| Brakes – Hi How Are You Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Bambini is right. Now STFU I'm trying to watch the band! |
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| Linda Ronstadt – Love Is A Rose Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Written by Neil Young. |
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| Janis Joplin – Me and Bobby McGee Lyrics | 15 years ago |
| In her recent memoir "Just Kids," Patti Smith tells the story of being in Janis Joplin's room at the Chelsea when Kris Kristofferson first played "Me and Bobby McGee" for her. If I remember correctly, Smith said she wasn't paying them much attention at the time. | |
| Radiohead – No Surprises Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I’m sure Radiohead did not intend the following interpretation, but I suspect that like all great artists, they don't care if I "get" what they "meant." They just hope I dig it somehow. Having issued that caveat: I have always heard this song--especially the incredible Luka Bloom cover of it--as an ode to/in the voice of Kurt Cobain. Four reasons (in no particular order): 1. Suicide Many here have said the song is about suicide. You may disagree of course, but I don’t think so many have picked up on the connotation for no reason. With phrases like “final fit,” taking a “quiet life,” and carbon monoxide, I think the association is obvious. Of course, Kurt used a shotgun not his car, but when I hear the song it sounds to me like Kurt saying “I’m tired, I’ve had enough.” 2. Drug Addiction I imagine that heroin, pills, and other self-medication regimens had failed Kurt by the time he killed himself. Like many addicts, I imagine him trying to dull a pain that never ceases–“bruises that won’t heal”–but in the end the ache bleeds through whatever high he might achieve. At that point, you either kill yourself or you clean up and join the Oprah crowd. I can’t blame anyone choosing the former. 3. Bellyache Kurt suffered from some kind of lifelong stomach trouble. He sought all kinds of remedies for it but found that heroin made the pain go away best of all. For a while. Then, the drugs having failed, and suicide being decided upon, this song is his goodbye, his “final fit,” and the last time he’s going to have a "bellyache." 4. Work Fame, touring, photo shoots, journalists, agents, handlers….Cobain loved none of this. Despite the fact that this job–playing music–was what he had wanted to do, to him it had also become a “a job that was slowly killing [him].” When I listen to “No Surprises,” I think of Kurt Cobain. It's a great song. |
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