submissions
| Wire – Mannequin Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I would say this is the singer saying that your high gloss, high fashion, media manipulated persona does absolutely nothing for me. It's all fakery and here you are, personifying that fakery, basking in it, actually embracing it and truly believing it is a good thing and that it will make you better. So go ahead, pile on the make up, the lipstick, starve yourself; all that ridiculous stuff that is associated with models and which is, then, associated with female beauty in our culture and society. He's saying it's all bullocks. And he's RIGHT! He 's saying he hates all that and I absolutely agree with him. And he does not mean to hurt this woman's feelings ("It's not animosity"); and for that matter it doesn't feel like he is speaking to a specific woman directly, anyway. It feels like more of a larger statement on the whole brainless world of fashion and the vapid individuals who live it and live for it; and a big part of that attitude (as all the 'beautiful people' out there know) is arrogance and condescension and seeing others as inferior - so it's always nice to cut these silly people down to size. As well, I have to commend the band on its use of La La La's. Nice to be reminded that some good, well placed La La La's will always work and will never, ever go out of style. |
submissions
| Wire – Ex Lion Tamer Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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I always saw this song as being a commentary on the economic decay of the pre-Thatcherite England of the early-seventies that the members of Wire would have grown up in, and the gloom and depair it brought down on everyone but the lucky - and greedy and exclusionary - so-called upper classes. England had fallen into economic ruin and it was no surprise that the anger and resentment that people felt toward government and institutions of leadership and authority (who were responsible for the mess) gave birth to punk, which as we know changed everything. Within the context of the song, which is bleak and depressing, people can't even afford milk ("the milk bottles stand empty") and all they can afford to eat is cheap, mass produced junk ("fish fingers all in a line") like fishsticks, as we call them here in North America. The big line for me in this song is "Next week will solve your problems," which speaks to the cycle of lethargy and hopelessness that so many are caught up in, unable to take action or regain control of their lives because the economic reality is so dire (skyrocketing unemployment for example) and so, they try to just not think about it; ie, put off looking for work until "next week" because there's nothing out there right now anyway. And I have always seen that line as being spoken by those same upper classes: Don't worry people, everything will be fine next week; for now, you just keep on watching TV; we'll handle everything out here. And meanwhile, they pilfer and destroy the country's economic support structures that were there to help people avoid circumstances like this in the first place. Great, great song. A big message song and all in less than a hundred words. As as per everything Wire, it is musically awesome. I have lost count of how many people I have turned on to the album 'Pink Flag.' Here's hoping I helped the lads pick up a royalty cheque or two over the years, help keep them in milk anyway. PS: Absolutely no clue why it is called Ex Lion Tamer. |
submissions
| The Clash – The Right Profile Lyrics
| 11 years ago
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Clift was shooting Raintree County with Liz Taylor when he had the fateful car crash that nearly killed him. The film halted for two months while he underwent numerous surgeries on his face. When filming resumed, his face was still pretty heavily scarred from the accident so the filmmakers often shot the side of his face that had the less scarring (the right profile). There will always be an asterisk by this film because Clift shot half of it before the accident and half of it after. |
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