| Flake Music – Structo Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I love this song. I love how he sings "Timid like the damned. Only I know where I'll land." Listening to the remastered version, I think the lyrics may be the following. The 'tourist' part doesn't sound right but I can't think of what other word it could be. Listen to your tunes And the untruth in your voice You ought to help me When you lie There’s no reason why And there’s no thumb in the dye And the standing’s not so good But I never really tried And the earth revolves for nothing So the tourists had to cry. Try But can’t decide what put you on That shaky ride since high school Try, cry, you can’t decide what put you on That shaky ride since high school Bring the beers the last parade Has left the house They try and hurt you When they lie Timid like the damned Only I know where I’ll land And the standing’s not so good But I never really tried And the earth revolves for nothing So the tourists had to cry Try, cry, you can’t decide what put you on That shaky ride since high school Cry, try, we can’t decide what put you on That shaky ride since high school I’ll sink and go under it I’ll rise and get over it Float on a log in the midstream I found out what that fear was for |
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| Conor Oberst – Cape Canaveral Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[iamsolidsnake:17639] This is my favorite line. What I take from it is him describing her love as something either strange/unreal or gone like a ghost, i.e. this person has passed away ("poltergeist") and overwhelming/stifling ("Savannah heat"... Savannah heat being extremely heavy, humid, etc.). Perhaps a love he isn't ready for or wasn't expecting, or a love lost... Such a beautiful line. | |
| Conor Oberst – Cape Canaveral Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[iamsolidsnake:17638] This is my favorite line. What I take from it is him describing her love as something strange/unreal ("poltergeist") and overwhelming/stifling (like Savannah heat... Savannah heat being extremely heavy, humid, etc.). Perhaps a love he isn't ready for or wasn't expecting. Such a beautiful line. | |
| Tarkio – Devil's Elbow Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Absolutely beautiful. Even more beautiful is Colin singing it live - slower, more tender and passionate. The lyrics are simple but beautiful nonetheless - reminds me of Iron & Wine's effortless and simple poetic prose, although his songs are often layered with meaning. Devil's Elbow, to me, can be read and understood at face value. The title of the song is a scenic point along Oregon's coast. The line: "We are conjuring the surf and waves" - Defined, conjuring is the calling upon a devil or spirit by spell, but in this case, the waves - as if the characters in this song are summoning the waves themselves. I think this ties into the title of the song - Devil's Elbow - obviously a scenic viewpoint, but the line illustrates a double meaning. Matthew led the group. They are exploring this place. He makes simple observations - an old man mowing his lawn, his bare feet a nuisance as he treks the trail. They find the entrance to a cave and enter it. I think the line is supposed to be: "We crouched AND capered through" - which would make more sense - crouched to get into the cave and scamper through it until they reach the end ("and at the end there was a hole through which we looked, to such heights, it was some dream") - they emerge high up, overlooking the coast, taking it all in and it is breathtaking, like a dream. Whoever says music isn't good anymore, this song is just one example of all the reasons they are wrong. Love love love this song and Tarkio. |
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| Iron & Wine – Each Coming Night Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Will you say when I'm gone away: "My lover came to me and we'd lay In rooms unfamiliar but until now" This is new love - how unfamiliar and foreign it was in the beginning - but then how they grew and found true love in the process. The "rooms", or stages, of their love. Will you say to them when I'm gone away: "I loved your son for his sturdy arms We both learned to cradle then live without" This stanza is speaking to his parents. She loved his support, strength, to literally be held in his arms. One of the best feelings of love is to be held by your lover. She learned to be cradled by him, then live without (in his death). His parents learned to cradle him as an infant, then live without (as he grew up). Will you say when I'm gone away: "Your father's body was judgement day We both dove and rose to the riverside" Speaking to their children. This stanza is less clear to me. Not sure about the judgement day part in particular. The last line to me seems like the ups and downs of the journey of their love together. How they both "dove" - falling into love, marrying, children, hardships, etc., and how they both "rose" in triumph. Will you say to me when I'm gone: "Your face has faded but lingers on Because light strikes a deal with each coming night" Love this. This is beautiful. She still remembers him, and she is so glad for this small, precious memory of him that she says she is so fortunate because light made a deal with darkness - that as long as she can have some remnant of her love, night can come and disrupt the light each night. |
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| Iron & Wine – Upward Over the Mountain Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is a beautiful, insightful song about the relationship between a mother and son. The first stanza is childhood innocence: "Mother don't worry I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed Mother don't worry I've got some money I saved for the weekend Mother, remember being so stern With that girl who was with me? Mother, remember the blink of an eye When I breathed through your body?" All the boy's reassurances are of completely innocent matters - killing the snake, saving money to hang out with his friends, a girlfriend his mother tells him to be careful with. The son is young and innocent in this stanza. His mother's concerns are a typical mother's worry about her young teenage boy. She is worried about him being rough and getting hurt (killing the snake) or the friends he's with and what he's doing (saving money for the weekend) or first love (the girl she was stern with him about). I love the last line: "Mother, remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body?" Refers to how quickly, the blink of an eye, when she was carrying him. She breathed for him, blinked for him, sustained him. The second stanza is much darker: Mother, I made it up From the bruise of a floor of this prison Mother, I lost it All of the fear of the Lord I was given Mother forget me Now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to Mother forgive me I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you He goes through a dark chapter in his life, probably his early 20s. He makes it through this part of his life on his own (floor of this prison). He lost his way, lost his faith in God that was instilled in him as a child. He asks his mother to forget him; he's no longer the innocent, naive boy she could protect- life has corrupted him as it corrupts everyone (creek drank the cradle you sang to). The chorus following this stanza is actually: "Sons can be birds TAKEN BROKEN over the mountain" - He is no longer attempting to fly over the mountain alone, he is broken and lost and being taken over the mountain. The 3rd stanza as an adult: Mother, don't worry I've got a coat and some friends on the corner Mother, don't worry She's got a garden we're planting together Mother, remember the night That the dog had her pups in the pantry? Blood on the floor and the fleas on their paws And you cried 'til the morning He's grown up, he's found his way and a girl he's in love with and making a home with. I especially love the analogy of the dog and her puppies to a son and mother. The puppies are born pure, brand new, blood on the floor but are immediately contaminated, inevitably, by life with the fleas on their paws. The mother sobs, knowing this. She can't protect him from life and it's grievances and hardships, as much as she can prevent the fleas from the puppies. This is the cycle of life, a mother's nagging, and incessant worry about her child. Her unconditional love which forces her to protect and smother but she can't, she has to let go and let her child fly upward over the mountain. |
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