| Damien Rice – Cannonball Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This is one of the most beautiful and relatable songs I know. The character is explaining his hesitance and insecurity in committing to a girl. The relationship is slowly growing in closeness every day and the man is scared because he feels like it's fated to bugger up. After all, he buggers up everything he does, he "floats like a cannonball". It is interspersed with something I think everyone over a certain age can relate to: the realisation that all your teachers in life, parents, role models, whatever, didn't in fact know what they were doing themselves; they were stones teaching people to fly. In light of this, how is a poor sap like this bloke, or any of us, supposed to have any idea what we're doing either? It's this realisation, that there are no guarantees in life, which makes people age more than anything else. |
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| Squeeze – Cool For Cats Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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The protagonist attempts to emulate heroic figures he sees on the TV, in such iconic 1970s fare as spaghetti westerns and "The Sweeney". This is what he means when he's "posing down the pub", trying to be a cool cat, as everything tells him he should be. Carrying these images in his head, he begins his night out by getting blind drunk in the pub on disgusting beer and then having sex with a woman even he calls a dog. It is meant to show how he is more like the unfortunates in the stories (the corporal, the criminals who are caught) than the cool cats like Davy Crockett and the likely lads at the station. With his drunken, misogynistic ways, the protagonist certainly doesn't come off looking too good if you look past the cocksure Cockney patter. The song is light-hearted and packed with cultural references to 1970s Britain/London which explains its enduring appeal. |
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| The Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else but You Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Probably the best love song I have ever heard, the innocence is breathtaking as well as the vocal delivery. Such a candid look into a couple's lives and in-jokes is more powerful than any normal love song with its cliches. I could only dream of writing a song this earnest. I am fond of living the "examined life", and it's brutally saddening to me that nobody else will truly know what my relationship is really like or feel what I feel, not even a diary or memoir can express it. |
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| The Killers – Mr. Brightside Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I think the protagonist used to be a shy person who is experiencing his first surge of confidence when it comes to wine and women. That's how I interpret the first verse, and that other than the drunken kiss and maybe a short fling he has no history with the girl. Of course, being naive, and this probably being the first girl he's kissed, he attaches to her and that's where the jealousy comes from. He's getting progressively more drunk in the corner of the bar while she gets with some other guy and goes home with him. The protagonist doesn't watch the sex in my opinion, but due to the smoking (common metaphor) and general flirting his imagination conjures up all this stuff. It's aided by drink and he's not sure whether his feelings of sickness or visions of cheating are real or just enhanced by the drink. He discusses his feelings of jealousy in fuddled terms. "Turning saints into the sea" is difficult to interpret. To me it depicts saints arriving from overseas attempting to turn heathens to Christianity and thus refers to him dismissing advice, from others or from his own brain, to stop being such a numpty. "Swimming through thick lullabies, choking on your alibis" extends the metaphor to imply the saints are drowning. Lullabies are in reference to intrusive thoughts when he tries to sleep and alibis are obviously the girl's alibis. Some see Mr Brightside as ironic and this would fit. However, he talks of destiny calling him and having open, eager eyes. So I think this conclusion tells us that though he is facing setbacks he expects his journey of self-discovery and gaining confidence to go on and lead to a bright future. Maybe Mr Brightside is his attempt to see the bright side and learn from these setbacks as his character develops. |
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| Nirvana – Sliver Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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He certainly seems to be beating himself up about the meat. The bit about hurting his toe when he was just doing what he was told, to me he doesn't seem to be bemoaning the injustice but rather seems disappointed in himself for not enjoying himself. But this is my impression and I can't tell whether it's right. The stay at Grandma's is first presented as a series of challenges which he fails. Mashed potatoes, tough meat, Grandma telling him not to cry, and falling off his bike. After the toe incident the events become more homely and contented. But these are glossed over, watching TV, ice-cream and falling asleep take up half a line each. So we have three bad experiences and three good ones, but much more emphasis on the bad ones. Whether Kurt's saying he was a depressed little kid or whether he's trying to find a reason for why he's a depressed adult in what seems like a perfectly adequate childhood I don't know. I think the idea of something significant being omitted, like abuse, might be a red herring resulting from the fact Kurt seems desperate to blame his depression on his childhood. That said, it is common to remember the day in detail as part of a flashbulb memory. It may be that the important trauma was simply having to accept parental substitutes for an evening - he'd rather be alone. Kurt is probably aware how whiny this is and hating himself for being such a demanding kid. His grandma and parents don't come off hugely well. The parents ignore his pleas not to go, and Grandma gives him sucky food and doesn't let him cry. Neither are crimes to any degree of course, but child Kurt is still resentful. I think the suggestion that it might be covering up abuse is that he mentions Grandpa Joe and has a strong reaction to not going. Cue ignoring Grandpa for the whole song and instead focusing on minor interactions with Grandma. I think the ambiguity is deliberate and is meant to make us think about our prejudices where children are involved. The title, "Sliver", is a total mystery to me. |
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| Green Day – Jesus of Suburbia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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In the first part the protagonist struggles with the vicious circle of his mental health and his socioeconomic circumstances. Sitting on the sofa watching the telly, drinking fizzy pop, and self-medicating both with illegal and prescribed substances. He appears to have moved out and the theme is little contact with his parents despite his lack of self-sufficiency. However this contrasts with a strong sense of self: he sees himself as a bit of a messiah, his formative years as the centre of the earth, and "this is how I'm supposed to be". He rationalises his poor lot as the effect of a world that doesn't understand his exceptional nature. Leading into the second part he realises other people have grown up in their own ways and begins to question the worth of his own personal experiences. His home city is the "City of the Dead"; the themes are of poverty and no escape. The graffiti is a test of his existing values drawn from this deprived world, and now he is not seeing them as gospel, instead they're leading back to his new view of the town as the end of the world. Now we have the third part where apathy and anger are setting in. He rails against hypocrisy, oppression and war and reaffirms the fact he sees the real world as fake. The fourth part is after a major life event or breakdown which throws his life into focus. He is attempting to recover lost connections with his dearly beloved (whether this is the town or a lover) and by giving up his ego into the hands of a therapist. This is the most lucid part of the thing. At the end he decides to leave the town and all it represents like his personality which was shaped by his growing up there. It's difficult, he's going towards the light of masochists, but he knows it would be a tragedy to carry on on the sofa with his Ritalin. At the end he underscores that the problems began with his parents being separated or at least that the town has been a surrogate parent which is itself dysfunctional. |
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| Green Day – Jesus of Suburbia Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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In the first part the protagonist struggles with the vicious circle of his mental health and his socioeconomic circumstances. Sitting on the sofa watching the telly, drinking fizzy pop, and self-medicating both with illegal and prescribed substances. He appears to have moved out and the theme is little contact with his parents despite his lack of self-sufficiency. However this contrasts with a strong sense of self: he sees himself as a bit of a messiah, his formative years as the centre of the earth, and "this is how I'm supposed to be". He rationalises his poor lot as the effect of a world that doesn't understand his exceptional nature. Leading into the second part he realises other people have grown up in their own ways and begins to question the worth of his own personal experiences. His home city is the "City of the Dead"; the themes are of poverty and no escape. The graffiti is a test of his existing values drawn from this deprived world, and now he is not seeing them as gospel, instead they're leading back to his new view of the town as the end of the world. Now we have the third part where apathy and anger are setting in. He rails against hypocrisy, oppression and war and reaffirms the fact he sees the real world as fake. The fourth part is after a major life event or breakdown which throws his life into focus. He is attempting to recover lost connections with his dearly beloved (whether this is the town or a lover) and by giving up his ego into the hands of a therapist. This is the most lucid part of the thing. At the end he decides to leave the town and all it represents like his personality which was shaped by his growing up there. It's difficult, he's going towards the light of masochists, but he knows it would be a tragedy to carry on on the sofa with his Ritalin. At the end he underscores that the problems began with his parents being separated or at least that the town has been a surrogate parent which is itself dysfunctional. |
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| Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This is a very interesting song which deals with sexual obsession. Throughout there are overstated parallels between suicidal thoughts and trying to impress the girl. This can be discarded as an artefact of the genre. The protagonist has a one-night stand with a girl who is a serial temptress, with notches on her bedpost. The protagonist is a bit more sensitive and reacts melodramatically by putting her in his song. The mausoleum is an important metaphor to show how out of proportion he has built up his memories of her. Lying in the grass shows he's wallowing a bit. "Is this more than you bargained for yet?" introduces two verses in which his attempts to get her attention become pathological. In the first verse he has destroyed his personality to be whatever she wants, week to week. In the second he is further abjecting his personality by wishing to be the alpha male he's watching her have sex with. Masturbation is also a theme. He equates his penis to a gun which is ultimately being held to his own head, though he wishes to hold it to hers. "Cock it and pull it" references the masturbation he is doing over his memories of the tryst. "Number one with a bullet" has three meanings. First it continues the violence/attraction metaphor. But it also references the song he's been writing, he wants it to go top of the charts for her, the bullet signifies a swift rise in the Billboard charts. He suggests he has a "God complex" connected to his phallus and male sexuality. This might be a clue as to why he can't take the idea of being disposable, he thinks he's worth more than that. Since the masturbation involves a metaphorical threat of violence or coercion he dreams of having power over the woman as she is the one exerting power over him in real life. |
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| Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We're Goin Down Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| "Sugar" references Sugar Ray Leonard, a boxer who staged a high-profile comeback while Stump and Wentz were still in short trousers. Of course it's also a possible pet name for a girlfriend with whom you're fighting. It's not literally that he calls his girlfriend that, it's just an apt way to suggest love can go along with fighting and violence. The second bit of the chorus with "cock it and pull it" has nothing to do with condoms, it is about comparing his penis to a gun, during the one-night stand but particularly during the subsequent masturbation. All in all the chorus equates grievous violence and love. | |
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