submissions
| Destroyer – 3000 Flowers Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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To me he's singing "With scarves where its halyards used to be" and not "...scars where its talons used to be". Since he was describing a ship, halyards makes more sense. A halyard (halliard) is a rope used to raise the sails. Other than that I have no idea what the song is about, but I still like it. |
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| Neko Case – Fever Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I just assumed that this was a dream she had when she was feverish - the title seems like a giveaway. As someone else pointed out she said she writes a lot about her dreams and they are vivid. Other than that I can't say for sure exactly what it's about. I always thought she was saying 'old Dad's' instead of 'Old Death', but I'm probably wrong. When it comes to something as personal as dreams, then interpretation is tough. |
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| Neko Case – Vengeance is Sleeping Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I'm not sure where they got the lyrics for her site, but some include mistakes from other sites. I don't think that she has ever published her actual lyrics anywhere and she probably doesn't have much to do with the site. |
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| Neko Case – Outro With Bees Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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This is one of my favorite songs of hers. I agree that it's tantalizingly short and she has a few like this where she gets her point across in only a few lines, it's becoming one of her trademarks. I always thought that this song was about her letting a lover know that there's no hope for a relationship, so it's better to just move on and keep hovering - until you find that perfect flower. But knowing her it's probably about something completely different :) |
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| Neko Case – Guided By Wire Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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This is an great interpretation and I think you're absolutely right. I've read that music was always there for her and never let her down, unlike some of the people in her life when she was young. Thanks for posting this.
I also think the line is "guided by the voices I've perfected" |
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| Neko Case – I Missed The Point Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think she's just rejecting religion in this song and the last line might just be her saying 'thanks, but no thanks'.
It's a beautiful song that gets right to the point. |
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| Neko Case – Magpie To The Morning Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I get a feeling that, in general, this is about the challenge of writing songs. The lines 'run an airtight mission / a Cousteau expedition / find a diamond at the bottom of the drain' are wonderful and I just get this picture of someone psyching themselves up for a tough job knowing that there is if they are disciplined they'll be rewarded. So many of her songs are personal that it's hard to know what they really mean. She does have a way with words though. |
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| Neko Case – Fever Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I know that in one interview she said David Lynch is one of her favourite directors. |
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| Neko Case – Prison Girls Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think both 'sterilestriking' and 'SparkleNShine' are on the right track. Who knows what it is really about. I know she's in to movies, especially classics, so I wondered if it is about her being in a lonely motel, while on tour, watching one of those great B-movies on wild prison girls that they made in the 50's and 60's before going to sleep. They were deliciously noir with dark, severe lighting that cast long shadows and the women were wonderfully trashy and tough, with dark, smokey makeup. |
submissions
| Neko Case – Lion's Jaws Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I really like NostalgicBadger's interpretation of this song and want it to be true, and I bet it's not far off.
I'm leaning somewhat towards it being a male friend that she really adored but that he also desired her as more than a friend and eventually seduced her. I heard her say in an interview that she really values close, platonic friendships, but that they are hard to find. Once the fog cleared her natural defences saw what had happened as a loss.
I know that Neko is a huge nature geek so I bet the Lion's Jaws refers to the insect known as the Antlion (look it up) that has huge jaws (for a small insect) and digs a conical pit in sandy soil and then sits at the bottom and waits for other insects to fall in and then devours them. It also flicks sand up at the prey if they start to climb out and knocks them back down. She couldn't escape his expertly crafted trap once she fell in. She didn't even know she had been trapped.
It's a sad, beautiful song that sums up an aspect of life in only a few lines.
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| Neko Case – The Needle Has Landed Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I'm pretty sure it's "...from a shark-toothed freighter". I've been trying to figure out this part of the song. I know that her father was in the US Air Force when they lived in Tacoma and that his air base was near Spanaway. A number of units in the US Air Force have traditionally used a shark mouth painting on the front of their planes. I have to wonder if this might be the reference. But other than that I have no idea what the song is really about. I know from interviews that quite a few of her songs are autobiographical so the ambiguous lyrics might just be due to not knowing her detailed history. |
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| Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I think it refers to the Neko's feelings about people keeping wild animals for zoos and entertainment and then reacting with surprise and horror when they behave like....well like wild animals. She also feels that by caging and confining them we are just creating mentally ill animals. In an interview she likened keeping an Killer Whale in an aquarium was like forcing a teenager to live in a refrigerator. |
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| Neko Case – I'm an Animal Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I watched an 'The Interface' podcast on iTunes of Neko singing this song - as well as others. She clearly says "and will reveal them to no one" and "pick up that rock (drink from that lake)". What was great about this clip was that it's just her, Paul and Kelly and they sound awesome. I like the interview portion as well and of course she looks radiant. |
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| Bill Callahan – Footprints Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Yeah, I think I probably took it a step too far, lol! It is a beautiful song no matter what the hell he's singing about :) |
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| Bill Callahan – Footprints Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Thank you moonshadowbird396 - one other part of the song that I wondered about is when he sings the line 'where the footprints end' there is a woman's voice restating the word END. I'd like to think that this was the woman in the song reinforcing that point that the love dance is over and time to get serious. Any idea is this could be right or am I over-analyzing? |
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| Neko Case – Deep Red Bells Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Does anyone know the real meaning of the words 'deep red bells'? I've heard a lot of theories but can't find anything online about 'red bells' signifying anything specific. I know she's a fan of eastern European folk tales so perhaps it might be from there. Other than the old custom of ringing church bells at funerals and the redness of blood I can't come up with anything concrete. |
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| Neko Case – Star Witness Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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If you go up to Vurt's comment, Neko described exactly what the song was about in an interview in Pitchfork Magazine. It was about a drive by shooting of a young, black man she witnessed while living in Chicago and was written from many different people's perspectives, but not really hers. It is a convoluted song as a result, but still beautiful regardless of how you read it. |
submissions
| Neko Case – This Tornado Loves You Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I agree with adamselzer. I also take Neko at her word that this was a song about what it would be like if a tornado was romancing you and he's right that the tornado is acting just like a tornado and can't figure out why his love is being rejected.
I also think that the song is a comment on how men naturally pursue a love interest - clumsily, but with tenacity. I love the line "carved your name across 3 counties". How much more does the tornado need to do to show he's serious? I also like to think that the line "stop this madness" is tornado putting the blame on her for the destruction.
But as usual, the woman is always a few steps ahead in the love game as is said in the line "your rails have always outrun mine". Another beautiful part of the song is when the tornado tries to lure her by saying "come out to meet me/run out to meet me/come into the light" and tried to reassure her that nothing will happen when he says "But morning finds you still warm and breathing". The tornado tries every trick in the book to convince her to be his lover.
It truly is one of her best songs IMO. I'd like to think that although she openly rejects the need for a romantic partner that she still likes the thought of being desired by a man. |
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| Neko Case – The Tigers Have Spoken Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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This song is quite straightforward. Neko has been quite outspoken about her dislike of zoos, keeping wild animals caged up and the way they are 'euthanized' when they go crazy or when they have outlived their entertainment value. Her more recent song 'People Gotta a lot of Nerve' from Middle Cyclone revisits this same theme. She's also a huge supporter of animal rescue shelters that refuse to euthanize discarded pets.
The last lines about the tiger remembering his surrogate mother always brings a lump to my throat. |
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| Neko Case – That Teenage Feeling Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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In an interview Neko said that this song was written for her guitarist and close friend Paul Rigby. He was the one who came up with the line that he was "holding out for that teenage feeling". To me this song is about her lack of desire for a romantic partner, a stance that she's had to defend in countless interviews. But I want to believe that this is also a love song to Paul, only purely platonic. But from past research, Ms. Case's songs are often not what they seem. |
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| Neko Case – I Wish I Was the Moon Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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In an interview Neko said that this song was written about her father whom she described as a 'sad and lonely man' who hated his life and let them know about it every day. Her mother and father emigrated from the Ukraine, when it was still part of the communist Soviet Union. The line "god bless me I'm a free man" refers to that, but they were very poor which gives us the line "with nowhere free to go". He worked for the US Air Force which meant moving around a lot and why they wound up in Tacoma Washington as there is an Air Force Base there. It's truly one of her sadder songs. |
submissions
| Bill Callahan – Footprints Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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A couple of corrections:
"over tint and sea" should be "over tempting sea"
"??" should be "like the Odd Couple" - which was a movie and show from the 1960's and 70's about two very different characters living together.
The key to this song is the line "lookin' at rings". My take is it's about his surprise at suddenly becoming engaged and wondering if it was just the romance of summer that led to this big step, before they are really ready. Doves are the sign of love and romance and they were doing the walk. Their path was sure and steady and then suddenly they jumped ahead in a flight of fancy. It's a beautiful song. |
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| Bill Callahan – Drover Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I just get this feeling that this song is kind of a grudging acknowledgement of the band manager's role, or Callhan's own experience in sheparding his show around. It's one of those songs that will have a different meaning for everyone, but all are equally noble. |
submissions
| Neko Case – I Wish I Was the Moon Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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In an interview Neko said that this song was written about her father whom she described as a 'sad and lonely man' who hated his life and let them know abou it every day. He and her mother emigrated from the Ukraine, when it was part of the communist Soviet Union. The line "god bless me I'm a free man" refers to that, but they were very poor which gives us the line "with nowhere free to go". He worked for the US Air Force which meant moving around a lot and why they wound up in Tacoma Washington as there is an Air Force Base there. It's truly one of her sadder songs. |
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