| The National – This Is the Last Time Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I feel like Matt is singing about his daughter Isla, who is disguised as Jenny. The first stanza, "Oh, when I lift you up / You feel like a hundred times yourself / I wish everybody knew / What's so great about you" gives me the impression he's talking about lifting his daughter up, but only he can know or rather feel the greatness within her. This greatness is something special and something only a father would really be able to understand. It's as if he has access to a secret only he and his daughter knows about. The next stanza, "Oh, but your love is such a swamp / You don't think before you jump / And I said I wouldn't get sucked in / I" gives way to the understanding of his possible reluctance to becoming a father in the first place. "your love is such a swamp" goes along with framing his original view of having a child as being a possibly negative and/or scary reality. "You don't think before you jump," that sounds exactly like a curious baby/toddler to me. "And I said I wouldn't get sucked it" shows that he's falling for her and changing his view of having a child. "This is the Last Time" means multiple things. It's the last time he feels reluctance, it's the last time he feels the way he does, it's the last time he'll let her get to him (no really ;), and the last time.......fill in the blank, you're human. "We were so under the brine / We were so vacant and kind / We were so under the brine / We were so vacant" is a stanza that is used to juxtapose the brine (saltiness or experience of adulthood) with vacancy and kindness of youth that is brought out with being with a child. In other words fatherhood is bring him to a new and appreciated view of life that only a daughter/child of his own can bring. "Seeing double" makes sense in meaning that his daughter reminds him of himself and/or her mother. Resemblances are abound. "It takes a lot of pain to pick me up / It takes a lot of rain in the cup" This sounds like a mans struggle to understand himself and come to coping or begin okay with having to change his lifestyle for a greater good. That greater good obviously is taking care of and raising his daughter. "Baby you gave me bad ideas / Baby you left me sad and high" Juxtaposition again takes a role in showing the conflicting view of a new dad and a more experienced (few years later) dad. Matt has been a father for a few years now. He's human and has been conflicted with understanding how to adjust and this is a song meant to show it's the last time he has any negative views left and that he's ready to be the best father he can reasonably be. |
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| Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Sacrilege Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I feel this is a song about the hypocrisy of peoples ideas about our social lives in contrast to religious ideals or belief. When we think about our interactions in a secular fashion we are capable of doing actions or vices because of our naturally flawed characters as human beings. That's one of the main tenets of Christianity and Jesus Christ's role in saving us by dying for our sins. We will sin and it is for the sacred religion to save us. So when (if you watch the video you see the girl sleeps with a priest) a symbol of religion sins as well, our acceptance of promiscuity in our social lives hits a no tolerance point. The sacrilegious act of when a married girl sleeping with a priest the followers must punish them by putting them to death. It's intolerable, it's sacrilege. So to summarize my interpretation, it is the religious followers who sin regularly, but when the institution falters there is no tolerance. Ideals can not be messed with, no matter how much you plead and pray. In other words conservatives are hypocrites because ideals can not exist in the real world. |
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| The National – Lemonworld Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I take this song to mean that all of our brothers and sisters try to hide there pain in reference to war. He knows the pain it causes and it seems like so many turn there cheeks and try to forget that there is a war and put on a pretense that everything is alright while he is dying with anguish on the outside and the inside. They put up a wall like everything is alright but on the inside they are living with anguish as well. This is evident to me in (you and your sister live in a lemonworld) and the beginning of the song with: "So happy I was invited Give me a reason to get out of the city See you inside watching swarms on TV Livin' or dyin' in New York it means nothing to me I gave my heart to the Army The only sentimental thing I could think of With cousins and colors and somewhere overseas But it'll take a better war to kill a college man like me" "This pricey stuff makes me dizzy" He tries to drink away his worries and fall asleep anyway he can, in this song, drunk at the TV. "You and your sister live in a lemonworld". This reinforces his belief that his brothers and sisters live there lives happily on the appearance and deal with it there own way but he is dying and barely unable to take his anguish. "This pricey stuff makes me dizzy I guess I've always been a delicate man Takes me a day to remember a day I didn't mean to let it get so far out of hand I was a comfortable kid But I don't think about it much anymore Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth And we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party" He has always been so easily effected by things in his life fore he has always been a delicate man. He was fine as a kid but he let his emotions get out of hand. "Lay me on the table, put flowers in my mouth And we can say that we invented a summer lovin' torture party" is his way of changing the mood and trying to make it fun again by attempting to suggest that we have fun with it and do something children would do for and pretend everything is alright. That's my interpretation. Please comment! |
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| The National – Afraid of Everyone Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| I interpret this song to be mainly on the negative and 'fright' inducing elements of the American Media, cough cough "FOX News" cough cough. We are taught to be afraid and cautious of any and everything. Sure the world can be scary but not everyone is out to get you! "Venom radio and venom television, I'm afraid of everyone, I'm afraid of everyone" The poison that is being taught over the radio waves and television news channels is teaching us to be frightened and worried constantly. This is a rebellion and conscious awareness that we recognize the manipulation of our fake or frightening news. "With my shiny new Star-Spangled tennis shoes on." Sounds a lot like the Patriot stuff we hear a lot. "I'm afraid of everyone." People we are isolating ourselves from the world! Why? "I don't have the drugs to sort it out". Because isn't that the easy way to forget your issues, take medications or lose yourself in alcohol? He wants you to know that he doesn't want to live with drugs to ease any problems. Let's live with an open mind and a friendly positive outlook on an even closer world. "Your voices all in my soul soul soul soul Your voice is swallowing' my soul soul soul soul Your voices swallowing my soul soul soul Soul Soul soul soul soul soul soul soul soul soul soul". I leave with this, let's not close our doors to a world that is growing closer and lets stop the hate speech. | |
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