| Black Sabbath – End Of The Beginning Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This song plays during the end credits of the 2013 comedy film "This is the End", and it is within that context that it has two meanings. First it is clearly someone's quirky cherished song memory, something that reminds them of feeling *amazing* as a kid or teenager, that feeling is the one that *defines* our preferences as adults. In that sense it is closely related to the other important song to this movie, the Backstreet Boy's "Everybody". But unlike that piece of listenable, likable pop about superficial and (alas, rather lame sounding) wooing strategy, the Sabbath song presents a curiously science-fictional, introspective lyric. This is a song in Frank Herbert's Dune (Gurney Halleck would have song to balliset to the young Paul Atreides). The guitar solo is a knife fight training when the poetry is done. Intellectual, cold, manly, and demanding. The lyric here dares you to be exceptional, after giving you instructions on how (and why). "You don't want to be a robot ghost, occupied inside a human host," that is, you don't want to be an empty soul, easily cloned and used. It's not clear specifically what this means, but it doesn't sound good. "Rise up and resist, be the master of your fate" it prescribes. Do not be a mindless non-conformist. Question assumptions. Have courage to fight injustice when you find it, etc. And yet, there's a tinge of sadness when I dissect this song lyric. This is a message squarely aimed at the boy I was, not the man I am today. As laudable as this message is, it is incomplete, and so it remains fundamentally only the message of a juvenile power fantasy. What is the missing message? Yes, grow in whatever unique strength you possess (which will never, ever be nearly as good as what literally any of the protagonist in any story has), and pursue your own unique goals, but take heed of the mainstream, and do not reject it all outright. Time spent learning to stay out of trouble and foster friendship is time well spent. |
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| St. Vincent – Surgeon Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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You are correct. She also introduced the song at her album opening show in LA by saying that the song was inspired by Marylin Monroe (perhaps because she was concerned about what it might say about her - "I spent the summer on my back" indeed!). However, that does not preclude my analysis (in a previous comment) from also being correct: there is a rather pronounced vein of "impassive suffering" throughout Annie Clark's work, much of which reminds me of a healthy adult processing a subtly difficult childhood. Marylin Monroe exhibits the same symptoms of "impassive suffering" in her journals, so AC chose to write about it. |
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| St. Vincent – Surgeon Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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jennild is correct: the actual lyric in the chorus is "best finest surgeon". |
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| St. Vincent – Surgeon Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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As for meaning, this song reminds me quite strongly of another St. Vincent song, 'Now, Now', in that it seems to be about a person (a young girl, probably) who has been stepped on, and is rebelling in her own quiet way. In 'Now, Now' the rebellion was sarcastic. In this case it is ironic. E.g. Annie seems to be describing an error mode that she herself is not suffering, and implicitly criticizing a passive, desperate lifestyle. So, the song is basically about a girl who's just trying to get along, but it's killing her. "Come cut me open" is about a desperate need to conform to the expectations of those around her (including the mailman, and even a wall), to the extent of getting surgery to modify yourself. |
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| St. Vincent – Surgeon Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Well, I hear the lyrics as: I spent the summer on my back Another attack Stayin' just to get along, get along, get along Turn off the TV Wait in bed Of blue and red A little something to get along, get along, get along Get along, get along, get along Best find a surgeon Come cut me open Best find a surgeon Come cut me open Dressing undressing for the wall If mother calls She knows where we don't get along, get along, get along I tell the mailman never you mind I'll sift through the piles And for him to just get along, get along, get along, Get along, get along, get along Best find a surgeon Come cut me open [repeats] |
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| Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Dragon Queen Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Here's what I here in the intro, second verse last line: Night loving, slow nobody down And here's what I here in the chorus: Hi my love, I've gotta shiny new scar. Hi my love, go ha ha! Anyway, this song is very uncharacteristic of the Yeahs, because it's aggrandizing the party life. |
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| The New Pornographers – Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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My sense is that the new pornographers aren't overly concerened with song meanings, quite possibly choosing lyrics to suit the music. However on meaning that may fit this song is the description of an autistic person. "Mistake on the part of nature" and "wear my Sunday suit to walk the street", an obsessive use of a strange word like "byzantine" all point in that direction. "Sweet talk" refers to *any* talk coming from an autistic, even if to an ordinary observer it doesn't sound very sweet (like a "shout from the top"). There are other little clues, like he sees people as "silouettes" or that he's very literal ("way back then, you ask exactly when"). "Amnesia becomes ambition" points to some sort of mental defect, certainly. |
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