| Van Morrison – Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It is a real pick me up song. I put it on and instantly Im happy. The lyrics here dont include a part of the song when he sings about "palawan" or something similar. Also since Wilson is male is this a gay homage? :) | |
| Coldplay – Fix You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Its the times when you are really low - "cant sleep and in reverse". It seems it doesnt matter what you do you. You cant "get what you want" which is really love, happiness, a good future. You can get what you need - food, a bed, etc, but these are menial with the really important things if life like happiness. I compare it sometimes to the Stones' "Satisfaction" where you get cant get what you need, and Im sure Coldplay didnt do this deliberately. I like how the tone picks up and how ones own lights and guidance and intuition will look after you and bring safety and peace and then happiness. The video of the lead singer going to the concert makes this contrast well. He is by himself when singing about loneliness and depression, but as soon as he enters the concert the mood is uplifted and I just love it when the audience since the chorus. Brings a lovely shiver down my spine. We sing it in our choir and its one of our faves. The Youn@Heart choir in the U.S. sing it as well. Its a really moving and ultimately uplifting song :) |
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| XTC – Senses Working Overtime Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Its about being overly stressed in these modern times and working out what is good and bad. In older and simpler times it was easier to know good and bad, but one needs to think harderin these extremely stressful days. The issues maybe the same - good versus bad, the innocent versus the guilty, "Trying to tell the difference' Tween the goods and grime,Turds and treasure" but within a stressed world where "night fights day". Its beautifully poetic and clear, and comes to the conclusion that even though we are stressed and our senses are working overtime, there are still issues of good versus bad that are as timeless as the church bells of the final line. |
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| Joni Mitchell – Hejira Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Joni's view of love has changed on Hejira to one seen from loneliness and existentialism. It is as stark and barren as the winter snow she is travelling in. Before love was spontaneous (Chelsea Morning), of challenging cynicism (The Last Time I Saw Richard), of being independent (A Case of You) and of needing strength to sustain it (Dont Interrupt the Sorrow). But as happens with experience people can develop clearer views on love. As with the Islamic term Hejira (the prophet Mohamed fled to find safety and himself), Joni is fleeing a failed relationship and what she sees now as the interpersonal battleground of "petty wars". As epitomised with the couple on the rock, love only happens if people "thaw out" and reveal themselves with trust, or they "freeze". However, even though people are simply biochemical "particles of change orbiting around the sun", there is a greater force that pulls her back to the thing that has hurt her so badly. Love. She now sees it as a dependancy which only depresses her more. She is "always bound and tied to someone". Its like love hurts and yet she has to have it. She tries everything to avoid it. She travels, she sits alone in cafes and motel rooms, and only finds "comfort in melancholy". Shes glad to be by herself and to ponder life ("from the forceps to the stone") in an existential way. She's "returning to herself" to understand why she and her lover didnt thaw and suppressed their feelings towards each other. Its a time for deep reflection on life also and the seeing the hope and hopelessness after thirty years. She is again existentialist in viewing the symbolic granite markers on the road of life. Singularly they are final, whilst in a row they are eternal. This juxtaposition leaves her thinking about what has transcended in her life to make her immortal. What she will leave behind. However, she ends on a depressing note. Even with her "defection" from love's "petty wars", love will eventually "suck" her back into more of the same. As they say in the therapy books she is "love codependant". I'm traveling in some vehicle I'm sitting in some cafe A defector from the petty wars Until love sucks me back that way |
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| Joni Mitchell – Don't Interrupt the Sorrow Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| Agree with Zubby and I just love the last two lines: It takes a heart like Mary these days when your man gets weak. As a gay man I know! | |
| Joni Mitchell – For Free Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| A lovely song about buskers, but Im always disappointed when Joni puts herself down and even feels guilty for askin for money from her audience. The time I saw Joni live was worth every dollar. | |
| Joni Mitchell – Chelsea Morning Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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A great song. My fave and inspiring Joni song. When I was teaching I broadcast it at a morning assembly :) Its about new love and bein optimistic. |
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| Joni Mitchell – A Case Of You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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This is another beautiful and poetic song by Joni. Its about the importance of findin oneself after a relationship is over. Even before I heard this song I used to think of lovers as bein like wine and how they delightfully intoxicated me. The love she has with him is wonderfully intoxicating even to the point of it bein spiritual:"Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine". They have "touched souls" which is another sure sign of love. Another is that she writes poetry and songs about him and as with the opening line declares they had a love. Even after an argument she still idolises him by drawing his face twice within an outline of her beloved Canada. But his arrogance and ability to hurt ruined it. He boasts that he is as "constant as the northern star". He thinks he is as bright as this star, and possibly as powerful as Julius Caesar as this is a line from Shakespeare's play of the Roman emperor. Joni also has been cautioned by someone who knew him well that he has the ability to make people "bleed". However Joni's self knowledge, accuracy and ability to retaliate means that she will overcome the hurt he has done. She sarcastically and directly retorts to his metaphor of bein "the northern star" by sayin how he is "constantly in the darkness" and blind to his own arrogance and selfishness. She questions him: "Wheres that at?" and the obvious answer is nowhere but self delusion. However she has a definite and down to earth place to go: "Ill be in the bar". In the bar she realises how much he truly does not affect her anymore and is satirical: "Oh I could drink a case of you darling, Still I'd be on my feet". Even knowin that at one stage he could be like "holy wine" and "bitter and sweet in her veins" she becomes more aware that she has sobered up. She also realises why she became attracted to him. She is very lonely and fears the devil and is "drawn to those that ain't afraid". Be he too has his demons, and she concludes in the last verse that she could drink a case of him and would still be standing. A beautiful song to get over a relationship :) Joni is so authentic and inspiring. Oh I could drink a case of you darling And I would still be on my feet I would still be on my feet |
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| Coldplay – Fix You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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We sing this in our community choir and it always brings hope to us and the audience. Great lyrics. Its basically about bein lost because love has gone for whatever reason and that there are ways that you can becme yourself again. By knaowin and trustin your inner strengths and help from your friends. The singer is singin this to a friend he wants to help. |
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| Joni Mitchell – The Last Time I Saw Richard Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Joni is bemoaning a friend who has become cynical about love and she wishes to maintain that love "can be so sweet". Even if it means being by oneself. Richard has said that it is easy to become cynical about love. To him love is "Only pretty lies, Just pretty lies". He even condemns Joni for desiring love because she cant see his view of the deception of "pretty men" telling her all "those pretty lies". She implores him to stop and think that he has actually changed and become cynical about love ("Youve got tombs in your eyes") even though he still can remember sweet genuine love from the songs he put into the record player. She is concerned: "When you gonna get yourself back on your feet?" And then things turn worse and which is why she hasnt seen him for a long time. His cynicism led him to a superficial marriage and lifestyle. "And he drinks at home now most nights With the TV on and all the houselights left up bright". In the second last verse she is angry that people do become cynical about love and that she would rather be alone in a dark cafe gettin drunk than to lose the precious aspect of innocent sweet love. And then she will actually fly away and be free and have no more discussions with people like Richard who have become cynical about the most important thing in life - love. The poetry, as per usual is amzaing. The conciseness, capturing the mood of the cafe and the chracterisations of Joni and Richard are just wonderful and is why I love Joni so much. I'm gonna blow this damn candle out I don't want nobody coming over to my table I don't got nothing to talk to anybody about All the dreamers pass this way someday Hiding in bottles, in dark cafes, dark cafes Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings and fly away Only a phase, these dark cafe days... |
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