| Hozier – Take Me to Church Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This site is called song meanings, so I'd like to address the meaning of the song. :) First, I think the themes of the song is very much about a relationship with a woman. The sex is good, but the relationship isn't. In fact the relationship is twisted and strained. But this isn't the only relationship that is twisted. The other one is the relationship between the singer and his church. And in the song, lines are sometimes more true in the light on his relationship with his girlfriend, and more true about the church. He's conflating the two, which is why the song itself is rather confusing to read, since it doesn't make sense read strictly one way or the other. My lover's got humour She's the giggle at a funeral Knows everybody's disapproval I should've worshipped her sooner If the Heavens ever did speak She is the last true mouthpiece This part of the song seems to be very much about a lover, a woman. She's got a dark sense of humor, and doesn't care about the disapproval of others. Later, he'll refer to her as a Goddess. "If the Heavens ever did speak" seems to be more about the church though, and how it doesn't seem as if God is actually talking to humanity. The singer has doubts that the heavens would speak. Every Sunday's getting more bleak A fresh poison each week 'We were born sick,' you heard them say it This part seems to be much more focused on the church rather than his girlfriend. A fresh poison each week seems clear: the weekly sermons are poisoning minds. 'We were born sick' seems like a pretty clear allusion to original sin. You heard them say it seems to be talking about all the pastors and priests who expound this view. My church offers no absolutes She tells me 'worship in the bedroom' Well now it's back to his girlfriend/goddess. And a new theme is introduced: sex as a way of encountering the divine. All of the brighter parts of this song seem to do with either sex, or in the verse where his girlfriend is the sunlight and he is the pagan worshiping her. In the relationship, I think it's safe to say that worshiping her has a lot to do with falling in love. When you fall in love, you lose your perspective. You and the object of your love become harder to differentiate. And that feels so good, that it's the main reason people write songs... But then there's the continuation of the relationship, and differences emerge. People don't just agree on everything. And then this beautiful union is threatened by the falling apart of the relationship. Note that the relationship metaphor applies as well to the feeling of being brought up with religion. Growing up with religion gives purpose and a sense of wonder, but it also comes with all the baggage and dogma of the millennia. The only heaven I'll be sent to Is when I'm alone with you Coming right after the worship in the bedroom line, it makes it pretty clear that they are talking about the act of sex. And that sex is a glimpse of the divine. Suddenly the singer is seeing the divine in his relationship with his girlfriend, even though church says that sex should only happen in a marriage. This puts him at odds with his church, since how can something that feels so right be so wrong? I was born sick, but I love it Command me to be well Amen. Amen. Amen I was born sick, refers to original sin again. But I love it - I've embraced my sinful nature. I've decided that the church is wrong about sex. The church shouldn't interfere with my joy. Isn't that what church is all about, finding that ultimate joy and bliss of union? Well I found it. My girlfriend can "command me to be well." Take me to church I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies The first lines of the chorus. I love the way he sings "Take me to church." Equating worship in the bedroom, take me to church sounds a lot more like having sex. But now we get to the darker side of the relationship. I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies. I'll be loyal to you, even though you lie to me. I'd say this applies to his girlfriend and to his religion. He's saying that the act of having sex has provided a glimpse of the divine, but now the darker side of the relationship is starting to assert itself - fighting, disagreements, and discord. I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife This seems also seems to apply to both his girlfriend and his religion. Telling his weaknesses, or her finding out about them leads to criticism and discord in his relationship. Confessing his sex outside of marriage to the church draws similar criticism. Offer me that deathless death Good God, let me give you my life Instead of talking about eternal life and salvation, he equates it to that deathless death, a much darker interpretation of the same concept. Let me give you my life. The blissful union of his girlfriend of him in their relationship is no longer so blissful. Same goes with his relationship with the church. If I'm a pagan of the good times My lover's the sunlight This is one of the last few positive portions of the song remaining. Comparing his lover to sunlight, so clear, so positive. To keep the Goddess on my side She demands a sacrifice To drain the whole sea Get something shiny Something meaty for the main course But his girlfriend / the church demands more. She demands sacrifice. I feel like this actually touches on a theme that isn't really found much in Christian religion, or at least I haven't seen it. And that is the idea of the "terrible mother." In Hinduism, there are various depictions of the goddess as terrible, brandishing weapons and wearing a necklace of human heads. Having sex in a graveyard with a corpse. Pretty much as awful as it gets. She demands sacrifice. I feel like these lines reflect that dark and awful Goddess best. In Hinduism, the sacrifice demanded is your ego, your sense of self. And sacrificing this is painful. That is why the Goddess who helps you seems to be causing you pain. And the pain that youth feel in their relationships is intense, and we wonder, why is something that started out like a beautiful dream (my lover is the sunlight) turning into such a terrible nightmare (she demands a sacrifice). Similarly, being brought up with religion, we are thought to see the innocence, the wonder of God. And we receive the positive message that God loves us and cares for us personally. But as we age, we notice other teachings of the church, that don't fit with this loving god. If god is love and he gave us sex, why does it have to wait? What is wrong with loving someone of the same gender? Why would God discriminate against people for things that they can't help? That's a fine looking high horse What you got in the stable? We've a lot of starving faithful That looks tasty That looks plenty This is hungry work The fine looking high horse seems to refer to the Church's teachings about sex. What have you got in the stable - are there any other teachings that the church is getting wrong? No masters or kings when the ritual begins There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene Only then I am human Only then I am clean Amen. Amen. Amen The church ritual is being conflated with the act of sex here. And it feels so good that it is cleaning and humanizing. The madness and soil of that sad earthly scene seems to be taking a God's eye view and judging the act of sex as wrong in the eyes of the church. Only then I am human - some of the judging that comes from the church seems to dehumanize the targets of its criticism. Words like fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals always seem to run together and be the worst things you can do in life. Although the church promises forgiveness if you change your ways, it seems that not everyone (read - homosexuals who actually want to have a relationship / romantic love in their life) has that option. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Missed Me Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I feel like the song is about a girl, possibly a young girl and an older guy. And the girl is emotionally immature. I'm not even sure that the guy likes her. I think it's like the fantasy of a girl who has a crush on a guy and then believes (mistakenly) that the two of them will be getting married soon. Only in the case of this girl, she may look sweet, but she's got a dark and sinister side, so her fantasy veers off course to the point where her love is locked up in the slammer because of her. She seems to be relishing this, because then "mister" will really miss her. I don't think it has anything to do with abuse. How would the lines below make sense? but i will visit if you miss me do you miss me? MISS ME?? and do you miss me will you kiss me through the window? do you MISS ME? MISS ME??!! will they ever let you go??? i miss my mister so!!!! So I think it is about the crazy emotional lives of women. I feel like you can hear it in her tone, and her incredible emotional range throughout the song. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Missed Me Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I have to agree with you. I didn't think the song was about abuse, so much as the irrational feelings that women have when they're in love. The whole logical sequence from "missed me" to locked up in the slammer isn't really a given. I felt like it was about a girl who was pining for love from an older man, and who got carried away with her emotions ( and was nuts as well) and the whole sequence went from missed me to getting arrested and locked up. One of my favorite parts is the so treat me delicately, which I find deeply ironic, because she is the one playing all the games that if you think she's pretty, then you can never leaver her. | |
| Scala & Kolacny Brothers – Seashell Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is the most beautiful and angelic song I have ever heard. It seems to capture a moment of perfect bliss in the life in the life of a young woman walking on the beach with her partner. I assume it is a female because the voices are female, and it seems to be a female idea of what happiness is, although it doesn't have to be necessarily. I guess I'm not really going out on a limb in this analysis. "The most beautiful seashell" that she finds seems to be a microcosm of how perfect her day. There is only happiness in this song, even her memories are happy: Fragments of all the things you've said / smile tenderly in my head. |
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