| R.E.M. – I've Been High Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The song as I understand it says that you cannot have all your life "on high", like everybody would like to. If you want to travel, not miss things, to gain experiences, you would have to take risks and sometimes the life will wash over you, which mean take you down as a big wave. And as higher you climb, the more painful is the fall. The line "So I dive into a pool so cool and deep, that if I sink I sink and when I swim I fly so high" is one of my favorite lines in songs that I know. You should imagine swimming in a deep pool. When you are swimming on the surface of the water you are like flying high relatively to the bottom, a divine experience if you survive. But the risk is that you can sink and die in the cool and deep water. Besides, there are a parallel connotations to using drugs: "I've been high", "my eyes seem empty". These are also a risky actions that brings you to point of high, but later comes the fall. (Sorry in advance if I have linguistic mistakes. English is not my mother tongue) |
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| Muse – Butterflies and Hurricanes Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The song is brilliant. What creates development and create a meaning is less changes of words but more by the music. The song, as I see it, is about wakening from dreams and illusion to a harder life that one has imagined, about struggle that becomes harder and harder, maybe also about determinations not giving up, but more likely not standing up the challenge, so I see it more as a pessimistic song. The song is combined from 3 parts, 2 with similar lyrics and the last part with a change. Each repetition represents a phase in life of an artist (muse have a lot of songs about music industry), or any competitive profession with pretension to change the world, or make the world better. The first phase is before the "first chance", maybe it represents also a young person, when a person is positively motivated to be the best and to change the world. The second phase at the middle of the fight, one of the trials to take the opportunity. It's a tough stage (you can feel it in the music) maybe represent the fight of an adult person. The last phase is clearly what the person feels as his last chance, when he is almost desperate and try to encourage himself not to give up. You can know by that he hasn't achieved his goals yet and he is close to give up. If in the first part the motivation to be the best came from positive place, in this part he feels he must be the best just to survive in the industry. (Sorry for my English. I know it's not perfect) |
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