| Mike And The Mechanics – Silent Running Lyrics | 1 year ago |
| @[flamingxroses:45441] it was written in 80's UK under a pretty strict authoritarian government led by "The Iron Lady" | |
| Genesis – Just A Job To Do Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[theospeak1:43160] yeah, the Tory government of the era had been pretty hard on the general populace (reacted to labor strikes with harsh reprisals); the PM was even known as "The Iron Lady" Also it was the Cold War and HM gov't was doing some pretty ethically-questionable things 'for the public good'. And even the chorus is a pretty big sign that the 'narrator' is someone that does 'bad things for good(?) reasons' - having a name AND a number...like maybe a certain gov't agent from literature with a sanction to assassinate... |
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| Genesis – Just A Job To Do Lyrics | 1 year ago |
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@[T:43159].G. Reb close, but look at the lyric again: "Even if you're innocent // You can cause too much embarrassment" This is about the fugitive being punished regardless of guilt - this isn't a bounty hunter or detective... ...this is an ASSASSIN. "Well, BANG-BANG-BANG, and down you go" (because we all know everyone survives three bullet wounds just fine and that's the standard procedure to disable someone you wish to apprehend.) Even the chorus: "I got a name, and I got a number..." England under the harsh rule of the union-busting Tories of 'The Iron Lady', in the 1980s? With the Cold War giving all manner of carte blanche for morally questionable acts by government? a name and a number....James Bond, 007? A government ASSASSIN (remember, not a *regular* spy, but someone specifically sanctioned to kill) maybe going after people who MIGHT be bad, or might NOT, doing ethically grey things 'for Queen and Country' (and maybe sweeping some scandal under the rug, too) |
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| AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[Dangerous_Dave:38357] @[Damnondestroyer:38358] - the ORIGINAL recording has Bon singing "three-six-two four-three-six HEY!" which people apparently interpreted as 'eight', and that led to a couple in Illinois suing Atlantic Records for $250k because of hundreds of prank calls. I'm sure da boys changed that lyric to 'Oh!' as a result (I just listened to the track off the '81 UK single)...which apparently went to something ineffectual that wouldn't care about outside calls, I guess? |
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| AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Lyrics | 2 years ago |
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@[antmann:38355] Yeah, I mean back in the 70's telephone numbers were much simpler and fewer - eg. in Australia (where AC/DC is from) you could just dial locally with the six digit number and no 'area code': 362 436 oh! (nice of them to keep in mind OTHER possible fans with DIFFERENT fon # formats) Add to which, the number HAPPENING to match a common 'default' for body measurements, gee that particular set of digits in JUST that order *must* have been a *complete* coincidence; it's not like the lads were known for using euphemisms or double entendres or putting *MULTIPLE* meanings into their lyrics or anything... ;) tl;dr? it's *BOTH*, quit arguing. |
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| Phil Collins – Take Me Home Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[davidrharris72:29685] Seriously? You're taking the effort to *criticize* a post made FIFTEEN YEARS BEFORE YOURS, which refers to a statement made YEARS before THAT about a song published in the *1980s* as 'archaic'??? Wow, the mental health professional has really lost perspective on this; time for a little "Medice, cura te ipsum"... |
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| Sheryl Crow – Soak Up The Sun Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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@[ManicGypsy:29683] Oh! I'd always had a rather DIFFERENT interpretation, yet again. See, because this is from an *American* artist, and used the term 'forty-five', I was thinking of *neither* a sunscreen SPF nor a record size...*ahem* All this time I was thinking it was a big twist ending to such a 'kind and friendly' song...maybe HOW she manages to subsist in a materialistic world and still be so free of that materialism? Thanks for passing on the author's intent, tho! I guess better a disappointed pessimist than a disappointed optimist. :D |
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| Manfred Mann – Blinded by the Light Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@[geordie_ladd:25640] ...or "the calliope crashed to the ground" could mean...you know, a STEAM ORGAN broke down and fell over, like what a young man in the American North East might see happen while amusing himself in the 50's and 60's growing up... ...but if you're going to the Classical Reference route, I'm surprised no one's looked at "With a boulder on my shoulder//feelin' kinda older..." and made a connection to Atlas; maybe the young man is coming of age and beginning to have more responsibilities and whatnot? Of course, all this is moot; Springsteen himself said he wrote it as a 'filler song' using a rhyming dictionary - the melody is fantastic, but the lyrics are just placeholders. "The rhyming dictionary was on fire!" - Bruce, jokingly implying that the dictionary deserves the songwriting credit, during his VH1 Storytellers interview. |
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| Manfred Mann – Blinded by the Light Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[alexandrasara:25639] Really? That's what Manfred was told it was about? You know, by the REAL SONGWRITER, Bruce Springsteen? | |
| The Police – Synchronicity II Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@[forest29:25235] Agreed; that 'shadow on the door' in synchronicity with 'that pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache' always foreshadowed some sort of doom about to happen just as the song ends... ...of course, this being England, it could just be 'Father' having a few quiet sharp words with his family. |
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| The Police – Synchronicity II Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[sillybunny:25233] I'd have to have a chat with Mr. Falk, because I'm not sure if the the picket lines are *environmental* protesters - UK in the 80's saw huge labour protests amid the increasing 'green' movement; I'd always figured that the picket lines in the song were unionised workers on strike, and they always harassed 'Father' as he crossed their lines to go to his non-union 'management' job, but today...today the strikers saw and felt that Father is now a man on the edge; filled to overflowing with stress and boredom and meaninglessness to the point that he's ready to burst and explode all over whoever chooses to 'poke this balloon'. They can tell that he's not just going to meekly take their jeers and insults and petty assaults anymore, and they don't want to REALLY start something with someone who is staring off into nothing, and has the vast bleak oblivion in his eyes... | |
| Green Day – Holiday Lyrics | 6 years ago |
| @[Ryuseishin:21655] Yeah - I feel likewise; I've certainly had the song on regular rotation since last November... | |
| Jamiroquai – Alright Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@[jblazer21883:21592] yeah, that's been my take, too - maybe not so negative in the connotations, but that 'Ms Right Now' - that passion and joy and excitement you feel for someone for an evening, a happiness that FEELS LIKE this one night WILL LAST FOREVER. Of course, I still serenade my wife of about twenty years with it (because all of it is true for me and what she does for me), so YMMV. ;) |
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| Jamiroquai – Alright Lyrics | 6 years ago |
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@[Disco:21591] Patrick ...*actually*...now that you make me think about it... If someone had been turned into a vampire, he'd have previously experienced the sun, and enjoyed a summer's day...and now he can't - it'd destroy what he's become...but then he meets this person, and THEY give him those summery feelings again; their gaze gives him a sunlike warmth, "summer in your smile". If anything, I think all this STRENGTHENS this 'vampire theory' O_o ...oh crap, how I'm wondering about the children's lullaby "You Are My Sunshine"!!! =80 |
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| alt-J – Left Hand Free Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| They wrote this song in about twenty minutes because critics felt their first album didn't do well enough. So they put catchy lyrics to a riff that the guitarist was playing jokingly. Boom, hit song. Consider that while you ponder the meaning to the lyrics. | |
| Mark Knopfler – Heart Full of Holes Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I'm with the 'survivor of nazi oppression' theory camp here: the 'repair (the officer's watch) or die', "no gates or barbed wire", the general timing of the song {an old man in a period where MK might be a young man and not yet a professional musician, like the 60's...where a holocaust survivor might just be an 'old man' running a quiet little shop}. And one little point to remember: 'uncle shops' (aka pawn brokers) of the time were frequently run by jewish people... But yes, a rich and poignant song, filled with emotion and imagery...the choice of using a banjo for the intro (and quite beautifully, too), and actual *orchestral* composition at points make this piece of music transcend beyond the shallow label of 'rock song' and into an amazing and nearly indescribable work of art. |
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| Bonnie Tyler – Holding Out For A Hero Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I get worried whenever this song comes on the car radio; I have to fight the urge to floor the gas pedal... |
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| Bonnie Tyler – Holding Out For A Hero Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[mormongurl:6646] Um...no. The song was written by Jim 'Everything's A Melodrama' Steinman and Dean Pitchford (the latter was the screenwriter for the movie "Footloose", and he wrote the nine songs featured in the soundtrack). For this song's scene, Pitchford employed the help of Steinman to create an over-the-top dramatic (some might say 'cheesy') anthem for a climatic scene in the film. Steinman suggested Bonnie Tyler for the singer, since he'd worked with her in the past and was impressed with her ability (and her suitability for such a...powerful song). ...and Tyler nailed it when they recorded it - her performance just embodies the thrill, anxiety, tension, the 'building storm' that the song brings to mind. It's been used in many movies, shows (and even games) for the archetypal 'race to the rescue' scene/climax, because IT WORKS PERFECTLY FOR THAT. I won't comment on the covers since I haven't gotten around to listening to any of them; I'm still listening to this rendition regularly, over thirty years later. |
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| Electric Six – Boy Or Girl Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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Now that's the vibe I've gotten from this song, even before peeking in here. It seems it's talking about the American SATs - which often dictate what colleges a student will be accepted to - or even the dramatically broken U.S. educational system altogether. Things like "number two pencils" (always dictated for machine-readable answer forms due to it apt at making easily scanned marks), and "check in the appropriate box for 'boy or girl'" - this perhaps alluding to the whole pointlessness of this archaic standardized testing, as even illustrated in the antiquated nature of the 'student information' section, since today's society is NOT just binary in gender anymore (and likely never was, but NOW we are coming to ACCEPT this and realize the broader spectrum that exists rather than "M/F") As above, just chipping in another $0.02. YMMV |
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