| Eels – Fresh Feeling Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| @[tittletat:43978] ROFL How odd, I feel like that would also be what it's like to be next to me. | |
| Delta Rae – Bottom Of the River Lyrics | 4 years ago |
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I think this song is sung as a conversation from a woman accused of being a witch to a woman about to be accused of the same. I've seen people reference the Salem trials, but I don't think it's referencing those events, at least not directly. The clothing in the video is more reminiscent of 1800's than late 1600's, and the setting of the deep South rather than Massachusetts. But there is a supernatural element suggestive of witchcraft right in the opening moments of the video, when men burst into the home of a young woman combing her hair and she turns towards them--and her reflection does not. Although the idea that the woman is a witch is not made explicitly, men coming for a woman who is not what she seems combined with the demonic imagery in the form of masks and men with black eyes would strongly suggest something like an accused witch or devil worshiper. Now to the actual song. Starting with the verse "If you get sleep...", the two lines about the cock calling is a warning from the singer that some momentous event is about to happen, regardless of whether you are ready for it or not. This is followed in the next two lines by a warning that signs indicate a threat approaches, so you should prepare to defend yourself. The final lines in the first verse suggest that the threat will bring gods holy vengeance. The line about first born sons being a reference to the plagues of Egypt and "His hair's on fire" suggestive of gods seraphim, or "fiery ones", angels. In other words, the men who come for you bring, or believe they bring, god's wrath. The next lines about going to the river evoke the concept of baptism, as others have pointed out. But there's a little more to it, I think. Witches were seen as concubines of the devil. The devil, in turn, was seen as the opposite of god, and much of the imagery about worshiping the devil involved the twisting or perversion of elements of faith. In this case, the song references baptism in the river, but explicitly defies the act of purification by twisting it into something hateful and defiant, suggesting that you should "Drive your son like a railroad spike" under the water and make the act one of murder instead. It gets even more angry in the next verse, comparing the men bringing god's judgement to drunken wolves and suggesting that if the wolves are at your door, you defy them instead of accepting their judgement and drown so many of them without mercy that the waters of the river rise. Finally, the refrain of "Hold my hand" is what makes me think that the singer is singing the song for another woman about to face the same treatment. The bottom of the river, I suspect, is a reference to drowning, a common "test" for witches. But it could also be your fall from god, and the singer is offering the listener a guide. She will hold your hand all the way down, comforting and guiding you to your vengeance and damnation at the bottom. |
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| The Police – Wrapped Around Your Finger Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I think other reviewers have pretty much fleshed out the meaning of this song, but since I agree with pieces of one review and pieces of another I thought I would add my take on the song here. So it seems clear that the song is about a man who finds himself attracted to a married woman. The "destiny you sold" refers to her choice to get married and spend her life with her husband, while referring to the representation of that choice (the wedding ring) as a "shining band of gold" suggests that he believes she has married for security rather than love. "Caught between Scylla and Charibdes", a reference to a difficult choice between two dangers from The Odyssey, combined with his other reference of "seeking knowledge" suggests that this woman is either his first time in the *ahem* biblical sense, or his first love; or more likely a combination of both. He feels torn between indulging in an affair that he knows can't end well or walking away from the pleasure he gets spending time with her. Ultimately it seems as though he feels powerless to resist her charms and begins the affair in an almost despairing state ("staring at the ring around your finger...I'll be wrapped around your finger"). Even worse, he suspects she doesn't have the same depth of feeling for him that he has for her, implying that she is engaging in a fun dalliance but has no intentions of sacrificing the comfort of her marriage for it. He stops just short of calling her the devil ("Mephistopheles is not your name") but implies she isn't completely on the up and up, either ("I know what you're up to just the same"). It is around this point in the song that the young man's emotions begin to change. As so often happens, unrequited love begins to harden into something darker. He starts to formulate a plan to exact his revenge. He resolves to dutifully play the part of her plaything and lover ("I will listen hard to your tuition") and feed her exactly what she wants ("You will see it come to its fruition"). The last lines of the song refer to his decision to walk away from the relationship and basically states that after he is gone she will realize she has grown to love him ("I will turn your face to alabaster, When you'll find your servant is your master"). Alabaster is a type of white stone used for carving; the implication is that the blood will drain from her face as she goes stone-faced with shock and grief at the realization that this man she has grown to love is gone from her life forever. The structure of the refrain is part of the brilliance of the song. The lines "I'll be wrapped around your finger" are repeated twice. The first time is despairing, as if to say "I've become your slave", while the second time is meant in a harder, resolved way, as in "I'll play your game for now". The third time, of course, changes the lyrics to suggest a triumphant reversal of fortune ("You'll be wrapped around my finger"). He also makes it clear that by this point he is completely done with her ("Devil and the deep blue sea behind me, Vanish in the air you'll never find me") and that the relationship has come full circle, strongly implying that she didn't marry for love and has now realized she was in love for the first time even as he has moved on from his first love. It's a great, if bittersweet, song from the enormously talented Police/Sting that will forever remind me of my childhood. Thank you for reading! |
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| Blitzen Trapper – Furr Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I've loved this song since I first heard it on the show Chuck. I still listen to it once in a while when I'm feeling pensive. Like others have said, I believe it to be a song about growing up, going from the edge of adulthood to middle age and beyond. The first verse of the song starts with the singer at seventeen. He describes hearing "the angels whispering"; that it is angels suggests a strong pull, a sense of destiny or the divine, a calling to do or become something, while the fact that they are whispering speaks to the lack of form of this calling. The singer feels he is being called for something, but does not know what that something is. So he wanders "aimlessly about" and hears his "mother" calling thru the fog. I believe his mother here is mother nature, depicted in the form of a wolf, an animal often associated with the call of the wild. Seeing his peers also running wild, living a life of instinct and, to an extent, free of morality or ethics, thrills and terrifies him, sending a "shiver" down his spine. He joins them and revels in the freedom of it, and his "flesh" turns to "fur", suggesting that he has become a wolf, an embodiment of wild nature. His life becomes one of instinct and "obedience to god", where god is speaking via the whispering of angels, suggesting he has become increasingly comfortable with running wild, chasing his destiny but becoming more comfortable with not knowing what his destiny is; he is living day to day without much care of where he is headed, trusting that god's angels will get him there but simultaneously listening to them less and less. The chorus talks about life while running wild. The singer states that you can "wear your fur like a river on fire"; proudly, with flash and power. But it also issues a warning: if you do revel in your wildness, you lose sight of god's larger plan, the one the angels have been whispering, and you had better be certain this is what you want since you eventually start ignoring that calling (making god's plan delivered by his angels wrong, or put another way "making god a liar") in lieu of the thrill of the wild. The chorus ends with the singer telling the listener to not shy away from what they learn about themselves while running wild. Since running wild means you are running on instinct with complete freedom, it will allow you to discover things about yourself, about what you want and who you are, and the singer is reminding the listener that they may not like everything they learn, but that they shouldn't ignore or run away from it. The second verse picks up when the singer turns twenty three. He has been living wild for a while and is comfortably ensconced in the pack when he meets a girl he recognizes as hearing the same call of angels he does, a way of suggesting their destinies may intertwine. The singer describes her as being both thrilled and scared of his wild self, going "shaky at the knees" when she hears his wild howl, his declaration of youth and power. And just like that they decide that their call is to mate. So they settle down and raise children together. This leads to the final verse, where the singer has long abandoned the call of the wild for family and society. His fur has turned back into skin, he is no longer a wolf, and he has been "ushered in" to the confusing world of adulthood. There's no suggestion of unhappiness, but even so it is implied that a part of him misses running wild and he still dreams of "running careless thru the snow". The final lines, I believe, reference our mortality. The "howling winds that blow" is a reference to the chaos of life, while the "ancient distant flow" could be a reference to the river Styx, the river of the dead from mythology. Life howls past us and fills us with experience akin to water from Styx, until we "know", or have received the complete experience of life. Anyway, that is my interpretation. I hope some of you might enjoy it. |
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