The above link also says the verses were intended for different characters in the movie. One for The Kid's father, one for his girlfriend & one for his band. There is a unifying theme in each of these stories. The Kid understands the relationships are failing. He has zero desire to reignite old loves. Instead he hopes for something new & more transcendent. |
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| Hozier – Take Me to Church Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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It's perfectly honest to reject Christianity. But statements like "God certainly must" (celebrate homosexual love) and "Homophobia is ungodly evil" are just incoherent. |
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| Paramore – Ain't It Fun Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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There is optimism in the lyrics "Baby, now you're one of us". That sounds like an invitation. The idea is that the real world can still be fun, if you face it with integrity. Reminds me of Get Off This by Cracker. |
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| The Black Keys – Gold on the Ceiling Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Punisher1205: If he was talking about someone taking his gold for use on another ceiling, he'd say "MY gold on THEIR ceiling". This would require no extra syllable. "MY gold on THE ceiling" suggests the gold's associated with the narrator's ceiling. Besides, your explanation doesn't fit with any other verse in the song. It doesn't sound like someone making a principled stand against unjust policies of a large organization. It sounds like the ravings of a paranoid nutjob. I don't know if he suffers from some sort of addiction/vice. It reminded me of the surivavalist right. Think Dale Gribble, from King of the Hill. By the way, survivalists were stocking up on gold when this album was created. And the Black Keys were living in the south at the time, which was ground zero for this kind of stuff. |
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| Ben Folds – Rockin' The Suburbs Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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leakg is mostly right. Although I do think Folds is taking the piss out of RATM fans. The band wasn't white & they did talk about important issues. But many RATM fans were white & tone-deaf to any political message in the music. He's mocking those fans. Which is why I don't care for this song. Folds is a millionaire & he's dumping on the "low class" fans who don't appreciate his music. And wallowing in liberal white guilt isn't much better than faux-angry posturing of crappy bands. That was a terrible time for music, though. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Tool, Creed, Godsmack. Just a bunch of overproduced power cords & whiny lyrics. |
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| Backstreet Boys – I Want It That Way Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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It's from the perspective of a guy pursuing a relationship. The first verse is a statement of desire for romance. He wants it "his" way. The second verse concedes that she has her own desires, her own world. She might want something different. She wants it "her" way. It's intentionally unclear if "his way" & "her way" match. Both parties are afraid to admit they want "that". They fear rejection. The chorus reflects some anguish about a POTENTIAL disconnect. "Tell me why" is his demand for an explanation, if rejected. "Ain't nothing but a heartache, ain't nothing but a mistake" is how he'd react to rejection. Sour grapes. Third verse, he reveals some angst about his own delay in pursuing her. Does she think of him as friend? He decides to risk that & ask if their desires are compatible. Fourth verse, he accepts the possibility of rejection. He wishes her well in spite of this. "No matter the distance, I want you to know..." The rest of the song explains itself. |
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| The Faces – Ooh La La Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Hey ProfessorKnowItAll, the irony is that you sound a lot more bitter than grandpa. Think about it, he wouldn't be "grandpa" if he couldn't get laid. Don't put women up on a pedestal. Your average woman is just as capable of being "bad" as grandpa. Re-read the lyrics. When does grandpa ever say that he wanted to take advantage of women? There's no rational reason to assume grandpa is the bad guy. He sounds like someone who did stupid things for love & got burned. Who hasn't? Yet grandpa still loves his family. So we're not being misled by the catchy tune. There's a lot of joy in it. True joy acknowledges past disappointment. Fake joy denies it. |
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| Lana Del Rey – Video Games Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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It could just be a straight-up song about an actual relationship. But here's my take: Video games are fine, in moderation. But compulsive gamers use video games as a substitute for real life. They become content to control the images they see on the screen. Same thing happens with sexuality. Getting too caught up in popular sexual ideals can lead to objectification. Usually this means hotness becomes the ultimate goal. People will watch crappy movies, so long as the actors are hot. People will listen to crappy music, so long as the singer is hot. Del Rey’s critics have slammed her for pandering to this type of consumer. These lyrics seem too self-aware for Del Rey to actually be the pathetic woman in this song. And as an artist, she hasn’t toned down her sexy image, at all. So “it’s all for you” seems to be a sarcastic acknowledgement of her critics. She implies that the problem is with the consumer who chooses to ignore her music & focus on her sexuality, including those who demand that she tone down the sex. |
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| Avril Lavigne – What The Hell Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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JenniLee-keep in mind that the song was written by a 40 yr old man. That this song might have some sort of normative affect on the development of teenage girls strikes me as creepy. Other songs that ring true, like Don't Tell Me & Nobody's Home, were written by Lavigne & her contemporaries. BTW-the message of this song isn't entirely bad. Young women should be having fun & enjoying life. If you're not married, you're not expected to stay loyal to a guy. Especially if he's not reciprocating. By all means, date a lot of different people. It's great to be sexy & flaunt it. Healthy detachment means having an identity outside of a boyfriend. But when you derive self-esteem from randomly hooking up w/ dudes, your identity is still dependent on what others think. |
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| The Civil Wars – I've Got This Friend Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Gosh, why are we so coy? It's sweet & charming. But MAN it can be frustrating. | |
| Neon Trees – Animal Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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That makes sense. Sorry to be such a downer, but it almost seems like he's talking about codependent tendencies. Despite the upbeat/catchy music, these are extremely angry, bitter, passive aggressive lyrics. Inviting someone to "take a bite of my heart" brings to mind "take another little piece of my heart". At the beginning he expresses romantic interest, but simultaneously pleads for mercy. He seems to think that sacrificing his sense of self is the path to romance. He'll put all of his human needs aside, just PLEASE like him! He pretends to be an animal, like a lovesick puppy or lamb being led to slaughter. There's something almost noble about a lamb giving up its life to feed someone else. But eventually, his humanity cannot be denied. The line is "you're just a cannibal". Hurt, he goes even further. What kind of human would eat another human's heart, anyway? Suddenly, he starts denying her humanity. She's an animal, to be dominated. "And I won't be denied by you, The animal inside of you" |
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| Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The message of the song is, like the South, complicated. Initially I heard it as the Alabama answer to California Dreamin'. No biggie. Then I noticed the lyrics about the people loving Governor Wallace. Not so cool to rally around a well-known segregationist. Missing from the above lyrics is the line "Boo, boo, boo!" Those boos could be interpreted as Skynyrd booing Wallace. Or it could be them mocking Wallace's detractors, like Neil Young. I don't know. But the next line "we all did what we could do" suggests Wallace left them wanting. In the line about Watergate, they're comparing Wallace to former President Nixon. By the time of this song, Nixon was a discredited liar & an embarrassment to all Americans. The lesson is that politicians are jerks, whether it's the Californian Nixon or the Alabaman Wallace. This is not a ringing endorsement of Wallace. Skynyrd's stand for Wallace is more fatalist than enthusiastic. At this point, the controversy was dead in my mind. Then I noticed that line "And the governor's true". This surprised me. After distancing themselves from Wallace, they embrace him again. Why? By 1974 (year this song was released) Wallace had moderated his views about segregation. In 1972, he ran on a platform that included a renouncement of formal segregation. There was certainly some revisionism going on, there. But the reality is that Wallace was changing with the times. He was elected democratically, reflecting the values of his constituents. Doesn't that say something about the citizens of Alabama? Isn't that what Skynyrd is celebrating? |
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| Vampire Weekend – Giving Up the Gun Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It's about another band. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2010/12/zach_barons_top_1.php The following verse is the meat of the song: I heard you play guitar down at a seedy bar where skinheads used to fight Your Tokugawa smile and your garbage style used to save the night You felt the coming wave, told me we'd all be brave, you said you wouldn't flinch But in the years that passed since I saw you last, you haven't moved an inch The allusions to Japan are key to understanding the song. "Giving up the gun" led to Japan's dark ages. It's not like they beat their guns into plowshares. They just went back to older ways of killing each other. Giving up the gun was a rejection of modernity & science. Certain armies eventually embraced modern guns. Traditionalist samurai defiantly clung to their older weapons & attempted to cut the cannons down. They used swords against rifles in a desperate attempt to revive their glory days. Of course, they were slaughtered. The song is about another band being stuck in the past. They're trying to relive their glory days & getting slaughtered, figuratively speaking. Artistically? Commercially? I don't know. I have no idea what band is being discussed. |
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| Vampire Weekend – Giving Up the Gun Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Nice, thoughtful post. I agree that it’s not just about Japan & dinged you up. On the point of Japan, there was something quixotic about Japan's attempt to "give up the gun", sure. But it was a miserable failure. That time period was a dark age marked by war, ignorance & a lack of respect for individual rights. So if this song is encouraging people to follow the example of Japan, it’s awful advice. Rejecting modernity does NOT lead to excellence. And this holds up in your personal life, too. Reminiscing about your past glory days is kind of pathetic. Think Al Bundy. The line "Tokugawa Smile" refers to the Japanese tendency to downplay emotion. Paul Ekman, inspiration for the TV show Lie To Me, is the authority on facial expression & emotion. Ekman found that although facial expressions have universal meanings across cultures, Japanese folks tend to be more subtle about expressing emotion. This trend is becoming less pronounced as a result of globalization. http://www.davidmatsumoto.info/Articles/1989%20Matsumoto%20and%20Ekman%20American-Japanese%20Cultural%20Differences.pdf FWIW, I think "that sound" refers to the narrator cutting down cannons, not the rifles. |
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| Faith No More – Be Aggressive Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Heard this song as a young kid. When I got to high school & started hearing real cheerleaders shout that "be aggressive" nonsense, I couldn't keep a straight face in the huddle. I love how Faith No More did stuff like that with their lyrics. This band was a total blast. | |
| Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Excellent post, especially the last paragraph. The song reminds me of that Simpsons episode: Lisa - It's one of those campy 70s throwbacks that appeals to Generation X'ers. Bart - We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks a little. That line is hilarious. It satirizes some of the more ridiculous justifications for war. This doesn't mean the show writers were pining for another Vietnam. Quite the contrary. The Dead Kennedys are basically saying the same thing. It's fascinating, yet a little depressing, that so many Americans enthusiastically take this at face value. Sheesh, listen to a little bit of Sly & The Family Stone. It won't make one understand the ghettos. But it's fun. Nothing wrong with that. |
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| Katy Perry – California Gurls Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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An anthem for stupid girls. Seriously, who else thinks how they party makes them desirable? Besides, people of CA are nothing like this. Sex & stilettos on the beach? Really? Perhaps a few ultra-wealthy girls live this way. So basically it's a song bragging about daddy being rich. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of wealth. It's entitlement that stinks. And this song reeks of it. Despite the fact that it's being played ad nauseum, we'll all forget this one in a few years. |
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| Lene Marlin – Unforgivable Sinner Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I think it means wetting the bed. J/K. It probably means sweat, waking up from a nightmare. |
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| John Mellencamp – Pink Houses Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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You're absolutely right. This is why I don't like Mellencamp. Most people who listen to his music don't know what the songs are saying. That wipes out any redeeming social value they might have. He uses poor people as props. |
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| The Beach Boys – California Girls Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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That phrase, "the states" includes east coast, west coast, midwestern, northern, southern & Hawaii girls. If he meant "wait to get back to my state, back to the cutest girls in the world" he would have said so. |
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| Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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aranea is wrong. The lyrics on Knopfler's site are "All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme" Source: http://www.markknopfler.com/Music/Songography/SongDetails_dire%20Straits.aspx?songid=34325a66-0f14-407d-85aa-d478bd57f05e I don't put too much stock into the official site. They appear to have a typo in "you promised me think and thin" line. Obviously it should be "thick" instead of "think". But how does "Orion" make perfect sense, anyway? If it was referring to Orion's belt, the lyric would be "belt" instead of "bars". And no culture has ever seen Orion as symbolizing a prison. |
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