| XTC – Holly Up On Poppy Lyrics | 5 years ago |
|
Highly doubt there are intentional drug references here. Andy Partridge has gone on record about his aversion to recreational substances that aren't alcohol. This comes from his previous addiction to Valium, which he was stuck on as a kid and didn't come off until years later. Andy loves psychedelia as an art and music style, but he isn't one to romanticize drug use, especially something hard like heroin. On the other hand, given where he was in his life when he wrote this song, the daughter explanation's perfectly sound. |
|
| The Tragically Hip – Cordelia Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Thematically, this song seems to deal with taking unnecessary risks, just for the thrill or the gratification that comes from telling yourself you're pulling off something dangerous. Seeing how high up you are on the bridge, jumping from the train, shouting 'Macbeth' in a theatre (which superstition says will ruin the performance), the thief who has to stay in the house a minute too long just to get one more thing, etc. Gordie adds some clever twists in too. The bull trying to figure out if he hates the cape or the guy who's audacious enough to taunt him with it. And the chorus suggests all this behaviour is tied to a need to not owe anything to anyone else. Really great lyric, like most from The Hip. |
|
| Bloc Party – Helicopter Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I think that writers' intentions don't completely govern song meanings. A writer can always be dishonest about why he/she wrote a song, or they could not realize the full extent of the words they've written. Eddie Vedder changed his own interpretation of 'Alive', for example. The point is I think it's almost beside the point who in particular the song's about. In general it seems like it's about a liar, a poseur, someone who's trying to make it seem like everything's fine while everything's actually cracking underneath. So it could really apply to George Bush, Kele, your next door neighbour, or anyone who fits the role. |
|
| Wilco – Hell Is Chrome Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
british's interpretation is along the same lines as mine. Tweedy describes a perfect place, but he introduces the place by having the devil lead him there. You have to wonder if everything seems perfect and polished on the surface (hence chrome) but there's something insidious underneath. It's like Leonard Cohen's lyric "there's a crack in everything... and that's how the light gets in", or the episode of Community where Jeff and Troy discover a serene sanctuary that turns out to be run by a Nazi. On a deeper level, it would be a postmodern suspicion of anything that seems to be perfect or pure. The belief that it's good that we no longer believe in a universal truth or single answer. And because we're talking about Jeff Tweedy, I don't think this is reading too much into it either. |
|
| Metric – Dead Disco Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I created an account just to reply to this, because that's the first thing I thought of when I heard this number for the first time: postmodernism. Given members of Metric working with Broken Social Scene and other sorts of really artsy stuff they do, I wouldn't even be surprised if postmodernism was a direct influence on this. And I don't think it's really pretentious to say that if it actually reflects the idea. To me, pretentious would be yammering on about postmodernism while not really knowing what it is. You and Metric seem to actually get it, which actually makes the song and the interpretation a smart, wry comment on society. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.