| Bruce Springsteen – Growin' Up Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[Image:10068] In Nation I came here (and resurrected my SongMeanings login) to say that. The lyrics above have two errors, substituting "wrath" for "warmth" and "come down" for "calm down". Hearing "come down" for "calm down" is understandable. The sounds are very similar, and he was just talking about flying an airplane and strafing his school. But it ruins the poetry of the line, which is about being an adolescent rebel without a clue who makes life tough and unpleasant for himself by doing the opposite of what he's told. This is the critical point of each verse, where the tension of both the words and the music maxes out (before the title line brings it all home). In each case, "they" tell the first-person narrator one thing and he does the opposite. It's clearer but more prosaic in the other verses. This requires a little more thought, but you get a bigger payoff in exchange. Swapping "wrath" for "warmth" is less big a deal, but also a dumber mistake. It's easy to hear the word if you listen instead of assuming he'll repeat himself. |
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| Meek Mill – Dreams and Nightmares Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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In the line, "Icy as a hockey rink, Philly nigga I'm flyer", Meek Mill is punning between saying he's more fly ("flyer") than other artists, and saying that he's like one of the Flyers, Philadelphia's professional hockey team. Both those words are spelled "flyer", so that's how it should be spelled in the lyrics. |
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| Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| It seems to me that the song is addressed to the absent Syd (and is, therefore, an example of the figure of speech called "apostrphe"). So the two lost souls are the speaker (David Gilmour) and the person addressed (Syd Barrett). | |
| Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Thanks for your insight. If you'll forgive a bit of nitpicking, Syd wasn't kicked out of the band for drug use. They all did drugs. (Hello? It's PINK FLOYD.) He was kicked out because of his mental-health problems, which left him unable to function in the band. |
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| The Gap Band – Early in the Morning Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Killz is right. I submitted an edit about the "Annette" part. (Who the hell is Annette?), but it didn't take effect. But now it says the song was edited by me. Which is the worst of both worlds. I guess I don't understand this interface. I'll try again. |
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| The Meatmen – War Of The Superbikes Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| WFO means "Wide Fucking Open" which is to say, "full throttle" | |
| The Gap Band – Early in the Morning Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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killz is right. I came here to say the same thing. It is hard to tell "Annette" from "I never". That's because of the way the vocalist (Charlie Wilson?) hits the downbeat syllable ("ne") so hard. But it's clear that what follows is "knew I loved you", not "you knew I loved you". There just aren't enough syllables. And, anyway, it makes sense. The later line "I was young and foolish" shows that his point is not that he was a faithful and ardent lover ("you knew I loved you"), but pretty much the opposite: he's confessing that he hadn't appreciated what he had. |
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| Sly And The Family Stone – Dance to the Music Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I came here wondering about the same thing. I thought it might be a reference to another song. Lou Reed has a song called "Ride Sally Ride". . . but it came out in 1974, more than half a decade after this. (Maybe Lou was quoting Sly?) It also calls to mind Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. (And, as far as we know, the first gay person in space.) But she joined Nasa in 1978 and became famous in the 1980s. If those three things had happened in the opposite order, I'd have a nice tidy theory to expound here. |
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| Stevie Wonder – You Haven't Done Nothin' Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Isn't there a comment type for corrections to mistakes in the lyrics? (Didn't there use to be?) Anyway, there's a mistake in the lyrics. In the first verse after the first Jackson Five chorus, the line "But when mislead who knows a person's mind / Can turn as cold as ice" should say "misled" instead of "mislead". Stevie clearly sings a short "e". Confusing the verbs "lead" and "led" is a common typo, because of the noun "lead" (meaning the metal) which looks like the first and sounds like the second. Hope this helps. It's an awesome and timeless song. |
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| Pete Shelley – Homosapien Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I believe that Pete is saying that he's homosapien, too. | |
| The Commodores – Brick House Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Only if she's 5' 3". | |
| Morphine – Honey White Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Walking_Turtle said it all: this song is a cautionary tale about the danger of drug use and drug addiction. The title character seems to be named after a loaf of bread. People are sometimes called "white bread"; that appears to be happening here. She makes a deal with the Devil. As usual, it doesn't turn out to be a good one, from her perspective. |
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| Parliament – Up For The Down Stroke Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| This song, with its complementary exhortations both to "get up" and also to prepare for "the down stroke", resolves the fundamental political rift of our age. http://www.theonion.com/articles/national-funk-congress-deadlocked-on-get-upget-dow,625/ | |
| The Sea and Cake – Jacking The Ball Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I don't recall hearing that expression used for the game jacks. (Not that that proves anything.) What does it mean in jacks? There are some web pages that discuss the game, like its Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks . Can you point to a source that uses the phrase that way? |
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| Cornershop – Funky Days Are Back Again Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"When we say party, we mean it to end on the double E" That should be: "When we say 'partee', we mean it to end on the double E". With a double E. Like it says. |
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| Shane Macgowan & The Popes – That Woman's Got Me Drinking Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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If you were in a relationship with Shane Macgowan, you'd have to put up with a lot of obnoxious drunken behavior. The point of this song is to say that it's your fault. Pretty much the definition of a blame-the-victim mentality. It rocks, though. And hey, he warned you! |
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| The Clash – English Civil War (Johnny Comes Marching Home) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I'm with you up until the last paragraph. Here's the (U.S.) Library of Congress, saying that the song was written by a Union Army Bandleader (though Wikipedia says it was popular on both sides during the war): http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200000024/default.html (quoting the above-linked page:) The story of "When Johnny comes Marching Home" is also the story of Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore. Gilmore, an 1848 Irish immigrant to Boston, was considered by no less a musician than John Philip Sousa as the "Father of the American Band." Gilmore led a number of bands in the Boston area, including Patrick Gilmore's Band. At the beginning of the Civil War, in September 1861, the band enlisted as a group in the Union Army and was attached to the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. Gilmore's band served both as musicians and stretcher bearers at such horrific battles as Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Richmond. Gilmore was posted to occupied New Orleans, Louisiana in 1863 and, as Grand Master of the Union Army, ordered to reorganize the state military bands. It was at this time that he claimed to have composed the words and music to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." |
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| The Clash – English Civil War (Johnny Comes Marching Home) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"overanalyzing"? Isn't that what we're here for? ;-> But if the song really was meant to be about Johnny Rotten, you'd think there'd be support for that idea online. Here's a Rolling Stone review of Give 'Em Enough Rope from January 1979, shortly after its release. It mentions this song, and also mentions Johnny Rotten, and doesn't make any connection between the two. So there's a lack of evidence of a connection (and perhaps evidence of a lack of connection, if only circumstantially). |
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| The Clash – English Civil War (Johnny Comes Marching Home) Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This Clash song (like the song about ants that punkintended mentions) is written to the tune of the American Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". Wikipedia says (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Johnny_Comes_Marching_Home) that that song, in turn, was based on "the Irish antiwar song 'Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye' ". The title "The English Civil War" seems like another reference to the American Civil War. ("When the Saints Go Marching In" is a different song. It's a gospel song now associated with New Orleans and its football team. It doesn't sound much like the song we're talking about here [and it isn't about the British Army, or any {worldly} army, or anything British]. Wikipedia has an article about that too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Saints_Go_Marching_In) I agree with Morbadum, Plastic_boy, LizardMan3500, and the others here who say that The Clash meant this song to be about social strife between classes (and between the left and right) during the 80s. dwitefry and IndieMonkey seem to have seen support for this in things Joe Strummer said and wrote. |
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| Ween – Touch My Tooter Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It doesn't seem that way from the lyrics. It seems like the speaker is talking about his sexual attraction to a woman. Or are you making a puerile joke? (Given that it's a Ween song, that seems redundant.) | |
| The Toys – A Lover's Concerto Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Actually a minuet by Christian Petzold which the Bach family included in the "Anna Magdalena Notebook" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuet_in_G_major_%28BWV_Anh._114%29 |
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| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Johnny, Kick a Hole in the Sky Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| It's an uncomfortable feeling, isn't it? That's called shame. Your inclination to run from the truth is understandable, but it's futile. And it isn't for you to decide who will stay in their own native land. | |
| The Band – Twilight Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Don't put me in a frame upon the mantel 'Fore memories turn dusty old and grey That should be "For", not "'Fore". Don't make me a memory, because memories fade away. |
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| 10,000 Maniacs – Noah's Dove Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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"Choir boys and angles" should be: "Choir boys and angels" |
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| 1910 Fruitgum Company – Noah's Dove Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This is a 10,000 Maniacs song. (it's listed correctly with their work) Wikipedia credits it to Natalie Merchant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Unplugged_%2810,000_Maniacs_album%29) 1910 Fruitgum company was a sixties-era pop band. So, a joke, right? (funny!) Or a mistake? |
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