| Them Crooked Vultures – No One Loves Me & Neither Do I Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Musically, the heavy riff part starting at 2:48 reminds me of Rainbow's Stargazer. | |
| Father John Misty – The Ideal Husband Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| I know Oscar Wilde wrote a play called 'An Ideal Husband', which, full disclosure, I have yet to read, but together with 'Being Earnest' is his most successful play. I've read through the play's Wikipedia page, and it seems to very much parallel the lyrics of this song. The play is about paying for your past sins, and being judged by your past. I am even willing to bet that it was an inspiration for this song. | |
| Ty Segall – Feel Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Musically this song seems to be a take on Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song riff, slightly adjusted, with Black Sabbath's Supernaut break thrown in around the 3 minute mark (in both songs). An effective cocktail making for an explosive song, although it wears its influences on its sleeve. (Admittedly, Zep often did the same.) | |
| Beck – Modesto Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[marprz17:5444] I think so, too, especially since the 70s teenage cult film American Graffiti is set there. That film seems right up Beck's valley with its coming-of-age Americana style and parallels the themes found in his other songs. | |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Brompton Oratory Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| The third verse is very likely a reference to The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The classic 1939 film version with Charles Laughton ends with Quasimodo leaning on one of Notre Dame's stone gargoyle statues, bitterly saying "Why was I not made of stone like thee?" while seeing the beautiful Esmeralda go off with somebody else. | |
| The White Stripes – I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Even though it's just vocals and piano, which is what makes this song so personal, this is a straight up country song. The chord progression is a standard heard in hundreds of other country songs, and the lyrics are also in that tears-in-your-beer vein. More than that, I think the title that is repeated throughout the song was taken from a 1993 Dwight Yoakam song: 'I Ain't That Lonely Yet,' which is not only the same phrase but also sung very similarly by Yoakam. Jack makes his lyrics more opaque and mystifies their meaning by introducing some unexpected and ambiguous themes (like the hint at a possible interpretation involving incest). (I think superdam pretty much nailed it on the head with his take on the meaning.) What really makes this song imo is the sparse arrangement and emotional performance (esp. in vocals). |
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| Timber Timbre – Lonesome Hunter Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| The title and lyrics are probably a reference to Carson McCullers' acclaimed 1940 novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. | |
| The Kills – Monkey 23 Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[terrycraig:4237] Oh, I just found out that to have a monkey on one's back is an actual idiom (meaning to have a major problem figuratively weighing on your shoulders), so it could easily just be a coincidence that there's another song about it. So the monkey could be any sort of problem that makes the afflicted narrator of The Kills' song talk and act "like that"... anything from drugs to stress. |
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| The Kills – Monkey 23 Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| The lyrics might be a reference to Turbonegro's 'Monkey on Your Back' from 1998. The monkey in the latter song also makes its carrier do things (like fall). | |
| The Black Keys – She's Long Gone Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I know this site's about the lyrics, but man, the riff in this song is a straight up taken from Muddy Waters' "She's Alright" off his 'Electric Mud' album. The Keys' song is kickass, but basically a cover, and not even electrified or anything, cos the MW original is already electric, distorted, and with thudding drums. |
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| The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The title and hook (as well as somewhat musically) sounds like it might have been inspired by George Jones' 1959 rockabilly hit 'White Lightning', which is about moonshine. Changing the meaning to a certain different kind of drug (heroine/amphetamines), it is performed appropriately more punk and faster. I'm actually a bit surprised that this connection has apparently never been made before. |
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| Dead Man's Bones – Pa Pa Power Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[assman1229:3244] Hopefully not a Dead Man's Boner | |
| The White Stripes – As Ugly As I Seem Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I read somewhere about this song's musical similarity to the Beatles' If I Needed Someone, and I do see the resemblance, esp. in the vocal melody. | |
| The White Stripes – Hello Operator Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I'm fairy certain that the awesome opening guitar riff (which also appears again later) is taken from Freddie King's 'The Stumble', which appears twice throughout that song as well and sounds basically the same. | |
| The White Stripes – You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Recently I discovered a song from 1964 by the wonderful singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan, that's called 'I Don't Know What Love Is.' It might have been an inspiration for this song. As the nearly identical titles suggest, this White Stripes song's lyrics sound just like a reaction to the narrator of Bunyan's song. | |
| Beck – Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The riff is the same as in Fred McDowell's 'You Gotta Move' (notably covered by the Rolling Stones), which in turn is based on 'Sittin' on Top of the World.' The connection (to both songs) is especially hearable in Sam Collins' rendition of 'I'm Still Sitting On Top The World.' The lyrics are a perfect distillation of some of the Blues' most prominent themes (death, God, being poor, working hard). |
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| Beck – Strange Apparation Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Seems to be about someone who's hit the big time, aka became rich (owns a nice car) and maybe famous, but who had to pay for it with something impalpable that was dear to him ("the least I had to lose from..." might describe the thing as being impossible to buy, and "...is the most I seem to care" meaning his fondness for it). The abstract thing he is now missing he calls a "dream", like in the lines "a dream that got cremated" or "a dream that walked away." The narrator says that all the riches he has will be worth nothing when he dies and arrives at Heaven's Gate (when the Lord asks him "what I got to show, besides the dust in my pockets"), implying that, in turn, the dream he's lost would've still been worth something after his death. Someone already pointed out that the "Lord" and "Mercedes Benz" are a clear reference to Janis Joplin's 'Mercedes Benz,' which deals with wishing for material things. The music is heavily based on the Rolling Stones' "Torn and Frayed" from their 'Exile on Main St.' The chord progression is almost the same, as are the flourishes on the chords (plus the vocals, tempo, piano &acoustic guitar are also very reminiscent of the song and the Stones' style in general.). |
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| The White Stripes – You're Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The lyric "until the year 2525" is likely a reference to the one-hit wonder duo Zegar and Evans' 1969 number one single 'In The Year 2525.' Just thought it might be noteworthy, as The White Stripes seem to reference the 60s and 70s quite a bit in their music. |
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| The White Stripes – Baby Brother Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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"Do you have any Halloween song suggestions? Jack White: Oh yeah! How about “Baby Brother”? That’s an old, strange song. The Cramps played it one time at one of their shows, the Purple KNIF." - KEXP interview, 09-17-2014 (http://blog.kexp.org/2014/09/17/exclusive-kexp-interview-jack-white/) The Cramps' Purple Knif Show compilations can be found on CD, and are well worth checking out. 'Baby Brother' is originally by Bill Carter And The Rovin' Gamblers, and this is apparently where Jack White discovered the song. The lyrics remind me either of a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Halloween-episode (á la 'The Thing and I', which is a parody of the 1982 horror comedy 'Basket Case') or an Edward Gorey story. |
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| Dr. John – I Walk On Guilded Splinters Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Many parts of the lyrics consist of New Orleans dialect, like "dey misfortune" or "dey rope," and slang like "kon kon" or the "Ti" before a name ("Ti Alberta"), both, I think, used to express affection, and even a bit of the French that is spoken in NO as well ("Je suis the Grand Zombie"). More NO references are found in the "king of the Zulu," which refers to the Mardi Gras carnival, and the "gris gris," which is a voodoo talisman. Other than that there's some typical American slang used in many blues songs, like "tom cat" (=woman-chaser) or "they jive me" (=they tease/fool me). This album, and most of all this song, achieved seeping New Orleans' cultural spirit into the mainstream of the late 1960s music scene, with its hypnotizing mix of swampy blues, gospel, and soulful R&B. |
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| Tom Waits – Gun Street Girl Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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To me it sounds like the melody (and rhythm) was taken from Tennessee Ernie Ford's Sixteen Tons, a very Waits-esque song. This is especially audible during this song's refrain and during similar sounding lines (ex.: both song's first line, "Some people say a man is made outta mud"/"Falling James in the Tahoe mud," or, "I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine"/"He never get up in the morning on a Saturday"). Still, Waits makes the tune his own through his lyrics, which are great as usual, and the stripped down backwoods instrumentation on the banjo is different and works incredibly well. |
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| The White Stripes – Rag & Bone Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I definitely agree about Effect and Cause/Summertime Blues (orig. by Eddie Cochran), but the rest of your comparisons are way off. While I can see and appreciate that those songs and artists have had an influence on the White Stripes in general, none of the specific Stripes songs could be called a rip off or reworking of the same melodies of the songs you mentioned. I'm not saying Jack didn't nick a riff or two from elsewhere for his songs, but the similarities between your mentions is rudimentary at best and not really worthy of comparison. On a side note, Tom Petty's "Last Dance" is more similar to Neil Young's "Ohio" than the Stripes' "Martyr for My Love" is to either of them. Having said that, folk and blues does have a tradition of re-using melodies, phrases, imagery and whatnot (something the White Stripes and Jack have obviously continued doing) so I think your interpretation of Rag and Bone as being about that does indeed sound valid. |
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| The White Stripes – Rag & Bone Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I definitely agree about Effect and Cause/Summertime Blues (orig. by Eddie Cochran), but the rest of your comparisons are way off. While I can see and appreciate that those songs and artists have had an influence on the White Stripes in general, none of the specific Stripes songs could be called a rip off or reworking of the same melodies of those songs, because they aren't. On a side note, Tom Petty's "Last Dance" is more similar to Neil Young's "Ohio" than the Stripes' "Martyr for My Love" is to either of them. (Of course they might have been an inspiration, but neither of us could possibly know since the similarity is rudimentary at best). |
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| The White Stripes – Rag & Bone Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I agree, but apparently "garbage-picking" as a hobby is a thing in Detroit, amongst other places, and in England those kind of people are called "rag and bone," according to Jack. From a recent FILTER Mag article Jack White wrote: 'It was a popular pastime for kids growing up in Detroit; scouring through abandoned buildings looking for whatever you could find. I was a born garbage-picker. Raised by garbage-pickers. I even played on a song called “garbage-picker” in a band I was in once. I plan to teach my kids to garbage-pick as well if they know what’s good for them. In England they call them “rag and bone” people; “mongo” is another good term I learned from the scrap-metal kind of pickers in Detroit. (...) I found drum sets, lamps, paintings, everything.' He elaborates a little more in the article, which you can find here: http://filtermagazine.com/index.php/exclusives/entry/jack_white_instant_manipulation#sthash.dvpVPOZ7.dpuf |
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| The White Stripes – Broken Bricks Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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From a recent FILTER Mag article Jack White wrote, he says: "It was a popular pastime for kids growing up in Detroit; scouring through abandoned buildings looking for whatever you could find. I was a born garbage-picker." I think this song reflects that "scouring through abandoned buildings" pastime; he sees it as a Detroit thing, which would also fit with some of the other lyrics about Detroit from the Stripes' debut album, like "The Big 3 Killed My Baby." (The later "Rag and Bone" is more about the "garbage-picking" aspect he mentions.) |
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| Scott Walker – My Death Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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The gloomy melody at the very beginning might seem familiar as it is actually taken from Franz Liszt's "Totentanz/Dance of the Dead" (which is based on the Gregorian chant "Dies irae") (notably, it might have also been taken from Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique which borrows the same melody), which presumably serves this song as a sort of musical epigraph, considering its theme being death. In the original by Jacques Brel, the melody also appears at the start and furthermore re-appears in the vocal melody later on. Brel's "La Mort/My Death" has been also commendably covered by David Bowie in various forms in concert. |
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| The Kills – Passion Is Accurate Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| It clearly seems to be a song about being psychologically manipulative. And more specifically, about mathematically calculating your every move ("the long silence," "the bored kiss," "the awkward look") in a romantic relationship so as not to seem too attached to the other person, and you showing your so-called love just enough for it to be acceptable (aka: so your "passion is accurate")... in order to not get hurt when the relationship ends. Basically a result of being afraid of emotional commitment. Consequently, the other person "carries the weight of it"/carries the burden of enduring your behaviour. | |
| Queens of the Stone Age – Feel Good Hit Of The Summer Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| Just recently I discovered how much this song, especially the beginning, sounds like Pixies' "Oh My Golly." The choppy drum rhythm and ensuing heavy, unharmonic madness are very alike and probably the inspiration for this QotSA song. | |
| The White Stripes – Truth Doesn't Make A Noise Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Definitely agree with this, but I think Jack is also singing about being sick of people criticizing her drumming ("The way you treat her, It fills me with rage..."). "You try to tell her what to do, And all she does is stare at you, Her stare is louder than your voice" : Meg simply ignores the haters, and her silence, or lack of response to the hate, is the sign of her staying true to herself. "Because truth doesn't make a noise." Great song, and a touching tribute of Jack's to his underrated bandmate/ex-wife/friend. |
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| The White Stripes – Walking with a Ghost (Tegan and Sara cover) Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| This song reminds me a lot of The Who's "I Can't Explain," and I'd be willing to bet it was an inspiration for either just The White Stripes' take on this song or both for them and Tegan&Sara's original. | |
| The White Stripes – Let's Shake Hands Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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For me this song has always had "make-up sex" written all over it, with its vague-but-not-so-vague sexual references and aggressively dangerous attacking guitar sound. Straight up raw-ass rock'n'roll. And shaking hands doesn't necessarily mean meeting someone, but making up with someone after a fight. This is especially encouraged to squabbling kids (f.ex. siblings), fitting in with the Stripes' overall theme. |
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| The White Stripes – Jimmy The Exploder Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Like anybody else I may be wrong, but so far I find the song's interpretations here adorably naive rather than anything holding much weight. To me the lyrics seem to be pretty clearly about reaching sexual maturity. A song about sex, just like so many of Led Zeppelin's songs, which have been a noticeable influence on the White Stripes in general, but especially so on this debut album of theirs. Let's start with the title; it's about a character named Jimmy--Jimmy, "the exploder." If you still don't get what that could mean, the line "Do you want to explode now?" should do the job. Green apples are premature and they turn red when they become ripe. Jimmy "sees red now", and is "jumping on the bed," have a passionate loss of virginity, giving in to his animalistic urges, like a monkey. The lyrics could've also used a rabbit as a symbol, but I guess that wouldn't have been as cool. Oh, and don't get me started on all those sexual "whoo"s. Kickass song. |
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| Gorillaz – Hip Albatross Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Yes, Jamie Hewlett has repeatedly stated in interviews that Dawn of the Dead has had a huge impact on him when he saw it as a child, and since then he developed a life-long fascination with zombies. As a result they made the character 2D also have such a fascination with said movie and zombies (expressed in many of Gorillaz' interviews as well as their bio, "Rise of the Ogre"). The phrase "To carry an albatross around one's neck", which is often shortened by just making a reference to an "albatross," is often used, especially in Britain, as a metaphor for carrying a heavy burden of guilt. It originates from a famous narrative poem by Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." |
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| The White Stripes – I Think I Smell A Rat Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| It sounds a lot like it could've been inspired by Gene Vincent's "Catch Me a Rat" (also minor key, similar rhythm, and, of course, the very similar title and chorus). This would be a worthy update on the Vincent tune, though, and I guess it's still different enough. Badass song. | |
| Scott Walker – The Escape Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| The moment around 3 min is a sped up sample from Ennio Morricone's classic score for Once Upon a Time In the West. | |
| The White Stripes – Candy Cane Children Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I always thought the lines "when Christmas finally comes and no one's got a gun" were a reference to the movie classic, "A Christmas Story" (1983). I'm pretty sure the song's about growing up, getting older every Christmas until you're not a child anymore, and realizing how everything has gradually somehow changed drastically, even Christmas itself and all that comes with it. Anything more specific is up to you to interpret. |
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| The Kills – Fried My Little Brains Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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I think it's about losing your virginity under the wrong circumstances (f.ex. to the wrong person, or being at too young of an age) and it having left emotional scars, i.e. having "fried your little brains." The fact that the narrator's brains are called "little," indicates naivete, like that of a little child/young person/virgin. This is further indicated with the narrator's "little milk teeth," who s/he tells another person to "pull out" and "pull out good," i.e. wants to lose his/her innocence. The opportunity for having sex for the first time is limited, but the narrator wants it nevertheless, as illustrated with the line "Only got ten minutes, better get me good." But after his/her "little milk teeth" are "all gone bad," it turns out s/he "fried (his/her) little brains." |
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| The Kills – Pull A U Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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The title is part of the repeated line "Pull a u in a sexy car" in the song, which is why the title probably means "pulling a U-turn," a phrase used while driving a car, meaning to change direction and go the opposite way. Another repeated phrase in the song is "and your two dollar love." Two dollars is very little money, which indicates it's cheap love, as in that it doesn't mean much to one of the two, or both, parties involved in the relationship. Add that to the fact of the earlier phrase talking about a "sexy" car, it hints at the relationship at hand being only about sex and nothing more. This makes the remaining line, "got your black magic," in the same repeated verse, seem like it might be a metaphor for sexual drive. Further sexual references are made with the later lines "get on the hood" or "don't clean it up," the latter meaning that something is dirty, and the narrator wants to keep it dirty. Finally, the line "I'm not trying to wake you up," is repeated prominently throughout the song. It's something someone who is trying leave his/her sexual partner behind and sleeping, so as not to have to confront him/her (maybe for both of their sakes), after sexual intercourse, might say/think. This decision of his/hers might also be described as "pulling a U-turn," since s/he decides to go the opposite direction of his/her partner after having his/her black magic satisfied. A very powerful song, conveying a common, often tragic, modern situation in very few lines. |
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