| Wye Oak – Glory Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| The missing lyric at the end of the first stanza is "I miss the meeting by the door." | |
| Wilco – Kingpin Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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The protagonist in this song thinks he wants to settle down and be the main man (i.e., kingpin, bigwig) to his lover, living in Pekin (a small town in Illinois, but really any small town in the U.S.). However, the lure of the big city calls for him to give up the small-town life for hustle and bustle. He has "the flu," or itch, to seek bigger and better things, perhaps a faster life of drugs and music (hand claps). He realizes, though, that he only gets one chance at such a life, as suggested by the Statue of Liberty play--a trick play in football where the quarterback fakes a throw but hands off the ball to a running back, fooling the defense. So, the protagonist is in a conundrum: Should he stay in the stability of a relationship in small-town Pekin or seek greener pastures in the city? The last verse insinuates he doesn't know which choice to make. However, the name of the song is "Kingpin," meaning he will likely forgo the fast life and be the kingpin of his relationship in Pekin. |
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| Wye Oak – Glory Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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This song is about infatuation and how it can overtake a person's life. The song begins by telling about a woman who desires a man, though the man is not willing to reciprocate the woman's feelings. When he turns his eyes away from her (perhaps at a party or gathering), she thinks this is a bad omen (an "albatross," which is an allegorical symbol of bad luck described in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by the 18th century poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge). The man in the song knows the woman is interested in him ("He knows he holds dominion over me"), yet he refrains from reciprocating the woman's feelings ("We share the cold embrace of cousins"). The woman, nevertheless, is entranced by his presence ("What I gain is worth the cost")--so much so that as she ponders where he comes from ("his ancestry"), he slips out the door without saying good-bye. The chorus metaphorically explains how she reads him ("telling of the story," "lose my way inside a prepositional phrase," "I read his lips"), yet she realizes she should be afraid of such infatuation of a man who couldn't care less about her. The final verse further describes the woman's continued infatuation at a later time. She wakes up every morning in a fog, perhaps from dreaming of the man overnight. She watches the clock go backward, the artist's way of saying the woman thinks back to the night she met the man. She sees the water "run uphill," another way of saying she thinks back to the previous encounter. In essence, she knows her intense passion is unreasonable and that she should be afraid, but her mind says otherwise. Infatuation has overtaken her. |
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| Grant Lee Buffalo – Demon Called Deception Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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Wormwood is a "great star" mentioned in the book of Revelation in the Bible. Apparently, this star will fall to Earth and cause tremendous bitterness and destruction. While many consider this an allusion to a meteorite striking Earth, others look at a much broader sense, such as a powerful being (Hitler?) or plague (drugs, sickness, war?) that will bring about the end of the world as we know it. The protagonist, Charlie, in this song realizes his demons, whether they be drugs ("pocket full of pills") or infidelity ("seven one-night stands"), and is content to be as he is. He's "in tight" with his demons, even though they could destroy his life like a Wormwood star. However, as stated in the last verse, something overcomes Charlie and saves him from his demise--he "barely saw the light." Perhaps this is Charlie finding religion or simply a better way of life. As stated in another post, Grant Lee Phillips stated this song is based on the life of Johnny Cash, at least tangentially. There are definite parallels to Cash's life, sowing his wild oats as a young man and finding solace in later life. So, while Phillips may have begun this song with an allusion to Johnny Cash's life, I think he's looking at a much larger picture--that we all have demons that can overtake our lives if we succumb to these pleasures. But Phillips hints that we don't need to take this path, as there is an alternative to a life filled with demons of deception. This is a great song from one of America's greatest artists. |
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