| Rush – Subdivisions Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| I think "basement bars" should be taken literally. Those of us who grew up in the 50's to the 70's (US or Canada) will remember that a bar in the basement was a common feature of suburban houses. It was a small-scale version of the real thing with a sink, fridge, shelves, mirrors, beer lights, stools etc. Even the smallest houses were likely to have one. As others have pointed out, these basement bars were often the site of much underage drinking. | |
| Elvis Costello – Brilliant Mistake Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| "Where they pour Coca Cola just like vintage wine" - popular culture is treated like fine art and consumer products have the greatest cultural significance. | |
| Elvis Costello – Brilliant Mistake Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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"A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals" -- a trick with mirrors refers to old-fashioned magic acts performed on stage (such as in Vaudeville) where mirrors were often the basis of the illusion. Chemicals refers to technology (If this song were more recent, I'd say it refers to pharmaceuticals specifically, but I am not sure how commonplace anti-depressants, etc. were when the song was written.) So, the two things that America excels at, entertainment and technology prevent us from noticing the boulevard of broken dreams. "The words of love in whispers, And the acts of love in screams" - In popular culture and many individual lives, sex is given far more attention and emphasis than feelings or romance. This line reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel's lyric And whisper'd in the sounds of silence." |
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| Elvis Costello – Brilliant Mistake Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[cchace:5631] I believe you are correct. Some sites have the "axe of love" which makes no sense in context. Funny, though. | |
| Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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"And whisper'd in the sounds of silence." "Brilliant Mistake" by Elvis Costello has a lot of similar imagery and themes: "He thought he was the King of America But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals The words of love in whispers And the acts of love in screams" |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – The Sound of Silence Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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"And the signs said, 'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls." Prophets have always lived on the fringes of their society -- as in; "no prophet is welcome in his own land." from the Bible. |
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| John Mellencamp – Rain On The Scarecrow Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[djm60546:5371] Sorry. I am not sure how this snippet of my previous post got here. Please disregard. | |
| John Mellencamp – Rain On The Scarecrow Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| "Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard" -- cross are normally found in a church yard or cemetery. Here the courthouse (the legal system that enforces bank foreclosures, evictions, etc.) has become the burial place for the farm families. The use of the word "planted" is powerful; it suggests that the crosses are a new, deathly kind of crop, the only one being planted now, in contrast to the empty acres that used to provide life-giving food crops. | |
| John Mellencamp – Rain On The Scarecrow Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is brilliant in that it conveys it's message literally and with powerful symbolism. "Scarecrow on a wooden cross" - a human figure (Jesus) on a cross is a Crucifix, the loss of the family farm is like a crucifixion; a slow, agonizing, public and humiliating death. "blackbird in the barn" - superstition holds that a bird in the house is an omen of death. The bird in the barn suggests that the death is related to the farm. "Rain on the scarecrow" -- will cause it to decay; more imagery of death and loss. At the end of the song, the farmer compares himself directly to the scarecrow. "Blood on the plow" -- at face value; the machine the farmer uses to grow crops has injured or killed him. Small farmers need to "bet the farm" each year by taking out loans in the spring to cover the cost of planting and harvesting the crop. Bad weather or a downturn in agricultural commodity prices can leave the farmer in debt with no hope of repayment. It is this financial machinery that has wounded the farmer. "Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard" -- normally crosse are found in a church yard or cemetery, but here the courthouse has become the burial place for the farm families. The use of the word "planted" is interesting; the crosses are planted like a deathly crop -- in contrast to the empty acres that used to give life in the form of food. I always thought the line was "Comes my old friend schepman up to auction off the land," but this site and others say the lyric is "Called my old friend..." That doesn't make sense to me for two reasons: 1. The songs says that "the farmers bank foreclosed," so, with farm in foreclosure, the farmer has no right to sell the land. He can't be the one to call the auctioneer; only the bank can arrange an auction. 2. Why would the farmer tell Schepman that "calling it your job ol hoss sure don't make it right" and say that the auctioneer's soul was in danger, if the farmer was the one who called the auctioneer? Instead, I think the line is "[Here] Comes my old friend Schepman..." This makes for a far more emotional scene with the farmer feeling betrayed by his old friend and the auctioneer feeling guilt for what his job requires him to do. It shows how economic forces destroyed personal relationships and communities. |
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| Tom Petty – Into The Great Wide Open Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song reminds me of the PBS Frontline documentary, "The Merchants of Cool." (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/) or The Byrd's "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star?" |
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| The Pogues – Thousands Are Sailing Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[djm60546:3671] That should be "Were your dollars..." -- my mistake. The past tense fits well with the idea that the song is a dialog between a modern immigrant and a 19th Century one -- Irish domestics being a thing of the past. | |
| The Pogues – Thousands Are Sailing Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| "Are your dollars from the white house..." Since "white house" is not capitalized, this is probably not a reference to the U.S. government. Instead, it likely refers to the many Irish women who came to the U.S. to work as domestic servants in the homes of the wealthy. | |
| The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[djm60546:3590] www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20131012-extremists-in-dallas-created-volatile-atmosphere-before-jfks-1963-visit.ece | |
| The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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"...who killed the Kennedys? When after all it was you and me." The was strong anti-Kennedy feeling and rhetoric in Dallas for years before JFK's assassination. See "Extremists in Dallas created volatile atmosphere before JFK’s 1963 visit" at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20131012-extremists-in-dallas-created-volatile-atmosphere-before-jfks-1963-visit.ece |
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| The Who – Bell Boy Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| There is a great play on words in the title and lyrics; a bell buoy is a floating marker used to warn ships of dangerous conditions. The buoy has a bell at the top that rings when it is rocked by the waves. I always pictured the rocking motion of the bell buoy to be like the movement of a bell boy handling luggage all day. A bell boy was traditionally called by a bell to the hotel's front desk to pick-up luggage. This meeting between Jimmy and Ace Face serves as a warning to Jimmy that he could "run aground" in some menial job. Considering all the sea imagery in Quadrophenia, I don't think I'm reading too much into this one. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – The River Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I am also replying long after the fact, but I always imagined "the valley" as a polluted mining and/or manufacturing community in Appalachia. The characters had to leave the valley to find green fields and water clean enough for swimming. Besides the loss of everything the river symbolizes, the literal loss of the river suggests the destruction of the environment. Why would a river in Appalachia run dry? Could it be that it was dammed or diverted to serve the same industries that made the valley so desolate? | |
| Eagles – The Last Resort Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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RE: "Somebody laid the mountains low..." I seem to recall a plan discussed in the '70's, never carried out, to remove one or more mountain tops around Los Angeles so that smog wouldn't be trapped over the city. Am I remembering this correctly? |
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| Elvis Costello – (I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I agree with the Elsie the Cow of Borden Milk reference. Could Natasha be Nastassja Kinski whose career as a model/actress was well underway when this song was written in 1978? | |
| Don McLean – Babylon Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This is a very fitting last song on Side 2 of the American Pie album. Both songs, American Pie and Babylon, mourn the loss of a “promised land” by God’s “chosen people.” As others pointed out, these lyrics are based on Psalm 137:1 from the Bible. During the Babylonian captivity (or exile) in the 7th century BC, the Jew’s homeland, the ancient Kingdom of Judah, was conquered by the Babylonians. Many Jews were taken to Babylonia, a kingdom located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers ("the waters of Babylon") in the area of modern-day Iraq. The Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people as they were the first to embrace monotheism. In a similar way, Americans have described themselves as a chosen people – “manifest destiny” in the 19th Century and “American exceptionalism” in the 20th. I think by including this song at the end of the American Pie album, McLean is suggesting that the events and cultural changes of the late 50’s to early 70’s left Americans exiled from their own promised land. Certainly, loss is a recurring theme in American Pie and, whatever his personal beliefs, McLean use biblical/religious imagery throughout that song. It also interesting to note, as commenter TheThornBirds does here, that for Rastafarians, “Babylon” is their term for decadent western society. Also “Zion” is the Rastafarian name for the Promised Land -- which for them is present-day Ethiopia. |
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