| Elliott Smith – Ballad of Big Nothing Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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You get pinpoint pupils when you take opiates. That whole sections is about meeting someone for drugs, taking them and sitting watching the rest of the world pass you by. The anger could be directed at himself for ending up in the situation he's in or it could be the resentment he feels towards the people in 'the parade' for being able to get on with things (breeze through life as if its a parade). Probably a bit of both. No doubt the people in this parade have contributed to his problems and are blissfully unaware. I could be superimposing my own outlook onto the message here of course? One of the reasons I love Elliott is because he had a great way of summing up complex situations or circumstances with two or three short lines. |
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| Damien Dempsey – Serious Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This is more readable and I fixed the incomprehensible parts. Go on, why don't you try it out? I don't know, my head's filled with doubt Ah, go on, a little bit won't hurt When you feel the whack of it, you'll see it's well worth it Go on, give it a blast, in ten seconds flat you'll feel fantastic Your head will be like rubber, and your body like elastic You'll be in God's arms with your thoughts all derelict I don't know, I think it's fuckin' mad That shit killed Anto Kelly's mam and dad Ah, you're being all windy on me now I was told you were handy when it came to a row Fuckin' sure I am, ask anybody I burst Paddy Lee last fuckin' Saturday Don't be silly man, sit down All the boys is blasting off and they're all sound Are you serious? Is he sound over there? He's about to disappear into thin fuckin air Ah man, you're lettin me down I thought you were the dirt of a lad around town You won't get strung your first time doing it It takes loads of times before you can't stop abusing it Your da doesn't care, he's drunk in the bar Seen your ma headin' off in some strange fella's car I have been feelin really low lately Feel the whole fuckin world is against me and they hate me Think I'll head home, I don't like this room There's a bad smell of piss and the ceiling's peeling Before you go, here's a freebie Go home to your bed and you'll sleep like a baby Ah, maybe (Chorus) Serious, I'm afraid There's a devil in the shade Serious, I am scared There's a devil in my head Go on, man, get some of this shit into you It's not gonna kill you, get it into you, Synthia Ah don't know man, I'm fairly wary of all that stuff I seen Jem Quinn and what he's gone through in prison and all Ah, man he's a fuckin eejit, he's just stupid That wouldn't happen to you Ahh, you never know, man, I seen so many around I seen all the heads around town goin down Ah, man, you're wimping out on me here I thought you were a hard man with no fuckin fear I am man, I fuckin am You saw me stickin out that O'Connor kid I fuckin hopped off of him Ah, brown' is different, man, you know what I mean Any fuckin sap can row, that's all Babog shit You'll see what I mean when you take a hit (Chorus) Serious, I'm afraid There's a devil in the shade Serious, I am scared There's a devil in my head Angel, come and save me Angel, come and help me Angel, come and save me Angel, come and help me |
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| Radiohead – A Wolf at the Door (It Girl. Rag Doll) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I've not got the time to read the 135 comments so I may as well just chip in my 2 cents worth anyway. A while back Thom was in the papers saying MI5 were taping his phones ect. I'm sure he also made a veiled remark in the story about being threatened by certain elements of the UK government but you'd have to check that out for yourself. Given the general nature of Thom's Lyrics especially on Hail to the thief (the title being taken from a sign a protester had when George Bush the 2nd stole the election with the whole Florida farce) I think its partly about some threat he may or may not have been made by the authorities in the UK. A sort of 'tone it down or your getting it and so are your kids' sort of thing. Let's face it, these people don't play and Radiohead are arguably the biggest band in the world. A lot of people listen to them and a lot of their lyrics are about subject matter the powers that be don't really want you listening to on a daily basis. It may also be the reason that, since they have developed as a band, their lyrics have become more and more cryptic? Who knows? I remember being in Miami when Hail to the thief came out over there and it was being promoted everywhere (in fact I think it may have been number 1 album in the US?). When you think of what was going on back then in the states, this album seemed to be some sort of voice of the silent masses against it all. Look at what happened to 3D from Massive Attack a while back when the UK tabloids tried to accuse him of being caught with child pornography on his computer. All this turned out to be bullshit of course but its strange because I'm pretty sure it wasn't long after they released the track 'False Flags'. Massive Attack are another great British band with a heavy political agenda of their own which in my opinion certain people couldn't handle and set in motion some sort of smear campaign about 3D being a paedophile. |
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| The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I've always interpreted the line 'down for you is up' as being about drugs. I've had problems with analgesic drugs myself and I know Lou did to. The feeling of being down from the drugs (as in smacked out) is the only up feeling you get out of life ... hence down for you is up? Its funny cause I've had a similar situation recently with a girl with pale blue eyes, I had to break it off and I've been playing this song a lot. Ahhhh lol |
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| Happy Mondays – Wrote For Luck Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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It's not about pills, it's about LSD! I've taken shit loads of pills and have never really seen anyone's face 'melt'. With microdots its a different story ... believe me. Check out the comment below Shaun's a brilliant lyricist but I think you guys are looking at this in the wrong way. Many of his lyrics are stream of conciousness (specially the early mondays stuff). I've read probably every book available about Shaun and The Mondays and WFL is always described as a track about the paranoia you get when your tripping on acid. All this stuff about fake friends is bollocks I'm afraid. Lines and ques could also be drugs references(Lines of speed/coke and que's as in quarter ounce) but I don't think even Shaun could tell you WTF he meant by it nowadays days. lol |
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| Love – Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure your right about it being street names. Sure I heard Arthur Lee say it was a couple of streets in LA where folks used to hang out back in the day. Don't quote me on that though. lol There was a great documentary made about Love just before Arthur's death called 'LOVE STORY' and I think he mentioned it in that. |
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| Love – Alone again or Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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"I could love almost anyone" a bit dated??!? You've obviously been oblivious to the invention of Ecstasy and its use and abuse throughout the late 20th and early 21st century. lol |
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| Love – The Red Telephone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Oh and the first part was about how Arthur would sit alone up in his house on the hillside watching the people of LA. Feeling much better alone and isolated from whatever madness was going on. | |
| Love – The Red Telephone Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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The "red telephone" was a famous hotline which linked the White House via the National Military Command Center with the Kremlin during the Cold War. I'm also pretty sure I heard Arthur Lee say in an interview that most businesses in Russia were also fitted with red telephones which would be used to pass down orders from the state. The phone would ring and it would be whoever was regarded as your superior passing on orders, them having received a call on their red telephone from their superiors. Ahhh totalitarian governments eh? |
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| Happy Mondays – Wrote For Luck Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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This song is about going out, taking acid, having a bad trip and getting really paranoid! Most of the lines are describing how Shaun's paranoid mind is perceiving the world and the people around him. I've always had this idea that he's singing this one to Bez. Like the two of them are out roaming the pubs n clubs of Manchester on acid while Shaun's world is starting to fall apart. Quite a few of the lyrics here are wrong but if I tell you it doesn't say ... 'You try something hard there's nothing else you can do' it says .... 'try and THINK hard there's nothing else you can do' you get the picture I hope. Shaun and Bez were rather fond of their microdots back in the day :) |
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| Massive Attack – Atlas Air Lyrics | 16 years ago |
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Atlas Air is an airline who were going bankrupt until they got a contract to transport military supplies to war zones for the US and various other countries. 3D had this to say about it ... There are lots of mixed messages in there and this was a song that changed direction a few times. It ended up being almost about rendition, about secret flights and torture. But it's not really something that's easy to sing about. Some of it's actually sung from the point of view of those who actually empower themselves and actually are the perpetrators of these crazy situations. It's like stepping into different shoes. It's kind of ironic, like, "let's go on a holiday to a secret prison we've got lined up for you as a package deal". The track was meant to be slightly schizophrenic. I had the Middle Eastern drum part. It had the very analogue organ part which also felt it could have been seen slightly Turkish but European as well and the drums, disco but slightly Arabic. And then obviously the keys at the end just going off, electronically, in a more twisted fashion. |
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