| Arctic Monkeys – This House Is a Circus Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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I think the song paints a picture of how some people party in a kind of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll style. The idea is that you go completely crazy: drink a lot, use a lot of drugs, bang a lot of girls and, as a result, be awesome ("We tend to see that as a perk"). The drugs may not be necessary, because the lyrics also fit for alcohol, but since I've recently talked to some drug users in my job, I suspect that the song is about drugs as well. Specifically, I suspect that the lyrics are about the moment in which the drug of the person wore off for a moment. Drugs are often taken repeatedly, but when users 'sober up' for a brief moment in between, they may look around and suddenly realize what a mess it is they're in ("This house is a circus, berserk as fuck"). Often users 'cure' this uncomfortable feeling with a next dose and continue this cycle, but even while high, the thought they dread most, is that the feeling will eventually end ("And the last thing that they want is for this feeling to end"). The Arctic Monkeys stress that this lifestyle does not actually bring them closer to happiness: they're looking for fulfillment in the wrong place, as if you were staring into the eyes of a corpse, in order to find out who killed him. They 'can't think why', because all the elements that are supposed to make you feel great (sex, drugs, music) are there. In the process, partying people become increasingly over-confident (especially if using drugs) ("All the attention is leading me to feel important (completely obnoxious)"), impulsive ("Now that we're here we may as well go to far") and anti-social ("There's certainly some venom in the looks that you collect"). The most beautiful sentence, I think, is "Struggling with the notion that it's life, not film". This illustrates the frustration they feel, because in movies this lifestyle looks awesome, creating the expectation it would make you feel awesome as well, but in reality, the lifestyle is not fulfilling and accompanied by many negative effects. |
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| The Dresden Dolls – Dirty Business Lyrics | 12 years ago |
| I agree! First, with your interpretation, and second, with your notion that lyrics can mean different things for different people. I studied psychology, so (as you may read above), I recognized some behavior that resembled attachment issues and interpreted the song as such. To me, this interpretation was somewhat obvious, but it's interesting to see that people can look at it from so many different perspectives! | |
| The Dresden Dolls – Dirty Business Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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After reading some of the reactions here, my view on this song is that it paints a picture of a girl who has trouble maintaining relationships due to a severe mistrust of men. She looks for intimacy, but then gets scared and suspicious that they might hurt her. In order to prevent that, she manipulates and hurts them first, so that they disappear. Some men see that she has trouble and try to help her, but she would never accept help of men, whom she mistrusts ("Was I supposed to cheer your efforts?") and she thinks she may be a lost cause. Later, a large number of guys ("pick a number") end up hating her, and she understands that, but is also bitter about it ("a toast!", "Better keep a healthy distance"). The descriptions of her behavior (e.g. "She's the kind of girl who only asks you over when its raining, just to make you lie there catching water dripping from the ceiling.", "The kind who tells you shes bipolar just to make you trust her.") are signs of her manipulating men. "The poster girl", I think, refers to poster children that are used to represent a disease or disorder. E.g., Johnny is 7 and has asthma She also mentions the girls with tattooed backs, who actually get used ("masticated") by guys instead of using guys, like the "poster girl" does. She therefore despises them ("They'd make an angel's skin crawl") and thinks they're stupid for being such an easy prey for men ("If you ask them for assistance there's an even chance you get a [phone]number"). The poker references I think, are used to illustrate the 'game' her: the goal is to gain as much as you can, but you can never trust another player and if you don't have the qualities needed to win (good cards), you have to lie in order to gain something. The "Stuffed with kings and aces" might be interpreted as carrying extra cards (kings and aces) in your pockets (to cheat), which is also consistent with the poster girl's idea of the game (manipulate the other players). Let me know what you think! |
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