submissions
| Peter Broderick – Below It Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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@[sokorny:20167] I agree, there is most probably a metaphorical meaning to the song, hinting at a personal struggle in life. Nevertheless, „8 Lakes“ (a region in Florida, as I found out, obviously not inhabitated by sharks :-)), „screaming girls“ and „red, red blood“ are very concrete and precise images, so literally drwoning is the first thing that comes to my mind, as well as the strong emotional effect cdreated by the contrast between words and music. Since the lyrics offer not much additional information, they are open for several interpretations, of course. Maybe someone else comes up here with a completely different SongMeaning? |
submissions
| Peter Broderick – Below It Lyrics
| 8 years ago
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Seems to be about a man drowning. He is wounded (probably by a shark?), other swimmers are screaming. The song starts with first person impressions, then switches to an objective perspective, maybe indicating that the protagonist is dying. He struggles to come up again, but there seems to be no chance of being saved. Strong contrast between soothing, romantic music and some very, very dark lyrics. Very moving. |
submissions
| Editors – Munich Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I don't think this song is about fascism – who would say "I'm so glad I've found this" and at the same time address someone with "People are fragile things you should know by now", if nazis were concerned?! The same applies to the topic of terrorism – I don't see any relation to the terror attacks on the Munich Olympic Games.
You are glad when you find something special in your life... The first line points in a specific direction. I'm not religious, but imagine the "I" in the song has found faith, and the "You" is God. The "I" is glad having found something to believe in, but aware of the fact that you have to work hard to keep your faith ("It breaks when you don't force it"). It's not easy to believe, because God puts mankind – and men are fragile – through a lot of heavy things. But if you speak to God he will speak to you.
Of course, it doesn't have to be exactly about religion – it can be about a special philosophy, a special community, or simply about a special passion that comes along with a lot of work, and a lot of doubts as well.
In an interview the band said that very often their song titles have nothing to do with the lyrics. They just imagine a title that sounds good, if the lyrics don't suggest anything fit for a title. "Munich" is highly suggestive, and it fires the imagination of many listeners, as we see in all the contributions to this song. Nevertheless, the title makes sense even in my interpretation, for "Munich" could simply the place where the "I" found God, or a new philosophy, or something similar. "Munich" is not an obvious reference at all – it sounds very exotic, strange, suggestive and fits perfectly into the context of experiencing a turning point in your life. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – The Angel Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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It seems to me that 3 social groups are positioned against each other: the establishmnet (symbolized by the roadside attendant), the hippies (symbolized by the nomadic gordes in Volkswagen vans), and bikers acting outside the law, symbolized by the protagonist, who could simply be a "Hell's ANGEL". Both hippies and bikers were feared by the establishment, but the bikers were more directly associated with crime. Springsteen's angel, too, deals with prostitutes, gambling (Baseball cards?) and maybe brutality — his aura is destructive, which could be the deeper meaning behind the "poison oozing from his engine". Nevertheless, the "biker" is an almost mythical figure in modern American history, exerting a great fascination, especially on young people. Maybe, Springsteen's biker takes some youth for a ride, they proudly crouch behind him and cling to his leather jacket — thus the image of "hunchbacked children". Although this angel is on a kind of heroic trip, he is bound for death. He may be cool and attractive, but he doesn't really add something to society. In the end, only his whore will cry for him — while the Volkswagen vans are on a safer trip into the future. The song is allegoric, it expresses admiration for the biker figure, without ignoring the other, darker side of the coin. I may be totally wrong, but this is what comes to my mind. |
submissions
| David Bowie – Love Is Lost Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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The woman adressed in this song seems to have experienced a great change in her life — new country, new friends, a house with a maid, and so on. It could be a model, an actress, or a singer who became a star overnight, or someone who married into high society. But obviously the change is not good for her, she seems to live in an illusory world and is in need of psychotherapy.
Bowie holds back important information that could help to decode the song. Why 22? Why "new eyes"? Why does she think so much, but refuses to talk? What does she fear? Maybe Bowie reacted to a news story or had a concrete person in mind. Is the song meant as a riddle? Anyway, it makes me feel uncomfortable — like "The Next Day", where a tortured man gets the hymnical refrain: "Here I am not quite dying, my body left to rot in a hollow tree..." Great music, but very strange lyrics... |
submissions
| David Bowie – Where Are We Now? Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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A song about the uncontrollable course of time, with nature and love being the only constants. The speaker/"I" of the song seems to have been to Berlin before the wall came down and reflects about the events in and after 1989. He is overwhelmed by the power of history and clings to "fire", "rain", "you and me". Okay, the song mentions the club "Dschungel" — but does that suffice to interpret the lyrics as a reflection on Bowie's Berlin years during the late seventies? As Bowie fans we tend to look for autobiographical content, but to me there's not much of it in this song. Bowie has reached mastership in firing our imagination with a single word, a half line or a video image. |
submissions
| Cherry Ghost – Mathematics Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Important to me are two things: The speaker/"I" doesn't have the girl he wants yet ("I'd hold you..", "baby out of reach"), and he always alienates the people he's trying to impress. The corrected lyrics (see first comment) seem to be appropriate if you listen very hard to the studio version of the song. According to these lyrics, it is cold mathematics which gets in the way of love. Love is irrational, crazy — but the speaker/"I" ist unable to be irrational and crazy, he can't let himself go and give in to his feelings. Instead of falling for the girl he wants, he thinks too much and alienates her, as he is alienating everyone else. So he is very lonely, but hopes that one day he will overcome his obsessive cold rationality: "But one day I will learn to shine through the unforgiven sounds of cold mathematics making it's move on me now."
Another interpretation could be that the girl rejects the speaker/"I". She is heartless and imposes cold mathematics on him. He is lovesick and lonely and has cruel visions of "peacocks on the chopping block". And he hopes that some day he will get through to her, so that he won't have to hear "unforgiven sounds of cold mathematics" anymore. In this interretation it is a song about rejected love.
I think it is a great song because it is ambivalent and invites you to look at it from different perspectices. However, what I don't hear in the lyrics is the equation love = mathematics. And: I hope that Cherry Ghost will tour Germany one day! |
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