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Suzanne Vega – 99.9 F Lyrics

2 years ago

The song is obviously about sexual tension and excitement, and is close to being X-rated but with clever use of metaphor to preserve the pretense that it might just be describing an actual fever. The speaker sees "rising possibilities" in the man (an erection, to be blunt), and his desire to "stay awake at night"--to have sex. "If I touch you I might get what you've got"--i.e., the same level of sexual excitement. 99.9 F is *almost* 100--suggesting he's in a state which is about to transition into something more complete--orgasmic satisfaction. He could be needing something cool against the skin--her body, whose touch can bring him over the edge and relieve the tension. Of course the metaphorical temperature works only in the imperial system: 37.9 C doesn't sound as much like it's on the edge of a complete change into something very interesting, while 99.9 C would be a lethal and impossible body temperature. 99.9 F, OTOH, is a plausible, uncomfortable but far from lethal, fever temperature, allowing the pretense that we're just talking about an illness...when this is clearly /not/ what we are talking about.

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Heart – Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child) Lyrics

2 years ago

I think it's less about a drug trip or a country girl in the big city, than simply about a creative person who, like all of us at times, sees herself as set apart from the crowds of people around us, drifting off into a dreamland of our own making. Despite the reference to the "lonely one," I see the imagery as largely positive: Annie is a ship, self-sufficient, and enjoying her voyages into the dreamy clouds, which is why she "won't be back for a while." Of course Annie must in part be Ann Wilson herself, the co-author of the song who finds inspiration for her unique art in events and settings which seem mundane and saddening to others. Too many people, instead of making art about the life around us, simply cover their sadness with cheap commercial "art," burying themselves in magazines covered with the posed smiles of someone else. They too are lost in a dreamworld, but someone else's--Annie's dreamworld is hers alone.

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Pretenders – Thumbelina Lyrics

2 years ago

This song surely references both the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and the follow-up TV series Alice (1976-1985); both feature a mother of a young son whose husband dies in a traffic accident. She then moves from New Mexico to Tucson (New Jersey to Phoenix in the series) to take a waitressing job and establish a new life. "Thumbelina" is a story by Hans Christian Anderson about a woman the size of an adult person's thumb (based on the older English story of "Tom Thumb.") The titular character is threatened less by larger creatures than by prospective partnerships/marriages to a toad, stag beetle, and mole, all of whom are unappealing mates from whom she must escape.

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Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics	6 years ago
@[ScottEF:31355] Another possibility is "Ride Captain Ride," which also came out in 1970. And actually that makes even more sense, since the song references drugs (tripping), while C&T are just about love. Of course "the captain" could be both.

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Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics

6 years ago

I've always wondered what the "called up the captain" lines might mean. It just occurred to me that several words here might have multiple meanings or be sound puns. Given the already-obvious drug & booze references, the Captain could mean Captain Morgan rum. But it could also refer to another recent southern California band, The Captain and Tennille. The narrator asks them: please bring me my wine--i.e., my whine, the songs I love demanding social justice and reform. But you won't find them here, the new music since 1969 (note, C&T formed in 1970!!) is all self-centered stuff about love and having fun. (BTW I love C&T personally, but we must admit they are not the deepest band in history.)

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Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics

6 years ago

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned a possible double meaning, that "mission bell" could be heard as "mission belle"--i.e., a woman on a mission, providing (real or only superficial) relief of some kind. I thought I once saw the lyrics listed this way, but might be mistaken as I get no hits for this on google; still, the Eagles were experts at writing lyrics which could be heard in more than one way.

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Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics	6 years ago
@[injun42:31213] I've never thought of this, but you make an excellent point, for in that play people create their own hell, which is what HC's woman essentially confesses in the third verse.

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Eagles – Hotel California Lyrics

6 years ago

I think "check out" is more than literally trying to get out and failing...this is slang for dropping out, becoming uninvolved, especially from society or other larger concerns, and perhaps with a hint of doing so with drugs, although it can certainly happen in many other contexts. All things that laid-back Californians are often accused of doing. This is one of the Eagle's many subtle double-entendres (one of my other favorites being Life in the Fast Lane's "he was too tired to make it"

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Yes – Roundabout Lyrics

15 years ago

I've always been intrigued by the repeated verses with the numbers: 1, 10, 24. I interpret these as indicating three phases or aspects of the relationship the singer is praising with his partner to whom he is speaking. "One mile over we'll be there and we'll see you"--I'm not far away, and I'm coming to join you very soon, I'm eager to join together and I'm happy that we're so close, and that the distance is easily traversed. It's about immediate joy. "Ten true summers we'll be there and laughing too"--this experience will go on and be repeated many times, there's much to look forward to. This is about an indefinite future of joy together. "24 before my love you'll see I'll be there with you"--sometimes we can't meet today, but will have to wait until tomorrow (hours being the understood subject of 24). We must have patience, trust, and confidence in each other. You'll see--it will all work out. This is about the relationship remaining strong even when there is some immediate barrier to our joy.

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Queen – Bicycle Race Lyrics

15 years ago

I think the "God...Superman" verse is a reaction to people who tell Freddie and other free spirits they can't do what they please, especially sexually, because the Lord God disapproves. Freddie replies: I have as much right to choose my beliefs as you do. Whether God is depicted as good (Superman), Bad (Frankenstein), or neutral (Peter Pan), I'm not threatened by his invocation, as it's all just make-believe.

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