| Devotchka – How It Ends Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I imagined a dance to this song, a beautiful struggle full of falls and rising again I don't see how this song is entirely about Hope. "There is no escape from the slave catcher's songs" That sounds horrifying. "You already know how this will end" Equally horrifying. You're not supposed to know the future, right? Only God can, according to Christianity; anything else would be hubris. you're supposed to have it be unknown. The unknown can be scary, but that's where Faith and Hope come into play. By the end of the song, it gets hopeful: "there's a place in the sun For all that you've done" And the whole "I shall not want" idea... It really is comforting to think it all happened for a reason, and that you can get to a place of feeling life's abundance. In total, I feel melancholy and sadness in hearing this. A real tear-jerker, this song :') |
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| Nick Drake – Been Smokin' Too Long Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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According to Wikipedia, Nick Drake quit sports in college and used his new free time to smoke weed and listen to music. He began smoking "insane amounts" every day, and it brought out a psychosis in him. Marijuana can bring out psychosis in people who are genetically pre-disposed to dementia, acting as a catalyst. Nick must've been singing from his heart. He sounds trapped in a bad dream. |
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| Nick Drake – Been Smokin' Too Long Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Weed can be both psychologically and physiologically addicting. I know because I was both psychologically addicted (I couldn't imagine who I was/my future without it) and physiologically addicted (I couldn't eat breakfast without smoking first to get an appetite). And sometimes people do smoke so they can put off reality. That being said, I agree, he clearly talks about opium and hash in the song, not weed. Even though hash is a form of weed (resin), it's not the same kind of high. |
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| RJD2 – Hidden Track Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| The dripping reminds me of snowmelt dripping off my roof. Though it makes me think of winter, it's also a steamy, sultry sound. The sexy beat and the yearning, longing vocals over it make it so beautiful. It almost makes me well up with tears if I try and feel his pain hard enough. This is one of the best. | |
| RJD2 – Work Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Thanks! | |
| Norah Jones – Jesus Etc. Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Oh my God this is beautiful. She sings with such melancholy at the "tall buildings shake" part, and with such inspiration whenever she affirms "Every one is a burning sun" or "Our love is all God's money" (a perfect line by the way, IMO). Never heard Wilco's version. I can't imagine it being better than this, though. |
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| Jonathan Richman – I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Akin to Aladdin showing Princess Jasmine "A whole new world" "Well in the first bar things were controlled But in this bar things were Rock and Roll" That's the spirit! |
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| Langhorne Slim – Checking Out Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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you quoted my favorite part xD The song makes me think of suburban angst, transitions, starting fresh, returning to roots whether it be a hometown or nature or some group of friends that make you feel at home. a song to us all, song like a front porch melody, like you said "simple and repetitive" but still gets you |
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| Flobots – The Moon Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Your quote there is my favorite part of the song. So deep, so ill. It reminds me of adventure and meditation | |
| Gorillaz – Empire Ants Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| i like where your head is at | |
| Jay-Z – Party Life Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Some corrections: "'cause im all that IN THE sack, ya ya digg" not "and a sack" He's talking about how he's good in bed, "in the sack," and it has a double meaning since he's saying "she's my little quarterback," because QB's always get "sacked" "Get into your COMFORT zone" lol not "parking zone" He's saying smoke weed, or whatever it is you do to get comfortable |
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| The Devil Makes Three – Old Number Seven Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"When I grew up fast I guess I grew up mean There's a thousand things inside my head I wish I ain't seen" To me, that's a great line that captures the loss of innocence "And you never wake up with those tears in your eyes" A real display of conflicting parts inside of him, and expressing vulnerability, but in the context of a badass-outlaw song Johnny Cash in his early days could have written this. A nice song. |
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| Bob Dylan – Ain't Talkin' Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"They will tear your mind away from contemplation" Sounds like the modern internet/FOX News/Paris Hilton world to me. Dylan wants to focus on what's important. "I'll make the most of one last extra hour" Do something meaningful "All my loyal and my much-loved companions They approve of me and share my code I practice a faith that's been long abandoned Ain't no altars on this long and lonesome road " Reminds me of the film The Road, a post-apocalyptic film about maintaining dignity in anarchy. The world today is in moral, spiritual anarchy, nobody's sure if there is any truth with a capital T Those who live by a code of honor and justice and love become harder to come by I get a sense of quiet desperation from this song "No one on earth would ever know" "Got to get you out of my miserable brain" Also a sense of self-pity that desperately wants to reveal itself "Some day you'll be glad to have me around." "Got to get you out of my miserable brain" It sounds like Dylan misses someone a lot, he must have spent a lot of time with a girl and now it's all over and this source of love is suddenly gone. In its place is a vacant emptiness that depresses him He's sad, so all he can see of life is sadness: "The sufferin' is unending Every nook and cranny has its tears" But he realizes, if suffering is eternal, then wouldn't good feelings be just as eternal? "Fame and honor never seem to fade" Good deeds, the source of honor and fame, cannot be erased A deed cannot be undone Dylan wants to find the source of this, and he's Christian, so Maybe he's referring to Jesus when he says: "The fire gone out but the light is never dyin' " Jesus (the fire) is dead, but the light (Jesus' spirit) lives on I think Dylan is running on the fumes of hope, trying to find this source Like UnForGiven says, He's willing to go to "the last outback at the world's end" to find it Great poetic imagery in this song, too! What a perfect song! |
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| Bob Dylan – Ain't Talkin' Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| You lucky bastard, that is perfect! | |
| Paul Simon – Under African Skies Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I always heard "This is the story of how we FORGET to remember" It made me think about a breakup. One where you go from obsessing over the person to letting it fade and then waking up one day and realizing you forgot to remember that person in the old way you used to. You start fresh: "This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein After the dream of falling and calling your name out These are the roots of rhythm And the roots of rhythm remain" The tree has been cut down (the relationship with a love is over) but the roots remain Now the power of love is regenerating your love Like a lizard's tail that got plucked off I also see it as: The roots of rhythm are like the source of all life. It always exists, even as only a potential. I won't quote the whole thing, but check out this quote from Julie Barnes: "There is a rhythm throughout the universe. The pulsation throbs within every heart, during each moment of ecstasy, in every birth contraction. The rhythm exists in the pull of the ocean tide, around the weight of each raindrop, woven into every cocoon The sequence, the progression, is what we call time." And when humans connect with it through song and dance, it's called mysticism, which is something every religious tradition understands... |
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| Paul Simon – Under African Skies Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| No one is saying the Old Testament is true history. They have been so neutral, they may as well have been looking at it as a form of literature. Many people read the Old and New Testament just to get a sense of understanding of an important piece of world culture and because it is often good literature and poetry (see the Song of Solomon). | |
| Paul Simon – Under African Skies Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Me too! I thought it was about breaking up with someone and then forgetting to remember them so you can start over, start fresh. Read more in my larger reply, if you're interested... |
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| Bob Dylan – Nettie Moore Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Dylan is taking time to reflect on the natural occurrences around him. "Winter's gone, the river's on the rise" means the snowmelt has caused rivers to surge with their annual high levels of water. Dylan also talks about "the temperature dropped/ I think the rain has stopped." It really sounds like what frankbooth said, Dylan is some old-timer, probably in the country who is sitting around his cabin, noticing things in his backyard. This awareness is complementing the main theme of the song: insights into the world around him and his relationship with this woman who is a big source of love in his life. The song is like a collection of insights and epiphanies, and the observances of nature are like pauses that make the song seem like the natural train-of-thought wanderings of an old man. At various moments throughout the song, Dylan is humbled, disappointed in himself, full of bravado, and hopeful about the future. Like frankbooth speculated, I think Nettie Moore is dead, and all the talk of her in the present tense may just be memories. "I loved you then and always will, but now there's no one left to tell" --> all his friends might be dead, as well as Nettie, though his love for her is everlasting "The world has gone black before my eyes" --> he lost all his love, now he can only love his memories, which are just a shadow of his loves, that would explain the blackness in his vision "Today I'll stand in faith and raise The voice of praise The sun is strong, I'm standing in the light I wish to God that it were night " He's sure he'll see her in heaven. The last sentence may be him wishing he was dead already. He's ready to go. |
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| Bob Dylan – Nettie Moore Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| It's an Irish and possibly British way of saying "over," often used in poetry | |
| Bob Dylan – Beyond the Horizon Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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It's a song about God, not a person, I believe. If you've ever read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis, you'll see the connection. Heaven is symbolically portrayed as this place "At the end of the rainbow" where "life has only begun." Depending on your level of letting-go of attachments, even your love of your family, a love greater than any kind of mortal love creeps into and begins to fill you up. Look at the imagery here; Dylan sings about a place "across the divide" where "love waits forever, for one and for all." "My wretched heart is pounding I felt an angel's kiss" The song "Amazing Grace" reflects the Protestant ethic of referring to your mortal self as a "Wretch" who is full of sin. "I found you just in time It's dark and it's dreary I've been pleading in vain I'm wounded, I'm weary My repentance is plain" In "Amazing Grace," you sing about being lost and found. Amid all the turmoil, the "flame and fire" of life, you want to "build your world around" something immortal, so you can transcend the world with your love. This song talks about mortality and life being spared, and ends with "I've got more than a lifetime to live lovin' you" meaning love lasts forever, and soon "we'll be on the same side" (we = Bob and God/Immortal Love). Dylan is a Christian nowadays, and not only is he a recent convert, but he's old, so it makes sense he'd be thinking about mortality and how he made it through his wilder youth and now sees God with this love that transcends all his other loves... |
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| Bob Dylan – When the Deal Goes Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I think this is the best song on the album. He's not simply putting his great poetry to music, nor is he coming up with simple lyrics in order to show off a great musical melody. Here, the lyrics are top-notch, and the rhyme scheme is perfect, and like the last person said, it's like a Willie Nelson classic--I'd say, because it is modest and heartfelt and low-key. This is truly a song to us all. The lyrics can be interpreted as Christian as well as Buddhist, as Buddhist themes like frailty, transient joys, and suffering co-mingle with Christian prayers, radical guilt, and thorny crowns. Anyone, believer or atheist, should be able to enjoy this song. A great reflection on putting our lives in perspective. |
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| Bob Dylan – Spirit on the Water Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| what instrument makes the "do-do, do-do" sound that pops up all the time as one verse ends another begins? Like right after he sings "Sometimes I wonder" and "You think I'm over the hill". Piano? Keyboard? Organ? or guitar strumming? | |
| Bob Dylan – Spirit on the Water Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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My favorite song from the album. Bad poetry? I think this wasn't even supposed to be deep poetry deserving of analytical thought. Picture a Venn Diagram with two circles: poetic Dylan (think "Highway 51" and "Ballad of Judas Priest...") & front-porch singer/songwriter (think the New Morning album). Poetic Dylan puts poetry to music, but the lyrics come first. Front-porch singer/songwriter Dylan has occasionally corny lyrics, but the music and melody come first. The two spheres overlap, and in the middle you have his perfect mix of poetry and melody (think "All Along the Watchtower"), but a lot of times it's just great poetry to so-so music, or songs like "Spirit on the Water," where Dylan is a traditional singer-songwriter not trying to impress us with lyrics first and foremost. This song makes me think of Dylan playing on an old Southern plantation, you know, "Southern Gothic." It's a really pretty love poem, but the lyrics come second. It's about a dependent relationship; he feels like she brings him the happiness he seeks in life, so he's willing to put up with being mistreated: "Sometimes I wonder Why you can't treat me right You do good all day Then you do wrong all night When you're with me I'm a thousand times happier than I could ever say What does it matter What price I pay" I imagine it's a song you'd play drinking wine on a romantic evening at Olive Garden lol The romance of it is kind of dysfunctional, as he is putting her on a pedestal, but it is frank about the self-deprecation and self-pity, and the "do-do, do-do" melody is so pretty, it gives it a nostalgic feel. I was going through a similar relationship and the time, and this song meant so much to me because of that. I'm too proud to let my inner hopeless romantic take over, but I feed him a song like this every now and then and he's satisfied ;D |
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| Deer Tick – Song About a Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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My two favorite lines in the song: "How can a man feel anything When all he ever got was sympathy" We surround ourselves with friends who often tell us what we want to hear to comfort us, but that doesn't help us own up to the mistakes we make. "You're a fool for wanting everything It couldn't be much fun being a millionaire to one Cause a million's just a million of one thing" The more stuff we have, the less we actually have. Greed is a distraction from the simple and non-material things in life that is worth more than anything. This part almost brought a tear to my eye: "All of that aside I never meant to make her cry But crying is just the baby inside The ones that mess around that tend to fuss and bring us down Tugging at your lips to make you frown" Looking at crying as the "id" inside of us that selfishly wants to get its way, and looking at self-destructive, self-pitying people trying to bring us down, I think these are interesting ways of looking at sadness. I think it's two different things, though. The first is something we all feel in the back of our minds when we don't get our way, the baby inside of us screaming and crying and making a scene, thinking that will still work. The second are people who never matured past that... I think this song is a conglomeration of different events from his relationship, but since they are all something we can relate to, it's really a song about us all. He criticizes the relationship, but he also seems loyal to it, even if it is in a distant way ("She's waited all this time, and I suppose she has the right" "I hope he understands when he's a little bit older, I always wanted the best for him")...I sense some abandonment issues, especially in the last line where he talks about getting out of here. Maybe it's guilt about being on the road and leaving his lover and kid, with a dramatized story to reflect how he feels (he doesn't sound old enough to really have a grandkid) |
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| Josh Ritter – Mind's Eye Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Infinitepet is right, I think, he's saying "I'm puttin' up with you lightweights" Also I think he's saying "I'm gonna take it up the sly way" not "Steinway" think about it in the context of the following line "Waitin' for the bullet that I'll never see come" if you don't see it coming that means the person who shot you was being sly |
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| Deer Tick – Easy Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This reminds me of how a friend at college once told me that he was amazed how easily he ended up homeless. He said, "everyone is just one or two bad events away from being homeless." Lyrics: "It's not just circumstance," he is acknowledging personal responsibility for ending up at this low point in his life. "You were never there," the most heartbreaking line in the song. Not sure what it means. Not sure what the whole song means. "You don't know how easy it is," seems to be an argument, but against what, is someone being overly sympathetic* to him and saying "oh man I can't believe this tragedy happened TO YOU, you are broke and homeless and this is really out of the blue." Deer Tick is saying "No, man, this downfall was caused by my actions, and it was quite simple really, I f*cked up, and it was really easy to undo everything; don't talk about it like you know what I'm going through." *in another song he sings "how can a man feel anything if all he's ever got was sympathy" Singer seems focused on taking all the blame for the bad in his life, a kind of victim-blames-the-victim mentality that is uncommon since people usually blame forces beyond their control and try and make sh*t seem random and unpredictable when it happens, but really sh*t happens easily and because we cause sh*t to happen....the whole "guardian angel" and "tempting devil" on each shoulder demonstrates he has to choose which voice inside himself to listen to "she's got me flying like a wild man in the middle of the night" I always thought it was "she's got me howling like a wildcat in the middle of the night"...I was wrong, but I still like my misunderstanding better. Anyway, what does he mean? Why is the angel making him drive around at night? |
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