| Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This song is absolutely beautiful, there's something very pure and soulful about it... To me it makes me think of a couple who have been married/together for many many years, who live pretty ordinary lives together, and suddenly realise what they have, and it takes their breath away as they are immersed in their deep love for one another. Their love is immeasurable against all other things in life, and with it they can take on the world - but they don't want to. They just want to sit back and soak up the overwhelming happiness of the realisation of their love. It triumphs over their old age and allows their minds to become young and carefree again. This perfect moment together makes them feel alive - "show me a garden that's bursting into life", whilst they also know that their love is enough, they don't have to do anything wildly romantic to prove it "Let's waste time, chasing cars around our heads". They realise there is no need for passionate and dramatic declarations of love; they would be inadequate to describe their feelings and would sound phony - "Those three words are said too much, they're not enough". Their moment together is special because anyone can say "I love you" to their partner, but not all are deeply enough in love to know that such things cease to matter; finding love in ordinary moments and exchanges is much more important and is a sign of true love. |
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| Leonard Cohen – Nightingale Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The symbolism of the nightingale is obvious; the nightingale is the bird of love. "I built my house beside the woods, So I could hear you singing" suggests that he went out of his way to access this love, perhaps the woods are a symbol that he isolated himself for the sake of love? Or perhaps "I built my house beside the woods so I could hear you singing" shows that true love is found in nautre; the world around him in all its beauty and wildness inspires greater love than any earthly being will. A family member also suggested this song may be about suicide - "The forest closes round you". "Rest in peace...beneath your branch of holly" obviously describes the wreath placed on her grave, but the holly may be deliberate as it is an evergreen plant, symbolising the unending nature of his love. Or perhaps Cohen is saying that all good things must come to an end? "Now all your songs of beauty fail" - also suggesting a kind of disillusionment with romantic love as a whole. It could be that Cohen, once optimistic in his youth -"Love was all beginning" may have become disillusioned and even cynical about life as he grew older, but retains a faint note of hope that the goodness in life still exists somewhere - "Though you are singing somewhere still, I can no longer hear you". His nightingale may have left him for another man - "I lived but to be near you, Though you are singing somewhere still, I can no longer hear you" - she may be singing, in other words sharing the gift of her love, with someone else. He is unable to access this and it leaves him feeling detached. However I feel that Cohen is mourning the loss of his love who has died,whose once beautiful songs fail to comfort even him as he grieves, such is the intesnity of his love and greif. Memories of his love provide no real comfort - "All your songs of beauty fail". I am aware that I have many conflicting interpretations here, but that is the beauty of the song, it is so rich and multi-layered. Cohen is a genius! |
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| The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This is my favourite Smiths song, Morrissey is a lyrical genius... I definitely think this song is about unrequited love, and though there is a hint of homosexuality in it, it has a universal appeal because whether gay, straight or anything else we all know how it is to have intense feelings of love for someone. To me, "There is a light that never goes out" highlights the dilemna the protagonist is in - he or she probably knows in their heart that the love is not returned in the way they would like, but the hope that the love is returned is the light that never goes out - they can't give up on that hope, because it is a kind of lifeline. Also, the light symbolises the happiness brought by spending time in the company of the loved one. Even though the love may have dragged them into depression and feeling like they are numb inside, this person makes them feel as if they are alive - "Take me out tonight, take me anywhere, I don't care" - spending time in the other person's commpany, even if they are driving aimlessly, it is enough, and the person wants to preserve this happiness forever because it is the only thing in their life - "to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die". The lights reminds the protagonist that life can be good too, sustaining them through difficult and dark times. It seems as if the protagonist has essentially been defeated by his/her love because he wishes to die to escape the manic highs with the person and the depressive lows when they are gone. |
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