| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Opium Tea Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The "wail of the call to prayer" obviously implies that he's in a Muslim country. The "dirham or two" suggests Morocco. I think this song is about William S. Burroughs. He lived in Tangier for a few years while writing his novel Naked Lunch. He was heavily addicted to opiates at the time. He left a son back in the States, which also fits. Nick Cave seems to reference literature a lot in his songs, so it seems like a plausible interpretation. I can imagine Burroughs drifting around the city in an opium haze, thinking about the life he left behind. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – More News from Nowhere Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"Wine-dark sea" is a formula (frequently repeated phrase) in Homer. When he says her hair is like the wine dark sea, he's directly quoting from The Odyssey. What I find interesting is the line "Don't it make you feel blue". The Ancient Greeks' definitions of colour were very different to ours, for instance Homer describes the sky as bronze and honey as green. As such, they effectively had no concept of "blue", either because of linguistic relativity or because our eyes have evolved to perceive more of the colour spectrum. As a literary guy, I feel like Nick Cave must have known this. Also, he could be referring to the band Betty X, though I have no idea what that has to do with The Odyssey. |
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| Bon Iver – Skinny Love Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| It always seemed to me that this song is addressed to his girlfriend, who is suffering from an eating disorder. He calls her "skinny love", because she has become so thin. He begs her to "last the year", suggesting that he is scared she could die soon. "Crushed veneer" makes me think of teeth; perhaps she has self-induced vomiting so much that her teeth have begun to fall out. It sounds as if he loves her deeply, but he's terrified of losing her to this illness. He's worried that he'll be unable to save her, "this order's tall". Part of him wants to leave her, but he knows he has to stay and take care of her, "Who will love you? Who will fight?" | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| When I heard this song, it reminded me of a case study from this book about clinical depression I'm reading. I think the snow is a metaphor for feeling completely buried by your problems, completely hopeless. When he worries that they "haven't put their mittens on", it suggests to me that he's taking about children. Whether it's about cocaine or not, I'm not sure, but it expresses all this fear and anxiety and paranoia, such an incredible song. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Up Jumped the Devil Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I'm pretty sure it should be: "My blood was blacker Than the chambers of a dead nun's heart" "Up jumped the Devil and off we crept" and "That night I swallowed my lucky star." |
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| The King Blues – If I Had A Coin... Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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You left out a bit: "Sometimes in life, we all gotta rise up, we hear that siren calling out, so find your calling, find whatever makes you happy, and do it twice, that's my advice." |
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| The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets – Burrow Your Way To My Heart Lyrics | 16 years ago |
| Agreed. I think this song is about Lovecraft's childhood. When he was very young, he was made to wear girl's clothing, hence the "when you were a little girl". The story about the wasps, and the ringworms are both true. He was deprived of love as a child, so he became withdrawn, and grew a fascination with things that disgusted most people. It's even more sad when you know it really happened. :'( | |
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