| The Knife – Marble House Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| It's a love song: about the beautiful and the dreadful parts of being in a relationship with someone, a marriage - for the good and the bad. And at some point you've gone too far to give up. | |
| The Knife – Raging Lung Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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It might be about a romance of the impoverished, third-world person with someone rich and privileged - either on the person-to-person level, or on the level of an idea, or an organisation/sysem vs. single human. Maybe a confrontation of the childish mind with the adult one? Here: "Hear my troubles of mine Can you take me for one last ride I want to bend my soul again That's what we do when we get older" The narrator has a sad, uncomfortable story to tell, something that bothers them deeply - so they take a ride with the other person who doesn't necessarily understand but provides a form of escape; perhaps some form of drugs, or casual sex and careless, cynical approach to life - that way you can "override" your soul, forget, and that's the way most people cope with life as they get older. "Where's your troubled mind You got your money and you got them 'cause others just can't There's the lottery About geography" The other person will never understand; they were born privileged and wealthy, so they have never even come close to the way the narrator has experienced the toughness of life. That's just the way this world functions: the narrator was born in the wrong place, and the wrong circumstances. They didn't deserve their troubles and hardship, the same way their friend hasn't deserved their wealth and peace of mind. "Don't know the hand you're holding Paying someone to put them to bed again" Their partner doesn't really know them; when things get hard to deal with, too difficult to understand, the other person just wants to put the narrator's worries to rest with money, not paying attention to the true problem - or maybe not being able to help due to the lack of comprehension. "And that's when it hurts The difference This is hot blood And a difference What a difference A little difference would make" The difference between the two is huge and it shows painfully at times like this - the narrator's driven by the hot blood, the anger related to their experiences and knowledge of their world. But yet - it's just that slight difference in circumstances - if they'd been swapped places at birth, or families - had a tiny detail been changed - their lives would look so very differently. Perhaps they would take each other's place in the world - if just for this one coincidence. "Hear my love sigh I've got a story that money just can't buy Western standards Poverty's profitable" The narrator speaks bitterly of their relationship to the other person; they've got the emotion and the heat in them that no money can ever buy, just experience. Their story is not as pleasant, but perhaps more interesting and more valuable than the one their privileged partner carries. But they live in the western world and accordingly to its standards; poverty is only ever spoken of in the context of charity, which brings money to companies and rises rich people's self-esteem. People on the other side, though, experience it for real. "See it slip and slide Not just one answer 'cause it's working like parallel lines It's not that easy When you want it easy" Yet another parallel to sex; their situation is difficult because it's difficult for the two worlds to relate to one another. As much as you'd like to make life and its cruel ways simple, you'll end up confused, especially if it comes to your own situation. "And that's when it hurts When you see the difference It's a raging lung And a difference What a difference A little difference would make" The difference between the two of them, the difference between the two worlds, is painful for the narrator and is compared to a lung illness - bing misunderstood, the unfairness of fate, makes you short of breath, makes you feel like your insides are squirming and burning. After all, that little detail could've made all the difference. "Don't leave me now Don't fall asleep We need to rest sometimes But don't take long" We need to take a break from the cruel reality from time to time, but don't fall asleep for too long - or you'll miss too much. You'll fail to change your life, to change the world, to really be by each other's side. "It's something in the system That still circulates We'll dig a hole in the backyard And drain the blood" The system is faulty - if you want to kill it, you must make a tiny hole and drain its blood through the backyard. The change must start with yourself, with the tiniest grain of sand. |
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| Grimes – Skin Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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To me, this piece revolves around unrequited love/affection which seems to constitute a frequent theme in Grimes' songs. "Soft skin You touch me within and so I know I could be human once again" It seems as if the singer was enchanted with the newly discovered kind of intimacy, or maybe just the special, sensual connection they share with their love interest. His skin is soft; he is the person to whom she opens, around whom she is able to throw off all the conventions and appearances she normally keeps up; in their moments of tenderness and intimacy she is able to feel safe enough and close to him to free herself from some sort of numbness and impersonality (possibly a result of a trauma or bad experiences). She can feel human. "I know you're faced with something That could consume you completely." She can see that there is something consuming his thoughts; he has got his issues and demons he has to face. She realises this can possibly absorb all his attention and therefore make him unavailable emotionally in the way she'd like him to be. "Soft skin You touch me once again and somehow it stings 'Cause I know it is the end." Still mesmerised by the moments of sensuality they share but this time she cannot enjoy it as much; the feeling of sadness breaks through every now and then as she knows their relationship is soon and inevitably to be over. "I hate that you're leaving So why don't you talk to me? You act like nothing ever happened But it meant the world to me" She doesn't want it to be over, she doesn't want him to leave and she feels confused and hurt - she wishes she could at least talk to him about it but he doesn't seem eager to; he seems to be able to just shake it all off and not care too much but what happened was in fact very important to the singer, probably even changed her life. "And you can't and you can't see the wind in the trees And you can't and you can't see the wind in the leaves And you can't and you can't see the weight in the dark And you can't and you can't see the weight in the heart" Her feeling of sadness and the weight of the entire emotional package involved are somewhat in the air but yet this isn't something tangible; this isn't something they can recognise, name and talk about. He does not realise how much she hurts and she remains silent as the wind in the trees and leaves. "Soft skin I'll have you be near my heart, Until I feel human" She will keep the memory of him and their closeness in order to remember how it feels to be human: to be that close with somebody, to be that free. She will use the experience to sort herself out emotionally and know herself better. "Soft skin You were never a lie to begin with So now I'm suffering" As somebody's already mentioned, he never made any promises, he probably never wanted to hurt her; she got involved with him to her own responsibility and knowing the situation. She never explained that in fact she felt hurt. Now the weight and suffering are only hers. |
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