submissions
| The Knife – Neverland Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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I agree that the Neverland reference is clearly a reference to Peter Pan, and not to Michael Jackson.
One could also interpret the parts about missing fingers and "feed the hand that bites me" as metaphorical references to Captain Hook, who had his hand chopped off and fed to a crocodile by Peter. |
submissions
| Fever Ray – When I Grow Up Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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The part about taking care of friends' plants while they are away reminds me of Blonde Redhead's song "My Plants Are Dead":
I heard you on radio
I said "They are my friends"
Do you want your keys?
Your plants are dead
Interestingly (or not), Blonde Redhead's album Penny Sparkle was produced by Van Rivers and the Subliminal Kid, who also worked on the Fever Ray album. Probably no connection there, though! |
submissions
| Rhett Miller – Point Shirley Lyrics
| 9 years ago
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The title, and many of the lines, refer to Sylvia Plath's poem "Point Shirley". The "or not to be" part comes from Shakespeare, of course, from the scene where Hamlet is contemplating suicide. Plath herself committed suicide at age 30.
Plath also referenced Shakespeare in her poem: "Grey waves the stub-necked eiders ride/A labor of love, and that labor lost/Steadily the sea/Eats at Point Shirley."
In my interpretation, the song is told from the point of view of someone concerned that a friend is feeling suicidal. He recognizes those feelings because he has been there himself. |
submissions
| The Cult – Aphrodisiac Jacket Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Yes. Several of Dali's works are mentioned by name or alluded to in the song, including Lobster Telephone, Rainy Taxi, and the Aphrodisiac Jacket. |
submissions
| The Cult – Aphrodisiac Jacket Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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It is intended to be surreal as it pays homage to Salvador Dali. Dali had a certain fascination with Napoleon. He included him in several of his painting and once stated that his ambition at age seven was to be Napoleon. |
submissions
| The Knife – Forest Families Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I have always felt that this song was about a group of people who left their urban lives in a bid to get "back to the land", in the manner of the hippie communes of the 1960s and '70s. They rejected modern society and all that it entailed. To them, this represented freedom. But to their children, growing up in an isolated place and living by the dictates of their cult-like elders, it meant exactly the opposite.
To me, the line that confirms my hypothesis is the refrain of "I just want your music tonight." It reminds of interviews I have read with Christopher Owens of the band Girls, who was raised in the Children of God cult (now called the Family International). To him, contraband tapes of forbidden music (by the likes of Michael Jackson) were like a lifeline to the outside world.
He has compared growing up in the cult to growing up under the Taliban: "Imagine being raised in the Taliban. Being told everybody else in the world is bad, rejecting technology, rejecting medical research, being devoted to God and believing America was evil and the end of the world was coming: all the same principles."
Anyhow, "Forest Families" is obviously not specifically about Owens or the Children of God (it seems to be more about a nature-worshiping pagan cult), but reading about his background really helped me understand the sort of world that this song is about. |
submissions
| Mew – Like Paper Cuts Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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He's actually comparing paper cuts with the ability of words to wound a person. I interpret "I would that you/Spoke with no words/Like paper cuts they hurt" as "I wish you could show me how you feel without using words, because words have the potential to be too painful." |
submissions
| Jonas Bjerre – Kids don't fight Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Like many Mew songs (I'm thinking of "Comforting Sounds" in particular), this seems to be rooted in Jonas's rueful musings about growing up.
This is from the soundtrack to a film I haven't seen, so maybe watching it would shed a little more light on the lyrics. |
submissions
| Grapes of Wrath – Backward Town Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Incidentally, it's a four-hour drive from Kelowna (where the Grapes of Wrath started) to Vancouver (where they ended up). So take the "so far away" parts with a grain of salt. It's not like moving from New York to L.A. |
submissions
| Badfinger – No Matter What Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Unconditional love? Maybe. I think this song is more about accepting that you do not own your partner and can not control all your partner's desires or actions. Even within the context of an intimate partnership, he or she is still an autonomous person and can't be kept on a leash. (Well, maybe a really long leash... we do have to establish *some* limits, right?)
Unfortunately, most people do not accept this reality, and disappointment is the inevitable result, which is why so many seemingly compatible people can't keep their relationships together. |
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