| Billy Bragg and Wilco – My Thirty Thousand Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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A straightforward autobiographical story about the Peekskill Riots of 1949. Paul Robeson was a singer, athlete, and Civil Rights Activist who arranged a concert for the benefit of the Civil Rights Congress in Peekskill, New York. Woody Guthrie was one of the participants. Once the concert was finished the singers and the audience were assaulted by the police and members of the local VFW post. The crowd that attended was somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand people in size. Here Woody is casting them as his friends and allies, those who stood for equality and justice. "You can't bash the brains out of thirty thousand" is a rallying cry against oppression. |
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| Warren G – Regulate Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| This is pretty much an old-fashioned outlaw ballad, reimagined for the hip-hope age. Warren G goes looking for a good time and gets in over his head. Nate Dogg comes to help him out, and they ride on. In another age they'd be cowboys and this would be a country song. | |
| Danny Schmidt – This Too Shall Pass Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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It seems to me to be a song about illness, specifically something chronic or incurable, and trying to make peace with that. There's mention of cancer, and then later in the song there is the "king" who seems to be suffering from Bipolar Disorder. The poor king can't be cured of his highs and lows, but he can be encouraged to remember that "this too shall pass." That the lows will pass if he just has the will to hold on until then. The song feels like a meditation on the fragility, and temporary nature, of life. No state is permanent. Everything changes. Everything fades away. Our bodies are not singular things, but collections of smaller things, which are sometimes at odds with each other. That's the nature of Life. Even cancer has a dark kind of beauty to it, like a dangerous monster that needs to be vanquished. It's just following the single directive of Life: to continue. That's all Life is: continuance. Everything passes. Everything fades. The only constant is change. |
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| Peter Wolf – Nothing But the Wheel Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| I just assumed that "41" refers to US Route 41, which runs almost straight down the middle of the Continental United States, from Michigan to Florida. The lyrics say that he's "stayin' clear of the Interstate," so it can't be a main highway. But he mentions farms and fields, which invokes the Midwest. The song implies he just got in his car and just drove all night. US-41 runs for 2,000 miles from end to end; plenty long enoguh to just drive. | |
| Pearl Jam – Black Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I interpret this as a kind of Pygmalion story. The imagery of empty canvas and untouched clay implies a blank slate, waiting to be molded into something. It seems to me like an experience man teaching a inexperienced lover, then genuinely falling love with her and being broken when she leaves him. | |
| Bob Dylan – Sara Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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This is such a tragic song. Bob Dylan, the greatest songwriter of the 20th Century, calling upon all of his art and skill, to say one thing to his wife: Please don't leave me. And IT DIDN'T WORK. |
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| Richard Thompson – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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"Red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme." My favorite verse. You can just see that girl, can't you? And fall hard for her. |
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| Golden Earring – Vanilla Queen Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Pretty Straightforward. The song's narrator meets a glamorous older woman and becomes infatuated with her. Somehow I always pictured some supernatural Vampire Queen when I listen to this song. |
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| Led Zeppelin – Since I've Been Loving You Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[SoakedinMercury:9857] Well said. This is not a song to make sweet love by. This is a song you FUCK someone to. | |
| Lady GaGa – You and I Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| I absolutely love the idea behind this song. Lady Gaga, queen of the transgressive experience, hung up over some cowboy from Nebraska. Opposites do attract. | |
| Christmas Songs – Ave Maria Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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@[dev0n:623] Ave Maria (Hail Mary) Gratia plena (full of Grace) Maria, gratia plena (Mary, full of Grace) Maria, gratia plena (Mary, full of Grace) Ave, ave Dominus (Hail, hail the Lord) Dominus tecum (the Lord is with you) Benedicta tu in mulieribus (Blessed are you, among women) Et benedictus (and blessed) Et benedictus fructus ventris (and blessed is the fruit of the womb) Ventris tuae, Jesus (Of your womb, Jesus) Ave Maria (Hail Mary) Ave Maria (Hail Mary) Mater Dei (Mother of God) Ora pro nobis peccatoribus (Pray for us who are sinners) Ora pro nobis (Pray for us) Ora, ora pro nobis peccatoribus (Pray, pray for us who are sinners) Nunc et hora mortis (Now and at the hour of death) Et in hora mortis nostrae (and in the hour of our death) Et in hora mortis nostrae (and in the hour of our death) Et in hora mortis nostrae (and in the hour of our death) Ave Maria (Hail Mary) |
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| Lorde – Team Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I find this to be a very poignant song. About being young and awkward and clinging to one another. These kids are still figuring things out. They're clumsy, they've got braces and zits and they know they'll never be famous like the pop stars they worship, but they've got each other. | |
| Prince – Kiss Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I always thought this was a very mature and confident song. This is about a man who knows what he wants. He's got no time for silly girls; he wants a woman. He wants someone who can keep up with him. | |
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