| The Clash – Lose This Skin Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Molting process in snakes. Singer is describing transformation and growth. When I'm really grooving to this one, I'm thinking of the "skin" as whatever current set of responsibilities is wearing me down. |
|
| Butthole Surfers – Jingle Of A Dog's Collar Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
However convoluted and cryptic you were hoping these lyrics to be, I'm pretty sure this dog collar was meant to be worn by a dog. "What do they know about love" if he's talking about a dog is a comparison between romantic love--which can be fleeting and/or hard to come by--with the love between a dog and its human. I assume something went wrong or got complicated in the area of romantic love, and the narrator went to discuss the matter with his dog--but the narrator might just be reminiscing about a dog that had since passed. |
|
| Mark Knopfler – The Fizzy and the Still Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| to add to my last post: I'm not sure you'll see the parent's reaction in the lyrics so much as how they are song, and how the piece is played. | |
| Mark Knopfler – The Fizzy and the Still Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
Mark's narrator seems to be Mom & Dad. Son's dream failed. "boy's done good" is an interesting line in the context: the son admitted defeat, but parents lost no respect for him. For my ears, the rest of the details in the song are not important. Song is about Mom & Dad's reaction. |
|
| Patti Smith – Farewell Reel Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
In other songs she sings of turning into a bird. "Reel" likely refers to the flight pattern, going around in circles. I'm sure there is more to the image of birds in flight. |
|
| The Cranberries – Waltzing Back Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
i think the waltzer is her lover's ex. probably a non-romantic intrusion ... sometimes I think the singer is suspicious of the relationship between the waltzer and her lover, other times she's merely coveting his time. |
|
| Leonard Cohen – Avalanche Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I'm not sure the narrator has any self-loathing here. Perhaps a mutual self-discovery. All the negative descriptions come with reference to her perception of him "that you see" or "at which you stare" It's not clear to me whether he saw himself clearly all along and had finally reached a breaking point to set her straight; or, if her view of him had infected his vision of himself. As an additional thought: most of the reference is to wealth & poverty. I suspect the song could refer to class struggle nearly as easily as a romantic one. |
|
| Grateful Dead – Franklin's Tower Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
The Dead often present their lyrics the way a jazzman presents a standard. The listener is given the freedom to fill in the gaps within his/her imagination. From what I've read, every song ever written is about drugs, or you're all jones-ing. Personally I always favored the interpretation of "roll away the dew" as akin to dusting yourself off. It also reminds me of "Morning Dew" I think I can reconcile that with the clarification above that the lyrics were referring to the forging of the liberty bell. And I find that makes a more interesting song than the drug reference. Besides that, if you do the Dew, that's Pepsi not Coke. |
|
| R.E.M. – Man On The Moon Lyrics | 16 years ago |
|
For me, these lyrics are about Andy's last great hoax. Years after his death, including the time period this song was produced, Tony Clifton -- who we had been lead to believe was Andy -- was still making appearances. As for whether Louis Armstrong ;-) ever walked on the moon, I'm not sure Stipe was lyrically stating his position. Putting the man on the moon is metaphor for the Tony Clifton hoax. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.