| The Beatles – Helter Skelter Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| @[D:34811]. Dodge Silver yep... and what about "mean mister mustard". doesn't it sound like early Pink Floyd (Barrett) stuff? | |
| The Beatles – Helter Skelter Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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Just brilliant. A cocktail of drugs, anxiety, the need of Paul to show he can play the noisy minimalist. The boys were just exploring anything in music. I don't think this song announces "heavy metal". Maybe industrial rock, art rock, I dont know. But this is for sure my favourite piece when I want to break the balls of someone (so common someone's) who still believes that the beatles were a boy band with marketing smiles and flower in their ears. Well, they probably put some flowers in their heads. That's cool. What i love the most of these times (late 60s) is that everything was at embryo stage. All merged like lava from the heart of the earth. Only later, the magma cools down and gives birth to different minerals. Many things that we today see as completely separate attitudes (being a hippy, being a heavy rocker, being a rebellious young guy, being a person involved in social or anti-war campaigns, being a youngster avid of party and girls) were all merged in those intense times, with no frontiers between them. Remember that Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath WERE "hippies". |
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| Noir Désir – Tostaky Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I'm surprised to read no comment at all about this interesting song. So here I go. Maybe the lack of feedback is because of the French lyrics (?). Noir Desir is a French rock band from the 90's. One of the unavoidable rock references in that country. They also had some international projection- at least they were popular in “rock circles” in my country, Spain. The main verse is in French but there also some phonetic, pseudo-Spanish quotes, which adds to the obscurity and may put any unaware translator in problems. Being Spanish myself, I find quite amusing those verses (haha). In fact, it took me some time to realize that those weird lines were supposed to be Spanish. But don't misunderstand me: the song overall is great, with that stinging, hypnotic riff and the raw energy of the lyrics and music seen as a whole: a poetic and powerful rock piece. Whatever it means. So what does it mean? This is my view: there you have a bunch of French young guys, half-idealist, half-decadent, who are flying to Mexico on holidays. They are looking for something different, maybe try some Peyote, new experiences; they come from decadent wasted old Europe and need to find a “sense of sense”. (Just like Artaud with the Tarahumaras?). As soon as they arrive, they are amazed by the ubiquitous presence and power of mother nature, and the old forgotten wisdom they see or believe to see among the pre-Spanish ruins. They also witness the poverty and the rage of the humble people living on the street. Of course they sympathize with the old pre-Columbian times, and with the revolution of Emiliano Zapata. “Tostaky” is, according to the French Wikipedia, a contraction of the Spanish expression “todo está aquí” (=everything is here), a slogan uttered by Zapata’s revolutionaries. Such a slogan MUST catch the attention of any young french poet wannabee, half idealist and half decadent. It resonates with so many things, you know: from actual social revolution, to poetry, to Paul Éluard, French surrealism playing with Marxism, and a holistic anti-historical view of nature, mankind, etc., etc. I guess they ill-pronounce the Spanish words on purpose (or they don’t give a damn); the artist feels the urge to transmit an inner experience, not a literal anything. (And anyway, who can blame them..? English is not my mother tongue either so sorry English readers for any misspelling). You can find a translation of the French verses somewhere else. But the pages I checked contained some errors concerning the Spanish verses… As I said before Noir Desir are using a dense mixture of Mexican slang along with their own naïf, almost phonetic, reinterpretation of these words :-) Para la queja mexica Este sueño de america Celebremos la aluna De siempre, ahorita Para la queja mexica (=for the Mexican protest) - “queja” may be translated by “claim” or “protest”, but sounds a bit naïf or inoffensive if it is about an armed revolution. “mexica” is a contraction of “mexicana”, meaning original from Mexico). Este sueño de america (=This American dream…..) Celebremos la aluna. (=Let´s celebrate the “aluna”). Here is where translators often get stuck. “aluna” means nothing. Misspelled, I guess. It should be Luna (=moon). De siempre, ahorita. (=forever, now). “ahorita” is a common Mexican alteration of “ahora” (=NOW). This verse and the precedent go directly to the heart of the song: the vindication of a pre-Spanish, pre-Christian vision of life and time, closer to nature, and seen through the lenses of an educated “western man” like let’s say J. Morrison or Noir Desir themselves: We-want-the-world-and-we-want-it-now. “Cortez” is for Hernan Cortés, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico. |
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| The Beatles – Savoy Truffle Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[curiojeff:9878] Like your theory! But about Wild Honey Pie, as the other guys said...sorry: "it was Paul" (again). Let's admit his talent was huge and spanned from retro-sweeties to hardcore metal (or whatever you may call Helter Skelter..). Anyway I agree partly with your approach... There is something about Paul: he is a great talented musician and composer, and also a good story-teller. But that's the point, he just tells nice stories, you know? He is not in the lyrics. Unlike John: he is really putting a piece of his heart and blood in his singing and writing. Compare "I will" with "Julia". Compare "Rocky Racoon" with "I'm so tired". Compare "maybe i'm amazed" with "mother". Paul songs are great as songs but devoided of personal implication. "you are all fairy tales and pizza" John once told Paul. (by the way it was Paul who publicited the comment and apparently liked the pun...). Hey I love the music of both of them... the thing with Paul is that he was graced with a talent so huge that, even if he is NOT a personality of John's size... he can't help it but produce great songs. Paul is (or was) a machine of producing the best tunes..unstoppable, capable of mastering and merging any styles like probably no one else did. John was a genius in a wider, mysterious sense (i mean: he could have chosen a way of expression different of R'n'R and find success anyway). MacCartney was "only" a musical genius. | |
| The Beatles – Happiness Is a Warm Gun Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| The first block of the song is the most enigmatic and looks like automatic writing, "cut-up" technique... or hazy druggy state. All interpretations are possible there. However, from "I need a fix.." to the end of the song, the references to shooting up heroin are too obvious to be ignored. [off-topic: did you notice the reference in the film Trainspotting, where the dealer and veteran junky (who shoots the least experienced, i.e. "jumps the gun") was nicknamed "Mother Superior"?]. I can believe John took the title from a magazine cover but man... just listen to the entire lyrics and choruses, can any informed person claim it is not about junk or heavily influenced by it? It is noteworthy that the Beatles have refrained from speaking about the meaning of the song... They knew they were more popular than JC and tried not to set the worst example. Heroin was a rising issue these days, a tabboo floating around, dangerous and attractive. In fact it was about to become pandemic and (sadly!) destroy counter-culture and hippism. Very soon "the dream was over" (replaced by hang-over). Very few dared to talk straight about such a problem these days. Lou Reed did (and long before Lennon). Compare the lines of V.U.'s Waiting for the Man, "up to Lexington... hey you white boy what are you doing uptown..feel sick and dirty..etc" with "I need a fix cos i'm going down, down to the bits that I left uptown". There is another song in the same [white] album that is also plaged with [rather petty in this case] euphemisms: Savoy Truffle... Have you read the "song meaning" account by its own author? You just won't believe it ! George confessed he wrote Savoy Truffle for his friend Eric Clapton (and yes, you know what Clapton was into these days), and in particular that he used the song as to nag him for his addiction to ... chocolates!! ....hahaha ! | |
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