submissions
| The Specials – Ghost Town Lyrics
| 5 years ago
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A UK TV channel recently used this as background music for an item on the effect of the 2020 pandemic on city centres. This song remains a potent comment on the effect of government policies on society - particularly the young. Although this time the crisis is caused by a global pandemic rather than political dogma - but it is still under the stewardship of an incompetent populist government. Let’s hope we don’t see any “fighting on the dance floor”. By the way I was born in Coventry and proud of The Specials. But Coventry was nowhere near as bad as some contributors have remembered it. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Charlie Freak Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Charlie Freak is, as far as Steely Dan songs go, pretty straightforward. However it is a fine example of their humanity, and, on hearing it again recently, it brought me literally to tears. There are so many examples in this song of empathy with the kind of life lived by a homeless drug addict on the street. For example, the description of the prized ring is just how it would be recorded by a pawnbroker. And the line "and if nobody takes him in" implies that the narrator knows people who have the goodness to do this. Most people, myself included, would "walk by on the other side". The inevitability of the addict's fate is heart wrenching, and one can feel the remorse of the narrator at having taken advantage of the poor kid's predicament. For what it's worth, my interpretation of the final lines is that they are addressed to the corpse, and "home" is the kid's death which is the only escape for him. |
submissions
| Donald Fagen – Weather In My Head Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I suddenly thought that the four old hippies could be the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. They were supposed to be around for a global disaster, like climate change, weren't they? |
submissions
| Jeff Beck – Hi Ho Silver Lining Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I've just reread my comment and the other contributions. The Lone Ranger reference is a joke about his horse being called Silver. What I should have pointed out ("though it's obvious") is that the saying " every cloud has a silver lining" is a typical statement from an optimist, i.e. hippie. |
submissions
| Donald Fagen – Weather In My Head Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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This is a typically clever song comparing the external climate change with the internal depression - weather in my head. It is a 12-bar blues with lots of choruses on lead guitar by Jon Herington. Fagen makes it topical by references to Katrina and Al Gore. I don't know who the four old hippies are unless they represent the generation that screwed the weather in the world which is going to sink some condominiums. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Haitian Divorce Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I agree with most of the comments. I don't however think the father was involved. I think "Papa say" is just a lyrical fill with no particular meaning. I think Babs went on a holiday to Haiti because her marriage was dead, and had a fling while she was there. She returned and got back together with her husband, Clean Willie, with whom once she had been so much in love. Sadly she had become pregnant while in Haiti, which became apparent as the child grew up semi-mojo. Everyone knew, so Clean Willie then divorced her which became her Haitian Divorce. I like the way we "dolly back" and "fade to black" before the fling. These are cinematic devices used by directors when everyone knows what is going to happen. The literary eqivalent is a series of dots. This is what marks out Becker and Fagen as master lyricists. There is a similar gem in nearly every Steely Dan song. |
submissions
| Donald Fagen – Memorabilia Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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My interpretation is that "Louis Dakine" was a 1950's U.S.Navy type who keeps a few souvenirs of perfect doom in backroom. These are both photos and hardware from weapons tests in the Pacific. Donald Fagen's lyrics make no comment as to why these souvenirs exist, but do appear to bemoan the loss of a lovely island as a result of the tests. How does Fagen, and Steely Dan for that matter, manage to craft a terrific song out of such unpromising material? |
submissions
| Donald Fagen – Memorabilia Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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It may not be widely known, but there are several references to U.S. weapons testing in these lyrics. For example both Ivy King and Castle Bravo were tests of large weapons in the Pacific. Probably near "an island East of the Carolines Lovely island" which to judge by the lyrics is no longer there. I don't know who Louis Dakine is/was, or where his backrooom was. Although Dakine is a brand name for upmarket sportswear. Like all Fagen/SteelyDan songs this is great, but I don't know what it means. |
submissions
| Tom Jones – Delilah Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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I am surprised that no women have commented that this song is about murder. The guy is jealous. He beleives that if he doesn't own the woman she should be dead. There could be an innocent explanation. Perhaps he imagined the shadows of love. Perhaps the other man was a relative - e.g. brother, son. Perhaps she was smiling, not laughing, because she was glad to see him. But he didn't give her a chance to explain. He just knifed her. |
submissions
| Jeff Beck – Hi Ho Silver Lining Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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As has been stated elsewhere,#Hi_Ho_Silver_Lining criticises hippy culture. Specifically the optimism expressed by feeling that "everything is groovy" in denial of the fact that your "tyres are flat". The feeling that the sun is always shining means that one never takes a realistic opinion about anything, or that one is"everywhere and nowhere" at the same time. The writer warns that reality, not just "getting fat", and flies in "your pea soup", but "lies" are going to get you someday, and advises that although you may have a roof today under which to watch TV, you had "better open up your beach umbrella" because you don't know how quickly things can change. |
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