| Swans – The Sound Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| my take on this is that the track splits youthful rebellion into two phases: it's initial point of actualization, and the point of maturity that follows later on. the song itself is the time that occurs in between the point of youthful folly and the later point of maturation. | |
| R.E.M. – Losing My Religion Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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when i was a kid, i thought this song was about unrequited love, too. i remember relating to it through the prism of a fourth grade crush, and all the drama and rush of feelings that you get when you first go through the process of emotional awareness. and, maybe there's something to that. i mean, it's clearly about *some* kind of fear of rejection. but, nowadays, i think that stipe may have been being poetic in his explanation - it's true in the abstract, but maybe not in the specifics. one simply doesn't come down on themselves this hard in a traumatic love song. i do think that the song is/was about stipe's difficulty coming out as queer in the public spotlight and his lack of desire to have the issue become central to his career, as was normally the case before the 90s. queer rock stars were queer first and rock stars second. stipe had a lot to say about a lot of things and didn't want his sexuality to overpower his politics. it was also his first public acknowledgement of his sexuality, meaning it acted as his coming out message. in the end, whether due to the powerful narrative of the song or due to the fact that the message is coded, he got what he wanted. his sexuality never became the defining point of who he was as a musician or a poet. i've found that, to this day, most people i've spoken to about the topic are still unaware of what the song is about or even about stipe's sexuality. i've seen some people in the queer community criticize stipe for the approach that he took, which he seems to predict in the song. when he says he's said too much, he means he's given it away; when he says he hasn't said enough, he means he's ducking a level of responsibility that he feels he should take on, but is rejecting nonetheless. this is what the song is about - being torn between coming out as queer and everything that entails and keeping it as a discreet, personal decision. this kind of mental balancing is a common point in stipe's writing - as is his frequent self-accusation of cowardice. you have to keep in mind that the world was smaller then, and that stipe grew up in an area of the united states where openly institutional and systemic *racism* was (and still is) a major problem. he was raised in an environment that is openly hostile to queer culture, a place where it is necessary to be discrete in order to advance a career or even to ensure personal safety. his fear is consequently rooted in experience and a little empathy is necessary. that fear is what the song is about. it's as much a personal reflection on the difficulties surrounding being openly queer in the deep american south as it is a coming out. to criticize him for rejecting this responsibility is to invalidate his experiences; it's up to him to criticize himself for this and decide what he's comfortable with, and he does in fact do so through the course of the song. "I thought that I heard you laughing I thought that I heard you sing I think I thought I saw you try But that was just a dream, try, cry, why, try That was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream Dream" this is the heart of the song. you laughed with me, you sang at my concerts. does my sexuality invalidate this? if you knew i was queer, would you have laughed and sang with me? you may say you would, but i know better. i know that this is merely a projected fantasy; i know that my sexuality would invalidate your love of my art, and your respect for me as an individual. it would negate my views. and, i thought maybe i saw you try to understand, try to accept, try to open yourself up...but i was deluding myself, and you were deluding me. this is merely a fantasy, a dream. "Trying to keep up with you And I don't know if I can do it Oh no I've said too much I haven't said enough" can i go through with this, as others have? can i overcome the fear of invalidation and marginalization? it's too late; i've given it away. shit. but, i feel i should do more, i feel i should speak out against this fear. yet, i'm a coward, and that cowardice torments me. "With every whisper Every waking hour I'm choosing my confessions Trying to keep an eye on you Like a hurt lost and blinded fool" i think this is now clear in context. how do i do this? what's the best way? "Consider this The hint of the century Consider this The slip that brought me To my knees failed What if all these fantasies Come flailing around Now I've said too much" consider what would happen if this backfires, if it invalidates me out of existence, if it destroys friendships and opportunities. can i take this risk? i have plans and goals in this life...this life that is bigger than you. and you are not me. it's too late, i've done it, and i'm scared. you'll note the imagery in the video. the religious mockery, the multiple pictures of assumed-to-be-queer people. but, the most important image to draw out of it in the context of the song, i think, is the image of the band standing silently behind him - standing behind him - as he goes through with it, with clear and great difficulty. younger people may have a hard time relating to this kind of thought process. they should realize that there's some social progress underlying that. |
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| R.E.M. – Sweetness Follows Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[ray_killeen:7546] yes. i think that's the right idea. it's some kind of statement of zen; not a suggestion that we should put aside our differences for family, but a suggestion that our families are not worth the frustration. true freedom necessitates the abolition of the family. |
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| R.E.M. – Try Not To Breathe Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[deathtokoalas:7544] again. yeesh. i don't think any of you are really getting what this is about. you have to remember: stipe is a wry guy. and, he tends to come at things from multiple angles at the same time. what he's getting at is the unrealistic nature of the expectation, but he's balancing out the selfishness of suicide with the right to it. are those the eyes that the narrator really wants the listener to remember? eyes that shiver and fold? is the narrator truly not creating a burden? truly holding these things inside? and how can you look the narrator in the eye, when these words are coming out? should the narrator be surprised that the listener is shivering? but, the sum total is simply an exploration of how difficult the situation is. i don't think he really comes to a total conclusion. |
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| R.E.M. – Try Not To Breathe Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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i don't think any of you are really getting what this is about. you have to remember: stipe is a wry guy. and, he tends to come at things from multiple angles at the same time. what he's getting at is the unrealistic nature of the expectation, but he's balancing out the selfishness of suicide with the right to it. are those the eyes that the narrator really wants the listener to remember? eyes that shiver and fold? is the narrator truly not creating a burden? truly holding these things inside? and how can you look the narrator in the eye, when these words are coming out? should the narrator be surprised that the listener is shivering? but, the sum total is simply an exploration of how difficult the situation is. i don't think he really comes to a total conclusion. |
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| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[GotMeNow:7543] indeed. and, maybe it's one of his frequent self-accusations of cowardice. |
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| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[omega:7542]-alatia but, the song is loaded with double entendres... |
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| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| ok. i get this now. but, you can neither edit nor delete. so, blame the site, not me. | |
| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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the formatting there was awful. i'm just reposting the same thing here: i think people are mostly getting the point, but they're missing the device. and, i think that getting the device ties a lot of the ideas here together. this is one of stipe's smartest tracks and analyzing it does a lot to point out that his language is often very carefully put together, even when it may not seem like it is. "it's 10:00. do you know where your kids are?" this was often something you would see on tv during the reagan years, generally during a newscast. it was also widely ridiculed by young people at the time. you still hear it from time to time. it's meant to ask the question: are your kids on drugs? what stipe is doing is ironically putting himself in the role of the adult, here. he doesn't exactly want to be the adult. he doesn't want to be the "downer". but, he's also seeing this world first hand, and he's reflecting that the news reports are not entirely frivolous. that the kids are on drugs. or, at least some of them are. and, the ones that are on drugs need a bit of help with it, too. he's trying to establish a perspective that exists in some kind of middle ground. he's then taking that middle ground to reflect on the real value of freedom, and how he feels about getting in the way of the freedom of others. the car is the american symbol of freedom. the drug lingo is consequently entirely accurate, but it's a giant double-entendre about feeling caught between the counter-culture and a feeling of responsibility to help people. to stipe, this is a very stern moral dilemma that pits two equally valuable ideals against each other. he's struggling with this moral dilemma. the language about bush & ollie north is also accurate. you just have to understand their connections to drug smuggling, even as they're rounding people up for it. freedom? what that does is set the tone for a record that is broadly about feeling powerless to change things, and the futility of getting lost in it. |
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| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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i think people are mostly getting the point, but they're missing the device. and, i think that getting the device ties a lot of the ideas here together. this is one of stipe's smartest tracks and analyzing it does a lot to point out that his language is often very carefully put together, even when it may not seem like it is. "it's 10:00. do you know where your kids are?" this was often something you would see on tv during the reagan years, generally during a newscast. it was also widely ridiculed by young people at the time. you still hear it from time to time. it's meant to ask the question: are your kids on drugs? what stipe is doing is ironically putting himself in the role of the adult, here. he doesn't exactly want to be the adult. he doesn't want to be the "downer". but, he's also seeing this world first hand, and he's reflecting that the news reports are not entirely frivolous. that the kids are on drugs. or, at least some of them are. and, the ones that are on drugs need a bit of help with it, too. he's trying to establish a perspective that exists in some kind of middle ground. he's then taking that middle ground to reflect on the real value of freedom, and how he feels about getting in the way of the freedom of others. the car is the american symbol of freedom. the drug lingo is consequently entirely accurate, but it's a giant double-entendre about feeling caught between the counter-culture and a feeling of responsibility to help people. to stipe, this is a very stern moral dilemma that pits two equally valuable ideals against each other. he's struggling with this moral dilemma. the language about bush & ollie north is also accurate. you just have to understand their connections to drug smuggling, even as they're rounding people up for it. freedom? what that does is set the tone for a record that is broadly about feeling powerless to change things, and the futility of getting lost in it. |
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| R.E.M. – Drive Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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i think people are mostly getting the point, but they're missing the device. and, i think that getting the device ties a lot of the ideas here together. this is one of stipe's smartest tracks and analyzing it does a lot to point out that his language is often very carefully put together, even when it may not seem like it is. "it's 10:00. do you know where your kids are?" this was often something you would see on tv during the reagan years, generally during a newscast. it was also widely ridiculed by young people at the time. you still hear it from time to time. it's meant to ask the question: are your kids on drugs? what stipe is doing is ironically putting himself in the role of the adult, here. he doesn't exactly want to be the adult. he doesn't want to be the "downer". but, he's also seeing this world first hand, and he's reflecting that the news reports are not entirely frivolous. that the kids are on drugs. or, at least some of them are. and, the ones that are on drugs need a bit of help with it, too. he's trying to establish a perspective that exists in some kind of middle ground. he's then taking that middle ground to reflect on the real value of freedom, and how he feels about getting in the way of the freedom of others. the car is the american symbol of freedom. the drug lingo is consequently entirely accurate, but it's a giant double-entendre about feeling caught between the counter-culture and a feeling of responsibility to help people. to stipe, this is a very stern moral dilemma that pits two equally valuable ideals against each other. he's struggling with this moral dilemma. the language about bush & ollie north is also accurate. you just have to understand their connections to drug smuggling, even as they're rounding people up for it. freedom? what that does is set the tone for a record that is broadly about feeling powerless to change things, and the futility of getting lost in it. |
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