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The Notwist – Pilot Lyrics 1 year ago
I always thought it was about a depressed person (desperate state, room of opaque air), contemplating committing suicide by throwing himself in front of a train. (switch off time by causing train delay)

A song I heard/saw on Viva Zwei years ago that introduced me to The Notwist.

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Snow Patrol – The Garden Rules Lyrics 12 years ago
No. (Nor is it suicide or drugs). The song is about an innocent first love of youth.

Obviously it literally means at the end of the garden (yard), just beyond the cultivated area in the bushes. If there's a metaphoric sense to it, the narrator is a nettle to the girl's rose.


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Alice Cooper – Adaptable (Anything For You) Lyrics 12 years ago
Making (some) concessions.

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Snow Patrol – This Isn't Everything You Are Lyrics 12 years ago
Yes it's "Don't keel over now". It's from a nautical term. The keel of a boat runs front to back along the bottom. When a ship "keels over" it flips over with the keel on top. By extension, a person keels over when they fall down as if they'd fainted. Here, it's used metaphorically to mean a person feeling hopeless in the face of their current negative situation.

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Blur – Girls and Boys Lyrics 12 years ago
I think it's talking about young Brits going on holiday and having lots of casual sex in lots of different ways.

Another person suggested it was a feel-good song. I don't think it is at all. The lines "Love in the 90's, Is paranoid, On sunny beaches, Take your chances looking for" and "avoiding all work, cause there's none available" to me suggests a negative view of their careless hedonism.

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Muse – Unnatural Selection Lyrics 12 years ago
You seriously misread. The key part you ignored is:
"I'm hungry for some unrest
Well let's push it beyond the peaceful protest
I wanna speak in a language that you will understand"

Natural selection is survival of the fittest based on genetics and the natural environment. As HisNoodlyA* wrote, the song is about how success (selection) in human society is largely based not on merit but luck ("The lucky don't care/share at all) and oppression.

* May he be touched

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Travis – The Fear Lyrics 13 years ago
It's about death. The Fear is the fear of death. Being with somebody makes it easier.

The "Hottest summer" verse is referring to the passing of time. The summer has gone, autumn/fall is here and the trees are shedding their leaves.

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Muse – Knights of Cydonia Lyrics 13 years ago
Side note:the Jethro Tull song was probably Heavy Horses. It also uses a drumming rhythm for hoof beats, in the section "Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill; Up into the cold wind facing ..." Like this song, it's one of my least favorites musically from the album.

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Talking Heads – This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) Lyrics 13 years ago
"And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time"

That says everything.

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Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars Lyrics 13 years ago
Chasing cars is something dogs (supposedly) do. It represents a futile activity.

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The Smiths – Panic Lyrics 13 years ago
As others wrote it was a reaction to the non sequitur of a report on Chernobyl being followed immediately by bubble gum pop.

It criticizes music for the lack of meaning, while also recognizing it's truly limited importance with the ironic request to "Hang the DJ". (Also see Rubber Ring for putting music in its proper place.)

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The Jam – The Eton Rifles Lyrics 13 years ago
Essentially it's 3 groups:
The public school political establishment
The working-class
The public-school/middle-class revolutionaries who try to stir up the working classes but don't really have a stomach for a fight and will just end up joining the establishment:
"Thought you were clever when you lit the fuse,
Tore down the house of commons in your brand new shoes,
Compose a revolutionary symphony,
Then went to bed with a charming young thing."
"What a catalyst you turned out to be,
Loaded the guns then you run off home for your tea,
Left me standing, like a guilty (naughty) schoolboy."

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Eurythmics – I Saved The World Today Lyrics 13 years ago
Don't feel bad. ;) She's an alto and often deliberately uses the lower part of her vocal range.

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Talking Heads – People Like Us Lyrics 13 years ago
Songs like The Big Country and Nothing But Flowers show that David Byrne is more empathetic than that. "What good is freedom? God laughs at people like us" The singer is looking for happiness and for that they need to love and be with someone. It's not criticism.

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Pet Shop Boys – Rent Lyrics 13 years ago
+1 for the "ZOMG Buttsex!" And yes, it's a kept lover, not a rent boy/prostitute.

In addition, to me the song implies that the relationship is emotionally one-sided ( "you give me love" not "you love me"), with the kept lover really wanting more of an intimate companionship (note that "when you're lying next to me" is not having sex), but they are trapped in the easy life of their limited relationship.

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Eurythmics – Angel Lyrics 13 years ago
The Lyrics are for the wrong song. They are actually:
Underneath this canopy of snow
Where fifty-seven winters
Took their toll
Where did you go?

And I believed in you
I believed in you
Like Elvis Presley
Singing psalms on a Sunday
(Where did you go?)

Well she's gone to meet her maker
Back to where she came from
Come to save her soul...
Come to save her soul...
Come to take her home
'Cause it's late and past
Your bedtime
Well past bedtime

Angel
My angel
Fly over me
Angel...

She took her life
Within her hands
She took her life
Within her own two hands
And no-one can tell her
What to do now

And I believed in you
I believed in you
Like Elvis Presley
Singin live from Las Vegas
(Where did you go?)

Well she's gone to meet
Her maker
Back to where she came from
Come to save her soul...

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Skin – Faithfulness Lyrics 13 years ago
It still doesn't, other than yours. (And now mine). The best song on the album. Trashed got more radio play at the time, but I much prefer this one. I'm surprised it hasn't been covered.


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The Specials – Too Much, Too Young Lyrics 13 years ago
That's really the point. It's a song of selfish frustration. He was young and single, had a thing for a young married woman with a child (with some reciprocation of feelings) but she/they put the child first so nothing happened.

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Badly Drawn Boy – Camping Next To Water Lyrics 13 years ago
s/The second is easier/The second day is easier/

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Badly Drawn Boy – Pissing In The Wind Lyrics 13 years ago
"Pissing in the wind" is wasting your time, but "pissed" is also drunk and the rest of the first verse also suggests drunkenness (dribbled on my chin, earth moves beneath my feet).

Drunk, lonely and looking for love, or at least some acknowledgement. Is the "rain" the drink that's just making his "drought" worse?

But, as the song notes, he's going to keep dangling the worm and trying to find love.

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Snow Patrol – Set the Fire to the Third Bar Lyrics 13 years ago
No it isn't.
1) Apart from his lover, map makes it seem close
2) Going to a bar to drink just makes him feel worse (with Betjeman and Ibsen (I think) references)
3) Imagine what it would be like to be with them.

He mentions state lines so I guess they're in a different time zone, which could explain why he's singing instead of Skypeing with them.

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David Byrne – Glass, Concrete & Stone Lyrics 13 years ago
To add to Reg's notes he's not "just" cheating. The song expresses unhappiness and sadness about his home life. It may be an affair, he may even be leaving permanently:
"from here to the moon"
"How things can change, I know"
"Try to pretend, it's not only ... Glass and concrete and stone"
And I think the use of a name, here "Harriet Hendershot" and her wearing sunglasses suggests that it's someone the neighborhood would recognize.

(I like David Byrne's songs and I really like them when the lyrics seem less improvised. As with many other songwriters I like, I just wish he could sing better so I could listen to him in the car with my wife. ;) Many of his songs are crying out to be covered. Like this one.)

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Eurythmics – Angel Lyrics 13 years ago
Somebody committing suicide due to illness, possibly mental. "No one" being the doctors.

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Skunk Anansie – Tracy's Flaw Lyrics 13 years ago
The 2nd verse is using the crucifixion of Jesus as a metaphor. "Makes me crucify you more": she sees the blood and kisses the restraints, suggesting that she feeds off the suffering she is causing. Jesus is used to symbolize that the other person is recognized as a good person, willing to forgive and dying for the sins of the person exploiting her.

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Jethro Tull – Down at the End of Your Road Lyrics 13 years ago
More specifically it's about a property dealer ("By day I am a real estate gentleman.")
using nefarious means to get people to sell their houses to him for a low price ("I deal in fine properties --- cheap at the price").

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