submissions
| James Taylor – Copperline Lyrics
| 6 years ago
|
I've seen James Taylor play this live, and he explained what it's about. It's simply an evocation of growing up in an idyllic rural area and all the things he did. Moonshine is only tangentially involved, it's not what the entire song is about.
The "first kiss" is literally his first kiss with a girl, Hercules was his dog who protected him when they came across a snake in the woods.
At the end, "tried to go back as if I could" is his return to the area as an adult, looking for the places of his youth, and where he found that of course it had changed, with old buildings torn down and lots of new development. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – Not Now John Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
|
That line is a reference to production-line workers who spend their time assembling the same thing, hour after hour, day after day, without any real understanding of the parts they are fitting together. |
submissions
| Pink Floyd – Southampton Dock Lyrics
| 12 years ago
|
The "dark stain" line is an allusion to blood soaking through clothes after the man in the song has been stabbed in the back - mainly metaphorically, but possibly literally too. Waters is saying that the soldiers have been betrayed (stabbed in the back) by the leaders who should have found an alternative to sending them off to die.
If you look at the original album artwork, there is a direct reference to this line - you can see a soldier standing up, with his back facing us, and a knife sticking out between his shoulder blades. |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
