| Vampire Weekend – California English Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Let's go line by line. The song is simultaneously celebrating and making fun of California stereotypes. Wouldn�t ever gag you with a spoon, my only true love ((San Fernando) Valley Girl speak - Gag me with a spoon! = I'm disgusted by something) Never really heard you speak that way, it�s unworthy of� (Song is addressed to a girl from California who doesn't fit the Valley Girl stereotype - Shallow/Stupid) Funny how that little college girl called language corrupt Funny how the other private schools had no Hapa Club (Presumably private schools/colleges outside of California (and probably Hawaii) don't have enough of a Hapa (people of mixed Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage) population to have a club. Someone took a trip before you came to ski in the Alps (She is probably financially well-off - flying to Europe to ski the alps is not cheap) Your father moved across the country just to sunburn his scalp (Her family was initially from the East - most likely NY) Contra Costa, Contra Mundum, contradict what I say (Contra Costa - a County in Northern California just outside of San Francisco - the name is Spanish for "Opposite Coast" - Contra Mundum - literally means Against the World) Living like the French Connection, but we�ll die in LA (The French Connection is a film with Gene Hackman that takes place in NYC - they're living in New York but plan on retiring in Los Angeles) Blasted from a disconnected light switch Through the condo that they�ll never finish (Seems to describe their living situation in California - no electricity and an unfinished apartment) Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish And through your brain to California English (This baffles me :) No one sits inside a freezing flat and stays there �til May (Again - their living situation - it's freezing cause the heat is disconnected) Leafing through a stack of A-Zs to surf the UK (?) Waiting with the wind against your face and gel in your hair Shivering in little undershirts, but don�t seem to care Blasted from a disconnected light switch Through the condo that they�ll never finish Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish And through your brain to California English Sweet carob rice cake (Carob is a naturally sweet "health-food" alternative to chocolate) She don�t care how the sweets taste Fake Philly cheese steak (Fake Philly cheese steak = Vegan or Vegetarian version) But she use real toothpaste Cuz if that Tom�s don�t work (Tom's refers to Tom's of Maine - a company that manufactures organic non animal tested natural hygiene products including toothpaste) If it just makes you worse Would you loose all of you faith in the good Earth (I think the Pitchfork article referenced above does a good job of analyzing this part) And if it�s all a curse And we�re just getting worse Baby, please don�t lose your faith in the good earth Blasted from a disconnected light switch Through the condo that they�ll never finish Bounced across a Saudi satellite dish And through your brain to California English |
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| Hüsker Dü – Celebrated Summer Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I think it's a little more complex than a song about weather. Mould is using the seasons as a metaphor for the progress of a person's life, specifically the transition from childhood to adolescence (spring to summer right at the beginning of the song), summer being the exciting, tumultuous adolescence - everyone rushing from one carefree and fun activity to the next - finally the song culminating with the end of summer - the end of carefree youth represented by the first snowfall and the transition to the seriousness and somber attitude of adulthood represented by winter (of course winter is emblematic of death which is implied to be the only stage left after the transition to adulthood) Anyway that's my two cents... could be wrong |
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