| Smoking Popes – College Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"I could be the CEO of a great big company But deep down in my heart I know that it's not for me Because my destiny simply cannot be bought or sold Or forced into the mold that the world shoves down my throat" I could be a CEO, too. We all could, really. I just didn't want to work for the man. Or work at all, for that matter. |
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| Guster – Come Downstairs And Say Hello Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The Wizard of Oz is sometimes looked at as an allegorical endorsement for atheism. I am not going to get into the details here, however. Here's a link if anyone's interested. http://www.helium.com/items/611518-reflections-atheism-in-the-wizard-of-oz This song is about finding your way in a Godless universe. voices calling from a yellow road to come downstairs and say hello don't be shy just say hello All the people calling for God, wishing he'd show them some sort of sign. It's sort of ironic too, telling God not to be shy. |
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| Guster – Stay With Me Jesus Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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My interpretation is based on the assumption that Guster is not a Christian band, which if taking this song out of context, would seem completely ridiculous. This song comes off as a sort of sympathetic satire on how people use religion and the concept of God/Jesus to form life narratives. At the same time, it may be a much more critical satirization, in displaying how the seeming ignorance of religious folk leads them to interpret real-life events in such a fantastic way, and which, as a consequence, further reinforces their devout religious conviction. |
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| Guster – That's No Way To Get To Heaven Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This album has quite a few Christian references in it, which confuses me being that I am fairly certain they are not Christian. I believe they are used without any real religious connotations or conviction. This song is a bit ambiguous, but here's a shot in the dark: The "lover" here is a savior or Jesus. The walking down a water slide is alluding to the logical incoherence in religion, or the miracle savior/lover to which the "waiting" is referring to. (It would be physically impossible to "step" down a water slide!) We are all made from the same elements that can be found in the earth, (mixing of blood and soil), which obviously contradicts the idea of creation. Thus coming from the earth is really "no way to get to heaven". (The title of the song uses irony) |
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| Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| There is a "don't" there, gnomesonice. | |
| Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song is about her sense of alienation from modern society which she seemingly rejects. "Sprawl" is modern society. I saw a lot of posts about the monotony of the suburbs, etc., and I feel this does indeed match the artist's sentiment, though I can't say I agree. Here's why: First off, note that when you observe people from a sort of satellite perspective, it looks all the same, but remember everyone is actually an individual a conscious being. Views like the one in this song are really dehumanizing, in my opinion. Malls wouldn't be there if people weren't willing to go there and spend the product of their efforts. "Malls", to again use the example from the song, are not arbitrary establishments put forth to spite nature. "Dead" malls...? There a PEOPLE in the malls, and they are presumably in there for a reason. Maybe they are buying an Arcade Fire CD, but I doubt it ;D. Things in modern society - appliances, housing architecture, you name it - is not put through a machine and spit out for the sake of conformity in the name of rejecting creative pursuits. They are the PRODUCT of creative pursuits. Not trying to be redundant, but take dishwashers for ex. Dishwashers work the way they do because it is EFFICIENT. A multitude of dishes fit inside very nice, and the washing process is fairly fast and convenient, right? Apply this to anything; neighborhoods, suburbs, etc. Ideas are put into existence to fit NEEDS of people, and these inventions look "the same" because they serve the same thing: a human being. People want to have kids, and thus you have an increasing population. With an increasing population, an increase in production and industrialization is inevitable. I do love the music's sense of life, though I don't care for the lyrics (which are the same sentiment you get from a lot of musicians of this ilk). Her voice is beautiful, and she is too. |
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| Radiohead – Nude Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Hey, thanks for your comment. I'll rant a little bit here, just to continue my point :D You're right, life has no inherent purpose, which tends to lead people to either neuroticism, religion, hostility, collectivism, or combinations of those four (I am generalizing here for comedic relief, though it may be all too true and not all too funny). Fortunately, there's an alternative. Take the following premise: The universe is neither adverse or favorable to existence; reality is what it is. Being that the universe is not adverse to our existence, we are capable of achieving rational goals and pursuits; rational in that they properly align with reality. Therefore, the universe can work in our favor, if we respect it as the final arbiter. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed". Radiohead is able to pull, in an almost genius way, the existential frustrations and emotions of hopelessness from the listener. In other words, this music will attract, at an extremely deep and personal level, the sense of life it conveys and affirms in the listener. Look at their other song, "Let Down". It has the same exact message.. needless to say no one has interpreted it for what it is. People like to stick to concretes that are easy to think about, ie girlfriends, etc. Witness every post on this site. Philosophical abstractions are rarely discussed, a consequence of the bankruptcy of today's educational system. "Art is the food of the soul, so be careful what you eat." -(forgot who said that :D) The spread of Kantian metaphysics and subjectivism will be the end of Western Civilization, brother (or sister)... but you don't need an introductory course in philosophy to figure out that somethin' ain't right with Thom Yorke ;P |
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| Radiohead – Nude Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Also to note.... the title of the song: Nude. Nude as against what? Wearing clothes. Clothes "mask" the true realities, ie our naked bodies, warts and all. Wearing clothes as a pretense of civility. Similarly, Yorke is analogizing this with the pretense of purpose. The naked truth of our fragile existence which we desperately clothe with the pretense of "purpose". In reality, we will all fail and die. Of course I don't agree with this.. but Yorke is a genius in constructing this sense of life. |
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| Radiohead – Nude Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Yeah so I think this song is about breaking up with your gurl, and feeling rlly guilty and lonely. No! Ya bimbos! This is Thom Yorke's ultimate sense of life put into words. This song is about LIFE! Rather, Yorke's disdain for life. "Now that you've found it, it's gone Now that you feel it, you don't" Yorke is a deep thinking person, spiritual you might say, and unfortunately for whatever reason, which is also made apparent through most of his lyrics, he's fully digested the Kantian subjectivist metaphysics. The lyrics above are a prime example of humans "innate inability to perceive reality". Reality is a construct of the mind, as against being mind-independent. Everyone in life is trying to find a purpose. Everyone in their life, with perhaps the exception of Thom Yorke, has at some point felt a great pleasure or joy in the mere fact of existing. The fact that they are alive, and the choice of what to make of their life is unknown and exciting. But now hold on there kiddo.... "Don't get any big ideas They're not going to happen You paint yourself white And fill up with noise But there'll be something missing" Don't even try, Yorke says. Don't get any big ideas, any silly dreams. Look at you. You're a speck of dust in the cosmos, if that. Who do you think you are? To the universe, you're just a bunch of noise, if that. This is made ironic by the seemingly "nursing" feeling the music provides. As if he's trying to put it on you softly. And don't get me wrong here, the music is absolutely brilliant. But in putting the whole image together... the fetus on the cover, the music, and add the final touch: the abhorrent cynicism. We've all heard the concept of glass half empty or glass half full people.. Well, Thom Yorke, at some point in his life, decided to break the glass on the floor and use the remaining shards to slit his own wrists, letting the life force run out of his body, leaving just enough for him to get you to do the same. Meanwhile his puzzled but trusting and talented ensemble of musicians wheel him around on his own death bed. The song ends with a sort of mocking irony. "You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking" In other words, "If I haven't convinced you, maybe that ridiculous fairy tale called the 'bible' will do the job" Since the bible also preaches the same life-on-earth diminishing aspects. This does not imply Thom Yorke is religious, clearly. He is using it to mock religion, which in that regard, is completely worthwhile. This album is one of my favorites; verging on musical genius in my opinion. I certainly liked it much better when I didn't know the precise lyrics. |
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| The Bled – Spitshine Sonata Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Really, the fire? So that's where you lose your voice. I thought maybe it would be after recording the song. | |
| Reel Big Fish – My Imaginary Friend Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A7XWakingTheFallen and others, This song is about Aaron becoming an Atheist. Reel Big Fish has a lot of serious songs, most being about futility and a general angst against the world, people, etc. Do you think Aaron wrote the songs as a gimmick? Or the fact that a lot of things he sees frustrates him? No doubt both in some cases. "I've got a funny feeling, we're all born to lose, I've got a funny feeling, that this life ain't worth livin" -Cheer Up You can see the beginnings of Aaron's departure from whatever sort of faith he had, which initially led him to some unfortunate cynicism in Cheer Up, which you probably didn't notice anyway. Anyway, this is one of my favorite RBF songs, for sure. |
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| Modest Mouse – Ocean Breathes Salty Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This is song is about athiesm centered around somebody's death. "Your body may be gone, I'm going to carry you in In my head, in my heart, in my soul" Although he'd like to see this person again, he knows he will not. "Well, that is that and this is this" -> acknowledging reality - 'when you're dead, you're dead' "You tell me what you want and I'll tell you what you get, You get away from me You get away from me" Talking actually to religion, or "God" himself, "get away from me" "Collected my belongings and I left the jail Well, thanks for the time, I needed to think a spell" The jail is a metaphor for being born into a religious society. He had to break the chains, find reason, and realize the objective truth about life. His belongings are essentially his mental faculties and his conscious. "The more we move ahead the more we're stuck in rewind." Reference to human progress on earth. Although we have built, extended the lifespan, etc, we still have religion and it's seemingly increasing intensity in society. I'm not quite sure on the Ocean Breathes Salty meaning. Perhaps, when you're a kid, you see the ocean as a big swimming pool everyone can drink from. You soon realize it's actually a dangerous place to drink from because it's full of salt and would really only make you more thirsty. A reference also to a holy commmunion? Or maybe this feller was just really high when he wrote this song. And a great line, already explained a few times: "You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?" Best explained by the following quote: Do you believe in God, Andrei? No. Neither do I. But that's a favorite question of mine. An upside-down question, you know. What do you mean? Well, if I asked people whether they believed in life, they'd never understand what I meant. It's a bad question. It can mean so much that it really means nothing. So I ask them if they believe in God. And if they say they do–then, I know they don't believe in life. Why? Because, you see, God–whatever anyone chooses to call God–is one's highest conception of the highest possible. And whoever places his highest conception above his own possibility thinks very little of himself and his life. It's a rare gift, you know, to feel reverence for your own life and to want the best, the greatest, the highest possible, here, now, for your very own. To imagine a heaven and then not to dream of it, but to demand it. -Ayn Rand |
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| Smoke Or Fire – What Separates Us All Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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What separates us? Green? Money? oh yeah, I forgot money was an irreducible primary arbitrarily awarded to "pro-life, pro-war, right-wing, Christians". I fit in none of these categories, yet as a rational human being, I should only expect to find these lyrics in a 16 year-old's myspace page. I really dug this song until I read its ignorant lyrics. Great music, bad ideas. Smoke or fire? I'm going to go with fire, the thing I would use to burn this CD with if I hadn't illegally downloaded it in the first place. |
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| Nada Surf – Ice On The Wing Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Thanks mcseas for the insight. This song from that standpoint seems a bit cynical. It alludes to the fact that inheritance is not only biological but perhaps social in many ways. A Sopwith Camel plan created in the during WWI certainly does not match up to that of modern planes, "compared to modernity, I am a humming bee". If one inherits his position in society as a Sopwith Camel, his own reality is fixed for him, something this song hints cannot be helped or changed, "I go slow". I believe a Sopwith Camel could become an F-16 in a free society, but I digress. Matt also talks quite a bit about religious beliefs being passed down generation by generation. "Ice is growing on the wing", the plane is going down in other words, we are all dying, ice is growing on all of our wings, etc. "Underneath the oxide, it's all the same" The Earth's crust is composed almost entirely of oxides. Matt is saying underneath the crust, in a coffin perhaps, it doesn't make a difference what kind of "plane" you are. |
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| Nada Surf – Fruit Fly Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Looking at this song from a non-metaphysical standpoint is a joke, albeit a funny one. The "bowl" is the TOILET bowl. You drink, then you piss. It's a mindless process, and part of the human condition, which is also the point of the song. It's essentially a 'sub-metaphor'. The larger metaphor pertains to humans and the world. Suppose "God" left some food wrapped up, in a plastic bag of course on the kitchen table for way too long. He comes back and "what the fuck?" He returns to the bag and sees these mindless things floating around, eating, shitting, zig zagging, what have you. Why are they there? Because conditions were suitable, (nasty ass rotting fruit), to attract fruit flies. Why are we here? Because conditions were suitable, (water on Earth), to create life. It's a metaphor for human beings. Matt is a human being, and similarly, he feels like a fruit fly flying around mindlessly, aimlessly. He doesn't know why he is here, but he is, and he's hungry. |
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| The Avett Brothers – Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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In the fine print, (in this case the Bible), they tell me what's wrong and what's right. It's black and white because God created it. Morality has one final authority, God. The writer is frightened by those who live life as such. So what does he believe in? Oh hey there, verse two. "When nothing is owed, deserved or expected". In other words, when men cease to live as sacrificial beings, (the philosophy of Christianity). Then will this "dream" that the writer refers to be realized. When men are free to "decide what to be and go be it" without "God" or "the man that's elected" robbing them of their inherent free will. |
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