| Jethro Tull – Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of a New Day) Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Hey, ttoneff. I agree with most of the comments here about Skating Away touching on the themes of A Passion Play. And, from this perspective, I think "pushing off from the shore" could easily mean moving from this life into the next (i.e., dying). At the same time, if APP is an allegory--which I think it is--then we can certainly try to draw some connections and lessons for the living (as many of the above contributors have admirably done). With that introduction, here's my take on the lines you mention: I think "cross[ing] the circle line" means leaving what's familiar and conventional, stepping beyond the role that society has dictated for an individual. Having crossed that threshold, one becomes a "rabbit on the run," less confined, but also a bit frantic. As historygeek noted, the ice is thin and this is uncharted territory. I also think the image of the rabbit is significant in that it identifies man with an animal, somewhat closer to the "natural" state in which he came to be--back in the year one. For me, the ice wall creaking (and then, I think, crashing down in a marvelous display of flying silver splinters) represents the shattering of illusions, expectations, and cold confinement associated with the stiff (frozen) life in which the person previously (and somewhat automatically) engaged. That the splinters fly in the "corner of [the] eye" suggests a sense of periphery (i.e., the individual's view is focused on what's ahead--rather than what's being left behind--think Lot's wife in the Old Testament). The image of silver in the eye also seems to suggest tears, which in this song I associate with those moments in which I've taken risks, turned my face to the wind, and felt myself to be suddenly and undeniably alive, outside the lines with a sense of terrible and exhilarating freedom. |
|
| Jethro Tull – Hymn 43 Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I tend to hear the "Oh, Jesus, save me!" refrain as an expression of the speaker's exasperation and disgust (something akin to: "You gotta be kidding me!") And I think Ian makes it made even more biting, sarcastic, and effective by employing the vernacular of the hypocrites he's denouncing. |
|
| Jethro Tull – Hymn 43 Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I tend to hear the "Oh, Jesus, save me!" refrain as an expression of the speaker's exasperation and disgust (something akin to: "You gotta be kidding me!") And I think Ian makes it made even more biting, sarcastic, and effective by employing the vernacular of the hypocrites he's denouncing. | |
| Oasis – Fade Away Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Giving away some serious nerdiness here, but has anyone else noticed the similarities between "Fade Away" and the Wham! song "Freedom"? Although in different keys, the melodies of the first two lines of their respective verses are almost identical. There's even a slight lyrical parallel, as the second verse of "Freedom" starts, "Like a prisoner who has his own key," sung to the same tune as "When I was young I thought I had my own key." Thankfully, the similarities end there. And Noel's statement about how growing up entails both loss and "settling" certainly strikes a different chord than George Michael's plea for romantic commitment. Nonetheless, I have a soft spot for both songs (like I said, nerdiness), and I sort of hope that in his younger days, Noel heard a little Wham!, which eventually--and probably sub-consciously--found it's way into his songwriting (much the way Stevie Wonder seems to have influenced Noel's composition of "Step Out"). |
|
| Oasis – She Is Love Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Glad someone else noticed the similarities to "The Prophet." In fact, Noel seems to have used Gibran's work (and apparently Coleridge's--thanks, HaiZuKi) as a jumping off point in the creation of "She is Love." Compare: 1. Noel: "When the sunshine beckons to ya, and your wings begin to unfold" Kahlil: "When love beckons to you... and when his wings enfold you" 2. Noel: "And if a sword is hidden among ya, and it's words may wound my soul" Kahlil: "Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you" 3. Noel: "She is love and her ways are hard and steep" Kahlil: "...though [love's] ways are hard and steep" 4. Noel: "She is love and I believe her when she speaks" Kahlil: "And when [love] speaks to you believe in him" |
|
| Wham! – Freedom Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| The organ that fades in at the opening of "Faith" is playing this song. I used to think of it as a sort of bridge from Wham! to his solo career, implying continuity. But I now tend to hear it as a funeral-ish farewell to his Wham! days. | |
| George Michael – Faith Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I just want to point out that the organ during the fade-in intro is playing the Wham! song "Freedom." | |
| George Michael – Soul Free Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
I see what you mean, Macz. In fact, I think this song is built around a central contradiction: the partners in this scenario are decidedly NOT free. As I hear it, the refrain ("Higher, higher. Won't you come with me...") holds out the promise of some transcendent experience. This sounds especially appealing in light of the verses, which describe what sounds like a nightmare of a relationship. But, as Macz noted, things start to get complicated with the assertion that the narrator doesn't want anything to change. How do we make sense of the apparent desire to transcend the disagreements and games while still maintaining the status quo? Well, for my money, the key to "Soul Free" is the pre-chorus (beginning "When you touch me, baby..."). First of all, at this point in the song the lyric and delivery (dig that falsetto) become suddenly sensual, suggesting that the transcendent experience alluded to in the refrain is a sexual one. Second, and I think even more tellingly, the narrator asserts that he "[has] no choice" but to succumb to "sweet temptation." Now, seems to me that not having a choice would undermine any quest for or experience of freedom. However, it may be that the narrator derives a sense of freedom from the act of letting go--of submitting to the seduction of his lover. Thus, put somewhat crudely, I hear this as a song in which the relationship is bad, but the sex is great. And, to put an even finer (and more twisted) point on it, the latter condition may derive from the former. ALTERNATELY, one could read the verses and pre-choruses as a description of a person trapped in a relationship that he knows is cyclical and unhealthy, while reading the chorus as an invitation from someone outside the relationship. In my mind, this someone could be real or only hoped for during lucid moments (that is, between instances of "sweet temptation"). Either way, the tension between the verses and the chorus is what makes this song work, and I think any interpretation has to address that tension. That said, I tend to favor my first, more twisted, interpretation, not least because the musical setting is so sinister. For one thing, the song is in a minor key throughout, lending little musical "sympathy" to the lyrical contrast between verse and chorus. For another, the breakdown section toward the end is super creepy. I hear the low sustained root tones, the stuttering percussion, and the repetitive flute loop as a sort of relative calm before the storm. The clock is ticking, and if the narrator is going to escape to real freedom, he'd better do it soon, because the familiar chaos is just around the corner. When the brass and keys kick back in at full gale, I hear the sound of the cycle starting over with renewed violence, as if the chance to actually get his soul free has just grown that much dimmer. |
|
| George Michael – Look At Your Hands Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I think it's important to note that the narrator of this song isn't just "writing off" his ex. He's obviously frustrated and angry about the situation that she's in, and I agree that there's a strong element of ridicule in the lyric and delivery. However, there's also a pretty obvious plea for her to run away with him, evidenced in the stanza that ends: "I know you think I'm a young boy, but I'm good and I think we can make it." Naive and misguided as that plea may be (the narrator himself even tempers it with skepticism, noting that the woman is "only talking" when she says she's going to leave), he's definitely got some (probably deluded) notion that they could still be together. I think the key to this song is that the narrator's anger rises out of his ongoing desire for the woman ("I still want you at night"). In my view, the frustration of that desire prompts him to vacillate between commensurately desperate expressions of ridicule and fantasies of rescuing his former lover. | |
| Peter Gabriel – Darkness Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
Love, love, love this song. Such an intensely evocative combination of lyric, arrangement, and delivery. The sum is definitely greater than its parts. At the broadest level, I think the song represents the struggle any of us faces once we decide to acknowledge the true depths of our humanity, including our potential for both profound good and profound evil. I also hear some strong parallels in the lyric to what is often referred to as "Buddhist psychology," particularly the notions of mindfulness and acceptance: "when I allow it to be, there's no control over me" In fact, given the progression from the almost tentative delivery of the initial statement of fears through the subsequent intensification and eventual re-evaluation of the fearful experience (which occurs through going "deeper" into unknown parts of the self), I can also hear this song as a representation of processes that may characterize good (i.e., meaningful and helpful) psychotherapy. From this perspective, it's especially interesting to note how the gentle reassurance of "It's not the way it has to be" is answered with a more strident--even violent--statement of the "swallowed" fears. (Relative to these tensions, I sometimes hear "Darkness" as a sort of sister song to "Digging in the Dirt." For instance, in addition to the obvious parallels related to fear, darkness, depth, and hope for healing, compare the lines "Don't mess with me, my fuse is short" and "Don't tell me everything's all right" with the vitriolic "you've gone too far/shut your mouth" sections of DitD.) |
|
| Peter Gabriel – Nocturnals Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
At first I just dug this song because of the groove and the wicked acoustic guitar break. Then I started really listening to the words, and realized how creepy they were. Started poking around online, and from what I can tell, PG is referring to the "death flights" during the Argentine war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_flights Now I dig the song for all sorts of other reasons. Leave it to Peter (npi) to succeed in translating such a gruesome topic into a truly moving piece of art. The guy is a master. |
|
| Sparklehorse – Hundreds of Sparrows Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
i ran across a bible verse today (not the obvious one) and immediately thought of this song. given the other seemingly biblical influences in this amazing song, it seems pretty likely to me that Mark had run across the same verse. Let me know what you think. compare: "I'm so sorry my spirit's rarely in my body it wanders through the dry country looking for a good place to rest" with "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none." (Matthew 12:43 KJV) |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.