| Joe Jackson – Steppin Out Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| People are pretty inventive, even when there's no reason to be. It's a misty night, they're upset about something unspecified, and they're lured out by the shining lights of the city. Specifically the "tired of all the darkness in our lives" and "leave the TV and the radio behind" make me think that he's referring generally to the feeling of being cooped up and blasted with bad news night after night, and needing the feeling of stepping out into the real world. "To the other side" is not a reference to the after life. This song is probably about New York City and "to the other side" could mean to the other side of the river, to the other side of town, etc. Just getting out of the neighborhood where they spend all of their time to go see something new for a change. | |
| Leonard Cohen – Avalanche Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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I tend to agree with you that this seems to be overtly about Christ. I've heard often that it's about Cohen's bouts of depression, and that may be. But the most obvious aspect of the song seems to be about Christ, and I see evidence for this in some other songs on the album like "Last Year's Man", in his reference to temporarily being in Joan of Arc's army (Joan of Arc turned a French war about politics (can't remember which one) into a religious conflict and led troops in the name of God, galvanizing French soldiers for a cause they were previously ambivalent about.) Of course, other songs like "Dress Rehearsal Rag" make it obvious that Cohen was also singing about struggles with depression at the time. I have some different interpretations than you do about the lyrics, though. I think Cohen is expressing a frustration with his understanding and relationship with Christ, whom he ultimately rejects (again, "Last Year's Man" provides another reference.) For example, "The crumbs of love that you offer me, they're the crumbs I've left behind" seems to say to me that all love in the world is just the residue from Christ's brief visit to us. Any love we can give to him is just some leftover refuse that he left with us while he was here. This is a pretty common complaint against Judeo-Christian religions--the idea that all good deeds and praise are as 'dirty rags' to God. A similar complaint is "Your pain is no credential here, it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound." Jesus lived in poverty and died on the cross for us--presumably something so profoundly painful that it could redeem all of our sins. But let's face it, there are a lot more painful ways to go than this. Many take issue with the idea that pain and poverty in life are noble goals, as God seems to claim they are. You can never be downtrodden and desperate enough! I think this sentiment also comes through with the line "Do not dress in those rags for me, I know you are not poor!" I also think the pedestal refers more to a figurative pedestal that we normally think of. We are not exalting Christ, he is already exalted. He exalts all that he touches (the ugly hump perhaps being the cross). But by and large agree. I also had a pretty serious bout with depression at one point, and a lot of Cohen's lyrics speak very directly to me. I saw an interview with him in which he discusses his struggles with depression, and it seems like he and I experienced it in very much the same way--as a kind of crippling, obsessive, pessimistic confusion. Again, "Dress Rehearsal Rag" is the kind of song that represents Cohen's depression to me. But I don't see as much of that theme in this song as other people do. |
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