submissions
| Steely Dan – The Second Arrangement Lyrics
| 2 years ago
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Roger Nichol's daughter found two nearly complete versions of this (no horns) on rough mix tapes he had stashed away and in June 2023 it was released on the internet. This is the original version (before erasure) and not the bootlegs of the second attempt before abandoning the song for good. |
submissions
| Fleetwood Mac – Hold Me Lyrics
| 5 years ago
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Ha ha, nobody hears the snap of the whip and the yelp in each chorus? Adds an extra dimension to their relationship. |
submissions
| Tom Petty – Free Fallin' Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I always heard the lyric as.. I want to glide down over Mulholland
I want to ride through the name in the sky (meaning the Hollywood sign). I thought it was about a guy leaving the suburbs and the good girl there for the fame and fortune of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc. He doesn't make it (free falls) and time and pop culture passes from Elvis of the 60's to the goth kids of the '80s (the vampires). Bad boys still leave good girls. The video shows the passage of time from 60's youth culture to '80s youth culture. |
submissions
| The Traveling Wilburys – Handle With Care Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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@[jassss:7167] Yes, that's George. Roy the first bridge (obviously), Tom and Bob the 2nd bridge with Jeff and Roy coming in at the end. George 2nd verse. Tom (I think) first guitar solo. George 3rd verse, Roy's bridge, then predominately Jeff on the 2nd bridge. George again to finish and George on the guitar outro. |
submissions
| The Beatles – Maxwell's Silver Hammer Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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@[Caelo:6169] Always imagined Joan to be Joan Miro, which along with the Alfred Jarry reference, represents art - particularly the avant-garde or surreal. |
submissions
| Tommy James – Draggin' the Line Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Tommy James has said a lot of things about this song, most of it contradictory, so anyway.... He did say he wrote it on his farm in upstate NY, so I think most of the "back to nature", working outside, farming, ranching, and loving nature and a simple lifestyle interpretations fit best. Cocaine usage, I dunno... that's what everybody says but this song feels more hypnotic and slow, sort of the opposite of cocaine. The coolest thing about this song is that it coined the phrase "tree hugger", which is still in use today. Sort of conjures up the image of a hippie living on a commune, growing their own food and doing lots of mind altering substances. |
submissions
| R.E.M. – Man On The Moon Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I think its about questioning the nature of reality/faith and the assumptions we have or we're taught. I'm the same age as Michael, and when he namechecks all the games we played as kids, it makes me think of growing up, and going from a child believing in bible stories and the theater of professional wresting to being a questioning young adult.
I find it really interesting that his first line is Mott the Hoople and the game of Life. Mott was an early 70's glam band, a genre which questioned the nature of gender and sexuality, which I'm sure was something going on inside Michael at age 12. The game of Life was a popular board game at the time, where "winning" meant 60/70's middle class materialism, which counterculture was questioning.
As others have mentioned, Andy Kaufman was a performance artist who explored the nature of reality. Is it real, is it a "bit", or does it even matter? Elvis was kind of the same way. He had become a caricature of himself. There was a conspiracy theory back in the day that Elvis was so sick of it that he faked his own death so he could lead a normal life. Every now and then there would be a rumor or something in a tabloid that he had been spotted as a short order cook in a truck stop somewhere.
So what is the agit for the never-believer (the faithless) and the little ghost for the offering (the faithful)? A truck stop instead of a church, and Andy Kaufman's death (or hoax). |
submissions
| The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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My thought is that the narrator is suffering from severe alcoholism or drug addiction or possibly schizophrenia. He's mourning how its destroyed his relationships and his life itself. So what are the little black submarines? People who are severely addicted have delirium and hallucinations. Jack London coined the phrase "seeing little pink elephants". My dad died of alcoholism, and at the end he saw similar kind of abstract things. He said I know they're not there, but they are there. So in the song, the narrator is just saying here come the little black submarines again, perhaps in a moment of clarity, where he can feel regret for what his life has become.
I also love the telephone operator imagery. Its used in blues based songs, Chuck Berry's "Memphis", and Grateful Dead's "Operator" come to mind, as a narratee when asking for help that can't really be provided, particularly in finding a lost love. Here he's just trying to find his life or sobriety. It feels in this particular lyric very internalized, almost an existential plea, because his help must come from within.
Another thing I really like about this lyric is that the phrase "a broken heart is blind" can be interpreted any number of ways. It could be his own broken heart or it could be the broken hearts of the people that love or loved him. Blind could mean either apathetic or oblivious. Its up to the listener to decide (or not decide) and frame it around their own experience.
I've seen claims that Dan just kind of extemporaneously creates lyrics. These seem way too well thought out. There's a lot of imagery happening here even within the constraints of a rhyme scheme. I hope to find an interview one day about this lyric and what it means to him and what inspired it. |
submissions
| The Black Keys – Little Black Submarines Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Agree... it is very retro. It sounds like it could be a Johnny Cash song. I wish he were still alive to cover it, "hurt" style, soulful and mournful. It speaks to me of somebody trying to get back from alcoholism and drug addiction. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – The Fez Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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Not about condoms, about unspecified sexual fetishism of some type. He's pleading with his lover "that's what I am.... please understand..." |
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| Steely Dan – Haitian Divorce Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I think this is about 1950s and 60s western hemisphere geopolitics and how the United States took "lovers" in the form of banana republic despots and other such types in the name of the war on communism. Sometimes the offspring of such unions were less than socially acceptable. |
submissions
| Steely Dan – Gaucho Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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The narrator is having an internal conversation ("you" is himself) and the Gaucho is the personification of his mid-life crisis. The pragmatic, intellectual part of him knows he has worked hard to get where he is: important business meetings and the trappings of wealth and success (high in the Custerdome). Yet another part of him is dissatisfied and is acting out with typical male midlife crisis behaviors, such as wearing inappropriate youthful clothes and generally making a fool of himself. Steely Dan heroes are usually acutely self-aware. He knows this dichotomy has always been there (we're golden.. back down the line...) But now his alter-ego has gained too much control. People laughing at him are laughing at *me*. The Gaucho is wearing *your* clothes. Further evidence: "who do you think I am?" (I'm you). "I don't care what you do at home" (where nobody can see me). "No, he can't sleep on the floor..." Why would this question even be asked? Nobody sleeps on the floor unless you are young, poor and don't have the space/furniture. But the Gaucho represents just that - the alter ego's lost youth that he is desperately trying to recapture. Finally, he minces no words: "you're a nasty schoolboy with no place to go"... you better listen to me and wise up because without me (without this part of you) you are doomed and we will have to try again tomorrow to get this under control. |
submissions
| Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. Lyrics
| 12 years ago
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I love how as the story becomes more personal, the narrator gets choked up and can't finish the verse. A lesser poet would have tried to say more there, but saying nothing says it all. |
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