| Purity Ring – Amenamy Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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along the lines of what urukhigh said, I think there is something about the tention with religion in this. James is very clear about wanting the listeners to take their own meaning out of the words, but I do think the title of this one is pushing us in a specific direction. Most of the songs on the album are titled by combining words that appear together in the song. This one isn't. The word smash title comes from two or more unknown words, but it forms the word "amen" which forces me to think there is some connection to religion in the song. My first thought is that the second part of the word looks almost like enemy. |
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| Purity Ring – Crawlersout Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think this song is about being a women, in general - there is a lot of "aboriginal" imagery, but I think that is being tied to birth and others and daughters - the idea that women occupy, or rather are forced to occupy a kind of primal space. It opens with the breaking of water - birth - it talks about asking that daughters be recorded, rather than forgotten, and the power of a grandmother's "vines" through the generation - but it is also a hope that the future generation of girls will be able to fend for themselves, do better, even though it falls back on the same imagery, and inevitably ties them, as well, to beds and fertility. I think it is about the struggle between the power of women as the fertile givers of life, and the cultural relegation of women to positions of vulnerability and irrelevance. |
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| R.E.M. – Low Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It seems pretty obvious to me that this song is about manic depression/bipolar disorder or the highs and crashes of drug uses, especially because of the association with Cobain. Lines like "I can see your lines," and the line about Grass suggest drugs. Either way, it is about high moods and low moods and the inevitable crashes. | |
| They Might Be Giants – Lie Still, Little Bottle Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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If any other band had written this, I would have said it is about suicide or drug abuse. As it was written by TMBG, I going to have to go with jingy23 and say it is about a hangover cure. Though hearing it at college, that pill sounds like ritalin... |
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| The Decemberists – A Record Year for Rainfall Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Huh... I came up with a completely different interpretation based "I've got a temper set for tender," which, to me, made me think of a robot of some sort. I thought of it as a post apocalyptic kind of thing where a robot is trying to understand the human woman. She asked what the point of this relationship is and he tells her that it is to remember humanity in the end time, after all humans have died out... My brain is strange. |
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| The Decemberists – On the Bus Mall Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| It might just be me, but did anyone else connect the pills to AIDS? I think it fits the "I will not mourn for you" line as well, that death from AIDS is an already accepted reality. It also makes the song even more tragic. | |
| The Decemberists – Sons and Daughters Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I always thought that the song was about soldiers, our brave men and women, sons and daughters, fighting over seas. Kind of more along the lines of Sixteen Military Wives, I think there is an underlying antiwar message. I saw them live and they had the whole crowd, which was a festival sized audience sing the end over and over. I think it is worth pointing out that the description of the "life" of the sons and daughters is about emptiness and instability. Homes on water are never stable, always rocking and often not permanent (ships) aluminum, as has been mentioned, is a relatively weak metal. Not only does cinnamon not taste appetizing alone, it is also nutrition-less. I think it is saying that when we sent these soldiers out to fight, they don't get to enjoy a real home. Using the term sons and daughters has a beautiful double meaning. Firstly, to an American, it calls up the idea of the Sons and Daughters of the Liberty, the Revolution, etc. Secondly, it reminds the listener, that the soldiers that make up most of our fighting force are under 30, they are someone's child. I don't think it is about one war or time period. It is about the experience of a soldier and it ends with a hope for peace. |
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| The Decemberists – The Engine Driver Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I thought the song was more addressed to the writers muse/genius. I saw the other professions as metaphors for various aspects of the writers life. The engine drive seems to express what it feels like to not be able to sit down and write for a long time, possibly on a road or something. The lineman to me represented both real life and family expectations. Not every situation or relative excepts writing as a legitimate career. The money lender is obvious to me. Fiction and money don't always go together so writers are forced in freelancing or other "side" jobs that become all of their income until their big break. I think this makes the "heart you call home" and "all that you have home" make even more sense. The muse can only live through the writer. It seems as though the writer isn't doing that well with his/her work, the muse isn't giving him the love he needs to succeed, get published, and make it in the world of fiction. Thus, he wants to either make it soon or give up the struggle. But then, I'm a writer. |
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