| Animal Collective – Peacebone Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[SULU1:6900] I love that line too. I suspect the monster is the Minotaur, and the maze is the Labyrinth. So we have here an image of a clueless Minotaur being offered a new home in the Labyrinth by Minos and he's thinking this is the greatest thing ever because Minos has a (clearly false) smile on his face. Minos doesn't give a fuck about the Minotaur of course, he's just glad to be rid of the problem, but the Minotaur isn't very perceptive and doesn't realize this. To me, the song is largely collection of beautifully absurd images. Taking a single moment and describing the most important features in one or two lines. |
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| Mother Mother – Original Spin Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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This song is about how people attempt to definitively attribute reasons to why we exist (why the world spins), when there's no way to know this for sure. Ryan seems to believe it spins for no reason in particular (just for fun). We're not here for a reason, we're just here: don't search for a reason that doesn't exist, just enjoy life. Furthermore, the imagery in the song seems aimed at highlighting the beauty in our inherently pointless world. |
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| NOFX – Freedom Lika Shopping Cart Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The posted lyrics for some strange reason begins with the first three lines of Bleeding Heart Disease... "A Christian, an anarchist slash prostitute, figures out the true meaning of freedom" is the actual first line of this song. |
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| NOFX – Bleeding Heart Disease Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The line "listen to the fairy tales of million dollar happiness" is actually "don't believe the fairy tales of million dollar happiness" Not the only mistake in the lyrics listed here, but it's a pretty significant one considering the difference in meaning. |
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| Les Savy Fav – Excess Energies Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Great song; hits a bit too close to home. To me, the song seems to be about a wasted life and the rationalizations used to mask those feelings. Forestalling change with endless distractions and a belief that you can change things around at any time; you just don't feel like doing so right now. Time and purpose I defy you All my life you know I've tried to We can't actually defy the passage of time, so stop acting like you're immortal and actually live the one life you have instead of being a spectator. Easier said than done. In that way, reminds me of Beach Boys - I Know There's an Answer, though a lot more defiant and from the perspective of the person living as a spectator, instead of advice from one who used to be a spectator. |
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| The New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The hourglass spills its sand If only to punish you For listening too long to one song Sing me Spanish techno Yeah, definitely agree with you. This song is about becoming fed up with living the easy life for so long. This person was refusing their calling in life and just going wherever the wind took them. Years have passed, and there is now remorse due to having the sense that their life was wasted. "Listening too long to one song" is living too long without real change or growth. Spanish Techno represents a new, exciting tune they want to live their life by. |
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| AJJ – Big Bird Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Yes, but the bigger question is what this bird represents. To me, it is symbolic of his fears. Big Bird, the name of the song, could be referring to him being a big chicken (a pejorative term for coward). The allusions to a phoenix likewise represent how these fears keep returning, perhaps in spite of a desire to be free of them. Finally, him becoming the knife in the end represents his decision to take control of his life, by continually killing the fear phoenix every day. The band is from Phoenix, AZ of course, but I think in the context of the song it means more than just alluding to a hometown that is indifferent to his worries (not that that isn't an aspect as well). |
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| Portugal. The Man – Once Was One Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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There were two monkeys talking sounding like little dogs They were barking and bitching about what was wrong In the world we were just spacemen taking a ride The gorilla's in his human suit reciting his lines, singing We all, we all, we all turn on, we all, we all, we all turn off ...in time The references to primates is a reminder that we humans are just animals. The "human suit" consists of the intangibles in our head that cause us to elevate ourselves above other creatures. The arguments we have which we attribute so much significance to in our heads, really amount to nothing more than a dog's barking. The third line relates to how, on a large scale, we are all astronauts on spaceship earth going on a ride through space. The last line is a reminder that all things born will die. |
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| Aesop Rock – Gopher Guts Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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To me, this song seems largely about types of lies our parents tell us and we tell ourselves, whether out of love, longing for affection, or whatever. The three refrains are fairly similar in context so I'll just go over the final one: I pulled three ghost crabs out of rock and sand Where the low tide showcased a promised land I told them, "You will grow to be something dynamic and impressive; You are patient, you are gallant, you are festive" Then I let them go Oh Many of us, including myself, when growing up would have praise heaped upon us by our parents. We were told we are so creative, so intelligent, that we can do anything we want. But aside from this praise to boost our ego, were given little real guidance on how to actually do something with our supposed creativity or intelligence. The baby crabs, frogs, and snakes, are us as children, being told by those much more powerful than us how we have an incredibly bright future ahead of us, but after telling us these lies, we are released back into the wild to fend for ourselves. Telling a child, "you will grow to be something dynamic and impressive; you are patient, you are gallant, you are festive" no more bestows these qualities on them than saying it to a ghost crab. The parent feels they are offering guidance, but really just offer delusion in order to satisfy their own personal ego. In the first verse he speaks about how family has these supposed deep bonds, but really we often cannot relate to each other and do not understand each other’s worlds. He calls his mother over the phone and is expressing personal problems he has, but she is just going through the motions of saying that she loves him (which she very well may) without actually listening to him and acknowledging his problems. In the third verse he reflects on the person he has become, perhaps in part due to the lies he grew up believing. His relationships fail because he too is unable to listen. He stubbornly resists change although he resents how he has lived his path: I have been accustomed to a stubborn disposition That admits it wished its history disassembled And he wishes to be an advocate for ideals that he himself fails to uphold: I have been a hypocrite in sermonizing tolerance While skimming for a ministry to pretzel Oh, and Rap Genius has a line by line breakdown of the lyrics, and a much better formatted version of the lyrics (not sure if I can link to other sites in comments but you can do a search if interested). |
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| of Montreal – Dour Percentage Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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We've woken up alone No song to sing us off the edge The speakers are blown This planet is an orphanage Deep abandonment issues at our core But if not each other, there's fuck all to really keep hustling for. Ain't got no ride Least not one that returns our message Our parents aside This planet is an orphanage And it cheapens us The way you and I torment each other It's just the way we combine To me, the chorus seems to be about how there isn't a god to guide us, and our collective struggle to cope with this fact. The only reason we live is for each other, yet our cultures often clash violently out of frustration and a refusal to acknowledge our solitude in this world. We're all orphaned by a god who'll never answer our message or give us a ride to another life/world. |
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| Neko Case – Hold On, Hold On Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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Agreed with much of this. "Her own blood" is clearly her family, and she feels pained that she cannot love them due to their dysfunction, and instead seeks out relationships to fill the gap in her heart. She's been in quite a few relationships ("compared to some I've been around"), and tries her best to make these dysfunctional relationships work because a voice in her is lying to her saying to "hold on". Ultimately though she is "the mean girl / Or somebody's in-between girl" and the relationship ends. The devil, bride, and Valium metaphors seem a bit more ambiguous, but you've still the best interpretation I've seen for that. |
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| They Might Be Giants – I Palindrome I Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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The snake head eating the head on the opposite side is CLEARLY a reference to an ouroboros. From wikipedia: "The Ouroboros often symbolize self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things such as the phoenix which operate in cycles that begin anew as soon as they end." The other poster who commented about the mother saying she is Abel also makes since, implying that the narrator is Cain in the scenario (Abel is the first human to die, and he dies by the hand of his brother Cain, per Christian mythology). |
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