| Rihanna – Rude Boy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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It's not about that. Your point about sexual liberalisation is taken and well made, but the problem is that Rihanna is selling the sex, she is exploiting the subject very brazenly and meaninglessly for record sales. I'd really like to see Rihanna, or any chart artist for that matter, making a serious lyrical observation on societal trends, but somehow I don't think it has, does, or ever will... it's just business, a rape of culture. |
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| Warpaint – Shadows Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I really love this song. I know I'm afraid, I know I'm afraid, I'm drunk and I'm tired, And the city I walk in, the city I walk in, It feels like it swallows, With my hand in my pocket, I feel like a shadow, I feel like a shadow. That's the key - feel like a shadow - isolated by a massive city which 'swallows' her individuality, her importance. For me, this song encapsulates the crudeness of modern globalised life. Like Ai Weiwei's exhibition at the Tate Modern where each unique stone from hundreds of thousands was displayed, what is the significance of one single person in such a vast city, or, even, world? The only importance the world gives her is through 'my long brown hair' - a symbol of her being objectified, society is only interested in her looks, whereas any meaningful thoughts go astray: 'What did you whisper in my ear? What was the answer you wanted me to find out?' This life does not feel real to her, it is second-rate and one-dimensional, like the shadows. That's why she curses everything as 'the lies' repeatedly at the end. A beautiful song from a reaaaaally magnificent album. Love @Warpaint! |
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| Arcade Fire – Rococo Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This song is clearly a jab at the state of young people and more specifically music culture today. 'Using great big words that they don’t understand' - is probably an attack on the music industry, made evident by 'Oh my dear God what is that horrible song?' Rococo art is what typifies a generation of empty, possessive and one-dimensional people. It's the idea that young people are inactive and don't put their money where their mouth is (anymore): 'They seem wild but they are so tame' and 'They build it up just to burn it back down / The wind is blowing all the ashes around'. The idea that young people are no longer the voice of challenge and change: 'They’re moving towards you with their colours all the same' But on a personal note, I think that whilst that is true it is only because of the failings of the previous generation which has been taken in by the "miracle" of consumer capitalism and turned us all into possessive, empty-minded individuals obsessed with variety and shopping, 'with their colours all the same'. The superstructure has taken the people in and has enslaved them by a consumerist seduction. How sad. Truly a 'City with no children (in it)', as is the title of the song after the next on the album. |
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| LCD Soundsystem – Dance Yrself Clean Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I agree with you pretty roundly, and the conflict between collectivism and individualism is a running theme in the song, most naturally revealed by the dancing 'blowing Marxism to pieces', but I think that whilst the song is brilliant and stimulates discussion, it is fundamentally wrong. Dancing is a collective function. Perhaps the movement or action itself is wholly individual, where you can cleanse your mind from your conscious worries and indulge in the individual unconscious. However, whilst the action is individual, the motive, cause, pressure, or influence comes from societal pressures, i.e. those dancing with you. I think that a key line from the song is 'Present company, the best that you can find' - you need the company, however imperfect it may be, as we cannot exclude ourselves from others and indulge in one's own existential essence. You are much more likely to dance with a group of people than by yourself, and this is evident in my point. So, instead of blowing Marxism to pieces, dancing actually brackets itself neatly under Marxist Critical Theory, i.e. the grand narrative that can be applied to anything. Dancing is a collective end, though achieved by individual means, just as Marx intended: the ends are collectivist and egalitarian, but the means must be an individualistic cleansing of the false consciousness, and that's where Marxist Existentialism derives from, a merging of individualism and collectivism, just as Sartre intended. |
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| Rihanna – Rude Boy Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Well I think it's pretty obvious it's basically a song about sex - which is exactly what Rihanna wants to sell. You can talk about her relationship with Chris Brown, or an ironic attack on the male race, but really it is just a typical pop song which is selling sex via a song about sex, sung by a sexy woman. Nothing special, although I am very surprised how often it was played on BBC radio in particular. (Have to say that the TC remix is pretty awesome, takes much of the pop vibe out of it... :P) | |
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